13th Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2025 : Animation Films, Experimental Films & Mobile Phone Films

13th Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2025

21-28 February; multiple venues, Chennai 

Category – Animation Film

1. Sorry for complaining

Dir: Andrew Neet; 6:03 min; Animation films; United Kingdom

Synopsis: A troubled man grapples with his loneliness and deep rooted anxieties by seeking the comforting voice of a past lover.

2. Martha

Dir: Marcel Barelli; 6:53 min; Animation films; Switzerland

Synopsis: A fake documentary about a true story: An old silent documentary from the 1910s has been found and restored. It tells the story of the most abundant bird on Earth, exterminated in just a few decades by human brutality.

13th Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2025

Category – Experimental Film

1. Insatiable

Dir: Logan M Aldrich; 3:03 min; Experimental films; France

Synopsis: i grew up playing this online video game called dota 2 and my favorite ability was called insatiable hunger. This short film explores the word insatiable and its idea on my life.

2. SPELL

Dir: Khalil Charif; 6:00 min; Experimental films; Brazil

Synopsis: A spell is cast on the dance floors, and it transforms the atmosphere. Sensory stimuli and traces of a documentary past are captured and thrown into an imaginary present, a fabulation beyond the fascination of the night, towards a re-enchantment with life, with being together, interweaving conviviality and liberation.

3. NEVER SAY DIE

Dir: Diya Gambhir; 9:37 min; Experimental films; India

Synopsis: Never say die is the title I have chosen for my film. Since the work is inspired by the life of my aunt, I have titled it as she would like it to be. My aunt is the sister of my father.

This project is an attempt to understand personal experiences and transform them into cinema. As a filmmaker, I find many hues in the fabric of life deeply fascinating. The moving image’s ability to capture the vagaries of life, to me, is not just art; it also represents an artist’s attempt to craft a work that can make a lasting impression. It is my intent and effort to create an impact in this way, and for the world to discover how precisely my film can make a

difference. This is what drives me. 

4. Lone Alone

Dir: Aastha Gupta; 5:23 min; Experimental films; India

Synopsis: Life is challenging, and for Riya, it’s especially tough. Struggling with daily problems and feeling isolated, she reaches out to a friend, only to discover that even her friend is at their limit. In her moment of need, Riya turns to a comforting ritual that has always provided solace, helping her put her problems into perspective and find a glimmer of hope amid the chaos.

5. SID with me

Dir: Akifa Mian; 10:00 min; Experimental films; Germany

Synopsis: ‘SID with me’ is an experimental black & white film which can be viewed by some

as moving image art as well.

There is absence of human voice or humanoid form in this dialectic discussion between 2

characters which is around concepts and social existence of otherness. The ‘human’ sound

is artificially generated voices. There are multiple sound layers and each sound layer adds

new meaning to the single channel video.

It uses, digital hand drawings, black and white animation to create a visual illusion while

sound has 3 three types of sound: ASMR, everyday life sound-scapes and dialogue.

6. I'm Afraid it's Not Good to Say

Dir: ZHU YUAN KUN; 13:00 min; Experimental films; China

Synopsis: In a cacophony of lively phone messages and news clippings, a 15-year-old boy juggles academic pressures and new romance, while celebrating low expectations and homemade film. The dialogues in the film were all taken from an old cell phone that the director had forgotten about for 12 years. I plugged in my phone and turned it on.Welcome aboard the Time Travel Machine and step into the middle school era of the generation born in 1995 of mainland China.

7. Khichdi

Dir: Sara David; 15:53 min; Experimental films; United Kingdom

Synopsis: Khichdi traces the interwoven histories of four First-Generation Indian women who live in Britain and have been working for the NHS since the early 2000s. 

13th Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival 2025 
Category – Mobile Phone Films

Limbus
Dir: M. C. Jonet; 2:26 min; Mobile Phone Films; United States
Synopsis: "Limbus" is a cyborg manifest-0, a journey into vegetal witch glitch, a concept that blends femme and organic elements with digital disruptions, embodying the paradoxes of modern living while envisioning a techno-eco gender affirmation.

Letter
Dir: Balasubramaniam; 8:39 min; Mobile Phone Films; United Kingdom
Synopsis: A quirky boy manages to write a reply letter for his long distance girlfriend and loses it in the process of posting it. Will he find his letter back?

Sweet Moon
Dir: Mayur Prakash Kulkarni; 14:30 min; Mobile Phone Films; India
Synopsis: An aesthetically driven experiment that explores the melancholy of life through space and time, Sweet Moon is not a traditional narrative or documentary, but rather an artistic piece that blends sight and sound. With its poetic imagery and abstract storytelling, it creates a motion painting—a unique experience that evokes subtle human emotions.

Red-Lipstick
Dir: Makarand Prakash Purohit; 5:28 min; Mobile Phone Films; India
Synopsis: Discover the inspiring story of a woman who, despite the loss of her husband, lives vibrantly with her children. Just when she begins to hope for companionship again, life delivers another unexpected blow. Witness her journey of resilience and strength as she navigates through life's

Multilingual
Dir: Dilgrace Kaur; 3:11 min; Mobile Phone Films; India
Synopsis: A Kashmiri woman staying in Mumbai wants to go back home. The house-help (Marathi) is also sick of her. Then a blast happens and multilingual conversation takes place between the two.