Short Competition Films

Our 10 finalists revealed!

Congratulations!

…to David del Águila, who has won the 2021 Healthy Scepticism Film Festival First Prize for his beautiful short film Marcianos!

Learn more about David, his motivations for making Marcianos and his passion for filmmaking in this short interview with historian, cancer activist, and HS  project researcher Grazia de Michele.

Mr lightbulb

What’s the meaning of life? The Covid pandemic prompted animator Poan Pan to try to answer this existential question through an imaginary character, Mr. Lightbulb.

Ausencias

A man’s mental illness constrains the way he sees the world.

DISSENSION

Twenty year old Camille visits her family as it nears implosion as a result of her mother’s cancer diagnosis.

Help3

Nicolas, a pensioner fond of his independence, loses his autonomy following a heart attack. His son’s decision to hire a robot to assist him in his daily life will have unintended consequences.

77

An elderly woman talks every day with her son through video calls. During the Covid pandemic, she unexpectedly asks him to read Gabriel García Márquez’s A Hundred Years of Solitude for her.

Asra

A religious and traditionalist man, affected by an incurable degenerative disease, decides to end his own suffering. He entrusts his son Omar, with whom he has a difficult relationship, with the task of finding someone to end his pain.

I’m Listening

Some therapies take years. Some take a minute.

Marcianos

April 2020. Patricia, a nurse, goes to work, just as she does everyday. Carmelo, a COVID patient, wakes up surrounded by martians.

Help Screen

Sam has been sent to an AI therapist by his employer. He’s angry that he has been referred to a machine for help, until he discovers that she can help him to reconnect with his inner self.

Blue

Lara’s troubles come to light when she discovers that her son has once again taken a shining blue poop. After seeing a rude doctor, she turns to a healer named Ronaldo.