Browse films

The Zoo

Mimi Chakarova
United States, 2025, 14 min.

In English.
This film is family friendly.

AIFF Award Winner:
Special Jury Award for Creative Storytelling

A caged lion festers in anger and silence until an unlikely friend comes along to help him tell his story.

Director's Statement

The Zoo is a mixed media film and a social commentary from the perspective of the most majestic and powerful animals on our planet – a lion. If he could talk, what would he say to us?

Category: Short, Festival Alum, Award Winner.
Themes: Animals, Environment.

More in Short

  • My Grandmother is a Skydiver

    My Grandmother is a Skydiver

    Polina Piddubna
    Germany, 2025, 13 min.

    In 1960s Tajikistan, a skydiver gets a call from her granddaughter in 2022 Ukraine, sparking an intergenerational journey through trauma, memory and identity... more ›

  • Into The Pool

    Into The Pool

    Scott Ballard
    United States, 2026, 9 min.

    In her mid-seventies, synchronized swimmer Julie Vigeland continues to find herself in the pool - a place where aging dissolves into a dance of healing,... more ›

  • Wind Across the Room

    Wind Across the Room

    Jiaxi Shen
    China, 2025, 13 min.

    On an ordinary afternoon, long-simmering tension with her single father finally erupts. The teenage girl sets off for the home of her mother, whom she... more ›