Shorts Block 2: Under Pressure

Pressure builds quietly before it breaks. Across cultures, five individuals confront the forces pressing in on their lives, reflecting the fault lines shaping women’s place in the world today. A Portuguese mother struggles beneath the invisible mental load of an uneven household, while a daughter in rural Taiwan navigates tradition during a funeral rite. A teacher in the UK challenges systemic racism at her school, as a wife faces economic strain on her fragile marriage amid Ulaanbaatar’s suffocating traffic, and an autistic woman in the western US finds her voice after years of struggling to communicate. These films, all directed by women, explore the burdens their gender carries—as mothers, professionals, and community members—tracing moments when endurance gives way to reckoning, and reclaiming one’s voice becomes both urgent and necessary. —Mariana Finelli

Films are in alphabetical order rather than order of play. Total runtime 90 min

Because Today Is Saturday
Alice Eça Guimarães (Portugal, France, Spain 2025, 12 min)
On just another Saturday, a woman struggles to reconnect with herself beneath the weight of motherhood and the unseen mental load of an uneven household.

Buried Under Years of Dust
Sophie Sartain (USA 2026, 30 min)
After decades confined within herself, Emily Grodin, an autistic woman, unlocks her inner world and claims her voice, as her parents’ enduring love leads her to the right tool.

Dark Skin Bruises Differently
Susan Wokoma (UK 2025, 11 min)
When a student’s claim threatens her integrity, Ms. Lawson must choose between defending a misunderstood girl and protecting her own career.

Dua Ji
YuHan Tsai (Taiwan, USA 2025, 18 min)
In rural Taiwan, the eldest daughter bears the quiet weight of tradition during her mother’s funeral, as grief and stirring defiance threaten to fracture the entrenched ritual.

A South Facing Window
Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir (France, Mongolia 2025, 19 min)
In Ulaanbaatar’s relentless traffic, a young mother searching for a home confronts her husband’s infidelity and their growing distance, forcing the couple to face whether their fragile marriage can survive.