Ben Nicholson - The Film Verdict

Coyotes

Posted by Ben Nicholson | Aug 29, 2025 | Festivals, VENICE 2025, Verdict Shorts |

Said Zagha’s pulsating neo-noir probes at the dark consequences of being pushed to breaking point in Coyotes, a genre-inflected Palestinian short.

The Orchards

Posted by Ben Nicholson | Aug 22, 2025 | Festivals, Sarajevo 2025, Verdict Shorts |

Antoine Chapon repurposes eerie architectural animations in ‘The Orchards,’ a paean to a lost Damascus community that attempts to resist its eradication by a vindictive regime.

Index

Posted by Ben Nicholson | Aug 21, 2025 | Festivals, Sarajevo 2025, Verdict Shorts |

Index, the new short film from Radu Muntean is a low-key thriller that transforms tranquil forest bathing into something far more brooding and disquieting.

I Believe the Portrait Saved Me

Posted by Ben Nicholson | Aug 21, 2025 | Festivals, Sarajevo 2025, Verdict Shorts |

The documentary vignette ‘I Believe the Portrait Saved Me’ uses a deeply personal story to explore the power of creativity and evoke the teetering knife edge of survival.

Divia

Posted by Ben Nicholson | Aug 21, 2025 | Festivals, Sarajevo 2025 |

Dmytro Hreshko’s documentary, Divia, combines alarming scale with small moments to create a haunting portrait of war-ravaged nature in the micro and the macro.

Author: Ben Nicholson

Coyotes

The Orchards

Index

I Believe the Portrait Saved Me

Divia