Content warning: TBD A collection of narrative short films (in the Musical genre) in contention for official selection, nomination as Quarterfinalist for both genre and technical categories. One will win the Quarter Final and be named BEST MUSICAL SHORT FILM of the 1st Quarter of 2026! Audience Choice balloting is open. Your vote counts!

This original song set the backdrop for a documentary film "Save Blasco!" This music video features scenes from the documentary and new footage of the song's composer John Bueno.

Where Do We Go

This original song set the backdrop for a documentary film "Save Blasco!"

An old Irish man starts to play the Bodhran in the corner of an empty pub, setting off a sequence of events through music, place, and time. Commissioned for the World Expo in Osaka, Japan to represent Ireland and its culture.

Ceol

An old Irish man plays the Bodhran, setting off a sequence of events through music, place, and time.

Novelist Thomas Wolfe once said that you can never go back and find home again, but he was wrong, because we carry home within us, deep down inside, in our hearts and up in the stars. Back To Omaha is a nostalgic journey back to the joys and innocence of youth. West takes us back to his Nebraska childhood memories of endless sunflower fields, star filled skies, isolated railroad tracks and his journey back to finding home.

Back To Omaha

A nostalgic journey back to the joys and innocence of youth.

A concert pianist prepares for a career-defining performance with his fiancé when he is unexpectedly visited by his ex-wife and son.

Broken Notes

A concert pianist prepares for a career-defining performance with his fiance when he is unexpectedly visited by his ex-wife and son.

A fully synthetic pop star, architected from a week of deep learning and data curation, performs her debut single in a world built by algorithms.

Mae-Mea Someone Else

A fully synthetic pop star, architected from a week of deep learning and data curation, performs her debut single in a world built by algorithms.

The work explores sound as an evolving system rather than a narrative or expressive medium. Music and image operate together as a single process in which rhythm, density, and temporal change generate abstract visual structures. The visual language remains entirely non-figurative, composed of geometric forms and spatial transformations synchronized with the musical architecture.Each movement represents a distinct state of the system. Instead of telling a story, the piece advances through shifts in energy, pace, and internal organization. Micro-climaxes and transitions articulate the overall structure, emphasizing continuity, repetition, and transformation across the four movements.There are no performers on screen. By removing the visual presence of musicians, the work redirects attention from performance to process, allowing sound to function as an architectural force and image as its temporal trace.Process invites the viewer to experience sound as structure in motion — a system that unfolds, transforms, and sustains itself over time. The work can be presented both as a cinematic projection and as a sound-driven visual environment.

Process Architecture of Sound

Process is an audiovisual composition structured in four movements.

SDSFF Narrative Short Films: Musical

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Celebrating the art of storytelling through short films, showcasing the work of talented filmmakers from around the world. From thought-provoking dramas to captivating animations, the festival presents a rich tapestry of storytelling, offering a platform for emerging and established filmmakers.

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