SIFF has divvied up more than 120 shorts into 14 feature-length packages, and there are a lot of little cinematic treasures scattered throughout. All programs will be available for streaming May 26–June 1. 

Adolescent Overdrive

Adolescent Overdrive is where to go if you’re craving some coming-of-age stories. Films include Dynasty and Destiny, about a mother-and-daughter rodeo duo, Ragamuffin, in which a 12-year-old is “confronted with realizations about her sexuality, her deafness, and what it means to be a girl,” and My Teenage Blackout, an animated short that shows what a teen envisions while lying in a coma after swallowing a caterpillar in a tequila shot. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 23)

ALT Shorts: Dead Reckoning

Wild descriptions abound in this experimental collection—there’s a “botanical fever dream,” an “ocean-motion picture,” and I’m especially excited for A Is for Ant, which director and photographer Jack Davison describes as “a surrealist celebration of children’s alphabet books.” Costumes are involved. (SIFF Film Center May 16)

Animation4Adults

Animation! For adults! That isn’t to say it’s full of tits and bits, but rather “adult” themes like parenting and retirement (the latter of which is represented in a lovely film by John Kelly that won both the Jury Award and Audience Award in SXSW 2025’s Animated Short Competition). This collection also features Little Shrew (Snowflake) by Kate Bush! (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 17)

The Family Picture Show 

This one’s “curated for kiddos,” with shorts about a temperamental duckling, magic mittens, and a baby owl learning to fly. There’s also “a fabulous drag queen fox played by Sir Ian McKellen! (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 24)

The Feminine Urge

Even without seeing the full program, I declare this shorts collection a Don’t Miss if only for Majonezë, a stunning black-and-white short by Giulia Grandinetti. Because who hasn’t had the feminine urge to rebel against men and eat French fries while crying so hard you start to laugh? (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 23)

FutureWave: Teenage Hearts

These films aren’t just about what it’s like to be a teenager today, but they were all made by filmmakers who are 18 or younger. Did you take the chicken out of the freezer?, which SIFF says is about “the universal Latina experience of forgetting to remove chicken from the freezer at her mother’s request” and “comes to life with hilarious consequences,” sounds especially good. (SIFF Film Center May 18)

Head Trip Shorts

Head Trip Shorts will appeal to fans of Black Mirror. Especially Stomach Bug, a film about a father coping with an empty nest. It made me 1) want to call my parents, 2) feel physically ill, and 3) be eternally grateful I have chosen to remain childless. And all in under 15 minutes! (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 22)

Medicine Circle: Indigenous Stories of Return

This batch of Indigenous-made shorts includes Civilized, In My Hand, and Munkha, an animated, kid-friendly film about a little girl and her magic mittens. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 17)

Queering the Way

Totally gay shorts by totally gay filmmakers! The lineup includes Kisses and Bullets, One Day This Kid, Two Black Boys in Paradise, and Dancing in Tomorrowland, which sounds so good. SIFF writes, “A young ’80s activist... stands up against the Magic Kingdom to lift the park’s ban on same-sex dancing.” (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 24)

ShortsFest Opening Night

Organizers packed this program with “superb films from around the world.” One highlight is The Great Cherokee Grandmother starring Wes Studi, aka Bucky in Reservations Dogs, aka the first Native American to receive an Academy Honorary Award in 2019 aka #19 on the New York Times’s 2020 list of “The 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century (So Far).” (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 16)

Sound Visions 

Behold! The shorts package dedicated to all the good shit being made right here in the PNW. Highlights include Shelly’s Leg, about Seattle’s first gay bar, and View From the Floor by former Stranger Genius Award winner Megan Griffiths and Stranger contributor Mindie Lind! (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 22)

The Spirit Cabinet

Fans of horror and supernatural flicks won’t want to miss this collection. One film, The First, has won tons of awards including the Trompe L’oeil Award at the Portland Horror Festival 2024 and Best Costume, Most Original Idea, and Best Written Short at Fright Night Film Festival 2024. (SIFF Cinema Uptown May 23)

Through the Looking Glass

Time to get weirrrrrrd! The Through the Looking Glass collection is, SIFF says, all about “surreal worlds, warped realities, and absurd encounters where nothing is as it seems.” Your Own Flavor is about a nice—maybe too nice???—ice cream man; in Quota, a new app tracks individuals’ CO2 emissions. And I’m getting David Lynch vibes from Two People Exchanging Saliva, in which kissing is punishable by death. Mwah! (SIFF Film Center May 17)

WWYD (What Would You Do?) 

This thriller-packed collection features shorts that examine the more complex aspects of the human experience—a bride gets cold feet, strangers exchange dark secrets (this one stars Rory Culkin!), and a man has to decide how he’ll handle shitty family dynamics. I highly recommend going to see RAT!, about a music journalist who is terrorized by rabid fans after accusing a beloved pop star of queerbaiting. (SIFF Film Center May 18)