DFF 2026 | Session 11 | Short Film Festival
Short Films
Plant Life
Biologist Joanne Chory is undertaking the final mission of her lauded career: supercharging crop plants to sequester carbon deep into Earth’s soil, with the goal of cutting the pace of climate change in half. But she’s racing the two ticking clocks of ecological collapse and her own advancing Parkinson’s disease. Read more
Lives:Visible
Lesbians in a box… 2000 private snapshots hidden away for over fifty years reveal the rich history of Chicago’s working class butch/fem life in the pre-Stonewall era. Spanning four decades, from the 1930s to the 1960s, the snapshots provide a rare look at a vanished and vibrant Lesbian culture: images of lovers and friends as they played, posed, worked, partied, drank, and aged. Lives:Visible explores the ephemeral nature of culture and the power of the images we make. Read more
The Perfect Midwest Bikepacking Route
After years of driving the same highway between Chicago and Saint Paul, filmmaker Leigh Foster sets out to travel the distance by bicycle instead. Over 572 miles, the familiar trip becomes something entirely different: ten days of small towns, back roads, changing landscapes, and the unexpected places between two cities he has called home. Read more
Between The Ears
A charming couple finds fun, fulfillment and like-minded friends while traveling the country to go trail-riding with their mules. If you called Diane and Chuck Gross mulish, they’d take that as a compliment. They, along with Josie and Traveler— their mules, not their children— have been to 21 states in pursuit of the trail-riding experience. Pulling a trailer that has comfortable and efficient living quarters in front for them, with safe and secure compartments in back for the mules, they… Read more
Language Back
A short documentary about the importance of Native American Language Revitalization shot in Milwaukee, Keshena and Bjorklunden with Indigenous Nations Poets Read more
L'Opera dell'Idolo Ditato
Two sociologists discover an idol that gives them the power to sing opera. Read more
The Agent Game
A woman’s mission has been compromised and finds herself on the run from a dangerous threat. Read more
The Deal
Underworld dealers negotiate a buy from a mysterious new supplier. Read more