The EIFF 2025 Competition Shorts programme has quickly become one of the most popular sections of this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival — and for good reason. From darkly funny satire to raw emotional drama, this carefully curated selection of short films highlights some of the boldest new voices in international cinema. These shorts serve as strong examples of emerging voices, each offering its own perspective and style.
The programme opens with Love Me, Hold Me, Always, a powerful UK drama about a recently released prisoner trying to rebuild her life on the margins of society. Just as grounded — but far more surreal — is Stray, a night-club-turned-fever-dream that explores trauma and escape through unexpected metaphor.
Audiences have also been buzzing about Blondi, a bold and unsettling short about Hitler’s dog and the nature of loyalty. It’s provocative and uncomfortable, but impossible to ignore.
Not all of the EIFF 2025 Competition Shorts lean toward darkness. The Golden Squacco Heron offers a beautifully gentle coming-of-age quest as two childhood friends search for a mythical bird. In Mother Goose, a lonely widow forms an unexpected bond with a goose during the holiday season — first comforting, then quietly disturbing.
Fowl Play shifts into dark comedy territory, turning a family Thanksgiving into a fast-escalating search for a turkey. And Backstroke delivers an emotionally layered coming-of-age story, using competitive swimming as an elegant metaphor for pressure and personal growth.
One of the strengths of the EIFF 2025 Competition Shorts strand is its global perspective. She Said So, from Australia, tackles the complicated topic of consent and manipulation through the claustrophobic setting of a teenage sleepover. The UK–made Jodie takes a hard look at the harmful male influences and how they impact a young girl’s daily life.
From Argentina comes Your Body in My Room, a poetic and moving reflection on love, time, and the traces people leave behind. It’s slow-burning, honest, and deeply human.
