In the Age of Vigilance

This March, Movies that Matter On Tour brings together a striking selection of short films, including a preview of two new festival shorts! From a satirical video that leads to imprisonment in Venezuela, to the looming threat of ICE in the US to sleepless nights shaped by war and global atrocities. Together, these films capture the urgency and fragility of life under constant pressure, when vigilance becomes a daily condition, asking what it means to live under pressure, and what it takes to keep thinking, feeling, and resisting.

Looking For A Donkey (Juan Vicente Manrique, 2024 – 17′)
In a little town of the Venezuelan Andes, two firefighters recorded a video of a donkey as if it were the President of Venezuela visiting their rundown facilities. That same day the firefighters were taken to prison, but little is known of what happened to the donkey.

A Lien (David Cutler-Kreutz, Sam Cutler-Kreutz, 2023 – 15′)
On the day of their green card interview, a young couple confronts a dangerous immigration process.

What If They Bomb Here Tonight? (Samir Syriani, 2025 – 16′)
Samir and Nadyn, a Lebanese couple, spend a sleepless night anxious and fearing an Israeli airstrike could shatter the glass walls of their home. With their children peacefully asleep, they battle with whether to flee or risk the worst and stay.

Happiness (Fırat Yücel, 2025 – 18′)
An urgent desktop diary made at the intersection of a hectic digital landscape and the inner violence of modern colonization. The film chronicles the sleepless nights of a group of activists, eyes fixed on screens as they follow the news from Palestine and across the region. In Amsterdam, far from their home countries, police violence and the threat of deportation glue them to digital interfaces night after night. Engaging with anti-colonial resistance across screens and streets, “happiness” is a humblereminder to keep searching for solutions.