The GRRL HAUS Best of 2024 festival celebrates standout films from the past year, showcasing bold new talent and groundbreaking storytelling. Featuring short films by women, trans, and nonbinary artists, the program highlights DIY, underground, and experimental works that push creative boundaries. This international selection brings together some of the most captivating shorts from our 2024 screenings, offering a unique glimpse into the diverse voices shaping the future of independent cinema.
December 16–20
ONLINE SHOWCASE: grrlhaus.vhx.tv/products/grrl-haus-best-of-2024/
This online program features:
- Select films from the Brattle Theatre lineup -
- Select films from the Berlin program -
An additional program exclusively available online, highlighting our favorite films previously screened in 2024
December 16–20
ONLINE SHOWCASE: grrlhaus.vhx.tv/products/grrl-haus-best-of-2024/
This online program features:
- Select films from the Brattle Theatre lineup -
- Select films from the Berlin program -
An additional program exclusively available online, highlighting our favorite films previously screened in 2024
Lost Boys Pizza
Dir. Cassie Llanas, 14:08, US
Once upon a Halloween night, two theater kids had such a fright, for right before their unsuspecting eyes
is Dracula, not so in disguise.
And utilizing the power of dance they put Dracula under a trance
and just in the knick of time,
they send Dracula where the sun don't shine.
Director | Writer | Artist | Filmmaker
Cassie Llanas is a queer Latinx award-winning filmmaker currently based in Chicago.
Dir. Cassie Llanas, 14:08, US
Once upon a Halloween night, two theater kids had such a fright, for right before their unsuspecting eyes
is Dracula, not so in disguise.
And utilizing the power of dance they put Dracula under a trance
and just in the knick of time,
they send Dracula where the sun don't shine.
Director | Writer | Artist | Filmmaker
Cassie Llanas is a queer Latinx award-winning filmmaker currently based in Chicago.
Made For Duty Overseas
Dir. Katie King, UK, 4:37
Made For Duty Overseas is a noir-ish tale centred around a packet of menthol vogue cigarettes, moving between Sri Lanka and the UK. Intrigued by the allure of this woman’s identity, our narrator finds herself enticed into an addiction. Made For Duty Overseas explores the allure of aesthetic distractions.
Katie King is a textile artist working with 2D and stop motion animation techniques. She graduates in September 2023 with a masters in Animation from Royal College of Art, London. She grew up between Glastonbury, Somerset and Vancouver, Canada before studying Religion, Philosophy & Ethics at King’s College, London and remaining in London since for work.
Dir. Katie King, UK, 4:37
Made For Duty Overseas is a noir-ish tale centred around a packet of menthol vogue cigarettes, moving between Sri Lanka and the UK. Intrigued by the allure of this woman’s identity, our narrator finds herself enticed into an addiction. Made For Duty Overseas explores the allure of aesthetic distractions.
Katie King is a textile artist working with 2D and stop motion animation techniques. She graduates in September 2023 with a masters in Animation from Royal College of Art, London. She grew up between Glastonbury, Somerset and Vancouver, Canada before studying Religion, Philosophy & Ethics at King’s College, London and remaining in London since for work.
ALL THAT'S LEFT.
Dir. Simone Holland, US, 10:51
A surreal look into the perception of existence, Mercedes, loses themselves through the many people that seamlessly enter and exit their universe. Thrown into the maze that is their mind, she struggles to differentiate reality from her imagination. Awakening their demons, she embraces the chaos, but is she truly in control?
With their storytelling grounded in reality, Simone uses surrealism as their lens. As a 2021 EMMY Award winning Camera Operator and former 2022 ROTATE Fellow (YouTube and Wieden + Kennedy) and 2022 BlackStar Philadelphia Filmmaker Fellowship, Directorial Fellow. She has directed and was cinematographer for projects for McDonald’s, Red Bull, Anheuser-Busch Global and Bustle x HIlton, as well as for artists like Jazmine Sullivan, Tone Stith, Adi Oasis and Jamila Woods. As a creative director, Simone has worked with Mcdonald's, Nike, Duracell, and the 2021 BET AWARDS. Cross-pollinating her creative versatility, Simone applies her multi-disciplinary technical experience to her directorial and creative chops at Mojo Supermarket Content Creating for TikTok Global.
Dir. Simone Holland, US, 10:51
A surreal look into the perception of existence, Mercedes, loses themselves through the many people that seamlessly enter and exit their universe. Thrown into the maze that is their mind, she struggles to differentiate reality from her imagination. Awakening their demons, she embraces the chaos, but is she truly in control?
With their storytelling grounded in reality, Simone uses surrealism as their lens. As a 2021 EMMY Award winning Camera Operator and former 2022 ROTATE Fellow (YouTube and Wieden + Kennedy) and 2022 BlackStar Philadelphia Filmmaker Fellowship, Directorial Fellow. She has directed and was cinematographer for projects for McDonald’s, Red Bull, Anheuser-Busch Global and Bustle x HIlton, as well as for artists like Jazmine Sullivan, Tone Stith, Adi Oasis and Jamila Woods. As a creative director, Simone has worked with Mcdonald's, Nike, Duracell, and the 2021 BET AWARDS. Cross-pollinating her creative versatility, Simone applies her multi-disciplinary technical experience to her directorial and creative chops at Mojo Supermarket Content Creating for TikTok Global.
The Pointy Slippers
Dir. Christina Acevedo, US, 8:27
Holding in pain can be deadly.
The Pointy Slippers tells the story of a woman who, on a date, conceals the excruciating pain caused by her new shoes, only to discover that her hidden suffering takes on a life of its own, becoming impossible to ignore
Christina Acevedo, a multifaceted artist, calls Philadelphia home. She earned her degree in Filmmaking and Film Theory from NYU, laying the foundation for her creative work and research. In 2008, Christina embarked on her directorial and screenwriting path, ultimately garnering recognition with her debut short film, ‘Wild Idle,’ premiering at the ICA Open Video Call in 2011 and earning a coveted spot at the Cannes Film Festival Court Métrage Selection.
While her roots were in narrative filmmaking, Christina’s artistic evolution led her to explore experimental music and video art in 2013. She began experimenting with editing techniques, blending tape recordings, found footage, and cherished childhood home videos. This artistic exploration opened doors to the world of music video production in 2014, a path she would tread for the next eight years.
Dir. Christina Acevedo, US, 8:27
Holding in pain can be deadly.
The Pointy Slippers tells the story of a woman who, on a date, conceals the excruciating pain caused by her new shoes, only to discover that her hidden suffering takes on a life of its own, becoming impossible to ignore
Christina Acevedo, a multifaceted artist, calls Philadelphia home. She earned her degree in Filmmaking and Film Theory from NYU, laying the foundation for her creative work and research. In 2008, Christina embarked on her directorial and screenwriting path, ultimately garnering recognition with her debut short film, ‘Wild Idle,’ premiering at the ICA Open Video Call in 2011 and earning a coveted spot at the Cannes Film Festival Court Métrage Selection.
While her roots were in narrative filmmaking, Christina’s artistic evolution led her to explore experimental music and video art in 2013. She began experimenting with editing techniques, blending tape recordings, found footage, and cherished childhood home videos. This artistic exploration opened doors to the world of music video production in 2014, a path she would tread for the next eight years.
Poppy's Saturn
Nicole Tegelaar, Belgium, 14:35
When nightclub singer Poppy is confronted by a black-eyed man she is overcome by fear. The event triggers a buried sexual trauma that she has to overcome in a kaleidoscopic world of glitter, music and blood.
Nicole Tegelaar (1991) is a Dutch filmmaker and art director living in Ghent, Belgium. Her short film Lips (2020) screened at multiple national and international film festivals. Poppy's Saturn (2023) is her masters graduation project at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Ghent.
Nicole Tegelaar, Belgium, 14:35
When nightclub singer Poppy is confronted by a black-eyed man she is overcome by fear. The event triggers a buried sexual trauma that she has to overcome in a kaleidoscopic world of glitter, music and blood.
Nicole Tegelaar (1991) is a Dutch filmmaker and art director living in Ghent, Belgium. Her short film Lips (2020) screened at multiple national and international film festivals. Poppy's Saturn (2023) is her masters graduation project at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Ghent.
Marrow of my Bones
Dir. Karly McCloskey, Canada, 2:11
Marrow of my Bones is a short experimental film that has been created through a mixture of digital special effects, compositing, frame by frame animation, and 16mm hand processed film. Through material-based exploration, this film plays with the concept of post-humanism via the return to nature and the body in a tactile and gritty manner.
The score is an electroacoustic soundscape, a playful mixture of voice, analog synthesizers, and field recordings of foraged sounds such as insects, wind, and fire. These sounds were then processed through hardware effects such as low-pass filters, reverb & delay. The soundscape is a mixture of digital sources manipulated with analog processing and vice-versa, reflecting the creation of the visuals.
Marrow of my Bones engages with hybridity, embodiment, and otherness. Otherness is a monster that embodies all that is outside the normal or standard. When framing nature as other, we are contaminating it with other others. Nature becomes a queer monster. Land is not a passive object; it is a monster that fights back.
This film is a love letter to queerness and connection. In this self-portrait, I am embracing my innate entanglement with non-humans, as though I am perceived as human. I am crawling along the boundaries of ingrained perceptions. Transformation begins when I recognize the contaminations that make me.
Karly McCloskey is a Canadian artist who specializes in videography, editing and animation. Embodying both analogue and digital techniques, her works are hybrid monsters. Each artwork, film, and animation utilize touch and care. Karly focuses on collaboration with her materials, embracing the entanglements of each step of creation. She carries a BFA in Integrated Media and an MFA from OCAD University in the Interdisciplinary Master’s of Art, Media and Design program.
Karly has taught classical art techniques as well as animation, videography and editing to adults and children of all ages. She collaborates with Canadian musicians as well as local filmmakers to create animations, music videos, short films and experimental works.
Dir. Karly McCloskey, Canada, 2:11
Marrow of my Bones is a short experimental film that has been created through a mixture of digital special effects, compositing, frame by frame animation, and 16mm hand processed film. Through material-based exploration, this film plays with the concept of post-humanism via the return to nature and the body in a tactile and gritty manner.
The score is an electroacoustic soundscape, a playful mixture of voice, analog synthesizers, and field recordings of foraged sounds such as insects, wind, and fire. These sounds were then processed through hardware effects such as low-pass filters, reverb & delay. The soundscape is a mixture of digital sources manipulated with analog processing and vice-versa, reflecting the creation of the visuals.
Marrow of my Bones engages with hybridity, embodiment, and otherness. Otherness is a monster that embodies all that is outside the normal or standard. When framing nature as other, we are contaminating it with other others. Nature becomes a queer monster. Land is not a passive object; it is a monster that fights back.
This film is a love letter to queerness and connection. In this self-portrait, I am embracing my innate entanglement with non-humans, as though I am perceived as human. I am crawling along the boundaries of ingrained perceptions. Transformation begins when I recognize the contaminations that make me.
Karly McCloskey is a Canadian artist who specializes in videography, editing and animation. Embodying both analogue and digital techniques, her works are hybrid monsters. Each artwork, film, and animation utilize touch and care. Karly focuses on collaboration with her materials, embracing the entanglements of each step of creation. She carries a BFA in Integrated Media and an MFA from OCAD University in the Interdisciplinary Master’s of Art, Media and Design program.
Karly has taught classical art techniques as well as animation, videography and editing to adults and children of all ages. She collaborates with Canadian musicians as well as local filmmakers to create animations, music videos, short films and experimental works.
After We're Gone
Dir. Saige Kanik, US, 5:38
There is comfort in the collective.
After We’re Gone explores our relationship with death and mourning through a conversation using interviews of different participants portrayed within physical miniature rooms. Each story is completely different, yet how each relates shows how connected the mourning process can be. In the end, there is comfort in the collective experience of mortality.
Made of felt, cat hair, and hair dye, Saige Kanik is a stop-motion fabricator, animator, and theatrical prop designer from the forests of New England.
A dabbler in everything, Saige loves to dive head-on into any project. She was featured in the article, "10 Teens to Watch" in the 2019 September/October Issue of Westport Magazine, the 2023 WIA Scholarship recipients, and has had her films screened across the country. Outside of work, Saige is often baking or painting.
She recently graduated from the School of Film and Animation at the Rochester Institute of Technology with a Degree in Stop Motion Animation and a minor in 3D Studio Arts.
Dir. Saige Kanik, US, 5:38
There is comfort in the collective.
After We’re Gone explores our relationship with death and mourning through a conversation using interviews of different participants portrayed within physical miniature rooms. Each story is completely different, yet how each relates shows how connected the mourning process can be. In the end, there is comfort in the collective experience of mortality.
Made of felt, cat hair, and hair dye, Saige Kanik is a stop-motion fabricator, animator, and theatrical prop designer from the forests of New England.
A dabbler in everything, Saige loves to dive head-on into any project. She was featured in the article, "10 Teens to Watch" in the 2019 September/October Issue of Westport Magazine, the 2023 WIA Scholarship recipients, and has had her films screened across the country. Outside of work, Saige is often baking or painting.
She recently graduated from the School of Film and Animation at the Rochester Institute of Technology with a Degree in Stop Motion Animation and a minor in 3D Studio Arts.
Not A Body
Dir. Cassandra Paige, Canada, 3:49
A Short Experimental film about living within the constraints of a body and it's impermanence.
Cassandra is a multidisciplinary artist based out of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. She attended four years post secondary in theatre and film, and has gone on to produce and direct a number of short films and music videos. Most notable, her experimental film 'Fish Bone' has screened at the Edmonton International Film Fest, Cinema Spectacular and more.
Currently, she is in pre-production on 'Secret Time' a short film in collaboration with filmmaker Ryan Leedu, the second film between the pair. 'No Bedroom' their first, screened in April 2023 at the Canadian Film Fest where Cassandra won breakout performance for her role in the film.
Cassandras practice includes collage, writing, filmmaking and acting. The Collage Series ‘Splitting’ was created during her time at Artscape Gibraltar Point Artist Residency with the Feminist Art Collective of Toronto in summer 2023. It went on to Exhibit at Vertigo theatre in Calgary, and in the winter issue of Room Magazine based out of Toronto.
Her work explores the cycles of life and its impermanence, the daily intimacies we have with each other, and the lifelong relationship we have with ourselves.
Dir. Cassandra Paige, Canada, 3:49
A Short Experimental film about living within the constraints of a body and it's impermanence.
Cassandra is a multidisciplinary artist based out of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. She attended four years post secondary in theatre and film, and has gone on to produce and direct a number of short films and music videos. Most notable, her experimental film 'Fish Bone' has screened at the Edmonton International Film Fest, Cinema Spectacular and more.
Currently, she is in pre-production on 'Secret Time' a short film in collaboration with filmmaker Ryan Leedu, the second film between the pair. 'No Bedroom' their first, screened in April 2023 at the Canadian Film Fest where Cassandra won breakout performance for her role in the film.
Cassandras practice includes collage, writing, filmmaking and acting. The Collage Series ‘Splitting’ was created during her time at Artscape Gibraltar Point Artist Residency with the Feminist Art Collective of Toronto in summer 2023. It went on to Exhibit at Vertigo theatre in Calgary, and in the winter issue of Room Magazine based out of Toronto.
Her work explores the cycles of life and its impermanence, the daily intimacies we have with each other, and the lifelong relationship we have with ourselves.
Additional Films in the Online Showcase
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Select Films From the Dec.9th Screening
Symptom - Kamee Abrahamian, Armenia, 23:00, Documentary Trace on My Body - Yue Hua, China, 3:10, Experimental Death of the Monarch - Monae Kyhara, US, 6:23, Experimental Strange Horizons - Lauren Marie Dake, US, 6:26, Experimental Crybaby - Elif Öner, Turkey, 17:28, Horror, Drama Sogno Rosso - Coco Roy, US, 7:49, Experimental Buurthuis 2 - Josefin Arnell, Netherlands, 17:03, Comedy, Experimental |
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Select Films From the Dec.10th Screening
Cut Me Summa Dat Noise - Cara Hagan, US, 6:11, Dance Rosa - Rafaela Astudillo , US, 3:17, Experimental Chora - Ao Wei, UK, 8:05, Animated Gab - Hogan Seidel, US, 3:14, Experimental The Streetlight - Sophia Parella, US, 6:48, Drama Into the Emerald Sea - Asuka Lin, Japan, 20:14, Drama |
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Select Films From the Dec.12th Screening
chicken - Anna Benner, Germany, 8:03, Animated You Dare - Antonella Desini, Germany, 4:40, Music Video I am Her - Rosh Zeeba, Germany, 12:36, Experimental Coldsores - Ina Morken, UK, 11:13, Comedy What flowers are taken to a grave? - Elena Gilda, Spain, 16:18, Documentary Cá ndeachaigh Mé? - Fionnuala McCormack, Étáin Sweeney, Northern Ireland, 5:42, Experimental Conflict of Meanings - Soore Vahe, Iran, 5:00, Experimental Sunburn - Uma Chaghaghi, Germany, 11:37, Horror Through my skin - Giorgia Bovo, Germany, 17:05, Dance |
GRRL HAUS is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting artists, hosting screenings, and advocating for underrepresented voices in film. Proceeds from the online screening directly support our mission to uplift these artists, create meaningful programs for them, and bring unique stories to our audiences.
The screening is available to rent internationally for $12 until the 20th. Share the experience by gifting access to someone who might not be able to afford it. Your support helps GRRL HAUS continue its mission—thank you for being part of our creative community!
The screening is available to rent internationally for $12 until the 20th. Share the experience by gifting access to someone who might not be able to afford it. Your support helps GRRL HAUS continue its mission—thank you for being part of our creative community!
