At first glance, there’s a very dark tone to the films that make up the Berlinale Shorts of 2024, which begin unspooling today. War, violence, regret and recrimination all ripple throughout the titles, reflecting a feeling of a society being broken. But dig deeper, and the flicks offer new ways of looking at the world, of trying to find new means to communicate. Even when we are at odds, there are still different ways of experiencing the world and attempts to try to understand another point of view. That, at the very least, offers a glimmer of hope for a brighter future.

A motif of animals runs throughout many of the films, indicative of a world in which there is surface familiarity but very different – and sometimes unknowable – ways of interpreting the world. Certainly, the majestic Preoperational Model by Philip Ullman (Netherlands) is an animation that explores ways of becoming cognisant about the world and its power structures. Beginning with a queen and a maid, the narrative structure shifts, all the while utilising a realistic animation style that feels very “uncanny valley”. On the surface, the film disturbs, with a slight sense of nightmare logic; yet there’s also a feeling of hope and of strange comfort, and it’s a movie that lingers on and on.

Less anthropomorphic (aside from our protagonists’ inner dialogues being placed on screen as subtitles) is the animation Lick a Wound by Nathan Ghali (France), in which a group of animals, now separated from humanity, ruminate on the nature of their relationships with their former owners. Also utilising a realistic aesthetic, this is a tellingly dark examination of abuse and regret, all set within a dystopian world. With machinima being popular within the world of shorts thanks to the likes of directing collective Total Refusal, Mili Pecherer’s We Will Not Be the Last of Our Kind (France) re-imagines the narrative of Noah’s Ark as a corporate restructuring of humanity. Utilising modern video-game aesthetics, the film deals with the clash between the old moral certainties of religion and the modern uncertainties of capitalism in an often-satirical take on modern viewpoints.

War is an unavoidable subject in today’s day and age, and two documentaries deal with conflict in very different ways. Unwanted Kinship by Pavel Mozhar (Germany) sees a Belarusian-born filmmaker explore testimonies of current Russian war crimes in Ukraine. Raw and powerful, its refusal to show scenes of actual violence making it even more disturbing, the film is not only an indictment of war crimes, but an exploration of the filmmaker’s own complicity owing to his heritage. City of Poets by Sara Rajaei (Netherlands) is a much gentler – but no less powerful – account of a country beset by war and oppression, in which found footage speaks of lost happiness and a hope displaced.

Two other raw documentaries are Baldilocks by Marthe Peters (Belgium), in which the director bravely examines her childhood cancer and how it has subsequently affected her life, and City Museum/My Paradise by Boris Dewjatkin (Germany), a paean to the chaos of Berlin city life and its resistance to the order imposed by society.

More concrete hope is offered by two films in which chance encounters prove that humans can get along when they want. Wandering Bird by Victor Dupuis (Belgium) is a beautiful and meditative piece about listening as well as letting go, while Bye Bye Turtle by Selin Öksüzoğlu (France/Turkey) is a wonderfully observed story of a fateful encounter between a young girl and a young woman, which delves into reckoning with the past as well as touching upon the role of femininity throughout the generations.

Other films in the selection include the animations Pacific Vein by Ulu Braun (Germany) – a bold and brassy satire of the American Dream – and Tako Tsubo by Fanny Sorgo and Eva Pedroza (Austria/Germany), a more subtle but no less humorous piece about a man deciding to give up his heart. The Moon Also Rises by Yuyan Wang (France) explores the clash between modernity and tradition with a distinctive visual flair that straddles the line between dystopia and future wonder.

The full list of films screening in competition at Berlinale Shorts 2024 is as follows:

An Odd Turn - Francisco Lezama (Argentina)
Baldilocks - Marthe Peters (Belgium)
Bye Bye Turtle - Selin Öksüzoğlu (France/Turkey)
Circle - Joung Yumi (South Korea)
City Museum/My Paradise - Boris Dewjatkin (Germany)
City of Poets - Sara Rajaei (Netherlands)
Goodbye First Love - Shuli Huang (USA)
Kawauso - Akihito Izuhara (Japan)
Lick a Wound - Nathan Ghali (France)
The Moon Also Rises - Yuyan Wang (France)
Pacific Vein - Ulu Braun (Germany)
Preoperational Model - Philip Ullman (Netherlands)
Remains of the Hot Day - Wenqian Zhang (China)
Sojourn to Shangri-La - Lin Yihan (China)
Tako Tsubo - Fanny Sorgo, Eva Pedroza (Austria/Germany)
That’s All From Me - Eva Könnemann (Germany)
Towards the Sun, Far From the Centre - Luciana Merino, Pascal Viveros (Chile)
Unwanted Kinship - Pavel Mozhar (Germany)
Wandering Bird - Victor Dupuis (Belgium)
We Will Not Be the Last of Our Kind - Mili Pecherer (France)