Many of the short films that will vie for the Palme d’Or in the Cannes Official Selection this year are made remarkable by their undertones of normality. In a fractured world in which events sometimes seem far out of our grasp, these films display people trying to live their lives in the best ways they possibly can. But normality shouldn’t be equated with banality, as the films use their air of the mundane to throw the world into sharp relief whilst all maintaining elements of surprise and the absurd.

One of the most eagerly awaited titles is the latest effort from Swedish animator Niki Lindroth von Bahr, whose The Burden premiered in 2017 in the Directors’ Fortnight and proceeded to win a clutch of awards at festivals across the world. Much like her previous work, The End is an existential and musical take on life as various creatures find themselves in an airport purgatory. The hint of the ridiculous is always tempered by an aching humanity made all the more ironic by the anthropomorphised characters (a bat who is also an airport cleaner is particularly brilliant) at the heart of the film. There’s genuine beauty and emotion to the offbeat world that Lindroth von Bahr creates, and the film will be an undoubted hit on the festival circuit in the months to come.

Also returning to Cannes is Portuguese filmmaker Daniel Soares, whose Bad for a Moment screened in the 2024 competition. His latest film, A Few Things Happening by a River, follows a body as it floats downstream and how people become too wrapped up in their own importance to notice. While it’s a pointed riposte to the solipsism of modern life, the film is never insistent, nor does it overplay its hand, and it’s an inventive and clever use of the short form.

Another returnee is Theo Montoya, whose short Son of Sodom bowed in competition in 2022. His latest, Thunder Platoon, is a reflection on a real-life story coming out of Colombia, according to which it was discovered that the army had murdered innocent civilians – often from minority backgrounds – under the pretence that they were terrorists. The short shows a group of soldiers celebrating after such an attack, and the blithe indifference and air of jubilation contrast with the horror of the reality. It’s a massive gut punch of a movie.

The Polish film Spiritus Sanctus by Michal Toczek sees its protagonist accidently find spiritual enlightenment in 1980s Poland during a trip made by Pope John Paul II back to his home country. It’s a subtle absurdist comedy in which the machinations of small-town life clash with the tenets of belief, and there’s a hint of Roy Andersson to be glimpsed throughout proceedings.

Much more in the realist mode is Tamara Todorović’s Nobody Said Anything, in which a mother must confront her young daughter and her friends after an incident between them. At first, this is a taut and claustrophobic family drama about guilt and responsibility. But the climax changes the film entirely, widening its scope yet tantalisingly still leaving questions to answer. It’s a quietly powerful piece of work that is brilliantly realised.

Two more animations also make up the selection. Sisters’ Swim by Lola Degove is an intimate piece about two sisters who head towards a nightswim following the death of their mother. It’s delicate in tone and style, yet has a wonderful rough edge in the spiky relationship between the siblings. The Last Spring by Mathilde Bédouet is also a beautiful evocation of a final school trip and the slide into adulthood, whose animation style has a sense of both realism and the dreamlike.

The full list of films in competition is as follows:

The Last Spring - Mathilde Bédouet (France)
Fresh Cut - Hadrien Bels (France)
Sisters’ Swim - Lola Degove (France/Belgium)
The End - Niki Lindroth von Bahr (Sweden/France/Denmark)
For the Opponents - Federico Luis (Chile/Mexico/France)
Thunder Platoon - Theo Montoya (Colombia/France)
The Dream Is a Snail - Thien An Nguye (Vietnam/South Korea)
A Few Things Happening by a River - Daniel Soares (Portugal/France)
Spiritus Sanctus - Michal Toczek (Poland)
Nobody Said Anything - Tamara Todorović (Serbia/France/Slovenia/Croatia)