Pleasure Dora – A glitchy AI love companion from the 'semi-mature' range and her lonely final customer confront mortality, second chances, and life on the scrap heap.
Riverbound - The storybook has just begun – Yak, is a former pro guide and expert kayaker, now a paraplegic due to a canyoning accident. Can packrafting give Yak the freedom to run rivers again. How will he fare in the thundering Class 3 rapids of the Upper Buller Gorge? Does packrafting have the potential to enable an even more diverse range of users to competently run rivers...
Lookout – A teenager’s hike to spread her Mother’s ashes takes a sinister turn.
Allergic to Avocados – A dad films a goodbye to his son, trying to remember everything the son needs to know, before he carries out a dare which will show whether or not people really care.
Ruru – Deep in the forest, Pip is forced to confront her fear of the dark as she reluctantly embarks on her school camp’s Burma Trail. Trekking alone through the night with only a rope to guide her, Pip is stalked by the greatest monsters of the forest, mean girls Holly and Georgia.
Parasocial – David, a lonely office worker, becomes obsessed with a charismatic live-streamer, Too Quick. What starts as admiration spirals into a desperate need for recognition, pushing David to sacrifice everything for a fleeting moment of validation. As reality and digital illusion blur, his obsession culminates in a shocking, live-streamed act exposing the dark side of parasocial relationships and online fame.
My Years of Fear and Trembling – After writing a novel inspired by her relationship with her mother, Taiwanese New Zealander Alina Wang must learn how to separate from a complicated and destructive relationship.
Bottle Money – 16-year-old Nelson plays parent to his younger siblings while their unstable and unreliable Mum wreaks havoc on the household. As the chaos of their world increases, Nelson must decide: how much longer can he stand to love her?
Homecoming – A transgender woman returns home to finally come out to her parents, but as dinner spirals out of control, her anxieties manifest in sinister ways.
Nest – A trans body-horror about a reluctant mother-to-be who, struggling to accept the pregnancy she has to endure, has a deeply shocking labour experience. But when faced with her husband’s disgust at what she has birthed, she’s forced to take drastic measures to reconcile with who she has become.
Heads or Tails? – Josh’s parents have recently gone through a divorce; Josh meets a girl who has been through similar experiences, however he has no way of contacting her after their first night together.
This story brings to life how fragile ‘grown up relationships’ are.
The fact that marriage has a 50% chance of working out is concerning and we follow Josh on his journey to realising that.
Reality Check – Two strangers clash online, but as the thread deepens, so does their unease about who they are and what brought them here.
Double Date – Eric and Jess are two good-looking individuals searching for love, who have been set up on a Blind Date. Unbeknownst to one another, they harbor a secret that they soon discover to be an extraordinary connection - all while navigating the complexities of being their "selves."
Befana – When an Italian folktale threatens her reality, a mother fights to protect her child from an ancient witch.