Whilst short films remain a vital outlet for dealing with the pressing issues of the day – thanks to a relative short turnaround time when compared to features, they can often capture the zeitgeist much more immediately than their full-length cousins – they can also focus on the personal. Many of the European shorts that have screened in competition as part of Venice’s Orizzonti section this year showed how individuals try to live their daily lives as seismic events shake the world as it turns.

Unavailable by Kyrylo Zemlyanyi (Ukraine) follows Serhii, who, after the first few months of the war, is working in a humanitarian warehouse in western Ukraine. On the day his mother flees an area occupied by Russian invaders, the telephone connection is lost. With bad news flowing out of the region, Serhii is left to wonder about whether his mum has made it out alive. This is a powerful piece of work, dealing with the uncertainty and shock that many Ukrainians live through on a daily basis, with information becoming as scant a commodity as food. But the film also illustrates how people adapting to war becomes an everyday scenario, a state which is both heroic and tragic.

Looking at a past conflict is The Lifeline by Hugo Becker (France). Set during World War I, the film focuses on a truck carrying mail. The vehicle also contains a dead man as well as another man and a woman who swear they are on a postal mission. As the truth of their claims is investigated, the reality behind their situation becomes apparent. This is a drama with high production values – it’s impressively shot in black and white – and some powerful acting that works both as an intricate thriller and as a personal view of the horrors of war.

It’s a similar situation for Coyotes by Said Zagha (Palestine/France/Jordan/UK), in which a Palestinian surgeon drives home after a long night shift. Soon, a detour will change her life forever. This is initially an elegant noir-type thriller, elegantly shot at night time, which ripples with energy and suspense. But outside of its core story, it’s also a reflection of what happens when people are pushed to their limit, and is a charged and timely piece of work.

More low-key is the Swedish offering Without Kelly by Lovisa Sirén, in which young mother Esther is faced with the prospect of leaving her young child with the kid’s father. Separated from her daughter for the first time, our protagonist tries to find ways of controlling her sense of emptiness. This is a clever and subtle piece of work that plays with genre clichés to examine the power of the love between and a mother and child, and the lengths to which people will go to keep a bond intact.

Other European offerings in the Venice short-film competition include I Hear It Still by Constance Bonnot (France), the powerful story of a young girl confronted by her father’s illness; Kushta Mayn, My Constantinople by Nicolò Folin (Italy), in which two inseparable Jewish teenagers flee the massacres of Central Europe to Venice in 1563; and A Soil A Culture A River A People by Viv Li (Germany/Belgium/China), a film set in a dystopian future where the borders between countries are indefinitely closed and a replica of Hannover becomes the only way to experience Western culture.

The full list of films vying for the Orrizonti Award for Best Short Film is as follows:

Norheimsund - Ana Alpizar (Cuba/USA)
Merrimundi - Niles Atallah (Chile)
The Lifeline - Hugo Becker (France)
I Hear It Still - Constance Bonnot (France)
Kushta Mayn, My Constantinople - Nicolò Folin (Italy)
Praying Mantis - Joe Hsieh, Yonfan (Taipei/Hong Kong)
A Soil A Culture A River A People - Viv Li (Germany/Belgium/China)
The Origin of the World - Jazmin Lopez (Argentina)
The Curfew - Shehrezad Maher (USA)
Lion Rock - Nick Mayow, Prisca Bouchet (New Zealand)
Saint Simeon - Olubunmi Ogunsola (Nigeria)
Without Kelly – Lovisa Sirén (Sweden)
Coyotes - Said Zagha (Palestine/France/Jordan/UK)
Unavailable - Kyrylo Zemlyanyi (Ukraine)