Quenton Miller - We should let animals tell their own stories

Quenton Miller's short film Koki, Ciao is narrated from the perspective of, and actually spoken by, a parrot. Although we were only able to speak with the Australian director at the Berlinale 2025 and not with the 67-year-old bird, who once belonged to the Yugoslav head of state Josip Broz Tito - we still learned a lot of interesting things about the cockatoo.

Xabier Erkizia - Narrative layers creating worlds in sound

Basque sound artist and researcher Xabier Erkizia has been combining experimental music with sociocultural fieldwork since the 1990s. His work uses sound as a tool to explore memory, identity, and cultural change—such as in the participatory mapping project Soinumapa.net or through assembled industrial noises in installations.

Luciana Merino & Pascal Viveros - Discovering love in Santiago de Chile

Luciana Merino and Pascal Viveros are fascinated by poetic deviations in reality, such as when their camera captures a city through extreme wide-angle shots while life unfolds within it. From above and afar, they let us discover an unconventionally cinematic love story in Santiago de Chile.

İlker Çatak - Artists need to be free of existential worries

Director İlker Çatak (The Teachers' Lounge) has known from his early youth he wanted to do nothing but make films - even though this did not bring success or prosperity for a long time. In our interview, he reflects on this challenging time for him as an artist, explains how his perspective on short films has recently changed and why he believes that filmmaking, as well as cinema itself, can have a profoundly healing effect on us humans.

Jennifer Reeder - Short films are people, too

Nine years after our first interview, we're excited to welcome Jennifer Reeder back to Short Talks, and also to Berlin where she's been serving on the jury for Berlinale Shorts 2024. As a filmmaker, Reeder has made her mark at prestigious festivals like Berlinale, Sundance, and the Chicago Underground Festival, racking up awards for both her shorts and feature films.

Francisco Lezama - Weird results of human investigation

Argentinian director Francisco Lezama (Un movimiento extraño / An Odd Turn) met with Short Talks a day before winning the Golden Bear at Berlinale 2024 to share his views on film history and his life as a passionate artist who still has to earn money without betraying his artistic values.

Matthew Thorne & Derik Lynch - Ngapartji Ngapartji

With Marungka Tjalatjunu (Dipped in Black), the two Australian directors Derik Lynch and Matthew Thorne not only won the Silver Bear in the short film section at the Berlinale 2023, but also a Teddy Award as the festival's best LGBTQ short film.