Concorto Daily – August 24, 2026

A Sweet Day (Yek rooze-h shirin) – Omid Abdollahi

As seen by Elena Baldo

Presented at Locarno Festival in the section “Pardi di domani”, A sweet day by Omid Abdollahi offers a cross section of the life of an Iranian woman whose husband is detained as a political prisoner.

The protagonist gets ready for a conjugal visit: she takes the pillowcases from the marital bed, packs food to bring to prison, goes to the hairdresser to dye her hair to surprise her husband. However, when she arrives at the prison, a trivial bureaucratic error changes her life.

This short film sheds light on a neglected issue, i.e. not the conditions of prisoners, but that of their beloved ones, who are at home, waiting. Loneliness and uncertainty are constantly present, and despite the pain of losses, life goes on.

La Petite Chaise (Little Chair) – Jean Courtois
As seen by Virginia Marcolini

Eight-year-old Jacqueline writes a letter to her older brother, Jacques, who passed away before she was born. The small chair she hides beneath and often sits on is her only tangible memory of him, serving as her sole connection to his presence: everything Jacqueline knows about him is either imagined or drawn from her mother’s stories. Gradually, through a continuous succession of impetuous brushstrokes, Jacques’ presence is finally released into the world—incarnated in a grasshopper, in blades of tall grass, or finding its place in the gaze of a donkey. In a mere four minutes, the film manages to explore grief and the way absence shapes a family’s dynamics and silences, all captured with a child’s gentle delicate touch.

Thanks for Considering Me – Patrick James Verlin
As seen by Francesca Marchesini

What happens when jealousy enters a relationship? Patrick James Verlin’s short film explores how small cracks can often  turn into huge pits, filled with passive aggressive comments, fake smiles and unshared joys. Maxwell and Sophie are both actors but while Sophie begins to find success including a BAFTA nomination, Maxwell struggles with the feeling of  jealousy over her achievements. In a world where phrases like ‘wife of’ or ‘girlfriend of’ can still easily be found in the newspapers, the director decides to reverse the roles: can a man step into the background? Can he quietly accept being known as ‘the husband of’ or ‘the boyfriend of’? Can he accept the media completely downplaying his abilities while celebrating his partner’s success?

La Robe Peau (The Flesh Dress) – Joachim Hérissé
As seen by Laura Savoini

The fear of death, the refusal to age and the obsession with beauty are all themes cut, sewn and transformed into a fifteen-minute short film by Joachim Hérissé. The main protagonists of this story are Jean and Jeanne, an elderly couple of tailors who struggle to keep up with ever-changing trends. A third tenant lives with them, a big mirror that is carefully hidden behind a curtain to prevent Jean from seeing his own reflection, which embodies  his worst nightmare: the passing of time. Repudiating its inexorability does not lead to nothing but macabre consequences, and  Jean himself will have to deal with them.

Prochain Arrêt : Fontenay (Next Stop: Fontenay) – Charlyne Genoud
As seen by Anna Vullo

In a neighborhood bar the passing of time is marked by buses going by and by the habits of its regulars. Director Charlyne Genoud manages to carve out a space for herself in that somewhat suspended place and reveal its important social value.

Mal de Madre – Irene Baqué
As seen by Serena Varrucciu

“Everything is inherited,” repeat the women surrounding the protagonist, Lita—still a teenager, yet already weighed down by the folk traditions passed from generation to generation. Unchanging, immovable dictums that exude wisdom, but can just as easily become a cage for the one expected to carry them forward.

Every aspect of life is explained through folklore and superstition—entangled with a fervent Catholic faith—particularly those tied to womanhood. Lita is taught her role within society: to become the object of others’ gazes, and thus a future wife and mother, who, to be beautiful, must learn to endure the discomfort of heavy clothing or braid her hair so tightly it aches. She discovers a link between the menstrual cycle and the presence of lizards—creatures she has feared since childhood without knowing why. Yet she will come to realize that fear, much like expectations and superstitions, can also be inherited…