A Turtle In Times Square
2026 · 22m · United States
Directed by Daniel Florio
Genres: comedy, dark comedy
Tones: absurdist, darkly comic
Fired from yet another ice cream store and pressured by his fed-up girlfriend to find stable work, Toby interprets this as his chance to realize his secret dream career: becoming a Times Square mascot.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
A man's rock-bottom pivot to Times Square cosplay as a *genuine* life strategy—it's absurdist enough to work, and Florio seems to understand that the premise IS the joke, not despite it. Most scouts would dismiss this as too thin; that's exactly why it's worth the program slot.
The absurdist mode here risks undercutting itself without formal discipline; one wonders if Florio has the editorial restraint to sustain the conceit across 22 minutes, or if it devolves into sketch comedy rather than a considered meditation on low-stakes desperation.
The pitch hangs entirely on how Florio shoots Toby's conviction—whether we see real commitment in a single take, or a quizzical performance choice that makes the delusion legible. That performance decision is where this either lands or collapses.