Alfie's Island
2023 · 11m · UK
Directed by Bertil Nilsson
Tones: contemplative, melancholic
Karim returns alone to a remote island that held deep significance during his past relationship with Alfie, seeking to free himself from lingering emotional echoes. When Alfie unexpectedly appears, Karim's cold, ghost-like exterior begins to thaw as buried memories resurface.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Karim returns to a special island and Alfie appears — minivan-crew lonely-queer-melancholy is its own subgenre at this point, and not one I miss when it's absent. Pass.
Bertil Nilsson on a minivan-and-six-person crew making island as third character — improvisational queer melancholy in the Andrew Haigh register. Modest scale, attentive ear.
Eleven minutes where Nilsson wrote, directed, AND shot the film himself with a crew of six from a minivan, mixing scripted dialogue with improvised scenes — that authorial-DP unity tends to produce a very specific patient visual sensibility. Landscape as third character is a familiar move but the production model gives it a chance.
Reviews
Bertil Nilsson's 11-minute short Alfie's Island is a solid indicator of the kind of innovative filmmaking we love to showcase, as the fresh and challenging approach is balanced by a relatable narrative with strong emotional foundations.
Festivals
- Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2025