Candidate n°24
2026 · 2m
Directed by Hina Scholler
Genres: drama, experimental
Tones: contemplative, provocative
At a dance audition, candidate no. 24 confronts the beauty and femininity criteria imposed by a male jury. Defying the male gaze, she takes back control of her body and image, turning the audition into an act of resistance and freedom.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
The premise reads like every indie film about the male gaze made in the last decade—earnest, correct, and safe. I'd need to see Scholler actually *subvert* the audition format itself, not just have the dancer refuse it; otherwise it's resistance theater, not cinema.
Scholler positions this squarely in the lineage of body-as-text performance work and feminist cinema, with the two-minute constraint forcing real economy in how she visualizes the confrontation—a formal problem solved with discipline.
The power lives in whatever choice Scholler makes in that final gesture—whether it's how the dancer moves through the space, how the jury is framed, or a single cut that recontextualizes what we're watching. That's where a two-minute resistance film either becomes hollow or becomes essential.