Hept
2025 · 14m · Ecuador
Directed by Jorge Baldeon
Genres: animation, horror, sci-fi
A starving wanderer in a post-apocalyptic wasteland follows a trail of snacks to an untouched house full of food, only to realize too late that he is not the hunter but the bait.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Finally, a post-apocalypse that doesn't waste time explaining itself—just throws you into predator-prey arithmetic with the twist that the wasteland itself is the real angler. Most shorts would talk you to death; Baldeon lets the creature design and sound design do the actual hunting.
A formally austere fable that recalls the silent-cinema tradition of survival narratives, but filtered through contemporary animation craft; the restraint in dialogue and the measured pacing situate it firmly in lineage of allegory-as-spectacle, from Muybridge to contemporary art cinema.
The sound design decision—that choice to let ambient dread replace exposition, to let the creature's presence register before the visual reveal—transforms what could have been another scarcity-parable into something genuinely unsettling on a shoestring budget.
Reviews
A gripping animated short from Ecuadorian filmmaker Jorge Baldeon that explores isolation, hunger, and human instinct in a post-apocalyptic world.
Impresses through its moody animation style and psychological horror — an unsettling yet deeply compelling experience that lingers long after the credits roll.
Festivals
- Brooklyn SciFi Film Festival 2025