Oneiric
2026 · 20m
Directed by Malik Zenger
Genres: coming-of-age, drama, sci-fi
Tones: contemplative, surreal, whimsical
Four friends in a dorm common room daydream about a neural net that could drop them into any world — Troy, deep space, a fairy tale — until the quiet one's answer changes what the whole afternoon means.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
The setup screams predictable YA daydream montage—four friends, wistful sci-fi premise—until the quiet one's revelation flips the entire emotional register, which is exactly the kind of subversive pivot that makes me actually care about what these kids are thinking.
Zenger understands the lineage of contemplative ensemble cinema, threading the needle between Linklater's conversational realism and speculative science fiction in a way that feels formally deliberate, even at 20 minutes.
The entire film hinges on casting that quiet character right—one moment of vulnerability that recontextualizes everything before it—and if Zenger nails that single performance beat, the whole modest premise explodes into something resonant.
Reviews
Hochglanz, hohes Tempo, dicht erzählt, gute Story… Richtig starker Kurzfilm.