PROGRAMME EV-X-12
2026 · 2m
Directed by Oscar Vaultier-Stolbowsky
Genres: drama, fantasy, sci-fi
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, surreal
Fleeing the dark world he lives in, a man uses a mysterious device contained in a strange briefcase, meant to transport his spirit to where beauty resides: Programme Ev-X-12.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Vaultier-Stolbowsky pitches a premise that could've been standard digital-afterlife wish-fulfillment, but the briefcase and that two-minute constraint force something weirder—a short that knows better than to explain itself, which is either refreshingly subversive or maddeningly opaque depending on your tolerance for unearned surrealism.
The contemplative register and melancholic tone suggest a filmmaker aware of the tradition of metaphysical sci-fi—echoes of Tarkovsky's patience—though the execution here feels more conceptual than formally realized, leaning on premise over the measured editing and spatial composition that would elevate it into genuinely considered work.
In two minutes, the choice to withhold what Programme Ev-X-12 actually *is*—letting the briefcase's glow and the man's expression carry all the weight—transforms a thin speculative concept into something that lands because of one sustained visual commitment rather than exposition, which is exactly the kind of restraint that makes small-scale work breathe.