Simon

The scouts

A video game NPC having an existential crisis about his creator — it's the kind of premise that makes you simultaneously groan and lean forward, and LSDavid commits to the bit hard enough that the surrealism actually lands. This is what happens when you take a joke seriously enough to break it into pieces.

The film sits uncomfortably between satire and genuine melancholy, which is precisely where its formal ambition lives; the narration and animation choices suggest a conversation with Black Mirror and Adventure Time, though it doesn't quite resolve what it's trying to say about control and authorship.

The decision to let a 13-year-old's creation logic drive the entire emotional arc — where the character's despair is literally the despair of someone still learning how to build worlds — transforms what could be a gimmick into something genuinely poignant.

Festivals

• Screamfest 2024