Szypliszki
2025 · 15m · United States
Directed by Jordan Axelrod
Genres: comedy, LGBTQ+, romance
Tones: humorous, tender, whimsical
Sam, a middle-aged romantic en route to a Polish village to meet his perfect match, spends an overnight layover in Queens with his niece and her girlfriend.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
A rom-com about a guy flying to meet his algorithmic soulmate in Poland should be pure treacle, but Axelrod somehow uses the niece's queerness and Queens as a counterweight—less subversive than it thinks, but at least it refuses to play the setup straight.
There's a considered tonal balance here between romantic earnestness and family comedy, though it treads familiar ground in the lineage of indie romance; the film's restraint in not overplaying the cultural-mismatch angle suggests a directorial hand aware of what it's resisting.
The genius move is making the niece and her girlfriend the emotional core rather than the romantic lead—one structural pivot and suddenly a tired premise becomes about who gets to want what, and the whole thing breathes differently because of it.
Festivals
- Palm Springs International ShortFest 2025, Best U.S. Short
- Oxford Film Festival 2026, People's Choice Award
- Fort Myers Film Festival 2026, Best Short Film
- Rooftop Films Summer Series 2025
- Nashville Film Festival 2025
- Tacoma Film Festival 2025
- IFFBoston 2026
- Atlanta Film Festival 2026