They Come From The Sky
2023 · 6m · USA
Directed by André Cherkassky Pilli
In a distant-future old-growth forest, two sisters are hunted by mysterious creatures as one falls gravely ill; the search for a cure leads to a revelation about their true identities.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
It's a solid sci-fi thriller, sure, but the identity twist lands a bit too neatly—the film knows exactly what it's doing, and that's almost the problem. I wanted it to be weirder, messier, something that actually resists your expectations instead of just flipping them.
Pilli works within the lineage of mythic sci-fi cinema—the forest as primordial space, the sisters as archetype—and the formal restraint (single location, minimal dialogue) recalls a rigor that feels deliberately positioned in conversation with Tarkovsky and contemporary art-cinema SF.
The real lift here isn't the twist; it's how the sound design and creature movement build dread in absolute silence, and then that one moment where the ill sister's breathing becomes the only thing you hear—a single technical choice that transforms the chase from survival narrative into something almost elegiac.
Reviews
Director Andre Pilli...generates a good deal of tension...takes excellent advantage of the forest.
A visually stunning short film where the photography truly stands out.