This is an absolutely beautiful story. It has both a deep, powerful message - the last line brought tears to my eyes at the final - but great humour also ("I'll be your red flag" etc were great!). The balance is perfect - the interesting story and the humour carry the viewer along to the end, enjoying it all the way, until they are hit by the "punchline", the actual message of the film, what is really going on - which is a complete surprise - and this impacts so well because of all that excellent leadup, and the fact that it takes the audience by surprise. And the story being told in song takes it to an even higher level. Utterly brilliant.

It's a fun, quirky animation with fun songs that takes on the race against the clock in an interesting way. I have watched the short a few times now, and it's been enjoyable every time.

Have you ever lost someone close to you too soon? I'm meaning a spouse, a child, a sibling. Sitting here reflecting about my younger sister's death who passed from an accident when she was only 22 I'm telling you now the void of despair is more painful than anything you can ever imagine. Aligned with that I was absolutely blown away by how THE SHROUD was one of the very few films in the entire competition in 2025 that took a massive swing for the fences, and knocked their source material out of the park.

Here we have a modernistic yet grim naturalistic take on a deep cut from the German maestros. The driver of the beautiful haunting avant-garde tale being a shout for a missing child and swirling spiraling nothingness that sonically induces viewers to sit up and take notice as the film takes us on an undeniable pilgrimage down the river of grief.

There is a lot to unpack here. Metaphors for days run in abundance from rivers and lakes working as the flow of tears, to the pride of the family on a literal mountain as their precious future has been cruelly taken away instead being taken down to rocky ground.

Death makes life stand still and grasp onto those we know, cherish and love and Jake The Sound Guy absolutely nail a film that has a unique vision and knows how to get there. The subtext isn't even thinly veiled, we quite literally get the most disturbing image of this year's comp through a heavy veil.

But you know what? The filmmakers also present hope. They show that collective healing will heal all wounds, and nature as a whole will always run its course. To take the message from the source material and uplift it in a way that called to mind THREE MONKEYS and SATANTANGO quite genuinely blew me away.

It's a tight film, with not an inch of space wasted in the academy windowed shots that always direct the eye curiously to explore the true meaning of the silhouettes and backdrops, technology be damned. The audio is raw for its soundscape, trickles and waves and greenery coming to the fore. Stillness might be the name of the game visually, yet Jake knows what's up to make sure we are listening to what the film is really saying. Bravo.

PlanetFox! I've been a big fan of your films for a very long time. I may not have always reviewed them but trust me I watched them, and your zany storylines, incredible makeup and fantastic technical skill has always seen me view you as a team with massive potential.

I take my hat off to you for this well deserved grand finalist film; one of the best scripts of the year and it rightly brought the house down at the Embassy.

There's a genuine knack to shooting an outdoor film in 48Hours and the key aspect rather than just getting a nice looking cinematic location is knowing how to frame for natural lighting. Here you got everything so absolutely bang on with your desolate landscape that I truly believed we were in the midst of the wild west gold rush era with bandits and most wanted signs aplenty. Costuming was pitch perfect too.

A horse allergic to an apple and replaced with a pantomime goggle eyed filly costume with the killers inside? Yeah the setup was absolutely gold, and the jokes hit throughout.

I honestly didn't see the ending coming and felt that it was pitch perfect classic kiwi humour which I'm all about in this competition.

Fuck the haters, you don't need to change a thing to make a more serious toned film for this competition to 'do better'. Guerilla incredibly strange film making at its finest.

This is such a sweet story with a lovely message. I think the most wholesome 48 hour film I've ever seen and a well deserved win for the competition this year! The ladybug and spider are both so cute.

It's always excellent when people act as themselves - when children act as children, and old people act as old people. I loved how the actors were happy to make fun of themselves, and lean into the caricature of old people in a rest home. It was a very fresh film because the actors and the setting were so different to anything else. Very enjoyable to watch, and it would have been even more enjoyable to make!

I saw this at the Grand Finals and was impressed.
To stand out at that level is tough, but this was classy in every aspect.
Strong story, well-acted, well-shot, and hit all the marks it set out to.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and want to congratulate the team behind it. Superb.

Such a great film. An absolute standout at the Grand Finals.
The story was well set up, and the actors took us with them beautifully.
Cinematography was crisp throughout.
Well worth a rewatch, or two

Horror movie vibe. Unsettling. No jump scares.