S.Q.R.T.

We always look forward to your films, and we certainly weren't disappointed this year! Great concept, well executed and the ending had us laughing out loud :)

Where to start!
Great wallpaper. Great set, costumes, overall vibe. I especially loved the ad portion of your film. Part of me kinda wanted the whole thing to be an ad with people phoning in to review, or the main character’s chaos chaos-ing in the bg of it or something, but mostly because the ad looked so great haha.
I really enjoyed the props on the lab side. His hat thingie, and the typey buttony thingie. Your films always have such wonderful locations, this one included. I’m so impressed every year by the variety of locations, costumes, and stories.
I think some of your other films have a little more depth/layers than this one, but depth isn’t always needed. Sometimes it’s just fun to watch a very endearing man in a woman’s body be tasked with something that requires an insane amount of training to do properly and go through an escalating amount of f-ing it up haha. I have a headcanon now that they actually do become friends and he’s baby’s godparent.
But as I’ve come to expect from your films, SQRT is expertly made. You seem to have a formula that works very well, and I’m so glad that we get to keep enjoying all the brilliance that are films by The Great Lake Film Society.

Coming in hot with retro nostalgia that calls to mind classic VHS intros by make a buck companies like Empire International and Troma Entertainment, Great Lake Film Society have once again knocked it out of the park with a fantastical short that has you yearning for the ‘what if?’ scenario they present.
Only here we get a better comedy of errors than I expect to see across the competition in 2026

After reeling in the audience with a catchy infomercial, complete with Wonka’s Chococlate factory-esque terms, the film quite literally gets into the groove to show the possibilities resplendent through the program. Who wouldn’t want to skip a parent teacher interview or avoid having to complete a pain in the ass task when leisure and procrastination are there at arms reach?

The thing with make a wish films of course is that the most successful ones either tell a Cinderella story, or go full monkey paw and chaos reigns. Without going into spoilers I loved that the team were able to put their own charming intelligent fun spin on proceedings and gave us an incredibly pleasing ending. Revenge is a dish best served after 9 months…

Funny also how darkly comic subject matter can work incredibly well with a short if you laugh it off with an oops, irrespective of the subject being death or destruction.

And I hope to goodness that painting wasn’t genuinely valuable. Because that gave me an audible gasp moment when the simple plan first started going awry!

There are some really fantastic moments throughout the film I’d like to highlight. The opportunity for self-reflection literally stares our protagonist in the face and yet that laugh it off moment makes us realise that you might possess a body but you can never truly possess a soul.

The warnings are there with a segue from warm inviting analogue pick up the phone footage to harsh impersonal labs. The literal audio alarms get interspersed with dutch angles as a central focus slips. But the fallacy of hubris comes quickly to the fore.

Really strong performances throughout, top notch production design and pitch perfect graphics where needed meant the film had a consistency that etched itself in your brain from the get go. For me the absolute standout component was the edit. Some of those cuts from wide to attention grabbing closeups were simply divine and combined with buttery smooth camera work meant every frame was a pleasure to watch . And the audio was literal music to my ears.

Given POSSESSOR is one of my favourite films of the decade so far I lapped up the film which also reminded me a great deal of Yorgas Lanthimos’s little seen ALPS. A perfect merger of the concepts of 2 great films, but uniquely its own beast and a great 48 hours film. The amazing ending was the cherry on top.

Another great film form our favourite Taupō filmmakers. Great premise, high production value, spot on acting, great quirky script - just how we like it. Nailed it again.

The two things I love most about GLFS is their extremely detail-oriented art direction and their ability to absolutely commit to weird ideas. Just look at their 2024 film, Loose End, which took a bizarre concept and unsettling pace right to third place at the Nationals.

This year’s film opens up with some of the best art direction I’ve seen so far in the comp. It’s hard to tell if the conceit or location came first for this segment as they're blended in such perfect harmony. The wall paper, the props, the costuming, the music, the colour grade and the VO - all perfection. I would have loved to have a bit more sound design in these part however. I think he scenes could have been elevated somewhat by the droning sounds of a treadmill, a vacuum cleaning in the distance and maybe something to make those flash transitions feel a bit crunchier.

The introduction of “real world” by framing the television, and using the scientist’s movement to pan around to the liminal set was absolutely inspired and peak GLFS. You guys are masters at thoughtful framing and camera work that drives the story forward. Last year you surprised us with the cat burglar in the gallery and that moment (you know what I’m talking about) is that moment for me. I love this so much because there is nowhere to hide in the edit. You committed to the shot, knew it would work and let the action do the heavy lifting.

In this room the art direction is once again superb. Not even sure what I’m looking at exactly - a 16mm projector? Whatever it is, it captures that retro-futuristic aesthetic so well. Still bamboozled that we both made films about brain-scanning helmets this year. Ours didn’t require quite as many cables, however, so I can only assume our tech is more advanced.

It’s hard not to think of Eternal Sunshine as we move into her world. The chaotic reversed music (which incidentally also reminds me of the Mike TeeVee sequences from the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory), the projection in front of our hero. It’s a great entry into this other life.

Personally, I would have liked an alternative to the *pop* sound design for her avatar embodiment, but that may only be because, after working at What Now for years it has child-like implications.

In the art studio we ONCE AGAIN see this art direction at full strength. Wonderful little reel-to-reel deck there, a full space popping with colour and detail and idiosyncrasies.

The mirror shot is a wonderful little touch to orientate the audience and make sure we’re all on the same page. I also love that her head scarf mirrors the helmet. I’m not sure if it was intentional, but if it was - bravo.

We exit the woman’s world and are back in liminal reality. After watching this a couple of times I recognise now that the system seems to overdrive when the avatar pilot makes a grave error that may meddle with the client’s life. This is really clever and makes total sense. Didn’t catch it on my first watch though!

The room divider being what I assume was just a portable projector screen made me laugh. Such a nice little beat.

More bizarre antiquated technology for him to punch in numbers! No idea what this contraption is. Some kind of accountancy device? Where are you getting this stuff?? Or is this just regular modern tech in Taupo? I was mildly confused about how the hero managed to reinsert himself into this world after requesting it be done for him. Maybe it’s something I missed, but a small irk either way.

The tape/painting/rip moment REALLY made me laugh. A classic GLFS beat. The music stopping, the tear, the framing through the… frame. Really great.

The dark turn and the eventual double twist was excellent. I would have loved to have heard a piece of sound design that further reinforced the man was taking over the role of child birth. I thought the end was mildly disorientating as we were used to seeing him as the avatar pilot within her body, so to end on it actually being him made me second guess myself. I have decided to land on it being the audience seeing what he is feeling. The track across made me question whether he was in the same room on my first viewing. However, the ending really works and the potential open-to-interpretation nature of it (whether intended or not) works in its favour.

Another standout film from one of this competition’s most consistent teams. I expect to see this one at the Grand Finals.