Greek Film Wins Best International Short at Toronto Film Festival

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Greek filmmaker Elia Karagianni’s short film Mammalia has won the Short Cuts Award for Best International Short Film at the 51st Toronto International Film Festival, which concluded on Sunday, September 20.

The jury described the film as “bold, visceral and formally assured”, praising its ability to transform the grotesque into something “disturbingly familiar” that reflects human behaviour and the contradictions of contemporary society.

The award carries a cash prize of C$10,000, which the festival awarded to each of the three winning films in the Short Cuts section.

Starring Romana Lobats and Maria Filini, Mammalia follows Antonia and Mavra, two women from different generations who live in an isolated house with companion animals.

Their fragile balance begins to collapse as everyday rituals gradually become mechanisms of control and domination. Within the closed ecosystem, the boundaries between the human and the animal world begin to dissolve.

Karagianni, born in Athens in 1995, lives and works between Greece and the Netherlands. Her practice spans cinema and visual art, and in 2024 she joined the artistic team behind Dryland, Greece’s contribution to the 60th Venice Biennale.

Her previous short film, Phélia (2020), premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival.

For Karagianni, Mammalia draws on childhood questions about biology and the body. The film also explores concerns surrounding excessive meat consumption and the exploitation of animals.

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