Short films may lack the scale and sweep of their feature-length siblings, but the best of them offer a promise of perfection in miniature and a reminder that cinema is often an art of patience, precision and detail. These bite-sized gems combine imaginative daring with meticulous attention to craft and are a surefire way to improve your odds in the Oscar pool.

An Irish Goodbye (Tom Berkeley and Ross White, UK, 23 min) After their mother's untimely death, two estranged brothers discover her unfulfilled bucket list.

Ivalu (Anders Walter and Rebecca Pruzan, Denmark, 17 min) Ivalu is gone, and her little sister is desperate to find her somewhere in the vast Greenlandic wilderness.

Le Pupille (Alice Rohrwacher, Italy, 39 min) Freedom, devotion and anarchy flower in the minds of young girls at a strict religious boarding school for orphans.

Night Ride (Eirik Tveiten and Gaute Lid Larssen, Norway, 16 min) Ebba's tram home after a party takes an unexpected turn on a cold night in December.

The Red Suitcase (Cyrus Neshvad, Luxembourg, 18 min) At the Luxembourg Airport, a veiled 16-year-old Iranian girl is frightened to take her red suitcase off the baggage conveyor-belt.

Total program running time 1h45m