From Omeleto.

Garden gnomes battle an enemy.

FOREVER is used with permission from Unifrance. Learn more at https://unifrance.org/festivals-et-marches/1275/mymetastories/2025.

Directed by a team of filmmakers — Theo Djekou, Pierre Ferrari, Cyrine Jouini, Pauline Philippart, and Anissa Terrier — from France’s École Nationale Supérieure d’Ingénieurs, this rambunctious animated short turns the seemingly whimsical subject — the quiet lives of garden gnomes– into a surprisingly suspenseful battle over life and dominion, told with thriller-like tension, robust humor and terrific energy.

The storytelling begins in a cheerful and peaceful backyard garden, where brightly painted gnomes stand proudly among flowers and trimmed grass in quirky poses and scenarios. Bathed in sunlight and silence, their existence is static yet content. But their serene existence is disrupted when a golf ball arcs over a fence and lands among them, damaging one of their numbers beyond repair. More balls soon arrive, cracking statues, scattering fragments, shattering the calm, and the gnomes must band together to battle their unseen, nebulous yet powerful adversary.

Visually, the film is bright, fast-moving and eye-catching, full of vivid colors, gleaming textures, quirky flourishes and quicksilver movement and gestures. Told without dialogue, the dramatic musical score and sharp sound design deftly create and escalate the growing assault against the gnomes, capturing a growing cacophony of thuds, whistles, cracks and shattering. Combined with the story’s brisk pace, it all gives the short a rhythm that’s akin to a manic comedy.

When the battle spins into all-out war, FOREVER generates an almost operatic climax full of danger and thrills. It echoes the shock and awe of today’s action blockbusters, though it’s made almost satirical in how it’s carried out by a group of resourceful garden ornaments. With bravura and infectious spirit of fun, it also makes for a technically accomplished short, observing not just the heroic exertions of a group of fragile protagonists against a monolith, but the ferocity of a battle against change itself. Never underestimate how fiercely some will fight to maintain the status quo.

In partnership with Unifrance and its MyMetaStories festival, Omeleto presents a curated selection of films that embody fearless storytelling, artistic depth and the enduring elegance of French cinema.