Em & Selma Go Griffin Hunting

In an alternative 1930s, whilst other people focus on try to survive the Great Depression, Em (Milly Shapiro) has another concern. Her time has come. In accordance with the tradition of her bloodline, she must pass through the sacred rite of womanhood by killing her first griffin.

“Why are they so ugly?” she asks her mother Selma (Pollyanna McIntosh), who explains that the reserve where they live doesn’t really offer a suitable environment, and they have also suffered from too much inbreeding. She remarks that they should leave a few breeding males for next season. Em doesn’t really want to bother with them anyway. She’s set her heart on a queen. She recites griffin facts from A North American Bestiary. Selma hands her an ornate heirloom knife “carved from the bone of a thing too old for names.”

Screened at Fantasia 2025, Alex Thompson’s gorgeously rendered film could be lifted right off the pages of a bestiary itself. It’s in black and white – appropriately for the Thirties – and the removal of distracting colours enables the eye to more effectively take in textures and appreciate the work involved in creature creation. With no recourse made to generative AI, this is the real deal, full of detail and personality.

We meet two kinds of creature: the griffins themselves and the small, shrill wood nymphs, whose mating cries grab Em’s attention so that she suddenly goes running off after them, abruptly revealing the happy-go-lucky childishness she’s been trying to suppress. A lesson in the darker side of the natural world follows, but the empathy she finds for one of them signals a shift in narrative tone. Is she still ready to kill?

McIntosh is perfectly cast, easily embodying that ferocious sense of duty that we tend to call masculine. She has no real idea why things have to be done this way, only that this is how it has always been, and her emotional rigidity leads her to agonising places. Em is at that critical point in life when it might be possible to chart a different course, but at what cost?

The sheer quality of this short has to be seen to be believed. It really is a cut above the competition, and deserving of serious attention. It stands up well against any big budget, feature length fantasy tale to date, so catch it if you can.

Reviewed on: 05 Aug 2025