Ethan Twardosz

  In the overwhelming rush of modern life, a young soul retreats into a quiet, inner world where memories of nature, stillness, and forgotten rhythms offer a gentle path back to selfhood.

 Ixchel is an animated short inspired by Mayan culture, following a young girl who, after touching a painting at her elder’s grave, is transported into a surreal world drawn from the Popol Vuh. There she witnesses creation, gods, colonization, and the fragility of heritage. Awakening with purpose, she devotes her life to preserving her culture, becoming the elder who guides the next generation.

 Peek is a thriller set during a Bionic crisis, where a lone survivor leaves his apartment and meets two strangers in an abandoned tunnel. Driven by paranoia, he searches them for signs of artificiality, but his obsession blurs survival with desire, revealing the traps of isolation and perception.