Short films have always been cherished by BIFF and their importance has grown since 2004 when it became one of the film festivals able to nominate for the shorts oscars.

This year there are 25 short films ? some of them are showcased in 86 minutes of shorts ? featuring a typically eclectic mix of international locations and themes.

Today 30th of November is an upbeat short about a man with a very serious mission.

Cheerful Ali leaves his charming houseboat in Egypt and sets out to finally complete something which he tries to undertake once a year.

While the plot didn?t quite work for me as there are practically no twists in the tale the photography and soundtrack combine to make it a worthwhile diversion nonetheless.

Sam Friedlanders? Lucid depicts a frustrated American yuppie who turns into a washed up loser working the graveyard shift every time he succumbs to his narcolepsy.

Understandably frustrated he turns to a shrink who urges him to confront his fears by controlling what happens but the experiment goes horribly wrong.

Exploring what should be some truly haunting themes I didn?t feel gripped or engaged but was merely left slightly baffled.

The same could not be said of Azadi, Anthony Maras? harrowing tale of a teacher and his son who escape Taliban oppression in Afghanistan to start a new life in Australia.

But first they must survive a detention centre in the Outback which erupts into violence. This powerful claustrophobic effort will linger with you long after you have finished watching it.

Hattie Dalton?s The Banker couldn?t offer a bigger contrast.

Witty, charming and quirky it covers the mundane life of a sperm bank clerk who pays the numerous depositors who carry out their duties for 30 pound cash, egged on by some rather idiosyncratic stimuli.

The clerk then delivers the samples to his equally wan love interest in the fertility clinic. It works towards a really nice punchline. If it is possible to have a feel-good short about sperm doning then this is it.

Shorts work as well for horror as comedy as we see in in Avatar, a truly compelling Spanish effort from Lluis Quilez.

Covering the see-saw battle between a wheelchair-bound cripple and his murderous wife it edges neatly towards a superbly disturbing climax.

The last short, The Director, is slightly disappointing.

Mark Teitelman?s skit featuring director Ron Howard trying to direct baseball players into getting big screen attention is a one-joke effort which gets tired long before its four minutes are up.