“Paralysis by Analysis," dir. Jolene T. Carter (2025).

At the center of Carter’s “Paralysis by Analysis” is a familiar, modern ache: the pressure to make the “right” choice, every time, about everything.

The film follows a perfectionist Ph.D. student who discovers artificial intelligence that can predict the outcome of her decisions. What starts as a relief quickly becomes a dependency. As she turns to the app for big and small choices alike, her life begins to unravel, raising questions that feel especially salient in today’s AI-saturated world.

Carter’s science fiction drama uses emergent technology to explore deeply human terrain: anxiety, overthinking, and the exhausting pursuit of control. It is a film about decision-making, but also about the emotional cost of believing you can optimize your way out of fear.

“Shotgun," dir. Quaran Ahmad (2025).

If “Paralysis by Analysis” is about the anxiety of choice, “Shotgun” is about what happens when someone else keeps choosing around you.

Ahmad’s short is an exploration of the emotional complexities of “situationships” and the fallout that can accumulate over time when clarity is delayed, affection is rationed, and expectations are left deliberately undefined. “Shotgun” is intimate and reflective, interrogating the quiet power dynamics that can hide inside casual romantic relationships. The work asks incisive, uncomfortable questions that many viewers will recognize immediately.

The film is less about villainizing either party and more about naming the costs: the unspoken terms, the deferred commitment, and how time eventually compels the argument neither person wants to have aloud.