16 minutes to solve a mystery that'll haunt you for days. Who is ELI?
A man awakens on an operating table with no idea where or even who he is. Armed with only one memory of a girl on a beach and a tattoo on his hand that reads "ELI," he must elude his captors and unravel the truth behind his missing identity.
Direction
Kwai packs more tension into 16 mins than most feature directors
Practical Effects
Grimy sci-fi aesthetic on a shoestring budget that genuinely works
Acting
Anders sells existential panic without a single backstory scene
Director
Josh Lee Kwai
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
David Anders later played Adam Monroe in Heroes, another character with identity issues and questionable morality. Typecasting? Maybe. Perfect casting? Absolutely.
This 2007 short arrived right when lo-fi sci-fi was having a moment—think Primer (2004) and the rise of affordable HD cameras letting indie filmmakers compete visually with studio fare.
US
