COYOTES (Short) | BFI Flare 2026
A Palestinian woman in trouble, danger lurking in the darkness on the road to Ramallah, and a tire iron.
Here at OBSCURAE, we've always championed short storytelling as the hunting ground for your next favourite filmmaker – and encouraged you not to skip the shorts programme! Welcome back to our Short Film Review Series, Sweet and Short.
I mean this as high praise (and with acknowledgement that I'm a total film snob cliché): COYOTES felt distinctly Lynchian. Its tagline could easily have been “a Palestinian woman in trouble”. If that pitch appeals to you, go and watch this immediately. In fact, just go and watch this immediately, regardless.
The David Lynch vibes are most obvious when we're watching the asphalt stretch out into the darkness in front of a moving car, in the way that the dialogue is so halting and filled with dread, and in the feeling of unfathomable danger that lurks at the periphery.
But I don't want comparisons to one of my cinematic heroes to get in the way of my praise for Said Zagha's direction. This film stands on its own as a kind of socio-political horror film. It does a lot with very few moving parts: two women, one man, and a tire iron.
I wouldn't like to spoil the plot more than that – but suffice to say that it plays its hand perfectly, delivering a story that feels very appropriate for the political moment. And let's be clear: that political moment is one in which it was impossible to make this film in Palestine – in which the film's director had no choice but to recreate his homeland elsewhere.
COYOTES, Zagha said in his introduction to the short, is a title simplified from the original Arabic title, which better communicates the idea of a tenacious species threatened with extinction. It's a powerful metaphor that's used perfectly.
I'd be remiss not to also mention the strong lighting choices, claustrophobic camerawork, and perfectly paced editing before the end of this review. It's solid, creative filmmaking in aid of a really gripping story.
Go watch it already. And spare a thought for the coyotes.
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