Psynema Brunch

Short film screening + Discussion | In English | Doors open 30 minutes before event start

Tickets 15€

At the door 17€

Some things are unbearable to say out loud — so we don't. We let a silence sit where a sentence should be, because we can't find the words, or we tell ourselves it's easier this way, kinder even. The Weight of the Unspoken is a Psynema event (“Brunch" edition) dedicated to that particular silence: the psychological cost of what goes unsaid, and what it costs the people who are waiting to hear it.

Join us for an exclusive preview of two new short films, both premiering in 2027, in conversation with their director — going beyond the screen to explore the psychology behind them.

In Verified, set in a near-future Britain where a survivor's testimony isn't enough — where the law demands a male witness to confirm what she already knows happened to her — Peter is asked to speak, to say what he saw. His hesitation is the film's real subject: not villainy, but the quiet, corrosive gap between believing yourself a good person and saying what a good person would say.

In Your Choice to Leave, the unspoken takes a softer, sadder form. On their last night at boarding school together, Daniel and Max talk around the goodbye they can't face — packing bags, filling silences, saying almost everything except the one thing that would make the loss real. It's a story about how we sometimes protect ourselves from grief by refusing to name it, even as it's already happening.

Two very different films, one shared question: what does it cost us — and the people waiting to hear it — when it's not possible to find the words?

Following the screenings, our host will be joined for a live conversation before opening the floor to a shared discussion — a space to reflect, connect, and process together what the films brought up in each of us.

The shortfilms:

VERIFIED

Content Warning: contains themes of immigration, displacement, friendship breakdown and emotional distress.

Duration: 18 mins

Produced, Written and Directed by Lara Czernecki

Co-Produced by Mariia Nesteruk

Executive Producer Lara Czernecki and Magia Films

Director of Photography Daisy Lilla Balmont

Sound Design and Audio Post Production: Kelsey Rushworth 

Starring: Ralph Macfadyen, Philip Bayntun, Jelena Krunity-Salako

Composer: Daniel Mihalev

Editor: Mrgank Purwar

YOUR CHOICE TO LEAVE

Content Warning: contains themes and references relating to immigration, displacement, friendship breakdown, sexual assault, pregnancy, abortion, reproductive control and emotional distress.

Duration: 15 mins

Produced, Written and Directed by Lara Czernecki

Co-Producers Marcel Stanek, Marius Hatteland-Dunn

Executive Producer Lara Czernecki and Magia Films

Director of Photography Walker Hull

Sound Design and Audio Post Production: Volt Motion Productions

Starring: Philip Bayntun, Sam Lawless

Composer: Pavlo Petrychenko

Editor: Finn Rowland