Without Kelly is Lovisa Sirén’s 15-minute Swedish short that won Venice’s Orizzonti Award and played Sundance 2026. Plot, cast, themes, where to watch.
Without Kelly (2025): The Swedish Short About One Night Apart From Your Baby
A young mother leaves her baby with the child’s father for the first time and spends the night searching for something she can’t name. Without Kelly (Swedish title Utan Kelly) is a 15-minute drama by Lovisa Sirén that won the Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film at the 2025 Venice Film Festival and then played at Sundance 2026. It is a quiet film about love, separation and desire, and it is easy to find under either title.
Quick Facts
| Detail | Info |
|---|---|
| Title | Without Kelly |
| Director / Writer / Editor | Lovisa Sirén |
| Cast | Medea Strid (Esther), Truls Carlberg, Teodora Sundström Latev (baby) |
| Producer | Siri Hjorton Wagner |
| Executive producer | Kim Magnusson |
| Cinematography | Christine Leuhusen |
| Music | Lisa Rydberg |
| Sound design | Claes Lundberg |
| Production / costume design | Greta Weibull |
| Production companies | (sic) film, Film Stockholm, SVT |
| Funding | Production funding from the Swedish Film Institute’s short film commissioner Axel Petersén |
| Runtime | 15 minutes |
| Country / Language | Sweden / Swedish |
| World premiere | Venice Film Festival, listed August 28, 2025 |
| Top award | Orizzonti International Short Film Award, Venice |
| IMDb rating | 5.8/10 from 46 votes (as listed on IMDb’s Sundance 2026 page) |
Watch the Trailer
I did find an official trailer maybe. For a 15-minute film this is common, and the best preview material is the festival pages and stills. Check Sundance’s film page, the Swedish Film Institute and the producer’s channels, and embed an official clip only if you can verify it.
Watch the Shorts
At the festival, Sundance’s own page for the film says it was available in person only and listed as not currently available. For current viewing options, see “Where to Watch.” Without Kelly is in the same program as other shorts if you want company for a festival-style evening, but each short stands on its own.
Synopsis
Spoiler-free.
The festival description: forced to leave her baby daughter with the child’s father, young mother Esther is caught in desperation and longing. Through the night she chases touch and comfort, seeking ways to hold onto whom she loves the most. A Sundance preview calls it a day in the life of a young Swedish mother who is separated from the child’s father.
Cinema Femme describes the structure as a single 24-hour period, lingering in moments often left unseen and observing its protagonist with empathy rather than judgment. The film is as much about Esther’s own wants (pleasure, attention, freedom) as about missing her baby.
Creative Team
- Lovisa Sirén (writer, director, editor): A Swedish filmmaker whose work centers on motherhood.
- Medea Strid (Esther): The lead performer in nearly every scene.
- Truls Carlberg: Credited in the cast.
- Teodora Sundström Latev: The baby seen on screen.
- Siri Hjorton Wagner (producer): Founder of the production company (sic) film. Sirén and Wagner have worked together for more than a decade, and this is their fifth collaboration.
- Christine Leuhusen (cinematography), Lisa Rydberg (music), Claes Lundberg (sound design), Greta Weibull (production and costume design), Lotta Fischer Levén (hair and makeup).
- Kim Magnusson (executive producer).
Festival Journey & Recognition
- Venice Film Festival, 2025: Premiered in the Orizzonti Short Film Competition and won the Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film.
- Valladolid (SEMINCI), October 2025: Its Spanish premiere.
- Sundance Film Festival, January 2026: One of 54 shorts curated from 11,480 submissions. It screened in Short Film Program 3. It was Sirén’s second Sundance appearance.
- Guldbagge Awards 2026: Nominated for Best Short Film. The winner was a different film, Dancing Pigeons.
- Göteborg Film Festival: Further screenings were scheduled there.
I found no Sundance prize for this short, so describe the Sundance entry as a selection, not a win. The headline credential is Venice.
The Origin Story
The film draws on Sirén’s own life. Cinema Femme describes it as rooted in her personal experience of becoming a mother at a young age, continuing her exploration of motherhood as a complicated force in women’s lives. She said she started with a longer story set over a week, then took the juiciest bits and put them into one day and night. That compression is why the film feels like a pressure cooker.
Producer Siri Hjorton Wagner said the short was also a career move. It helped Sirén keep working while financing a feature, and it built momentum for what came next. Hjorton Wagner also told the Park Record that readers might judge the mother harshly, but Sirén writes characters who are authentic and not rational, without softening them for the audience.
Visual Style
Christine Leuhusen’s camera stays close to Esther through the night. A reviewer on High On Films says the film shows discipline in staying inside its central moment instead of reaching outward for drama, with no added subplots or manufactured peaks. The Utah Review notes that breastfeeding is shown in a novel way that emphasizes intimacy. Digital Journal compared Strid’s performance to Natalie Portman’s in Closer. I did not find detailed commentary on format or color, so avoid specifics beyond these observations.
Key Themes
- Separation and longing. The central ache is of being apart from someone you love most.
- Female desire alongside motherhood. Esther wants touch, attention and pleasure, which the film treats as part of her, not a betrayal of her child.
- Judgment. The film asks audiences to watch a young mother without condemning her.
- Absence as a presence. A reviewer calls it a meditation on the ways love persists in absence.
- Identity. A Sundance profile frames it as a story of early motherhood, separation and the terror of rediscovering oneself.
Critical Reception
Reception is strong among festival critics and more mixed with general audiences. Digital Journal gave it a clear recommendation and High On Films praised its restraint. The Venice prize and Guldbagge nomination set a high bar. IMDb’s aggregated 5.8/10 from a small number of votes is lower than the critical response suggests, which is common for quiet festival shorts. I found no major trade reviews, so do not attribute quotes to Variety or similar outlets.
Where to Watch
- Swedish TV: The Swedish Film Institute said the film would be shown on SVT in the following year, and as part of a short film package via Folkets Bio.
- Festivals: It continues to travel, so check festival schedules.
- Sundance: The official page listed it as in-person only during the festival.
Director’s Journey
Lovisa Sirén (born 1986) is a Swedish screenwriter, director and editor. She made her feature debut in 2022 with Maya Nilo (Laura), nominated for Guldbagge Awards for Best Screenplay and Best Actress. Her earlier shorts, Pussy Have the Power, Audition and Baby, have screened at Sundance, Locarno and other major festivals, winning awards including Startsladden and Uppsala ISFF. Several earned Guldbagge nominations for Best Short Film.
Without Kelly is her biggest short-form success so far and continues her long-running interest in motherhood and intimacy.
FAQ
- What does “Utan Kelly” mean? It is the original Swedish title, meaning “Without Kelly.”
- Who directed Without Kelly? Lovisa Sirén.
- Did it win at Venice? Yes, the Orizzonti Award for Best Short Film in 2025.
- Did it win a Guldbagge? It was nominated, but another film won.
- How long is it? 15 minutes.