Choose Love

Directed by Jakob Ström and represented by Directors Guild Helsinki, Choose Love stands out as one of the season’s most affecting short films, offering a cinematic exploration of what it means to return to oneself after years of silence. Made for Greek fashion label Karavan, the film invites viewers into the quiet, powerful moment when a woman returns to the home she once fled and encounters the younger self she left behind. Emotionally charged yet beautifully restrained, it reflects Karavan’s belief that storytelling can illuminate the emotional threads that connect us.

At the heart of the film is a woman who arrives at her childhood house after years of distance, expecting a simple visit but instead embarking on a tender excavation of memory. As she moves through familiar rooms, she discovers small artifacts and handwritten notes she hid long ago tucked behind picture frames, inside books and beneath mirrors, each one left by her younger self during moments of fear, shame or hope. These fragments guide her through vivid flashes of the past, from holiday nights fractured by arguments to the solace she once found in books and imagination, all rendered through Ström’s poetic and nuanced direction.

Through its visual poetry, layered storytelling and deeply human performances, Choose Love becomes a meditation on self-acceptance. The film captures a universal truth: we never outgrow the need for love, and sometimes the most profound journey is learning how to return to it within ourselves.