On December 4, Scandinavia House presents a special screening and film talk of a Danish qualifier for Best Live-Action Short Film at the 98th Academy Awards, alongside a newly-released short from the New Yorker: the sharp comedy Snipped, followed by a Q&A with director Alexander Saul and Producer Rebecca Pruzan; and the tragicomic documentary The Guy Who Got Cut Wrong, followed by a Q&A with director Dana Ben-Ari.
Snipped
Dir. Alexander Saul | Denmark, 2025 | 16 min
In Danish with English subtitles
“A darkly hilarious masterstroke with Oscar-Worthy comic timing”– A Jewish convert. A Muslim doctor. One holy snip and a whole lot of tension.
Hailed as “an absurdly poignant contender in the Oscar short film race,” the short follows Adam (Louis Bodnia Andersen)’s experience as a Jewish convert undergoing a ritual circumcision at a Muslim clinic in Copenhagen. Snipped explores the universal experience of coexistence through humor and shared rituals, with director Alexander Saul’s personal story and a unifying Muslim-Jewish score softening heavy themes into moments of laughter and trust.
Snipped‘s narrative unfolds in a cramped Danish clinic where a simple religious ceremony turns into an existential standoff. What begins as a sacred rite of passage quickly unravels into a study in discomfort, not just physical, but cultural, spiritual, and profoundly human. With a talented team including Oscar-nominated producer Rebecca Pruzan and Oscar-winning producer Kim Magnusson, the film already made a splash at this year’s HollyShorts Film Festival. Based on Saul’s own experience as a Jewish convert undergoing a ritual circumcision at a Muslim clinic, the film deftly navigates a minefield of cultural tension and bodily vulnerability, without ever losing its sense of humor.
The Guy Who Got Cut Wrong
Dir. Dana Ben-Ari | United States, 2025 | 21 min
In English
In this newly released short from The New Yorker, acclaimed writer Gary Shteyngart confronts his physical trauma with his signature blend of tragicomic bravado. The author opens up—with “pathos, humor, and props”—about his experience receiving a botched circumcision at age seven as a newly-arrived Soviet immigrant to Queens. This provocative and unexpected documentary is a meditation on the immigrant experience, masculinity, and betrayals by family, country and religion.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
Alexander Saul (b. 1997) is a Danish film director based in Copenhagen. His work navigates the realms of the realistic and the absurd, exploring themes of identity, belonging, and the human struggle to find one’s place. A directing student at Super16 (Class #14), he has made award-winning short films, including LOVESICK (2024) and SNIPPED (2025), which have screened at festivals such as HollyShorts, Nordisk Panorama, and the Odense International Film Festival. In addition to his filmmaking, he serves as an ambassador for PsykInfo, giving talks on mental illness and representation.
Rebecca Pruzan is an Oscar®-nominated Danish producer known for creating powerful, socially engaged films. With a background at national broadcaster DR, she now focuses on stories that explore urgent human themes. Films that aim to move audiences in ways data and headlines can’t. Her recent work includes IVALU (2022), nominated for an Academy Award, Lovesick (2024), Soulbird (2025), Remember My Name (2025) and the Oscar qualified short film SNIPPED (2025).
Dana Ben-Ari is a filmmaker whose work explores themes of identity and bodily integrity with the aim of giving visibility to overlooked dimensions of the diverse human experience. Her acclaimed first feature documentary, Breastmilk, examines the intimate politics of breastfeeding and sparked conversations around motherhood, intimacy, and cultural attitudes toward women’s bodies. The film was widely screened internationally and reviewed with acclaim by Variety and The New York Times for its honest, nuanced portrayal of a subject often hidden from public view. Her latest film, The Guy Who Got Cut Wrong, distributed by The New Yorker, follows novelist Gary Shteyngart’s journey of revisiting the trauma around his botched circumcision with warmth and candor.