_The Sciolist_ (2024) is a short film so clean and fine-tuned you would never guess students made it. Ash (Tim Volynkin) is chilling, and hauntingly determined to take down his rival, Kelsi (Astrid Conlan), who steals the show in the film's climax. To say this is the neo-noir of the year would be an understatement: Delaney's screenplay precisely captures the spiralling misuse of technology in this current decade. Five stars!