PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL SHORTFEST 2025 REVIEW! What would happen if the sun went away forever? This intriguing question is posed in French writer-director Hakim Atoui’s Goodbye Sun (Adieu Soleil). The story follows a family who are awaiting the solar eclipse. The premise sounds like a Twilight Zone episode, which works for this 20-minute short.
“Little does the family know that these few minutes before the eclipse could well be the last that they’ll ever see of the sun.”
Luna (Amy Frignac) is hyped to see the total eclipse of the sun with her brother Julien (Milo Palacci), her brother’s girlfriend Paula (Ambre Mussard), and her adoptive dads, Patrick (Éric Beslay) and Christophe (Clément Fenasse). It’s the end of an extremely hot summer, so everyone is anxiously waiting for the sun to disappear behind the moon. Little does the family know that these few minutes before the eclipse could well be the last that they’ll ever see of the sun.
Hakim Atoui and the cast make the plot so believable that you become fixated on what will happen next. You care for the family and their friends, hoping that they make it out okay. It’s a very interesting premise that ends abruptly due to the time constraints. I would love to see a feature-length version. As it is, Goodbye Sun (Adieu Soleil) makes you ponder the extreme weather events of recent times and what you would do in such a situation.
Goodbye Sun (Adieu Soleil) screened at the 2025 Palm Springs International ShortFest.
"…makes you ponder the extreme weather events of recent times and what you would do in such a situation."
