Henry Is a Girl Who Likes to Sleep

Berlinale Shorts 2026

“Dear Henry, I love you and I love who I am with you, with our small heads and our constant longing for sleep, or at least for a horizontal life.” The filmmaker writes her beloved cat Henry a letter, in search of something soft and tender to inhabit, a little fur as a quiet refuge of warmth to retreat into when the world becomes too loud. She questions the relationship with the animal she calls her pet and the implications of this hierarchy. Between rumpled bedsheets and constellations of freckles, a declaration of love slowly unfolds. What emerges is a collage of gestures, textures and pauses, vulnerability and care, closeness and rest. An ode to our captive pets and to the private worlds we build together.

Trailer/Film Excerpt

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by Marthe Peters (Director) Belgium 2026 Dutch 13' Colour World premiere | Documentary form

Crew

Director	Marthe Peters
Cinematography	Marthe Peters, Leon Decock
Editing	Marthe Peters, Leon Decock, Lennert De Taeye
Music	Maya Dhondt
Sound Design	Marthe Peters, Leon Decock, Michel Coquette
Producers	Marie Logie, Emma Kraak, Catherine Plenevaux, Boris Belay

Produced by

Auguste Orts

Brüssel, Belgium

Photos

Marthe Peters

The Dutch filmmaker lives and works in Ghent, Belgium after graduating from the city’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts in 2023. Her graduation film Baldilocks premiered in Berlinale Shorts and went on to screen at festivals including Courtisane, Karlovy Vary, Seminci Valladolid, Lago Film Fest and at the Barbican in London. Her work depicts her daily reality in an intimate way, focusing on the banal as something important and worthy as individuals search for solace and care for one another.

Filmography

2024 Kaalkapje (Baldilocks); short film 2026 Henry Is a Girl Who Likes to Sleep; short film

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2026