Every Living Breathing Moment: The Short Film You Need To Watch

Picture this. You’re standing in a train with a camera in hand. You have one last photo left to take. Who do you turn to? A best friend? A stranger? A love interest? A family member? Each choice leads to a different story. That simple premise—quiet and universal—is the heartbeat behind Every Living, Breathing Moment, a short film that has captured the internet’s attention through its emotional sincerity and bold, poetic filmmaking.

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At the helm is Gen Z filmmaker Angelo Visser, a director, writer, editor, and producer who is quickly becoming known for his deeply personal, visually striking work. Shot with a small crew and big ambition, Every Living, Breathing Moment first went viral on TikTok before finding a second life through short film platforms and fan praise online.

“There were so many days when it was just me, the cinematographer, my friend, and our actor, just running around Seattle,” Visser said in a recent interview. 

The film revolves around Tom, a quiet, introspective man whose reality, dreams, and memories blur across three visual planes—everyday realism, dreamlike metaphor, and flamenco-fueled fantasy. According to Visser, balancing those three layers was one of the most complex parts of post-production.

“It was kind of a puzzle,” he explained. “Some people watching them might not be fully gamed to be like, ‘Let me figure out what’s actually happening.’”

He credits his composer, Grant, for helping to re-structure the film’s emotional arc and refine its transitions through music, allowing the film to breathe between moments of quiet realism and expressive surrealism.

Visually, Every Living, Breathing Moment feels tender and alive—thanks in part to a production style that prioritized emotion over perfection. “We prioritized giving time to actually have it filmed and not setting up crazy external lighting,” Visser said. Instead, he worked closely with his cinematographer Elijah to capture natural light and build mood in post-production. “He’s so good in color in post and can literally make things look amazing.” The result is a soft, intimate color palette that pairs perfectly with the emotional nuance of the story.

The film’s most memorable visuals come from unorthodox choices and bold symbolism. One sequence shows Tom walking beneath Seattle’s towering Hammering Man statue. “Tom is literally just walking through the shadow of this big corporate worker,” Visser explains, describing the moment as a metaphor for conformity and emotional isolation. In another, the filmmakers use a series of match cuts—subtle visual transitions that mirror Tom’s state of mind. “We’d be about to film, and we’d be like, wait, let’s get the match cut... Kolton had that kind of tilted expression... it was very fun,” Visser recalled. These moments, often planned on the fly, lend the film a dreamlike rhythm.

The apartment dance scene—shot by candlelight—is arguably the film’s emotional center. “It’s so good,” Visser said.

“The story of it... represents his loss and his needs.”

While not essential to the plot, it captures the quiet yearning that defines Tom’s journey, and Visser’s ability to prioritize feeling over form is what gives the film its lasting impact.

That emotional authenticity also came from necessity. With no budget for professional dancers, the team leaned on friends—many of whom came from hip-hop or theater backgrounds—to help choreograph the film’s flamenco scenes. “It was so weird... trusting that was going to work,” Visser admitted. But the lack of formal training actually lent the scenes a more raw, sincere quality.

The final train scene, which ties the whole film together, was filmed in a sweltering monorail car during a Seattle heatwave. With no AC and only a one-hour window before street performers outside began making noise, the crew rushed to get the perfect shot.

“We’d open the doors... I was like, okay, how many more takes or angles can I like really request from these people?” Visser said, laughing.

Despite the pressure, the scene remains one of the most powerful in the film—quiet, simple, and emotionally loaded.

The journey from script to screen took nearly 18 months. Visser began writing in December 2023, filmed in July 2024, and released the film in May 2025. Since then, it’s drawn praise from around the world.

“I’m from Italy. I love this, and it’s been so inspiring,” one viewer commented.

On Letterboxd, fans called it

“one of the best scores I’ve heard in a film this short,”

and praised its message about embracing the moments life offers before they slip away.

Though he’s still early in his career, Visser’s approach to filmmaking feels timeless. He doesn’t wait for perfect conditions, perfect equipment, or a large team—he builds stories from what’s available, leaning into instinct and emotion rather than formula.

“I didn’t know all the rules,” he says, “and that was kind of freeing.”

Every Living, Breathing Moment may be short, but it lingers. It reminds us that we’re all walking around with unseen stories, moments of love or pain or wonder, waiting to be noticed. And sometimes, all it takes is the courage to look up—with a camera, or without one—and see what’s right in front of you.

xoxo, Anisha Dwarka, Content Director