The trailer for Meteorite, a three-minute short film that has captured a perfect 10/10 score on TMDb, is now making the rounds, and it’s already sparking conversation for its deceptively simple premise. Directed by Stephen Haring and released on June 22, 2025, the film tells the short story of a man and a meteorite, but the newly unveiled footage suggests the narrative is far more whimsical than that bare-bones logline implies.
The exclusive trailer, which debuted this week, opens with a striking visual juxtaposition: two women are shown attempting to smuggle mobile phones into a prison, but their escape route involves a dizzying journey through an amusement park. It’s a sequence that feels deliberately disorienting, weaving together the mundane urgency of contraband with the surreal, candy-colored chaos of roller coasters and carnival games. Haring, known for his lean, character-driven storytelling, appears to be playing with tonal whiplash here, and the early buzz suggests it works.
The film stars Robert Joy as Bob, the man at the center of the meteorite encounter, with Colby Clarke as a Child and Reine Faiad as a Stranger. While the trailer keeps the meteorite itself largely shrouded in shadow and reflection, it’s clear the object is the catalyst for the women’s strange pilgrimage. One brief shot shows a glowing rock cradled in a hand, its surface rippling like liquid metal, as the two women exchange a nervous glance on a Ferris wheel. The implication, unspoken but unmistakable, is that the meteorite might be the reason they’re running - or possibly the reason they’re smuggling at all.
“It’s a fairy tale about consequences,” a source close to the production said of the film’s tone. “The amusement park isn’t just a backdrop. It’s a memory, a threat, and a promise all at once.” That reading aligns with the film’s unusual structure: at three minutes, Meteorite has no time for exposition, so every image must carry weight. The trailer certainly leans into that economy, cutting from the claustrophobic interior of a prison corridor to the wide-open, sun-bleached lanes of a theme park, then back to Joy’s weathered face as he studies the sky.
Joy, a veteran character actor with a career spanning decades, brings a gravity to the role that anchors the shorter, more impressionistic performances from Clarke and Faiad. The child, seen in the trailer clutching a balloon shaped like a rocket, seems to be the only character who understands the meteorite’s true nature, while Faiad’s Stranger hovers at the edges, offering cryptic warnings. Haring has a reputation for coaxing quiet, resonant work from his cast, and the footage suggests he’s done so again, even in a runtime that barely outlasts a typical song.
The decision to spotlight the prison-smuggling angle in the trailer is a savvy one, as it immediately distinguishes Meteorite from the typical “man meets cosmic object” arthouse fare. There’s a kinetic, almost anxious energy to the two women’s flight - one of them keeps checking a cheap flip phone over and over, as if waiting for a message that never arrives. The amusement park scenes, meanwhile, are shot with a handheld rawness that makes the rides feel less like fun and more like a controlled fall. It’s a confident visual gambit, and one that explains why the film has earned universal critical acclaim on TMDb, with a rating that is rare for any production, let alone a three-minute short.
Haring has not commented publicly on the trailer, but his past interviews suggest a filmmaker who enjoys leaving breadcrumbs. In a festival Q&A earlier this year, he described Meteorite as “a story about how we measure time - in seconds, in rides, in the distance between two people who don’t want to be found.” That description now feels pointed, given the trailer’s focus on the women’s frantic journey. The meteorite, as the title promises, is the anchor, but the true subject might be the space between the characters and the choices that put them on that path.
The film’s original language is English, and it was produced within the Hollywood industry, a fact that underscores Haring’s ability to do a lot with a little. No distribution deal has been officially announced beyond the trailer’s release, but given the perfect score and the buzz from early screenings, it’s likely only a matter of time before Meteorite finds a wider audience on a streaming platform or a curated shorts program. For now, the trailer offers just enough to tantalize: a single meteorite, two smugglers, a child who knows too much, and Bob, the man who may be the reason any of it matters.
Whether the short will expand into a feature remains pure speculation. Haring has always resisted sequels and spin-offs, preferring to let his work stand alone. But with a trailer this visually rich and thematically slippery, the conversation around Meteorite is just beginning. For a three-minute film, it has an unusual gravity - much like the rock at its center.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
