I Want You To Pause This (2026): Cast, Story and Release Details

Prepared by Movies Dock Editorial

I Want You To Pause This is a two-minute science-fiction video poem built around a playful viewing paradox. Its time-travelling aconceptualist travels into the past to prevent his art movement from being taken seriously, arriving at a beach from his childhood along the way.

I Want You To Pause This is a 2026 science-fiction short written and directed by Ian Macartney. Running for just two minutes, the film is identified as both a poem and a video poem, suggesting a compact work shaped as much by form as by narrative.

Its premise follows a time-travelling “aconceptualist” who goes back in time to stop his joke of an art movement from being taken seriously. The film also makes its viewing method part of the idea, placing sound, image and text alongside one another while continually deferring the centre of attention.

I Want You To Pause This movie details

Story without spoilers

The story concerns a time-travelling aconceptualist attempting to undo the future significance of his own art movement. During this effort, he finds himself on a beach from his childhood. The film’s stated structure presents sound, image and text simultaneously, creating a deliberate tension between watching the moving work and pausing to examine its still images.

What to expect

This is an especially brief science-fiction work with an experimental, poem-like premise. Viewers can expect a film concerned with time travel, artistic ideas and the mechanics of attention rather than an extended conventional narrative. Its central paradox asks the audience to pause the film in order to engage with it “properly,” making the act of viewing part of the work’s concept.

Cast and creative team

Ian Macartney writes and directs I Want You To Pause This. Alex MacPhail is credited as Human.

• Alex MacPhail as Human

Release and production context

I Want You To Pause This is listed as a United Kingdom production in English. It has a two-minute runtime and a release date of September 25, 2026. The film is marked as released and belongs to the science-fiction genre, with “poem” and “video poem” listed among its keywords. No production company is supplied.

Movies Dock view

With its very short runtime and formally unusual premise, I Want You To Pause This is presented as a concentrated experiment in science fiction and film viewing. The available details point to a work that treats its narrative idea and presentation method as closely connected.

Film data:
TMDB