NARRATIVE SELECTION | SEPTEMBER 2019
Within (2018)
Director: Christopher Key
Country: United Kingdom
Duration: 07:15
Synopsis: With a tragic ordeal he would rather forget, Michael revisits the day that changed his life forever; all whilst facing one of the most challenging decisions he has ever made…a decision that he hopes will bring closure to his past, and comfort to his future.
Skin (2018)
Director: Guy Nattiv
Country: United States
Duration: 20:00
Synopsis: A small supermarket in a blue collar town, a black man smiles at a 10 year old white boy across the checkout aisle. This innocuous moment sends two gangs into a ruthless war that ends with a shocking backlash.
The Interview (2019)
Director: Ivan Sosnin
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 16:40
Synopsis: The Interview tells the story of Sonya, a girl who grew up with her single mother and enrolled at the faculty of journalism. One day she decides to meet her father whom she has never seen before, and to interview him pretending to be a journalist in order to unveil the long-standing questions.
Rajkumari Woke (2019)
Director: Michaela Talwar
Country: India
Duration: 03:20
Synopsis: What if ‘Sleeping Beauty’ was a 21st century Indian bride caught in the hands of her relatives? The film takes on age-old subjects of patriarchy, skin-color and body image through the twisted tale that little girls are still being told today. Edited in camera. Shot on 8mm.
MURMURS (2019)
Director: Nichola Wong
Country: United Kingdom
Duration: 16:50
Synopsis: A father reconnects with his daughter in a most unusual way. — Haunted by the loss of his daughter and ruminating endlessly in fading memories, Eric decides to visit the man to whom his now dead daughter shared a connection with.
Too young to reason (2018)
Director: Nicolas Costes
Country: Greece
Duration: 16:51
Synopsis: Andreas is a boy in his late teens in contemporary Athens trying to sort out his ambitions, his relationship with his family, his relationship with his girlfriend and above all, to find his stolen bike. Based on “Vespa” from Thomas and Mary by Tim Parks, “Too young to reason” is directed with a free-and-easy vibe reminiscent of the French New Wave’s most spirited films, which tries to get at both the frustrations and the joys of being young and unsure of where to go next.
The Daily Dreamer (2019)
Director: Maria Staroselets
Country: United States
Duration: 10:01
Synopsis: Dream – an enigmatic gift of nature, that is taken for granted. But what if we can design our dreams and indirectly control reality through the world of illusions? Aurora, a young journalist, meets the legendary artist “M” while researching on the topic of designed dreams. Her interview with the mysterious art maven turns into a psychedelic journey to the border between the real and illusory worlds.
Way home XI (2019)
Director: Emanuel Bachnetzer
Country: Austria
Duration: 19:25
Synopsis: What would the world look like if it had been 1234 years ago? What would the Alps look like if the valleys were contaminated and no human life could live there? The realm of the seven eagles in another time. The former fighter Johann makes his way home to the contaminated capital to make peace with his family. The adventure begins. . . Johann and his goal to let the past rest. Wie würde die Welt aussehen, wenn vor 1234 Jahren etwas anders verlaufen wäre? Wie würden die Alpen aussehen, wenn die Täler verseucht wären und kein menschliches Leben dort leben könnte? Das Reich der 7 Adler in einer anderen Zeit. Der ehemalige Kämpfer Johann macht sich auf den Heimweg in die verseuchte Hauptstadt, um mit seiner Familie Frieden zu schließen. Das Abenteuer beginnt… Johann und sein Ziel, die Vergangenheit ruhen zu lassen.
Killing Stacy (2019)
Director: Liva Lervig Haue, Alexander Sørensen
Country: Denmark
Duration: 24:59
Synopsis: Marcus is the guitarist and leading force behind struggling rock band, Killing Stacy. On the night of their biggest gig yet, everything is falling apart and Marcus is desperately trying to save the show. Unbeknownst to his band mates, Marcus has gotten an offer to join a highly successful band if he plays an impressive show. Can Marcus overcome his band’s dysfunctional nature and pull of their best gig to date, all in order to leave his friends behind?
The Heist (2019)
Director: Emil Ink
Country: United States
Duration: 22:07
Synopsis: A couple of small time crooks decide to rob a small jewelry store in the quiet town they live in. Things go sour and not as planned after they realize they have very little talent or experience in the field of robbery. The cop that patrols the area has his own dark plan and will stop at nothing to execute it. They all have one thing in common, STUPIDITY. The situation gets really complicated for them all when their paths cross on what becomes the worse day of their lives.
Madjid and Laura (2019)
Director: Khajag Soudjian
Country: France
Duration: 16:45
Synopsis: One morning, Madjid, the benevolent caretaker of a residence, helps Laura, a resident, to find her stolen purse in her hall. During the search, Madjid, who is very sensitive to Laura, will try to seduce her.
Murphy’s Lost (2019)
Director: Anna Gamburg
Country: Germany
Duration: 03:50
Synopsis: A woman, a party and a peculiar string of encounters that challenge her beliefs about luck and happiness.
Veg girl (2019)
Director: Alexei Zotov
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 08:40
Synopsis: Ilya invites Vika to a restaurant where she, a convinced veg, finds out that her boyfriend is a meatarian. She wants to convert him and to prove that meat is about aggression. But Vika’s stratagem turns into a catastrophe.
that winter (2015)
Director: jim calarco
Country: Canada
Duration: 10:37
Synopsis: A recent widower wants to remain in the family home but his children have other plans for him.
JULIA. DECEMBER 13 (2019)
Director: Lukasz Madziar
Country: Poland
Duration: 09:02
Synopsis: The young man lost contact with his pregnant girlfriend. The policeman assisted by a psychologist visits him and explains that his girlfriend is a victim of postpartum psychosis and last night there was a row in the hospital. The man falls into despair. The girl, assisted by the police, recognizes her child’s corpse lying on the wharf. The policeman tries to visit the man again, but he is not in the apartment. We see him committing suicide in loneliness, near a large coal incinerator.
Half of Me (2019)
Director: Katrina Mathers
Country: Australia
Duration: 19:30
Synopsis: A mother finds a letter from her daughter postmarked nearly two years ago.
NAIDA (2019)
Director: Yury Sholin
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 20:00
Synopsis: The stray dog of Naida becomes the only friend of the severe security guard Sergey who lost meaning of life after loss of the family. But he should make difficult a choice soon…
Woman (2019)
Director: Anna Zaytseva
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 15:43
Synopsis: The comedy is based on Russian absurd laws according to violence and self defense. Early in the morning, Katya returns home from the night shift using her usual route. Walking home from the train station she has to go through the forest. Katya is attacked by a rapist in mask, but, fortunately, he is frightened by a dog, and he escapes. Police refuse to search for a rapist, since “there was no rape”. Katya’s life turns into a nightmare when violent attacks become regular.
Ryoko’s Qubit Summer (2018)
Director: Yuichi KONDO
Country: Japan
Duration: 17:30
Synopsis: –Long ver.– Quantum butterflies with Qubit wings, The same technology was used to create KANUMA, an experimental world of Artificial Intelligence inside a quantum computer. Then one day, AIs began using words unknown to man. Scientists saw this as a threat and decided to “delete” KANUMA. Can love exist between an AI and a human? A new outlook on the evolution of the human world. –Short A ver.– A human and an AI fall in love in the final days of the apocalypse. Japanese YURI sci-fi fantasy that sheds light to evolution. –Short B ver.– A girl-to-girl, human-to-AI sci-fi love fantasy in the final days of the Apocalypse.
What If All Colours Were Blue? (2019)
Director: Hannah Elbke
Country: Denmark
Duration: 24:45
Synopsis: ‘What If All Colours Were Blue?’ is a sci-fi drama by director Hannah Elbke. The short film is an exploration of what it means to live in a society based on fear, and about following your own beliefs rather than other people’s expectations. In the grey city of Nordby, where they fear everything blue, lives the hotel receptionist Anne. She dreams of becoming one of The Grey, the city’s protectors. One night Anne sees a blue cat by the hotel. She imminently calls The Grey to the scene, who unsuccessfully starts a mission to catch the cat. Meanwhile, a young and colourful couple, Al & Chris, arrive at the hotel. Their different way of looking at the world and dangers of the blue cat challenges Anne’s faith in The Grey. When the cat suddenly gets caught in a trap near the hotel, Anne has to decide whether she wants to free it and leave the city, or turn it in to The Grey and keep following the city’s strict code.
Slanging (2019)
Director: Svend Colding
Country: Denmark
Duration: 13:23
Synopsis: A pusher is on his way out of the drug selling business. But there is a couple of loose ends that he needs to take care of, before he’s able to stop.
Sound of Sun (2018)
Director: Ismail Elmokadem
Country: Egypt
Duration: 14:14
Synopsis: The sun hanging over Egypt shines oppressively. It also makes a sound; a vibration that penetrates the air and people’s bones. One woman can hear it louder than most: Nashwa. Nashwa is a blood drinker. Usually she works at night. But today she has taken her first day job; as house maid for a nouveau riche couple. She is determined to withstand the sun’s rays and to leave her old life behind. But slowly the futility of this journey will become apparent. Nashwa, will be forced to confront her true nature.
Genericamente (2019)
Director: Giulio Neglia
Country: Italy
Duration: 18:00
Synopsis: The attribute ‘crowd’ is not always look kindly upon, to the most not always its meaning alludes to a compliment, but for others it may be a sense of redemption, a breath of relief, a pebble removed from the shoe, a little brick that leads to dream the castle of life. They are the crowds. The ‘crowds’ are known to the most with the name of ‘extras’. They hide in cinematographic works in the so-called ‘mass scenes’, perform the most vortical interpretations showing a certain versatility: from the painter to the policeman, from the waiter to the gardener, from the fireman to the butcher. The ‘crowd’ is the figure certainly less recognized by the public, but esteemed and considered with pride and satisfaction from the components of its category. It remains, despite everything, irremovable by the film industry. Being a crowd is a job? Paolo, that dreams of being an actor, but with very poor results, is more used to appear in marginal roles. Paolo will tell us which are the enormous sacrifices, renunciations, senses of responsibility, injustices that torment the show business. From the eyes of the workers of cinema, Paolo tells an italian cross-section and, despite the economic difficulties, believes in a better world, more congenial and coherent to his dreams; these are the ones who for years have made Paolo dream, leaving aside the parental obligations: the eternal struggle between man and human being.
We Are Dancers (2019)
Director: Joe Morris
Country: United Kingdom
Duration: 29:42
Synopsis: We are Dancers is a period drama set in 1933 Berlin about Hansi Sturm, an anti-Nazi cabaret drag-artist, and his friends the day after the Reichstag fire. Hansi must decide whether to abandon his club or stay to face the Nazis his former lover has told him will come there to seek revenge.
A Winter Without Snow (2019)
Director: Yubo Song
Country: United States
Duration: 26:52
Synopsis: Yong, 14 years old, lives with his parents in a remote village in northern China. He loves the land he tends to and the animals he cares for, but he hates school and the town he goes to school far away. He decides to tell his parents he wants to drop out of school and come back home to be a farmer. They are furious because they have spent a lot of money to educate him and are counting on him to have a better life for all of them. After a violent argument, Yong runs away from home into the bleak wild and the empty road along, he feels freedom.
STUDENT SELECTION | AUGUST 2019
The Gift of The Magi (2019)
Director: Shiyu Shang
Country: United States
Duration: 11:08
Synopsis: In 1959 Los Angeles a young poor wife is dealing with the challenge of buying her husband secret anniversary gift with little money.
Dead Inside (2019)
Director: Ares Ceylan, Chris Schmier
Country: Germany
Duration: 07:42
Synopsis: Anton falls in love with Daniela. But Daniela only has eyes for Christian. Christian is a corpse. Anton doesn’t like Christian. He must act now to get Danielas attention back.
Persephone (2018)
Director: Dora Šustić
Country: Czech Republic
Duration: 05:06
Synopsis: On a Sunday morning, young Marie is preparing for the Holy Communion ceremony, dressing with the help of her mother. While having breakfast and waiting for her tea, Marie is pulled into a mysterious world of her fantasy, triggered by the vibrant red colour of the tea. In her dreamworld, she is playful in the company of her friends, with whom she shares the purity, innocence and childishness of her age. However, something is haunting Marie, calling her to explore the depths and darkness of a scary rocky forest. She is left alone upon her discovery of a lake where a mysterious voluptuous woman resides, offering her the Fruit of Fertility. The secret Marie keeps within becomes evident in her fantasy, and she passes it on to her mother, when waking up form a dream.
Blacks or Whites (2019)
Director: Anita Pico
Country: United Kingdom
Duration: 11:35
Synopsis: A young guy named Jerry is abruptly brought for questioning. He finds himself in a white room, where he must confront his interrogator playing a chess game. As time passes and the pieces move, Jerry realizes he must face his worst enemy: the truth that keeps hunting him.
Coal City (2019)
Director: Xue Haoyue
Country: China
Duration: 13:18
Synopsis: The father of the county girl Lulu was the foreman of the coal washery and the mother was the chef. Lulu was preparing for the marriage with the son of the boss and working as a laboratory technician for coal here. However, the boss Mr.Shen And his wife not only asked Lulu to resign so that she could get ready for pregnancy, but also ignored Lulu’s opposition, forged the coal test report and sold the inferior coal. In addition, Lulu found that her parents were contacting a witch secretly, trying to dig out her grandmother’s bones and bury them with her grandfather. Lulu couldn’t stand it anymore. Finally, she decided to revolt.
Bourgeois Absolution (2019)
Director: Jorrit Bouwmans, Jasper Koopmans
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 19:39
Synopsis: The depressed Cayden is being haunted by a sinister entity. This entity is troubling him in his daily routine: during his economy lectures, walking on the street and, most importantly, at home. Cayden wants to escape this traumatic cycle, and eventually falls for his overly optimistic friend Danny, who offers him the possibility to join a mysterious motorcycle gang under the leadership of the enigmatic Jansen.
DOCUMENTARY SELECTION | AUGUST 2019
El Greco (2019)
Director: K. Prada
Country: Spain
Duration: 20:25
Synopsis: Jesús López Pozuelo (El Greco) was born in Torralba de Calatrava (Ciudad Real, Spain) in the late 1940s. Since he was young he was interested in the bullfighting world, but when he became middle-aged he decided to change paths and he started working in the audiovisual industry. He created different video pieces, such as “Vision”, a film ahead its time in which he experimented with a recording technique which was similar to the one of the current Go-Pro cameras. The year was 1986.
Old Henry’s Bones (2019)
Director: Andrew Francisco
Country: United States
Duration: 20:54
Synopsis: Can a human being really live for 134 years, as locals of a small town in upstate New York maintain about a notable citizen, the filmmaker’s ancestor Henry Francisco? This story traces the borders of certainty through a legend rooted in nationalism, the quest for longevity and belief in the hereafter. Framed as a genealogical quest, Old Henry’s Bones is a work of popular historiography, mapping a topography of nostalgia and conviction in rural America.
Caring (2019)
Director: Sergey Filatov
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 09:37
Synopsis: Life is not a piece of cake in the Far North. Volunteering in these place helps people to find happiness in life and work, fulfil themselves as a human. It’s documentary about Nornikel volunteers. About people who selflessly help those who are in need. They are actively involved in corporate volunteer events, helping charity organizations and animal shelters, planting trees and many others.
general practicioner (2018)
Director: Ekaterina Ponomareva
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 24:03
Synopsis: Village doctor Natalya – one at all. This story about Natalya Senatrusova. Woman was distributed in a village in Transbaikalia (Trans-Baikal Territory), she was going to work a general practicioner for a year and leave, but for 28 years now she has been treating the villagers and does not dare to leave.
Consumption 101 (2019)
Director: Orkun Özcan
Country: Turkey
Duration: 15:00
Synopsis: Do we live to consume or consume to live? That’s a question which has yet to be answered. A short documentary which consists of psychological and economical reasons behind the issue throughout history, and with a dynamic perspective.
Shinya Kimura (2019)
Director: david solomini
Country: United States
Duration: 02:52 Synopsis: poetic short film about japanese bespoke motorcycle designer and builder, shinya kimura. creating harmony and flow with metal and steel. we make an unexpected connection of soul and creativity in a very short story about this hard to find, innovative, gentle soul, named shinya kimura who finally takes us on an adrenaline filled ride.
ANIMATION SELECTION | AUGUST 2019
Om Nom Nom… (2019)
Director: Minato Matsuda, Haruna Ueno, Tomoko Taiga
Country: Japan
Duration: 03:16
Synopsis: One day, a hungry dinosaur came across a weird jumping egg in the forest. He swallowed it, and then felt some strange rumblings in his tummy. Well, well, well… This stop-motion animation is essentially a funny short story for kids, but its fanciful visual images may also attract adults. The unique imagery of the dinosaur’s internal organs and nature have been created with a multi-plane camera, by combining fluffy flat puppets (a boy, a dinosaur, and other creatures) with carefully composed pastel drawings.
Fire and Water (2019)
Director: Robert Brown
Country: United Kingdom
Duration: 02:00
Synopsis: Opposites attract but the path to true love is never plain sailing.
Dancer By The Sea (2019)
Director: Barbara Mones
Country: United States
Duration: 09:10
Synopsis: An lonely widowed older woman who lives by the sea finds and adopts an abandoned baby otter on her property. The relationship that develops transforms her life.
EXPERIMENTAL SELECTION | AUGUST 2019
Spring II (2019)
Director: Ed Carter
Country: United States
Duration: 09:58
Synopsis: Two women encounter one another across dimensions, each perceiving the other as if a ghost. As they make contact, the structures of their dimensional cells begin to flicker and wane, and a possible transcendence presents itself.
Dis-ability (2019)
Director: Nikos Pavlineris
Country: Greece
Duration: 15:04
Synopsis: Orestis is a young man who has been away from his parents. From a young age painting is the only way for him to express himself. One day while he was drawing on a painting he understands that so many years all his paintings have a common fact and that makes him take a radical decision.
I AM GOD (2019)
Director: Madalina Mateciuc
Country: United Kingdom
Duration: 08:54
Synopsis: I AM GOD, follows the journey of Ana, a teenager battling PTSD, desperate to gain control over her life. I AM GOD is paving the way towards girls empowerment and well-being in a broken modern society. Spiritual healing has an ancient pedigree, with much evidence of success.
Dreamachine (2018)
Director: Mihai Curtean
Country: Romania
Duration: 27:51
Synopsis: In a Saxon city in 1990s Romania a young psychology graduate gets heartbroken and tries to keep her mental balance while studying about alchemy, dreams and hallucinations. Psychology and modern neurosciences, which she strenuously studies, start to affect her everyday life and lead her into a visionary journey. Her mind is the territory in which desires, intellectual aspirations, her past and her imagination collide.
Daddy hockey (2019)
Director: Pasha Timofeev
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 02:03
Synopsis: If I knew how precious these moments would become, I’d catch every word you say, DAD!
Anamnesis (2018)
Director: Josh McCausland
Country: United States
Duration: 15:00
Synopsis: Anamnesis is a dive into a man’s conscious and unconscious mind as the physical and imagined world blend in front of him through his struggle with Alzheimer’s disease.
MUSIC VIDEO SELECTION | AUGUST 2019
No Que Vai Dar – Jeremaia (2019)
Director: Cristina Streciwik, Rodrigo de Carvalho
Country: Brazil
Duration: 04:04
Synopsis: The main goal of debut single music video of the brazilian artist Jeremaia was the materialization of his peculiar world in images. Running out from clichés and rather than a tradional narrative the music video presents a new aesthetic perspective of his melancholic beauty, textures, landscapes, portraits and curiously dance moves.
The Tazers – Plastic Kids (Official Music Video) (2019)
Director: Michael Rodrigues, Tarryn Hatchett
Country: South Africa
Duration: 05:00
Synopsis: Unable to leave and unable to stop, the Plastic Kids keep on going on and on.
True Love / Tonic Clonic (2018)
Director: Ophir Benshimon
Country: Israel
Duration: 03:41
Pearl Cadillac (2019)
Director: Clément Oberto
Country: United States
Duration: 05:12
Synopsis: Gary Clark Jr. is heading down the road of life and looking back to where he came from. Shot in black and white super35mm, ‘Pearl Cadillac’ showcases moonlight as the image of a mother’s love.
NAIK BORZOV – REACTION TO THE SUN (2019)
Director: Artyom Ignatyev
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 05:08
Synopsis: This music video is a symbol of inner tension, tension that transforms into a breakout. This story is showed in a simple domestic language, using the visual symbols of society, where domestic violence, or child abuse is not only possible but very popular, even though it is not today’s hot topic. Nowadays you may say, that this violence is partly legalized, because we refer those crimes as administrative and not penal. Common image of the sun (father in this video) that gave life to a young girl, destroys her life. It can be anything that we depend on, that every person depends on individually.
