Amateur Short – Official Selection – March 2021
Scales | United Kingdom | 2020 | 04’
Director: Leeseul Oh
Synopsis: The girl finds fish with shimmering scales under the sea. She developed a special bond with the fish.
Golden Age | Turkey | 2020 | 05’
Director: Seyfican Bilgiç
Writer: Harun Savaş
Producers: Seyfican Bilgiç, Harun Savaş
Cast: Önder Taşyürek
Synopsis: In a Post-Apocalyptic era, a man takes his sieve and scepter and takes a journey to find a seed from dried up rivers. He keeps sieving and walking until he finds a seed. He plants the seed and waters the dry soil with the last water he has in a plastic bottle. He takes his topcoat and lies down facing to the sky. A rain drop drips on his face after a while and he thanks to mother nature in his own way.
PrePAWsterous | United States | 2020 | 05’
Director: Areli Quinonez
Producers: Kimberly Marsing, Eryn Suchara
Cast: Ari Trejo, Jordan Gazitt, Riley Hazelrigg, Jacques Parks, Caroline Kim, Terry Love-Lee
Synopsis: When the going gets ruff, two rival pup scouts have to work together to investigate the mystery of their missing treats.
Animation Short – Official Selection – March 2021
The Beauty of Mathematics | Germany | 10’
Director: Sarah Gorf-Roloff
Writer: Sarah Gorf-Roloff
Producer: Universität Hamburg
Synopsis: Mathematicians have feelings too! – In this animated web series professors of mathematics tell us about their emotional experiences and how mathematics indeed is beautiful. This short series was created by Sarah Gorf-Roloff aka Studio Ranokel. It was commissioned by the science communication department of Universität Hamburg. This is an ongoing monthly series. Up to date five episodes have been published – with two more episodes to come.
Put A Stick in It | United States | 2020 | 05’
Director: Austin Kimmell
Writer: Austin Kimmell, Todd Kimmell
Cast: James Kimmell
Synopsis: When his grandchildren are fighting in the yard, PopPop retells a story from his own childhood to teach them a lesson.
Showdown | United States | 2021 | 04’
Director: Holly Schroeder
Writer: Holly Schroeder
Producer: Holly Schroeder
Synopsis: A solitary UFO lands in a ghost town but tension mounts when a more sinister character arrives on the horizon.
The Boks | China | 2020 | 17’
Directors: Ziyang Cheng, Sishan Chen
Writers: Ziyang Cheng，Sishan Chen
Synopsis: If I ask you to give this box to someone you love, unopened, and you will be promised a lifetime happiness, will you do it for me? A box if we open, it will be a chance that we could be cured. A one we could only open to revel the answer. Then, another box in the next layer of reality. Or, a complete nightmare. “The box” is composed of five different stories, telling five romantic and fear about the box. Stop motion animation for mixed multimedia experiments. The film adopts classic stop motion animation, paper-cut stop motion animation animation, 2D hand-painted animation, and real shooting. The five stories are interspersed with narration to show the tender and absurd Dark Romanticism. The Boks ：https://vimeo.com/433134398 The Boks Trailer：https://vimeo.com/433131337 *password：0513
Lost Time | Hungary | 2021 | 06’
Director: Melinda Szabó-Nyulász
Producer: Gyöngyi Petre
Synopsis: An extraordinary journey of a young man, who during a visit to his mother is led to deep realization by the sheer sight of antiques and the memories attached to them. A story about how our sense of time changes due to pure love and about the influence the past has on our present.
Sebastiana | Brazil | 2020 | 14’
Director: Claudio Martins
Writers: Thales Ayala, Claudio Martins
Producer: Eduardo Peixoto
Synopsis: In a small and poor village in the interior of Brazil, a girl is born with a special gift that brings happiness to everyone. But when she grows it ends up bringing problems for many. A film adapted from the award winning book “Ela tem olhos de céu” by Socorro Acioli.
The Mandrake | United States | 2020 | 08’
Director: Quincy William Baltes
Producer: Kate Jansen
Synopsis: Herman, a farmer content to live out his life alone out in the woods, tends his garden day in and day out. Except for the regulars that come to his market to buy his giant carrots and radishes, he rarely gets visitors. When a witch approaches his cottage one day, asking for a special ingredient and supplying a spell, he is understandably shaken. He wakes up the next morning to the cries of a screaming baby, unaware that his life has taken an incredible turn.
HOPE | 2020 | 09’
Director: Abdulla Al-Janahi
Writer: Abdulla Al-Janahi
Producers: Abdulaziz Khashabi, Fabian Loing
Synopsis: The short film “HOPE” is about the journey of a new born baby sea turtle named Aqua. During his journey, he faces many obstacles from human pollution to different predators. Using his mind and courage he over comes one obstacle after the other, until he reaches his final destination. Just before he enters the sea, he witnesses a life changing scene, that he bravely over comes and grows as a character.
Debut – Official Selection – March 2021
I will feast on your past since its evers | Canada | 2021 | 16’
Director: Filemon Brault-Archambeault
Writer: Filemon Brault-Archambeault
Producer: Filemon Brault-Archambeault
Cast: Mariette Desrochers, Filemon Brault-Archambeault
Synopsis: Through a discussion between a grandmother and her grandson, I will feast on your past since its evers asks one question : what does it mean to grow old?
MOTH | Russian Federation | 2020 | 20’
Director: Arseny Nazaruk
Writer: Arseny Nazaruk
Producers: Arseny Nazaruk, Daniil Vershinin, Ksenia Zemlyanushina
Cast: Ksenia Lukyanchikova
Synopsis: A lonely woman tries to enter relationships, but every attempt to become closer with a new partner ends up with a deep trauma. After a series of failures to share her love with her beloved ones, she decides to literally share it with the whole world by becoming a prostitute.
A Father’s Job | Germany | 2021 | 20’
Director: Frank Christian Wagner
Writer: Frank Christian Wagner
Producer: Frank Christian Wagner
Cast: Christian Harting, Dorothee Frauenlob, Jessica Stautz, Mara Hoebusch
Synopsis: “A Father’s Job” tells the story of a Jewish woman’s fate in the middle of the last century in Germany. Step by step connections become apparent and result in an overall view that doesn’t just comes up with an unexpected counterpart but also turns temporal orientation upside down.
my 10am | India | 2020 | 15’
Director: Yash Saraf
Writer: Yash Saraf
Producer: Yash Saraf
Cast: Kalpana Jha, Swati Sharma
Synopsis: An anxious housewife visits her spiritualist friend for counsel. And goddammit! .. She just can’t figure it out! Is her husband having an affair? Is he? Or is this but a dagger of the mind?
Documentary Short – Official Selection – March 2021
TRILOGY | Germany | 2020 | 15’
Director: Silke Abendschein
Writer: Silke Abendschein
Producers: Benjamin Schindler, Jan Wilde
Cast: Anne Hoffmann
Synopsis: Trilogy is a reference to the cycle of life. We all depend on and are connected by the cycle of nature: Generations change, but the nature’s cycle goes on and on. Digging The Garden, Nurturing the Growth, Harvesting the Crops – Trilogy follows this cycle in 3 chapters and is as well a dialogue between my grandmother and me: After my grandmother’s death, I found her diaries: short notes on weather, her daily work as a farmers wife, visitors and finally just notes on weather and health. No feelings. A whole life written down in short notes. I was touched by this absence of feelings and decided to go back in her life. Doing the work that she does or filming my family still doing that work. This process was very calming. I experienced that we all depend on the cycle of nature, no matter where we live and what we do. This is our origin and our end – without exeption.
BELLE-ILE IN ACADIE | Canada | 2019 | 26’
Director: Phil Comeau
Writer: Phil Comeau
Producer: Phil Comeau
Synopsis: Acadians from Belle-Ile-en-Mer, France, visit Canada to meet their “cousins” with whom they share a common culture and history. Descendants of the deported Acadians by the British from their original homeland, they walk on their ancestral lands and attend the international World Acadian Congress. This film is about exile, the power of memory and finding your roots. (98 awards received worldwide.)
The Palace | United Kingdom | 2021 | 29’
Director: Jo Prichard
Producer: Jo Prichard
Synopsis: Every day, on the top floor of an iconic 1960’s shopping centre near the heart of the city, hundreds of regulars take up their usual spots in the London Palace Bingo Club. Some come for the cheap dinners and the free tea and coffee, many stay to relax, socialise, play bingo, dominoes, gossip, and party together. As this area’s billion pound redevelopment nears its finish, the club finds itself the last piece of the old neighbourhood now sitting in a drastically altered picture, surrounded on all sides by gleaming towers of high-end apartments. The Palace film is a loud, emotional portrait of a unique community rooted in South London saying goodbye to their social hub and playground of the past 20 years. Told through the stories of the regulars that loved it, and the owner who couldn’t save it.
Jayro | United States | 2021 | 15’
Director: Wojciech Lorenc
Writer: Wojciech Lorenc
Producer: Wojciech Lorenc
Cast: Wojciech Lorenc
Synopsis: When a seven-year-old Texas boxer steps into the ring to face his next opponent, the pressure of the fight is not the only thing on his mind. The film is constructed as an allegory for the challenges faced by people of color and immigrants in the US.
FRANKLIN | United States | 2021 | 07’
Director: Vladdimir Gomez
Synopsis: A documentary told from the outside looking in, FRANKLIN is a compilation of found footage, audio recordings, & verité filmmaking from the Bronx that unravel how a chance encounter led to an excavation of one stranger’s life. Vladdimir Gomez’s short film is a celebration of this man, his community, and the quiet profundity of coexistence in a city as full of stories as New York.
SHIL | Australia | 2021 | 29’
Director: Scott Quayle
Cast: Shil Shanghavi
Synopsis: Shil is an accomplished public speaking expert who chose to face his biggest fear head on…his stutter.
The Beyond | Switzerland | 2021 | 11’
Director: Daniel Maurer
Writer: Daniel Maurer
Producer: Frédéric Gonseth
Cast: Mathieu Cochard
Synopsis: The second wave of Covid significantly increased mortality in hospitals. What does this mean for the work of Mathieu, employed in the morgue of a regional hospital center? How does he relate to these people whose souls have recently left their bodies?
Experimental Short – Official Selection – March 2021
Please leave a message after the tone | Finland | 2021 | 11’
Director: Risto-Pekka Blom
Writer: Risto-Pekka Blom
Synopsis: Calls go to voice mail. Lonely cars and street lights roam the highway by night. People at the street view are connected by threads. The patient leads a perfect life. Please leave a message after the tone is a story about disconnection, about the struggle with real life encounters and about living outside of your own life.
LA VIE EN ROSE | Germany | 2021 | 16’
Director: Robert Emil Tappe
Writer: Robert Emil Tappe
Producer: Robert Emil Tappe, Ronja Podzus, Leonie Stuckmann, Erik Robert
Cast: Filia Herden, Tjark Frantzik, Nico Fellmer, Ronja Podzus, Tom Wesemann, Marcel Harberts
Synopsis: Thought experiment: what do you do when you wake up lonely in an unfamiliar room and have nothing with you except your cell phone. But you have no reception, no explanations, no idea what happened. And then you meet people, everyone has their own life, their own past, their own worries, problems, personalities. And what do you do when everything just ceases. What do you do? When reality becomes implausible. When logic becomes nonsensical. When the familiar becomes incomprehensible? What do you do then? How do you deal with it? “LA VIE EN ROSE” is a short film by Robert Emil Tappe. The film asks what value our presence actually has. It is explored why we are actually here. However, these metaphysical questions will be not answered and will leave the audience unsatisfied with a sense of futility. A feeling that is currently more relevant than ever before. „In retrospect, the film is already very much marked by the pandemic,“ says filmmaker Robert Emil Tappe. A very claustrophobic and constricting feeling would be created all the time in this movie. The protagonist is played by the actress Filia Herden. The audience accompanies her on a journey through senselessness. She just wants to go on – it doesn‘t matter where, but four walls prevent her from doing so. Then the lights go out. “LA VIE EN ROSE” is tragic series of dark chocolate that‘s getting darker and darker.
IN A SAVAGE 3D WORLD | 03’
Director: Alan Jensen
Writer: Alan Jensen
Synopsis: A machine hunts its prey in the desert.
The Secret Walls | France | 2020 | 15’
Directors: Anne Charrin, Lise Charrin, Aude Charrin, Jean-Marie Gatin
Writers: Anne Charrin, Lise Charrin, Aude Charrin, Jean-Marie Gatin
Producer: Pauline Carriot (Les Forges Vives)
Cast: Juliette Plumecocq-Mech, Raphaël Gatin
Synopsis: (freely inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy) A theatre in the rain, people outside crowding to get in. A tired man comes through the stage door where a child -the master of the place- has been waiting for him. Engulfed in that theatrical machinery and caught up in the beguiling cogs of time, guided by some unknown force, the man plunges deep into a maelstrom of many faces…
Berlin Transport Loop: Stresow Station | United States | 06’
Director: Jeffrey Moser
M-A-N-N-E-Q-U-I-N | United States | 2021 | 29’
Director: Kevin Carpio
Writer: Kevin Carpio
Producer: Jezer Serafica
Cast: Richard Le, Patrick McGill, Ashley Briglia
Synopsis: A clothing designer is caught in a wave of obsession and isolation when they are tasked with the creation of a dress for a mysterious client.
Who’s With Me | United States | 2017 | 05’
Director: Darryl Dillard
Writer: Darryl Dillard
Producers: Nick Marrinson, Tadas Staponavicious
Cast: Darryl Dillard
Synopsis: Multi medium spoken work video( with music and imagery)
A Bright Summer Diary | United States | 2020 | 28’
Director: Lei Lei
Writer: Lei Lei
Producer: Lei Lei
Synopsis: “The photo was taken using a painted board in Kuling Park on Lushan…” A woman is reminiscing about the story behind a photograph: it was a bright summer day in the 1980s. Her family traveled to Lushan to escape the heat. As her memory unfolds, we gradually come to see the forgotten history and that very photograph being damaged by water stain.
Alex | Italy | 2020 | 10’
Director: Luca Spreafico
Writer: Luca Spreafico
Producer: The Blink Fish
Cast: Silvia Bonavigo, Eugenia Caruso, Alessandra Sbordoni
Synopsis: “I’m scared and feel wrapped in the dark. I’m vulnerable.” Taking on a more narrative approach to fashion film while staying true to the genre’s strong focus on aesthetics, Alex tells us about a woman reliving and working through a trauma. The film looks at the concept of abandonment during childhood as something that we are likely to take with us into our adult life. Employing a dreamlike scenario, Alex takes on an experimental, movement-led approach as the lead character dives deeply into her subconscious.
O B L O N | Italy | 2021 | 12’
Director: Fabio Falzarano
Writers: Fabio Falzarano, Daniele Bianchi
Producers: Fabio Falzarano, Daniele Bianchi
Cast: Gianmarco Cestra
Synopsis: Thanks to the help of a mysterious master, Noblo systematically ascends all the five layers of reality of the ancient Vedic scriptures, desperately seeking for his life’s purpose. Numbness and confusion dramatically take a hold of him as he progresses, from Earth to Fire, Water to Air, slowly revealing, as he reaches the innermost cave of the self, the true face of his eternal enemy: the Doppleganger. A most symbolic voyage, that will finally see him emerging as a master of reality; thus giving the wheel of life, another spin.
MOTH | Russian Federation | 2020 | 20’
Director: Arseny Nazaruk
Writer: Arseny Nazaruk
Producers: Arseny Nazaruk, Daniil Vershinin, Ksenia Zemlyanushina
Cast: Ksenia Lukyanchikova
Synopsis: A lonely woman tries to enter relationships, but every attempt to become closer with a new partner ends up with a deep trauma. After a series of failures to share her love with her beloved ones, she decides to literally share it with the whole world by becoming a prostitute.
CROWD | Turkey | 2021 | 06’
Director: Recep Akar
Writer: Recep Akar
Producer: Merve Akar
Cast: Gülnara Golovina
Synopsis: We construct our existence inside the void of space, surrounded by objects. Atoms, our bodies and the universe exist within this same construct. Both equally crowded and bare. “Crowd” is a single channel video that aims to perform the crowd with the void in the frame of this contrast.
Mini Short – Official Selection – March 2021
Here Right Now | Canada | 2020 | 03’
Director: Hannah Siden
Writer: Hannah Siden
Producers: Hannah Siden, Lottie Britton, Matthew Wake
Cast: Lieve Carchon, Alanah Rodger
Synopsis: Liz has to break the news of her grandfather’s death to her grandmother, Florence, who has dementia. When Florence forgets again, Liz has a decision to make – and realizes that telling the truth is not always the kindest option.
Forgettable Man | Germany | 2020 | 03’
Director: David Schuster, David Wunderlich
Writer: David Schuster
Producer: David Schuster
Cast: Steven Preisner, Christos Raptis, Josy Issac
Synopsis: A robbery doesn´t go as planned.
I am here | France | 2021 | 03’
Director: Stan Amsellem
Writer: Stan Amsellem
Producers: Marc-Antoine Riou, Stan Amsellem
Cast: Dimitri M’bra
Synopsis: Paris, March 2020, the hospital is boiling. Marc, an introverted accountant working there, is the witness of his colleagues dismay. He feels powerless. He’ll then seize the opportunity to take control of his destiny by chasing his hidden dream every night to give comfort to people around, and maybe a little bit for him too.
Controller | United Kingdom | 2021 | 03’
Director: Adam Marley
Writer: Adam Marley
Cast: Katie Marie-Carter, Jordan Reece
Synopsis: A mysterious remote falls from the sky. Created as part of MAP21 festival. Contestants had 21 days to create a 2min 20sec short film (not including credits) from a list of props as a starting point.
Mobile Phone – Official Selection – March 2021
To The Death | Russian Federation | 2020 | 06’
Director: Mark Krivoshein
Producer: Mark Krivoshein
Synopsis: Vadim Vidyakin, Kachanov Sergey, Sergey Biserov , Dmitry Perminov, Irina Dobroserdova
First official music video of duet LYOD (Kirovo-Chepetsk, Russia). This song about a warrior who goes to the last battle. The listener goes beyond the ordinary and plunges into the ancient and mystical atmosphere of the harsh world of Slavic and Scandinavian ancestors. Shot with smartphone Xiaomi Redmi 9 Pro + mcpro24fps app
Sync | Netherlands | 2021 | 13’
Director: Robin Coops
Producer: M31 Foundation
Cas: Maarten Krielen, Martin Peñaloza Cecconi, Leena Keizer, Jarek Kruczek, Lilou Robert, Sophia Preidel, Mitchell lee van Rooij, Wibke Storkan, Winnie Dias, Gino Taytelbaum
Synopsis: A hundred metronomes sounding all at the same time, fireflies that pulsate light in the same rhythm, and molecules that communicate at a distance. These phenomena form the inspiration for the dance film Sync. We see a lonely body awaken, exploring the space, before discovering and meeting other bodies through reflections, which leads to a space in between. A film made and performed by 10 dancers, spread around the world. An audio-visual poem about synchronicity on a distance.
Slumber | United States | 2021 | 08’
Director: Mateo Nikolav
Writer: Mateo Nikolav
Producer: Justin Winick
Cast: Jon Woodward Kirby, Kareasia Jones
Synopsis: Two strangers rediscover shared memories after a mysterious object brings them together
ROY | Austria | 2021 | 05’
Director: Peter Steele
Writer: Peter Steele
Producer: Peter Steele
Cast: Peter Steele
Synopsis: A tale of loneliness, companionship & above all, love. Roy is a puppet. A puppet with a toilet roll for a head. A puppet that wants to find ‘the one’. This is his story…
Music Video – Official Selection – March 2021
Byrd – Gør Det her | Denmark | 2021 | 05’
Director: Niels Ostenfeld
Writer: Niels Ostenfeld
Producer: Christian Juliussen
Cast: Line Gad, Johnni Løvkvist
Synopsis: First video from the Danish band Byrd. The entire video was shot on VHS.
Desert Flower Interlude | United States | 2021 | 04’
Director: Kristen Kiertzner
Producer: Nikita Belomestnykh
Cast: Kiazi Helpern, Nadine Kostine
Synopsis: A woman hosting a tea party in the middle of the desert becomes distraught when her company doesn’t show. Meanwhile, a traveling musician trying to find his way to his destination might be the solution to her problem. The two characters depict the contentious relationship between Los Angeles and its Independent Artists.
WICK – RPG | Russian Federation | 2021 | 04’
Director: Anton Sazonov
Writer: Anton Sazonov
Producers: Galina Altushkina, Yana Shmaylova, Irina Bondarovich, Igor Kuznetsov
Cast: Viktoria Agalakova, Evgeny Khazykov
Synopsis: A hurtful love story of a young street criminal, whose girlfriend preferred his complete opposite to him — a policeman.
Cornwall | Switzerland | 2021 | 07’
Director: Lasse Linder
Writer: Lasse Linder
Producer: Lasse Linder
Cast: Beat Wittwer
Shots of Light | Germany | 2021 | 05’
Director: Christian Scharfenberg
Producer: Morgan Finlay
Synopsis: ‘Shots of Light’ is an animated music video by Christian Scharfenberg based on the song ‘Shots of Light’, by Morgan Finlay. The film follows ‘Shemp’ as he walks through the city, observing the world around him and taking hope from the shots of light that appear through the cracks.
Crónico | Puerto Rico | 2020 |04’
Director: Claudia Calderón
Writers: Claudia Calderón, Fernando de Peña
Producers: Claudia Calderón, Nasha Santiago
Cast: Bebo Dumont
Synopsis: During the 2020 worldwide quarantine, a young hip hop singer finds solace in marihuana. Crónico is a collage animation music video that explores the daily rituals of a man during these uncertain pandemic times, combined with fantasies that help him escape reality and even reimagine his own history.
Narrative Short – Official Selection – March 2021
Kamouflage | Sweden | 2020 | 15’
Director: Joaquim Berglund
Writer: Joaquim Berglund
Producers: Christofer Nilsson, Rebecca Sjöstrand
Cast: Frans Zethraeus, Joe Toroczkay, Patrik Karlson, Max Shore
Synopsis: 17 year old Elliot has never gone hunting. When one of his older brothers suggests he should join, his stern father, to Elliot’s surprise, lets him.But it turns out this acceptance comes at a heavy price. A modern nordic noir horror story about the rituals of men, the heredity of sins, and the innocent boys caught in it all.
In Isolation | United Kingdom | 2021 | 10’
Director: Edmund C. Short
Writer: Edmund C. Short
Producer: Blackadder Films
Cast: Fuen Vera, Mathias Hermann Löffler, Edmund C. Short
Synopsis: A short social narrative film. Three housemates are confined to their home during a severe military lockdown.
The Burning Blue | United States | 2019 | 14’
Director: Ablay Nurmanbetov
Writer: Ablay Nurmanbetov
Producer: Anila Nugmanova
Cast: Kiri Hart, Thomas Ernst
Synopsis: Lost in a desert, a couple’s relationship is put to the test when they discover they are not alone.
Nanny Cam | United States | 2020 | 09’
Director: Hope Olaidé Wilson
Writer: Hope Olaidé Wilson
Producer: Hope Olaidé Wilson
Cast: Brandi Bravo, Melanie Brook, Brandon Salerno, Sulekha Ebelle, Victoria Nichols, Kelly Klein
Synopsis: In Nanny Cam, a single mother’s desire to return to the workforce is thwarted by her inability to find suitable childcare for her 18 month old daughter. Written and directed by Hope Olaidé Wilson, Nanny Cam is a chapter within Owls & Echoes, an award-winning bite-sized anthology of stand-alone short films exploring everyday scenarios and moral dilemmas with a darkly comic twist.
The Death Of My Father | United States | 2021 | 19’
Director: Lex Kimbrough
Writer: Lex Kimbrough
Producer: Lex Kimbrough
Cast: Christopher Harvey, Tony King, George Lima
Synopsis: An eerie, yet touching, tale of a son’s unyielding love for his immobile father.
West of Calico | United States | 2021 | 11’
Director: Luca Pizzoleo
Writer: Luca Pizzoleo
Cast: Ryan Emilio Molina, Raz Fritz
Synopsis: In 1849, two brothers travel to California in hopes of finding gold. After an arduous search they’re now lost, low on food and the tension between them is starting to rise.
A Father’s Job | Germany | 2021 | 20’
Director: Frank Christian Wagner
Writer: Frank Christian Wagner
Producer: Frank Christian Wagner
Cast: Christian Harting, Dorothee Frauenlob, Jessica Stautz, Mara Hoebusch
Synopsis: “A Father’s Job” tells the story of a Jewish woman’s fate in the middle of the last century in Germany. Step by step connections become apparent and result in an overall view that doesn’t just comes up with an unexpected counterpart but also turns temporal orientation upside down.
No/Low Budget – Official Selection – March 2021
Rest Now, Weary Head | United Kingdom | 2021 | 04’
Director :Alec Hopkins
Cast: Alec Hopkins, Carolina Santana
Synopsis: A short film I made during lockdown.
Charles is struggling to sleep. After a brief call with his uncle, he attempts a couple of suggested remedies on how to sleep better. To the annoyance of Elena, his flatmate.
ISS_Overs | United Kingdom | 2021 | 12’
Director: Luka Vukos
Producers: Thomas Mozden, Juan Pablo Daza
Cast: Paul Thompson
Synopsis: 16.06.20: Perth, Scotland. Paul Thompson, a 70-year old amateur radio operator, catches a signal from the International Space Station. As he listens to the astronauts comparing life aboard the station to life in lockdown, Paul day-dreams of escaping his home.
Green Dawn | France | 05’
Director: Fu Le
Synopsis: Some women of the woods get infected by a mysterious green dawn…
Superhuman | Germany | 2021 | 04’
Directors: Michael & Mathias Jener, Lisa Brandt
Writers: Lisa Brandt, Mathias Jener
Synopsis: West-Germany, 1970s. People are suffering severe illnesses due to the polluting coal industry. Before it was too late, people started to take action. But nowadays we’re facing another problem.
Short Comedy – Official Selection – March 2021
TESTING 1,2,3 | United States | 2020 | 07’
Director: Robin Lee
Writers: Robin Lee screenplay, Jeff Burkhart story
Producer: Robin Lee
Cast: Marc Ashbourne, Janelle Marie, Ray Renati, Christine Mitchell
Synopsis: She asks her Husband to order her a drink then departs for the restroom. Can he, with the help of a sympathetic Bartender, remember just what it is his Wife expects him to order before she returns?
THE LOTTERY | Russian Federation | 2021 | 30’
Director: Vadim Valiullin
Writer: Vadim Valiullin
Producer: Maria Ivanova
Synopsis: An ordinary working man, Vasya Kosoy, wins 50,000,000 rubles in the lottery. The only thing is that he can collect his winnings on Monday, but he wants to live and spend them right now. Vasya and his family decide to take out a loan, but something unexpected happens, and a default almost cancels Vasya’s winnings. But the whole family has time to overwhelm with wealth for two days and realizes that it is not enough just to have money for a happy life, but it is necessary to live and work honestly.
ANEW | Russian Federation | 2020 | 15’
Dircetor: Nikolai Zabrodin
Writers: Ilya Zameshaev, Nikolai Zabrodin
Producer: Sergey Kuznetsov-Valtman
Synopsis: A courier comes to Lyubov Andreyevna on her birthday and offers to buy a pill that brings back her youth.
Natural Selection | Cambodia | 2020 | 10’
Dircetor: Robin Narciso
Writer: Robin Narciso
Producers: Thomas Cristofoletti, Robin Narciso
Cast: Colin Grafton, Kirsty Day, Sam Thomas, Faith Quinones, Criztian Velayo
Synopsis: An instagram model, a zealot priest, and a woke cyclist couple, all suffering from amnesia, find themselves in the waiting room of a disgruntled scientist. Soon they discover they have more in common than memory loss and have not been selected by chance.
IT’S DESMOND (your misguided tour guide) | Canada | 2020 | 06’
Director: Daniela Di Salvo
Writer: Desmond Ngai
Producers: George D’Amato, Desmond Ngai, Vincent Lee, Yeunjo Kim
Cast: Desmond Ngai
Synopsis: In a world of disingenuous wanderlusters, “IT’S DESMOND (your misguided tour guide)” seeks to reveal the truth behind world travel.
Short Dance/Musical – Official Selection – March 2021
Naïade | Canada | 2020 | 11’
Directors: Mistaya Hemingway, Alan Kohl
Producer: Mistaya Hemingway
Cast: Mistaya Hemingway
Synopsis: Naïade is a reflection on the ways image and self-perception have changed in a post #MeToo era. What do we keep and what do we shed? Using the water as a feedback loop and the haunting music of Beatrice Deer and Jace Lasek, Naïade dives into the depths of consciousness.
Where We’re Going | United States | 2019 | 04’
Directors: Heidi Duckler, Katherine Helen Fisher
Producers: Caroline Haydon, Raphaelle Ziemba
Synopsis: Where We’re Going: Filmed on the rooftop of the historic Bendix Building in the garment district of Los Angeles where Heidi Duckler has her office space, this work is choreographed by Heidi Duckler and performed by her dancers, her staff and several workers from the building. This short work explores a common feeling in Duckler’s oeuvre – a sense of belonging and how we define family.
CROWD | Turkey | 2021 | 06’
Director: Recep Akar
Writer: Recep Akar
Producer: Merve Akar
Cast: Gülnara Golovina
We construct our existence inside the void of space, surrounded by objects. Atoms, our bodies and the universe exist within this same construct. Both equally crowded and bare. “Crowd” is a single channel video that aims to perform the crowd with the void in the frame of this contrast.
THIS FAR APART | United States | 2020 | 06’
Director: T.M.Rives & A.M.Lucaciu
Writers: T. M. Rives, Ana Maria Lucaciu
Producer: Ditte Feuk
Cast: ANA MARIA LUCACIU
Synopsis: A dancer finds that her escape from the news cycle is closer than she thinks.
Short Drama – Official Selection – March 2021
Scarlet | United Kingdom | 2020 | 16’
Director: Lottie Graham
Writer: Lottie Graham
Producer: Ricardo Urueta
Cast: Chloe Grace Caemmerer, Takaya Abdou Lloyd
Synopsis: Two unlikely strangers meet on a desert road. Every strangers encounter is different, but this one is going to leave its mark.
Camera Obscura | Greece | 2020 | 13’
Directors: Foivos Oikonomidis, Fotis Tsolis
Writers: Foivos Oikonomidis , Fotis Tsolis
Producer: Alkis Sdougkos
Cast: Stavros Karampatsos , Michail Melissis
Synopsis: A young man wakes up in a dark room, with no memory of how he ended up there. Across him sits a stranger, who hides his face behind a mask and demands all his questions to be answered.
HOPE | 2020 | 09’
Director: Abdulla Al-Janahi
Writer: Abdulla Al-Janahi
Producers: Abdulaziz Khashabi, Fabian Loing
Synopsis: The short film “HOPE” is about the journey of a new born baby sea turtle named Aqua. During his journey, he faces many obstacles from human pollution to different predators. Using his mind and courage he over comes one obstacle after the other, until he reaches his final destination. Just before he enters the sea, he witnesses a life changing scene, that he bravely over comes and grows as a character.
my 10am | India | 2020 | 15’
Director: Yash Saraf
Writer: Yash Saraf
Producer: Yash Saraf
Cast: Kalpana Jha, Swati Sharma
Synopsis: An anxious housewife visits her spiritualist friend for counsel. And goddammit! .. She just can’t figure it out! Is her husband having an affair? Is he? Or is this but a dagger of the mind?
Dress | United States | 2019 | 16’
Director: Paulina Lagudi Ulrich
Writers: Brian Carufe, Alexander Day
Producer: Max Landwirth
Cast: Tess Sullivan, Madeline Dennison, Jane Edwine Seymour, Thom Rachford
Synopsis: Two women confront their uncertain futures (and each other) as one readies for college and the other for a big date.
A Father’s Job | Germany | 2021 | 20’
Director: Frank Christian Wagner
Writer: Frank Christian Wagner
Producer: Frank Christian Wagner
Cast: Christian Harting, Dorothee Frauenlob, Jessica Stautz, Mara Hoebusch
Synopsis: “A Father’s Job” tells the story of a Jewish woman’s fate in the middle of the last century in Germany. Step by step connections become apparent and result in an overall view that doesn’t just comes up with an unexpected counterpart but also turns temporal orientation upside down.
Short Horror – Official Selection – March 2021
BLACK ICE | United Kingdom | 2020 | 08’
Director: Chris Goodman
Writers: Chris Goodman, Mel Barnes
Cast: Abe Buckoke, Joe Warner
Synospis: A British expedition to Antarctica goes terribly wrong. Carter and Williams must seek shelter in the hull of a ship where something very strange lives.
A U R O R A | United States | 2021 | 08’
Directors: Mike Canale, Mena Guy
Writer: Mike Canale
Producers: Mike Canale, Mena Guy
Cast: Talia Cataldo, Richard Plasmati
Synopsis: A priest gives guidance to a woman who feels lost in life.
Stop Motion / Time Lapse – Official Selection – March 2021
Main Ballet Tank | Singapore | 04’
Director: Bernhard Schmitt
Writer: Bernhard Schmitt
Producer: Bernhard Schmitt
Cast: Matias Liebrecht
Synopsis: Machines of War are reassigned for a more meaningful task than destruction: Dancing the CanCan. A group of T54 Main Battle tanks let the their hair down and get into some serious track-shaking, cannon-spinning and turret-twerking.
The Boy who would become a Knight | Italy | 2020 | 07’
Director: Gianmarco D’Agostino
Writers: Gianmarco D’Agostino, Matteo Bortolotti
Producer: Gianmarco D’Agostino
Cast: Lorenzo Degl’Innocenti, Elena Talenti, Pietro Leoni
Synopsis: “The Boy who would become a Knight” tells, with live action and stop motion animations, a moment of transition in the life of Luigi, a child from Florence at the end of the Fourteenth century. Thanks to the words of the family weaver and a precious embroidered blanket, the adventures of the young Tristan come to life before Luigi’s eyes, to teach him what skills a knight must have.
The Boat | Ireland | 2021 | 06’
Director: David Robinson and Bryan Mills
Producer: David Robinson and Bryan Mills
Synopsis: A boat navigates a tumultuous sea of mushrooms whilst searching for her lost sister ship.
Student Short – Official Selection – March 2021
Lily-white | Argentina | 2020 | 07’
Director: Julián Vladimir Schmidt
Writers: Julián Vladimir Schmidt, Francisco López Fazio
Producers: Nayla Diaz, Daniela Rodriguez Tamayo
Cast: Bianca Rapacci, Matilde Fernández
Synopsis: In the city of Arrecifes, Bianca prepares to receive the first communion, but the day doesn’t go as planned.
And Then I Met Erich | United Kingdom | 2020 | 15’
Director: Sorina Reiber
Producer: Sorina Reiber
Cast: Erich Fisi
Synopsis: And Then I Met Erich is a film about the search for the past, about identity, trauma, but most of all about resilience. Being born and raised in Germany, the filmmaker returns to her parents’ Transylvanian hometown for the first time to see what they left behind. Copșa Mică was considered the most polluted place in Europe for many years, but it was also the place where people grew up, fell in love, sang, fought, worked and died. An unlikely friendship begins when she meets the last Transylvanian Saxon of the village, who claims to be a relative and invites her into his life. Through him she discovers a familiar toxic world that has vanished from the surface, but still lies deep in the soil and the memories of the people.
The orchard of death | Greece | 2020 | 05’
Director: Orfeas Tatakis
Writer: Orfeas Tatakis
Producers: Stelios Tatakis, Agnes Sklavou
Cast: Giannis Politakis
Synopsis: WWI. In a trench something unexpected, creates hope inside the cruelty .
Nudity | United Kingdom | 2021 | 07’
Director: Jáchym Bouzek
Writers: Jáchym Bouzek, Claire Saint-Pierre
Producers: Isis Hope Lloyd, Luca House
Synopsis: In a fabric society, a young figure diverges from rigid the gender binaries to explore where their identity lies.
814 – eightfourteen | Germany | 2020 | 10’
Director: Victor van Wetten
Writer: Carina Obrecht
Producers: Victor van Wetten, Carina Obrecht
Cast: Gerhard Fehn, Frank Albrecht, Antonia Mohr
Synopsis: Two geezers are debating intensely about time travelling to the Middle Ages, not knowing what unfolds around them.
