Animation Short – Official Selection – November 2022
Tomato Kitchen| China | 2022 | 09’
Director: Junyi Xiao
Synopsis: An escaped tomato interrupted Lee’s dinner with his colleagues. The dark truth of the Tomato Kitchen along with Lee’s hidden past were revealed by this unexpected incident…
Things | Italy | 2022 | 04’
Directors: Oscar Renni, Oana Adina Enache
Synopsis: The protagonist of Things lives its quiet day like all the other days, among its thousands objects and chores, at least until a neighbor annoyed by his life style calls someone who can finally take care of him.
The Benefactors | Switzerland | 2022 | 09’
Director: Christophe Lopez-Huici
Synopsis: A weary young man thinks he found the perfect patrons for his rickshaw tours, but he soon finds out that his new customers can be very demanding.
Save the Princess! | United Kingdom | 2022 | 04’
Director: Tom Elgon
Writer: Tom Elgon
Synopsis: A princess is kidnapped by an evil robot and hero must fly up to the robot’s flying palace and save them. But the robot has a one hundred ninja army; so ….
At a rate of knots | France | 2022 | 19’
Director: Aurélia Noudelmann
Writer: Aurélia Noudelmann
Producer: Aurélia Noudelmann
Cast: Taka Taka, Lucia Vives, Rozy Sapelkine
Synopsis: When one remembers something, their mind loops and tightens on itself to form a recollection. It is seized the same way a knot twists on itself, to harden the binding. At a rate of knots explores knot patterns to approach constructions of memory and the way we share them. Within this recollection, imaginaries and lived experiences inform each other. The film questions the assimilation of social norms within gender performativity through the narration of different souvenirs, from Lucia Vives, Rozy Sapelkine, and Taka Taka.
REALIGN | Taiwan |2022 | 17’
Synopsis: “REALIGN” is an animation film about space and time dimension. It depicts a boy who reverberate confusedly around the room, street and the lake outside the gigantic wall, which he decided to take the step toward the line that behold the gravity of whole after thunderstorms corroded the time.
The Peace of Oil | Italy | 2022 | 05’
Director: Francesco Catarinolo
Writer: Roberto Cavallo
Producer: CONOU
Synopsis: “Because oil brings peace among the elements. It takes on the weight of the ratio of the components. It removes the waste from difficult situations until they are easy. This is why it becomes black, so that others continue to remain immaculate”. In these words the meaning of The peace of oil, animation short film produced by CONOU. The story has been written by the author and environmental communicator Roberto Cavallo and Pandora Studio created the animation. It represents a time travel with strong human connections, to reflect on the values of this material and on its applications in a circular economy ecosystem. The peace of oil tells a story about generations and regenerations – the life of the main character is always connected to the virtues of oil. The difficulties of the life might be overcome, and every end is simply a new beginning. Oil represents a metaphor of the strength that guides us among our everyday life, but also a fil rouge that connects past, present and future.
The Smile | Netherlands | 2022 | 16’
Director: Erik van Schaaik
Writer: Erik van Schaaik
Producer: Anita van Dalen
Cast: Claire King, Tim Gunther, Erik van Schaaik
Synopsis: When a world-famous film star is accused of eating his female co-stars, his career goes down the drain. That wipes the smile off his face!
Forget-me-not | Romania | 2022 | 07’
Director: Ruxandra Maria Socor
Writer: Ruxandra Maria Socor
Synopsis: Forget-Me-Not tells the story of a dancer losing her memory as she explores three rooms representing her anxiety, fear and confusion ending in numbness. From the real world she is transported in the first room, an infinte gothic hallway that she tries to escape only to be sent to M.C. Escher’s Relativity where she is stuck repeating the same action over and over again. In the end all that remains is her musical and muscle memory, dancing away one last time as the world around her disappears and she succumbs to her disease.
When I met Sangre Negra | United States | 2022 | 03’
Director: Miguel Rueda
Producer: Celia Mendoza
Cast: Celia Jimenez
Synopsis: The loss and suffering of a little Colombian girl reflects the situation of Colombia in the 1950’s. Her very personal recount as an adult of her encounter with one of the most brutal killers, Sangre Negra is evidence of the despair and abandonment in which rural communities were living.
The Person at the Center | United States | 2022 | 03’
Director: Fabrizia Faustinella
Writer: Fabrizia Faustinella
Producer: Fabrizia Faustinella
Synopsis: The message of this short animated video is that it’s only by valuing human life and fostering attitudes of respect and justice for all people that becomes possible to fight against racism and any other form of discrimination. It’s only through the universal message of the centrality of the human person that is possible to defend and promote human rights.
Together/Apart | United States | 2022 | 07’
Director: David Amberg
Writer: David Amberg
Cast: Eric Roberts, Alex Redd
Synopsis: Two years after a gaybashing, Michael and Alex are still feeling the aftershocks in their relationship. Things continue to get complicated, as Michael’s dissociations start becoming reality.
Commercial/Ad/TVC – Official Selection – November 2022
“Clean up” | Norway | 03’
Synopsis: The app “Clean up” aims to make it even easier to get involved in cleaning up litter in nature. We made a video based on the somewhat unrealistic premise that the ocean will be completely free of plastic in the year 2050. That is actually the year it is estimated that there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish.
Yota family | Russian Federation | 2022 | 01’
Director: Anton Shavkero
Writer: Misha Petrick
Producers: Nadya Petrick, Olga Shkurenkova, Polina Fufarova
Synopsis: Pixel voxel animation for the Yota’s (telecom client) new campaign. Yota’s new family plan allows to connect up to 6 people, leaving each one of them the possibility to tailor the plan for their specific needs.
Gods Among Us | Turkey | 2022 | 05’
Director: Abdullah Furkan Doğan
Producer: Arda Aydın
Synopsis: Gods Among Us is a fashion film which aims to showcase the new “Nemrut Collection” of the YSK Leather Company. The story is inspired by the traditions of astronomy and religion of ancient civilizations that existed in the Mesopotamia, a place where the metaphysics has been not only a fraction but the center of the lives of its people.
Debut – Official Selection – November 2022
Elements | Netherlands | 2022 | 17’
Director: Aldo Agaatsz
Writer: Aldo Agaatsz
Producers: Aldo Agaatsz, Yve Baya
Cast: Uriah Havertong
Synopsis: In Elements Ralph, a young man, is mentally struggling. In search for answers, he starts a journey to clear his mind. This brings him to his childhood home where he hopes to find out which elements in life are important to him.
KAIN | Thailand | 2022 | 20’
Director: Gamontip Walker
Writer: Siyaporn Saosaovaphak
Producer: Tara Messiah Brennan
Cast: Alexander May, Matthew May, Jasmine Richardson
Synopsis: Louis is a suburban salesman and a caring brother to one younger sister, Lily. One night, as Louis is on his way to meet her, he finds himself lost on a deserted road where he meets Kain. With Kain by his side, Louis is further delayed when he involves himself with a crime. As events transpire, he struggles to be in control as reality starts to slip away. Simultaneously, as Lily awaits her brother’s arrival, darkness looms when she finds herself being targeted by a sexual predator. Both stuck in an unfavorable situation, Louis must make an important decision – one that could change both of their lives forever.
ENOMENA | Greece | 2021 | 19’
Director: Phaedra Vόkali
Writer: Phaedra Vόkali
Producers: Phaedra Vόkali, Orestis Plakias
Cast: Margarita Tasi, Froso Papadopoulou, Flomaria Papadaki
Synopsis: Anna is a gifted but insecure 17-year-old girl who is desperate to belong. During an aquarium school trip, her jockey boyfriend pressures Anna into entrapping his go-to target, tough Albanian classmate Jo, so that they can bully them later on. Anna accepts the mission only to find herself perplexed by her own feelings for Jo. Now Anna needs to decide if she’s brave enough to follow her inner voice or succumb to the need to be accepted.
Documentary Short – Official Selection – November 2022
Edward Povey Emotional Realism | United Kingdom | 2022 | 28’
Director: Peter Pahor
Producer: Peter Pahor
Cast: Edward Povey
Synopsis: An introspective look to the latest series of paintings by British artist Edward Povey, in connection with the traumatic relationship he had with his abusive father.
Dust Never Settled | United States | 2022 | 21’
Director: Blue Kalamian
Producers: Blue Kalamian, Anthony Abaci
Synopsis: After the Artsakh War in 2020, American-Armenian filmmaker Blue Kalamian traveled to Armenia and Artsakh to see firsthand how the war affected the country and its people. “Dust Never Settled” highlights the voices of those who otherwise would not be able to share their stories. The film explores the experiences of soldiers, medical volunteers, and displaced families as they attempt to pick up the pieces of their lives in the aftermath of this terrible event.
The Healer’s Dream | Canada | 2022 | 15’
Director: Roxana Mares
Producer: Roxana Mares
Cast: Bishownath Karmacharya
Synopsis: Ayurveda is an ancient tradition of medicine that originated in India, with certain branches established and taught in Nepal. Various regions in Nepal, in particular the Kathmandu Valley, became centers of ancient knowledge where the medical and spiritual traditions of Ayurveda are being preserved. Bishownath Karmacharya is a vaidya (Sanskrit: वैद्य), or Ayurvedic healer. In addition to the knowledge passed down from his grandfather, he has studied Ayurveda and Sanskrit since he was a young child. He has dedicated his entire life to the study of medicinal herbs and making Ayurvedic medicine to heal people. Now in his 90s, he is one of the few remaining Ayurvedic doctors of his generation and is determined to keep the tradition alive. He is aware of and concerned about the many challenges that face this ancient medical tradition: the impact of climate change on the herbs, the greed of unethical practitioners, a general lack of knowledge and interest in the herbs, urban development and its impact on the herbs, lack of government funding, and apathy from the new generation. It is his greatest wish to pass on his knowledge.
Rangers of the Ulaan Taiga | United States | 2022 | 14’
Director: Eric Daft
Producers: Mark Fisher, Mongol Ecology Center
Synopsis: A look into the lives of the Ulaan Taiga rangers who have dedicated their lives to the national parks and protected areas of Mongolia.
A Crack in the Universe | United States | 2022 | 12’
Director: Brandon Bloom
Writer: Brandon Bloom
Producer: Brandon Bloom
Synopsis: For the last several decades, Hope Center for the Arts has been cultivating a niche corner of Anaheim’s musical and visual arts scene by giving the city’s intellectually disabled community a place to express themselves through the arts.
SOLUS | Belgium | 2022 | 29’
Director: Frederic Siroul
Producer: Velvet Note
Synopsis: In many places in the world, parents have no other choice but to move abroad to find better paid jobs to provide for their families and the future of their children. The Republic of Moldova, one of the poorest countries in Europe, is no exception to this mass migration. Cleopatra and Susanna are taking us on a heartwarming journey where we witness, through children eyes, two contrasted emotional evolutions of their identities. Both girls meet on Independence Day Aug 27, were they disappear in the cheering crowd of happy families and start a discussion in the playground about their common realities.
Mini Short – Official Selection – November 2022
Message | Brazil | 01’
Director: André Schuck
Writer: André Schuck
Producer: André Schuck
Cast: Daniel Amabile, Inara Amabile, Regina Basto, Claudio Amabile
Synopsis: There is no greater love and pain than that of a mother for her children.
A Call for Love | Germany | 2022 | 03’
Director: Pat Borriello
Writers: Pat Borriello, Regina Ostertag
Producer: Melis Celebi
Cast: Layne Willis, Anna Tse
Synopsis: Being the object of scorn is something we hardly get over. Left out. Dejected. Reminiscing good times that never were. Furiously blaming everyone and everything around – even the incarnation of love itself.
UPSTAY | Colombia | 2022 | 01’
Director: Carlos Andres Reyes
Writers: Carlos Andres Reyes, Sebastian Henríquez
Producer: Felipe Erhardt
Cast: Pepe Cámara, Jeronimo Baron, Estefanía Pardo
Synopsis: Two brothers communicate using a tin can phone even when one of them is in the afterlife.
Falling Free | Poland | 2022 | 04’
Director: Jakub Wittchen
Producer: Jakub Wittchen
Cast: Natalia Wilk
Synopsis: Falling Free is a film about space, freedom and movement. About the beauty of being in water and being water.
Music Video – Official Selection – November 2022
Alo!Stari x Emkej – Nea Guši | Slovenia | 2022 | 05’
Director: Miha Šubic
Writer: Miha Šubic
Producer: Mojca Pernat
Cast: Tine Matjašič, Matic Mlakar, Jernej Metež, Matej Kosmačin, Tomaž Medvar, Marko Kocjan
Synopsis: It’s a lovely day and a common person gets a visit. Knock, knock! Who is there? Our society!
Regen – Youth | Slovenia | 2022 | 05’
Director: Miha Šubic
Writer: Miha Šubic
Producers: Miha Šubic, Mojca Pernat
Synopsis: Some days are sunny, some days are windy. And on some days, it rains.
THE CALL – JO SARAH | Netherlands | 2022 | 01’
Director: Leanne Vink
Producer: Leanne Vink
Cast: Joanne Sarah Smolders
Synopsis: The story of ‘The Call’ is about a woman surviving hard times, but when she sings the melody of the chorus a magical tribe of women+ start dancing and this sisterhood sends power to her. The Call’s music video showcases fantastic visuals that portray the primal strength women+ have when they unite, connected in nature.
Destination | China | 2022 | 04’
Director: Chen Lu
Writer: Chen Lu
Producer: Weihang Wang
Cast: Lingguo Wang
Synopsis: Official music video for Chinese artist 拜德盖Viigho.
A emotional shattering journey of an astronaut searching for his loved one throughout the universe.
Asunder | Netherlands | 2022 | 05’
Director: Kevin Kessels
Writer: Kevin Kessels
Cast: Luca Turenhout
Synopsis: A cheerful woman who is getting ready to go on a date, only to receive a call just before the appointment that it has been canceled. In the following days she broods alone in her house where she slowly drifts into her delusional thoughts that escalate from bad to worse.
Narrative Short – Official Selection – November 2022
To Father | Republic of Korea | 2022 | 34’
Director: Jae-Feel Hwang
Writer: Jae-Feel Hwang
Producer: Woo-Young Jung
Cast: Jae-Feel Hwnag, Yoon-Soo, Eun-Seo Oh, Woo-Young Jung
Synopsis: Kyung-ku, who had been raised by his stepfather, falls into debt and moves in with his biological father. But one day, he hears that his stepfather passed away as an unclaimed dead, so he goes to see him.
1939 | Hungary | 2022 | 01’
Directors: Zsolt Magyari, Claudia Benkő
Writers: Zsolt Magyari, Alexandra Kocsis, Claudia Benkő
Producer: Patrícia D’Intino
Cast: Anikó Für, Levente Molnár, László Gálffy, József Gyabronka
Synopsis: On 3 September 1939, a young woman mysteriously disappears. A private investigator is set to the case. What happened to Ilonka? Is she hiding from her abusive military officer husband? Did she engage in an illegal political movement? Or on the contrary, she fell in love and fled the country with a Jewish journalist? What if she became a spy, as the butler believes? This detective story lets us peek into a society divided to the extreme on the brink of a global cataclysm.
La Tumba | Ireland | 2022 | 15’
Director: Natasha Waugh
Writer: Jonathan Hughes
Producer: Natalie McAuley
Cast: Peter McGann
Synopsis: When park ranger Paddy discovers Pilar, an elderly Spanish lady with no English, at a freshly dug grave, he thinks his fantasy of solving a murder case has finally come true.
Left On Our Own | Hungary | 2022 | 27’
Director: Akos Kovacs
Writer: Akos Kovacs
Producer: Jeno Habermann
Cast: Janos Papp
Synopsis: An elderly taxi driver, who happens to be a tireless storyteller, is a man of contradictions: a hopeless romantic and a crude observer of life who has lived through individual hardship and witnessed the despair of others. He doesn’t hold back while roaming the streets of Budapest: the route to the destination leads through the labyrinth of his own memories and emotions, which his words conjure. Friends and strangers, cheap décor, lonely buildings, a life-long correspondence that encapsulates a relationship, numbing melodies from an ancient music box all swirl and blend in this film’s poetic vision. Sensitive writing and emotional cinematography draws the attention to small details, to personal hopes and everyday tragedies. A hypnotic, haunting and tranquil soundtrack gives eerily gentle force to the old man’s tales.
1848 | Mexico | 2022 | 14’
Director: Alfonso Otero Mireles
Writers: Alejandra Otero, Alfonso Otero Mireles
Producer: Alfonso Otero Mireles
Cast: Ana Lancaster-Jones, Anna Daniela, Alejandra Otero
Synopsis: A folk tale set in Mexico’s XIX century. A pregnant woman and her sisters, wait for childbirth in isolation.
Objects of Desire – one | United States | 2022 | 19’
Director: Alejandro Renteria
Writer: Jorge Luis Sanchez-Noya
Producer: Agustin
Cast: Alex Cowley, Mauricio Renteria, Lili Renteria
Synopsis: Forced by the kidnapping of his mother, Jessy, a young man with few scruples, tries to seduce Carlos, an older man in a frank state of decline, to pay his debt.
Autumn Leaves Fall Far From Home | United States | 2022 | 11’
Director: Matthew Petti
Writer: Matthew Petti
Producer: Matthew Petti
Synopsis: Yanni, Dante, and Jill reunite after being apart for half a decade to visit the grave of their late friend, whose death forces these young friends for the first time to consider their own mortality and what it means to really grow up.
Egg Man | United States | 12’
Director: Hsiao Hsia Huang
Writer: Lucy Choi
Producers: Xingyi Jiang, Yan Hua
Synopsis: Mr. Ren is an introvert and traditional Chinese father. After his American-born son decided to donate his heart out to others after he died, Mr. Ren feels deeply guilty for not protecting his heart. He decides to leave his home and temporarily stay in a motel. One day, he meets this young boy who claims he got heart transplant from a Chinese…
My dick & my bike | France | 2022 | 11’
Director: Edgar Allender
Writer: Edgar Allender
Producer: Eden Dallare
Synopsis: On the edge of a canal, Eden rides his bike.
Lollipop | China | 2022 | 10’
Director: WenWei Hu
Writers: WenWei Hu, QianHui Yang
Producers: QianYuan Geng, ZhiYi Chen
Cast: MingZe Wu, ShuangYuan Guo
Synopsis: Fang and his little sister have been relying on each other ever since their parents died when they were kids. Their normal life is disturbed as Gao Ruifeng accidentally discovered that Fang could help him steal test papers. Gao and Fang started to collude in evildoing, each harbouring their own sinister motives …
No/Low Budget – Official Selection – November 2022
Through the Whole of Time | United Kingdom | 2020 | 06’
Director: Cristina Iorgulescu
Producer: Cristina Iorgulescu
Synopsis: Apusul Anilor explores an estranged mother-daughter relationship and the way we tell stories. Incorporating archive and present day footage, this essay film looks at how people come alive through memories and withstand time.
Inner Kanchenjunga | Germany | 2021 | 08’
Director: Valeria Starovoit
Writer: Jaideep Unudurti
Producer: Valeria Starovoit
Cast: Margarita Karaseva
Synopsis: A woman lives alone on a mountain… in her own head. A single/frame project done for the film-making course. Real-life fragments of conversations of mountaineers on the mountain Kanchenjunga were used in this film. The fragments were taken from the documentary film “The Himalayas. The Kanchenjunga Traverse” by Valentin Vendelovsky, (c) Lennauchfilm 1989.
My dick & my bike | France | 2022 | 11’
Director: Edgar Allender
Writer: Edgar Allender
Producer: Eden Dallare
Synopsis: On the edge of a canal, Eden rides his bike.
The Almond Hater, Tom | Germany | 2022 | 23’
Director: Ahmad Hamamah
Writer: Ahmad Hamamah
Producer: Laura Trivedi
Cast: Yazan Melhem, Svenja Peters, Isabella Gonzalez, Alexander Krewer
Synopsis: A product manager is confronted with the challenge of going back to the office, after comfortably working from home for so long during the pandemic. In the office, he faces an agonizing atmosphere & a toxic boss.
Till that day | Canada | 2022 | 22’
Director: Pier-Olivier Renaud
Writer: Pier-Olivier Renaud
Producer: Pier-Olivier Renaud
Cast: Peter Meltev, Martine Bédard, Nicolas Germain-Vien, Rémi Will-Nicolas, Jeff Lemay, Sandrine Morin, Jérémie Laflamme
Synopsis: A couple receives a phone call from their son, Jacob, who has been in a car accident after returning from a party. The parents attempt to reach him, but he is nowhere to be found after the phone call is abruptly cut off. A pair of police officers will have to continue the search.
EXIT | France | 2022 | 05’
Director: Oriana Ng
Writer: Oriana Ng
Producers: Oriana Ng, Lana Bolycheva
Cast: Federico Rodriguez, Soraya Broukhim, David Gelles, Mackian Bauman
Synopsis: A dangerous elevator ride tests a couple’s bond
Untitled Days | Germany | 2021 | 08’
Director: Eva Rini May Cragg
Writer: Eva Rini May Cragg
Producer: Eva Rini May Cragg
Synopsis: A woman doesn’t quite want to come into frame. On the verge of invisibility, she tiptoes towards herself.
Short Dance/Musical – Official Selection – November 2022
Leo | China | 2022 | 02’
Director: Zhengye Cheng
Writer: Yang Lei
Producer: Xinyao He
Cast: Lei Yang
Synopsis: One-minute dance video talking about dance and life.
Behind the Face of a Rock, Throwing Stones | 04’
Directors: Surface Area Dance Theatre, Bim Ajadi
Synopsis: Behind the Face of a Rock, Throwing Stones is a dance film exploring ideas of language, contemplation and expression, with choreographic research centred around lived experience of British Sign Language, D/deaf culture, Japanese culture and Butoh. The result is a multi-sensory, embodied encounter; audience members are invited to utilise the wearable technology worn by dancers in the film, experiencing the work through both watching and feeling vibrations through the body. Central to the piece is the Japanese philosophy Ma (間), translated as a gap, pause or interval. Dancers physically interpreted the possibilities of Ma by envisioning the entire body as a listening instrument, capable of feeling, touching, and seeing sound. The film aims to bring these ideas together, inviting viewers to see the colours and textures of both sound and silence in every space they encounter.
Fragile | Germany | 2022 | 05’
Director: Hieronymus Caspar Rönneper
Synopsis: This music and dance performance short film, directed by Hiernonymos Caspar Rönneper was shot in a single session in Warwer Sand, outside Bremen. It tries to find out the intersections between livemusic, dance, performance, costume design and film. Every single art form could stand for itself and the special attention was given on the interactions between them.
Into The Arms Of Sunshine | South Africa | 2022 | 05’
Director: Craig Moore
Writer: Craig Moore
Producer: Liam Johnson
Cast: Sabine Van Rensburg, Brin Schoellkopf
Synopsis: ‘Into The Arms of Sunshine’ is an experimental movement piece told through poetry and motion. Starring two circus artists from the Montreal Circus; Sabine Van Rensburg and Brin Schoellkopf. Written and directed by Craig Moore, the film is a story about two lost lovers who are separated and longing to be together again, using a series of visual metaphors to convey the emotions attached with separation. Told through the female perspective, they look to the sun for comfort and guidance as they long to be back in each others arms again.
Short Drama – Official Selection – November 2022
À la Carte | Germany | 2021 | 25’
Director: Valle Döring
Writer: Valle Döring
Producers: Elenya Bannert, Sophia Schiller
Cast: Doris Conrad, Peter W. Hermanns, Elena Nyffeler, Jannik Mühlenweg
Synopsis: “À La Carte“ is an absurd chamber play, which stages the total blending of business and life in comic and bizarre ways. A businesswoman and a businessman with their assistants are having lunch in a restaurant and talk about alleged social topics such as family and privat life; small talk as a side stage of the actual negotiations. At the table they avoid speaking openly, instead they try to compete in absurd ways. They compete in ordering and eating food, they collect bizarre amounts of signatures from each other. On the contrary they negotiate and plot frankly while being on the toilet, in order to gain most advantage after the inevitable yet hopeless contracting to be done. After all trump cards are played without having a clear dominator, the negotiations escalate into a Shakespearian battle of words, stabbing and poisoning, after which the assistants scavenge the leftovers.
Life is a state of chaos | Canada | 2022 | 14’
Director: Yann-Manuel Hernandez
Writer: Yann-Manuel Hernandez
Producer: Yann-Manuel Hernandez
Cast: Sarah Keita, Christian Paul
Synopsis: This is the legendary story of a woman who had never cried. She had lost everything and had to go into exile far from home. Where the cold kills. She had run away all her life. So much so that she became the ghost of herself. She was alive and dead at the same time. Until one day she hears again a melody forgotten in the depths of her memory. Inspired by the feeling of exile and the melody The Gentle Waltz by Quebec jazzman Oscar Peterson, director Yann-Manuel Hernandez creates a fiction that navigates between the melancholy of the lost country and the desire to make peace with her past.
THE CURSED | Russian Federation | 2022 | 22’
Director: Mukhtar Makhtibekov
Writer: Mukhtar Makhtibekov
Producers: Irina Khalipskaya, Ibragim Makhtibekov, Dzhanbolat Makhtibekov
Synopsis: A warrior returning home after a long wandering saves a beautiful girl who is in trouble in the middle of the forest, which becomes a fatal mistake.
By the water | Mexico | 2022 | 18’
Director: Elías Rosario
Writer: José Luis Calderón
Producers: Alfonso Winston Virgen, Anabella Nixania Barragan
Cast: Jose Concepción Macías, Enoc Leaño
Synopsis: In a forgotten community deep within Michoacán, where the urban sprawl fades; a grieving Álvaro, guided only by memories of his childhood and aided by the heritage of his lineage, will have to face a grueling journey towards inner peace.
Bus Driver | United Kingdom | 2022 | 15’
Director: Amar Singh Sethi
Writer: Amar Singh Sethi
Producer: Connor J. Matthews
Cast: Bally Gill, John Ramm, Sarah Vevers, Tia Dutt, Jay Varsani
Synopsis: The normal journey of a London bus driver transforms into a living nightmare as he finds himself in the middle of a terrorist stand-off between his panic-consumed passengers. Lives hang in the balance as he desperately tries to negotiate his way out of the quagmire.
Sarah | Canada | 2022 | 10’
Director: Peter Riddihough
Writer: Peter Riddihough
Producer: Peter Riddihough
Cast: Kit Simmons, Joe Amero, Esther Huh, Marilo Nunez
Synopsis: An abstract portrait, based on a true story, of a young woman experiencing homelessness on the streets of Hamilton, Ontario.
The Cow | Ireland | 2022 | 13’
Director: Justin John Carroll
Writer: Justin John Carroll
Producer: Justin John Carroll
Cast: Dervla Byrne, Justin John Carroll
Synopsis: A short film about domestic disharmony leading to the onset of domestic abuse.
Short Fantasy/Sci-Fi– Official Selection – November 2022
Shop at the Edge of Town | United States | 2022 | 10’
Director: Cailin Tamplin
Writer: Cailin Tamplin
Producers: Tim Johns, Ezra Goldberg-Johns
Cast: Taelor Danae Castellano, Marshall Gluskin, Ezra Goldberg-Johns
Synopsis: Trapped in eternal night: a shopkeeper tries to close when a man enters; a supernatural presence follows him.
Phase 9 | France | 2022 | 25’
Director: Souliman Schelfout
Producer: Quentin Brayer
Cast: Quentin Dolmaire, Elie Salleron
Synopsis: Pietro struggles at online poker so much that he gives in to the worst idea. He installs an artificial intelligence supposed to make him unbeatable.
YURI | France | 2022 | 13’
Director: Baky DIA
Writers: Baky DIA, Rahul BHALLA
Producer: Baky Dia
Cast: Jonas DINAL, Demba DIAW, Adeline LO PICCOLO
Synopsis: In a world of water scarcity, a father and son have a mysterious encounter.
The Elusive Purpurea Vulpavis | Canada | 10’
Director: Michèle Kaye
Writer: Michèle Kaye
Producers: Tejasvi Bhalla, Laura Tremblay, Avi Federgreen
Cast: Winny Clarke, Jill Frappier, Trudy Weiss
Synopsis: A supposedly eco-friendly tour company is guiding tourists through a wooded area with the hopes of glimpsing an elusive, critically endangered animal.
Student Short – Official Selection – November 2022
The Uninvited Guest | Canada | 2022 | 08’
Director: Nikol Naumov
Writer: Cicy Nie
Producers: Cicy Nie, Nikol Naumov
Cast: Wyatt Sterling, Ethan Hagelsieb, Claire Lundin, Mary Flannigan
Synopsis: On the first day of moving into their new apartment, Gavin and his girlfriend, Jill, invite their friends, Tallis and Adalia, to come for a housewarming party. When Gavin and Tallis search for free chairs left in the attic by the landlady, the forever resident of the apartment, a ghost, possesses Tallis. What is worse, it has a crush on Jill. The other partiers are amused but soon fed up with Tallis’ weird behaviors. They think he is playing funny and tell him to stop. However, ghost-possessed Tallis continues pursuing Jill and antagonizing Gavin. When Gavin attempts to punch Tallis, the ghost reveals its true power and traps the partiers in the darkness.
Manchukuo, 1943, Summer | United States | 2022 | 13’
Director: Yifan Xiang
Writer: Yifan Xiang
Producers: Nicole Shan, Yifan Xiang
Cast: Angela Lin, Lawrance Luo
Synopsis: 1945, Manchuria, a young Manchurian huntress tries to steal a rifle from an injured imperial Japanese soldier.
Amidst the Concrete | Bulgaria | 2022 | 15’
Director: Jordan Mihailovsky
Writer: Jordan Mihailovsky
Producer: Anastasya Artymova
Synopsis: The 12-year-old Vihren has been called in the director’s office to be questioned about a grim story with a fatal ending, he wrote in his literature class. Once it turns out the teachers, present haven’t actually read the story, Vihren reads it for the audience as well.
Sorry About Dreamland | Lebanon | 2022 | 11’
Director: Amir Sarkis
Writers: Amir Sarkis, Bina Sakr
Producer: Bina Sakr
Cast: Josef Chemaly, Christine Choueiri, Joseph Sassine
Synopsis: Sorry About Dreamland is about Dreamland, a Motel and a brothel in which the owner records his clients until a night he uncovers deeply hidden secrets happening in between the walls of the motel.
Kindred | Lebanon | 2022 | 18’
Director: Jad Chatila
Writer: Jad Chatila
Producer: Toni Abi Khalil
Cast: Joseph Maroun, Chris Haddad
Synopsis: Carlos, a 24-year-old young man, had recently just lost his father and is faced with life-changing events and responsibilities that he had never faced before with the help of an enigmatic mysterious person named Nick who claimed he was also close with Carlos’ father as well.
Gaze | Finland | 2021 | 06’
Director: Lumi Tuomi
Writers: Aino Sorsa, Lumi Tuomi
Cast: Aino Sorsa
Synopsis: Throughout her life, alopecia has directed people’s observing gazes and assumptions towards Aino’s bald head. Alopecia has restricted her life in many ways, but in the best case, opened her world to the strength in baldness. Directed, filmed and edited by Lumi Tuomi Poem and cast Aino Sorsa Music by Sergio Díaz De Rojas
Familiar Stranger | Switzerland | 2022 | 20’
Directors: Sara Furrer, Fabian Lütolf
Writers: Sara Furrer, Fabian Lütolf
Producers: Edith Flückiger, Urs Augstburger
Synopsis: Sara’s grandfather has left a void in her family. Who is Kamran Taan? The filmmaker sets off in search of clues and travels to La Spezia – the coastal city where he is said to have lived. What does kinship mean when you’ve never met? Unexpected events and revelations gradually form a narrative. A road movie about family and identity.
Mutual Heart | Bulgaria | 15’
Director: Dess Atanasoff
Writer: Dess Atanasoff
Producers: Dess Atanasoff, Elizabeth Yordanova
Cast: Boris Atanasov, Simeon Dimov
Synopsis: Bozhidar is a young, artistic photographer who produces T-shirts with suburban photo collages. One day he comes upon Victor the bully. Despite the differences between them, the two guys find a common ground. Having a good time with Victor means more than just friendship for Bozhidar, and he finds an interesting way to express his feelings.
Soft Landing | United States | 2022 | 17’
Director: Josh Ohea
Writer: Josh Ohea
Producers: Ogechi Duruaku, Shannon Sons
Cast: Ryon Thomas, Lisa Barnes, Brayden Gleave, Wayne Lundy, Nick Milotta
Synopsis: Ten years after an accident on a mission that resulted in the death of his best friend, a retired astronaut comes to terms with his life and attempts to make things right.
The Almond Hater, Tom | Germany | 2022 | 23’
Director: Ahmad Hamamah
Writer: Ahmad Hamamah
Producer: Laura Trivedi
Cast: Yazan Melhem, Svenja Peters, Isabella Gonzalez, Alexander Krewer
Synopsis: A product manager is confronted with the challenge of going back to the office, after comfortably working from home for so long during the pandemic. In the office, he faces an agonizing atmosphere & a toxic boss.
Lollipop | China | 2022 | 10’
Director: WenWei Hu
Writers: WenWei Hu, QianHui Yang
Producers: QianYuan Geng, ZhiYi Chen
Cast: MingZe Wu, ShuangYuan Guo
Synopsis: Fang and his little sister have been relying on each other ever since their parents died when they were kids. Their normal life is disturbed as Gao Ruifeng accidentally discovered that Fang could help him steal test papers. Gao and Fang started to collude in evildoing, each harbouring their own sinister motives …
