Competition category: SHORT Films

September 11th, 7:00 P.M.

Duration 70’06’’

EXTREMELY SHORT

Japan, 2024, 5’18’’, hand-drawn animation

director Koji Yamamura

A man sets out in search of the shortest thing in Tokyo, which turns out to be a single syllable uttered by a dying man…

IT SHOULDN’T RAIN TOMORROW

Germany, 2024, 11’30’’, hand-drawn animation

director Maia Trigo Teixeira

Feeling that her mother may no longer be able to live on her own, a woman moves back to her childhood home. As she tries to adapt to the new situation, her mother continues to drift away.

DETOURS AHEAD

Canada, 2024, 7’45’’, 2D animation

director Esther Cheung

A road trip traces a transition of grief to acceptance through valleys, junctions, and detours.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Japan, 2023, 11’21’’, 2D animation

director Saki Muramoto

The twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac are celebrating and welcoming the Year of the Rabbit. They’re trying to take a photo together, but…

I HAVEN’T TOLD MY GARDEN YET

Netherlands, 2024, 3’46’’, pinscreen animation

director Diek Grobler

In this poetry-film, of a poem by Emily Dikinson, the poet ponders on her mortality. She has not told her garden of her imminent demise. She will not lightly share the news with anybody, anywhere, as if death is a unique occurence.

ANTHEOR

France, 2023, 21’, 2D animation

director Patrice Joseph Blane

A young woman decides to face her anxieties, returning to places occupied by the shadows of the past. Driven by tempestuous winds, she defies a wild sea, crosses sharp rocks like blades, to return to the origin.

SHADOW OF THE BUTTERFLIES

France, 2023, 9’, 3D animation

directors Sofia El Khyari

In a mysterious forest, a woman is slowly lured into a nostalgic daydream as she observes butterflies.

September 12th, 7:00 P.M.

Duration 74’33’’

CONNECTED

Bulgaria, 2024, 12’, 2D animation

director Simeon Sokerov

In a dying city inhabited by technology-obsessed people, Ana struggles to find her place. Seeking answers in the past, she discovers that she is not alone.

FLATASTIC

France, 2024, 16’50’’, 2D animation

director Alice Saey

Pushed to their limit, the Manta Rays rise up against Man to take control of the Earth; it is the dawning of a new Flat era.

MAGDA

Poland, 2022, 9’, 2D animation

director Adela Kaczmarek

Winter of 1939. Magda (15) an excellent skier, joins the Polish Resistance and helps by bringing fugitives and documents across the mountains into Slovakia. One day, at the risk of her life and pursued by Nazi soldiers and also experienced skiers, she must lead 23 pilots across the border.

FATHER’S LETTERS

France, 2024, 12’10’, cut out animation

directors Alexey Evstigneev 

In 1934, Professor Vangengheim is condemned to the Gulag on the Solovki. As he pretends to be on a grand voyage of exploration, he crafts imaginative tales in letters to his daughter Eleonora, shielding her from the truth of his sentencing as a “traitor to the motherland”.

FROM OUR SIDE

Italy, 2022, 5’, rotoscope

directors Simone Massi

History flows, the darkness wets our clothes.

IN THE SHADOW OF CYPRESS

Islamic Republic of Iran, 2023 19’33’’, 2D animation

directors Hossein Molayemi, Shirin Sohani

A former captain, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, lives with his daughter in a humble house located by the sea. One morning, their lives change forever when an unforeseen event occurs. Whether this event proves to be a newfound source of hope or an additional burden remains to be seen.

September 13th, 7:00 P.M.

Duration 72’20’’

THE STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE OF MR. SPAK

Switzerland, 2024, 8’, 2D animation

director Severine Leibundgut

When two lovers meet, they disappear from view and enter a dimension known only to themselves.

LA VOIX DES SIRÈNES

Italy, 2023, 19’40’’, hand-drawn animation

director Gianluigi Toccafondo 

In the heart of the seabed, between rocks and corals primitive seaweed ripples, cradled by the muffled sound of roaring currents. Up there, on the surface of the water, something extraordinary has just appeared: a voice. So soft and seductive that it’s unlike anything we’ve heard before.

CANARD

Switzerland, 2023, 9’06’’, puppet animation

director Elie Chapui

Vladimir and Olga raise ducks on a small isolated farm in the countryside. They hope for a child, but this expectation soon turns into a nightmare.

A NIGHT AT THE REST AREA

Spain, 2023, 4’42’’, 2D animation

director Saki Muramoto

At a midnight highway rest area, the weary travelers each quietly relax their minds. A brief moment spent with complete strangers is lonely yet somehow comforting.

BOX CUTTERS

France, 2023, 9’, mixed technique 

director Naomi van Niekerk

A young woman recalls a day when she was attacked by three men on her way home, but daily life must resume its course.

LE SEXE DE MA MERE

France, 2023, 15’, mixed technique

director Francis Canitrot

Fifty-year-old Eli takes care of his disabled and domineering mother. At the same time, however, he is attracted to the beautiful neighbor.

September 14th, 7:00 P.M.

Duration 78’

MEDITATION ON DUSK

Hungary, 2023, 7’27’’, 2D animation

director Judit Erdely 

Life consists of actions. The cat is a symbol of inactivity and tranquility. Does she dream of the man or does the man dream of her?

PRESSURE

Brazil, 2023, 2’21’’, mixed media

director Che Marcheti

A woman faces emotions that have been held back for a long time and are just a drop away from overflowing.

THREE BIRDS

Slovenia, 2024, 8’18’, cut-out

director Zarja Menart

A wise birdwoman sends three birds to guide a girl into the dark unknown landscapes of her inner world.

BEAUTIFUL MEN

Belgium, 2023, 18’35’’, puppet animation

director Nicolas Keppens

Three balding brothers travel to Istanbul to get a hair transplant. Stuck with each other in a hotel far from home, their insecurities grow faster than their hair.

PLAIN OF YELLOW FLOWERS

Islamic Republic of Iran, 2023, 8’42’’, 2D animation

director Hossein Aghamohammadi

A girl is only eager for the birth of her sister. She imagines her in her dreams and is trying to make a gift for her…

TELSCHE

Portugal, 2024, 8’30’’, 2D animation

directors Sophie Colfer, Ala Nuhu

On the vast salt flats under dark clouds, a hole in the ground swallows the memory of a woman that Telsche longs to see again.

SOCIETY OF CLOTHES

France, 2024, 15’09’’, 2D animation

director  Dahee Jeong

In this universe, people are composed of nothing but clothes. One of  elegant and luxurious clothes, another of adult clothes, a third of children’s clothes, another one undresses someone to put on his clothes.One day a girl, who has a body but no clothes, enters this strange world.

FLOWER SHOW

Finland, 2024, 8’31’’, 2D animation

director Elli Vuorinen

Girls have been cultivated like flowers for generations. We need more growing seasons to breed new ways into the system.