Short Film Selection 2020

Wind

United States 2019, 2′, 2D

director Dana Sink

scriptwriter Dana Sink

music Dana Sink

Wind– An exploration of movement and meaning.

Awkward

United States 2020, 3’45”, 2D

director Nata Metlukh

scriptwriter Nata Metlukh

music Daruma Audio

A day full of socially awkward moments.

Felt Love

United States, 2020, 6’30”, 2D; stop motion

director Arlene Bongco, Angeline Vu

scriptwriter Celine Nguyen

music Juan Vergés Vergara

A young boy learns to understand the depth of his mother’s love despite the distance her dedication may create.

Angry Dogs

United Kingdom, 2020, 4’30”, 2D

director Shaun Clark

scriptwriter Shaun Clark

music David Pringle

When sleeping dogs awaken rationality quickly disappears.

Letting Go

Switzerland, 2019, 6’33”, drawings on paper

director Cécile Brun

scriptwriter Cécile Brun, Claudius Gentinetta, Michael Frei

music Thomas Gassmann

“Lah gah” lets us dive into sunny childhood memories when a girl is singing and cooking with her father. An intimate moment, so simple. But they’re swept along by the wafting mass of dough into the emotional depths of loss and disappearance. Helpless, the child is trying to grasp what is not tangible.

The Lonely Orbit

Switzerland, 2019, 9’20”, 2D

director Frederic Siegel, Benjamin Morard

scriptwriter Frederic Siegel

music Luc Gut

A satellite technician’s inability to cope with his solitude causes a chain reaction in space and in his own mind.

Ruby & Roach

South Africa, 2020, 8’48”, cut-out

director Erentia Bedeker

scriptwriter Dorette Nel

music Mart-Marie Snyman, Siobhan Lloyd-Jones

Two sale toys, cruelly rejected by the buying public because they are different, make a daring escape and end up somewhere quite unexpected and somehow wonderful.

The Mistress of the Copper Mountain

Russian Federation, 2020, 13’33”, drawings on paper

director Dmitry Geller

scriptwriter Vladimir Geller

music Nikolai Dulesov

In the Urals, there is a special culture – mining. And, like any culture, it has its own gods. In the Urals, this is the Mistress of the Copper Mountain. She manages the underground treasures, she is the keeper of the secrets of the mining professions. But she doesn’t open them to everyone, comprehension of secrets may cost lives. Every god requires his sacrifices.

Urban Goat

Russian Federation, 2020, 11’23”, 2D

director Svetlana Razguliaeva 

scriptwriter Svetlana Razguliaeva, Alexander Golubchikov

music Marat Faizullin

In the rural Siberia, where there is only an airfield and a disco in the village club of all the entertainment, the city goat arrives to work. In a small village, she immediately attracts the attention of men, but the Goat herself can not take her eyes off the rude, but such a cute Wolf. Life with him in her imagination is seen in pink colors, but reality bites. 

Nestor

Portugal, 2020, 6′, 2D

director João Gonzalez

scriptwriter João Gonzalez

music João Gonzalez, Miguel Teixeira

Nestor, a man with several obsessive-compulsive behaviors lives in an unstable houseboat which never stops oscillating.

The Peculiar Crime of Oddball Mr Jay

Portugal, 2019, 10’50”, stop motion

director Bruno Caetano

scriptwriter Manuel Moreira, Bruno Caetano

music Filipe Raposo

In a city where nature has been forbidden, a small crime by a simple man triggers a chain of unexpected consequences.

Cho Cho San

Japan, 2020, 2’45”, drawing on paper

director Yuanyuan Hu

scriptwriter Yuanyuan Hu

music Haruomi Hosono

Ms. ChoCho and the captain play a love game on the ocean liner ship.

Wade

India, 2019, 10’38”, 2D

director Upamanyu Bhattacharyya, Kalp Sanghvi

scriptwriter Kalp Sanghvi, Upamanyu Bhattacharyya

music Troy Vasanth

In a version of Kolkata, India rendered unlivable by sea-level rise, things take a dark turn when a family of climate change refugees are ambushed by a tiger on the flooded streets.

BELA – From Transylvania to Immortality

Hungary, 2019, 8’48”, 2D and 3D

director Roland Tóth

scriptwriter Roland Tóth

music János Nagy

This film is the story of a boy from Transylvania, who was a well-known person in the life of theater in Budapest in the past century, who then became a silent film star… And a legend in Hollywood.

Postpartum

Germany, 2020, 4’36”, 3D and 2D

director Henriette Rietz

scriptwriter Henriette Rietz

music David Kamp

The animated film “POSTPARTUM” is about the chaotic phase in life of a new mother. Pumped up with hormones and lacking sleep, this intense time has burned deep into the protagonist’s heart. This film is an honest and very personal insight into the world of an overwhelmed mother, who seriously thought that parental leave would become a sort of sabbatical.

Friends

Germany, 2019, 7’45”, 3D and 2D

director Florian Grolig

scriptwriter Florian Grolig

music Thomas Hoehl

The ‘small’ one is, well, small, and the ‘big’ one definitely very very big. They are friends.

Sogni al campo

France, 2020, 8’41”, drawings on paper

director Magda Guidi, Mara Cerri

scriptwriters Magda Guidi, Mara Cerri

A boy looks for his cat along a river. He will not find it. He’s about to die and has moved away from everything to find intimacy. The child arrives at the doors of time, where the dead disappear, and the living let them go. The child is afraid, he enters a forest of symbols and memories. He grows up. His illusions of children dissolve and mingle with the landscape.

Symbiosis

France, 2019, 12’48”, 2D

director Nadja Andrasev

scriptwriters Nadja Andrasev, Rita Domonyi

music Mads Vadsholt

A betrayed wife starts to investigate her husband’s mistresses. Her jealousy is gradually replaced by curiosity.

Maestro

France, 2019, 1’34”, 3D

director Illogic

scriptwriter Illogic

music Mael Oudin

Deep into a forest, a gathering of wild animals start a nocturnal opera, conducted by a squirrel.

Chloé Van Herzeele

France, 2019, 16’47”, sand

director Anne-Sophie Girault & Clémence Bouchereau

scriptwriter Anne-Sophie Girault & Clémence Bouchereau

music Pierre Sauze, Thomas Diaz

Chloé, an old lady, organizes screenings in an underground space. She shows a journalist her galleries where her collection of silver films is stored. Through the descent, we dive with her in her altered world.

Toomas Beneath the Valley of the Wild Wolves

Estonia, 2019, 18′, 2D

director Chintis Lundgren

scriptwriter Chintis Lundgren, Draško Ivezić

music Terence Dunn

After losing a well paid engineering job, Toomas, a young hot wolf, gets cornered into working as a gigolo to support his family. He is keeping it as a secret from his pregnant wife Viivi. Viivi also has a secret: she is attending a female empowerment seminar involving male slaves. When Toomas gets a role in a sexploitation movie, it becomes harder to keep his new profession a secret.

Funeral

Denmark, 2020, 7′, 3D

director Thịnh Nguyn

scriptwriter Thịnh Nguyn

music Sofie Birch

From out of the universe, a little boy is born with a quest for a voyage to planet Earth. During his journey, he comes to an absurd small town where a mysterious funeral is happening. With curiosity, the boy attends the funeral to see who is the dead one.

Washing Machine

Czech Republic, 2020, 5’02”, 2D

director Alexandra Májová

scriptwriter Alexandra Májová

music Jan Richter

Wash and love.

Wild Beasts

Czech Republic, 2019, 9′, 2D

director Marta Prokopová, Michal Blaško

scriptwriter Vanda Raýmanová

music Jiří Klenka

Will the father-son relationship make the trip into the wild more enjoyable? Are the children really cruel or just playing innocent games? What will the teacher do when everything is already synchronized? Three stories set on a mysterious island. The film sheds memories of childhood and adolescence into narcotic images and suggestive sounds.

Morning

Czech Republic, 2019, 4’, drawing on paper

Director Vojtěch Domlátil

scriptwriter Vojtěch Domlátil

music Martin Klusák

Morning. Coffee. Breakfast. Shower. And then? Trip outside? Or a trip inside? Breathing meditation in the form of linear full animation.

I, Barnabé

Canada, 2020, 15’09”, stop motion

director Jean-François Lévesque

scriptwriter Jean-François Lévesque

music Robert Marcel Lepage

Confronted with doubt and feelings of emptiness, drunk with unhappiness and seeking to drown his sorrow, Barnabé experiences a curious metaphysical visitation; lightning strikes the spire of his church and a mysterious bird appears, forcing him to reconsider his life. What is his truth pointing him towards? What is the deeper meaning of his life on earth? In I, Barnabé, director Jean-François Lévesque deploys a spectacular arsenal of animation techniques to bring the character to life and illustrate his spiritual quest, achieving an extraordinary level of visual refinement in both the puppets and the settings. Perhaps Barnabé will have to be as light as a feather in order to move confidently toward still-unknown horizons …

The Great Malaise

Canada, 2019, 05’19”, 2D

director Catherine Lepage

scriptwriter Catherine Lepage

music Philippe Brault

A young woman describes herself, offering a self-portrait in the most favourable light possible, giving us what we want to hear. The visual narrative tells an entirely different story; with heartbreaking power, it reveals the burden of anxiety she bears as a competitive overachiever striving for happiness. Funny and touching, The Great Malaise is above all a deeply human film.

The Physics of Sorrow

Canada, 2019, 26’59”, encaustic painting

director Theodore Ushev

scriptwriter Georgi Gospodinov

music Olivier Calvert

A saga of childhood reveries and adult regrets.

Tasks of the Day

Bulgaria, 2019, 5’, 2D

Director Petya Zlateva

scriptwriter Petya Zlateva

music Aleksandar Evtimov

The main heroine is looking for escape from solitude in the routine of daily tasks. Instead of getting her life in order, she is overwhelmed by madness and chaos. The film is based on the poem “Tasks of the Day” by Stefan Ivanov and it is part of the animation poetry collection Mark and Verse.

The Last Day

Bulgaria, 2019, 4’50″, 2D

Director Dalibor Rajninger

scriptwriter Dalibor Rajninger

music Dalibor Rajninger, Mihail Yosifov

A woman burdened with memories of the past days and frustrated by the lack of loved ones seeks tranquility in the confusing world around her. The film is based on the poem “The Last Day” by Maria Doneva and it’s part of the animated poetry project MARK & VERSE.

Existential

Bulgaria, 2019, 4’50″, cut out

director Natalia Atanasova

scriptwriter Natalia Atanasova

music Aleksandar Evtimov

The sea becomes a stage of a love story between mortal and mythological creatures, between freedom and captivity. The film is based on the poem “Existential” by Anamaria Koeva and it’s part of the animated poetry collection MARK & VERSE.

Shallow Vein

Bulgaria, 2019, 4’50″, plasticine

Director Yoana Aleksandrova

scriptwriter Yoana Aleksandrova

music Aleksandar Daniel

A man is on a mysterious journey through the vein of his beloved one and while he witnesses her inner world, he experiences his deepest dreams and longings. The film is based on the poem “Shallow vein” by Marin Bodakov and it’s part of the animated poetry project MARK & VERSE.

Above Things

Bulgaria, 2019, 4’45″, 2D

director Ina Nikolova

scriptwriter Ina Nikolova

music Ivailo Stefanov

An ironic journey through the life re-caps of a man, devoured by his own melancholy and apathy, designing everything in the foreseeable and unimaginable future, while inaction is turning his life into disappointment, emotional crash and premature ending. The film is based on the poem “Above Things” by Stefan Ikoga and it’s part of the animated poetry project MARK & VERSE.

QUARANTINE

Bulgaria, 2020, 3’30″, 2D

director Dimitar Dimitrov

scriptwriter Dilyan Elenkov

music Dimitar Dimitrov

The film is about a person’s state of mind, under a long quarantine.

The Passerby

Belgium, 2020, 15’59″, 2D

director Pieter Coudyzer

scriptwriter Pieter Coudyzer

music Senjan Jansen

On a summer day, the paths of two boys unexpectedly cross.

Hello, are We in the Show?

Belgium, 2019, 12’16″, 2D

director Simona Denicolai, Ivo Provoost

scriptwriter Simona Denicolai, Ivo Provoost

music Senjan Jansen

Hello, are we in the show? is a poetic animation film that uses the formal language of a nature documentary. The film offers us a glimpse of daily life in the Sonian Forest near Brussels, and shows us the fauna and flora without disguising the influence of city and people.

#21xoxo

Belgium, 2020, 9’51″, 2D

director Sine Özbilge

scriptwriter Sine Özbilge

music Remco Weyns

21XOXO is a surreal and humorous reflection on the 21th century youth. The story is about a girl and her online search for love in times of social media, speed dating, cyberlove, hipster culture and post-net attitudes. The protagonist takes us on a journey through a colorful and bizarre imaginary world filled with absurd, surreal and metamorphic scenes.

Freeze frame

Belgium, 2019, 5’, stop motion

director Soetkin Verstegen

scriptwriter Soetkin Verstegen

music Andrea Martignoni, Michal Krajczok

Freeze frame: the most absurd technique since the invention of the moving image. Through an elaborate process of duplicating the same image over and over again, it creates the illusion of stillness. In this stop motion film, identical figures perform the hopeless task of preserving blocks of ice, like archivists. The repetitive movements reanimate the animals captured inside.

Foreign Exchange

United States 2019, 5’45”, stop motion

director Corrie Francis Parks

scriptwriter Corrie Francis Parks

music Alexandra Gardner

A multitude of mini-universes collide in this tiny world built with money and sand. What you observe, and the meaning you derive from that observation, depends on where you start your journey. Look closely, it’s all in the details.