Programme 2024 - Filmfest Dresden

A week full of exciting cinematic moments, informative talks and a thrilling festival atmosphere is awaiting us. At the official festival launch, the focal areas in this year’s programme are being presented, together with selected films from the festival. Following this, we invite you to join us in raising a toast to the festival week.

Admission €8.50 or by invitation or accreditation
With translation into German sign language

International Short Film Cinema
The days are getting longer and the air is “as soft as if it were made of down”, as Erich Kästner once wrote, with spring enticing us to take a stroll around the city. If you are a short film fan or would like to become one, or if you just want to pop in for a quick look or get comfy with us, then come and visit us again this year at Schlossplatz for our open-air programme. Drop by and celebrate our mini anniversary with us.
Already for the tenth time FILMFEST DRESDEN is opening up a window to the world in the middle of this imposing ensemble of buildings with its unique atmosphere. As usual, the works being screened include highlights from the festival season: a best-of selection with regional, national and international short films. They enchant us with timeless images of nature or are empathetic, bittersweet and moving, but they are always creative explorations of current issues that move us. Yet again our curatorial team has compiled the usual variety of voices and moods for you – one as varied as the April weather. And of course, there is also a connection with this year’s main theme of the 36th FILMFEST DRESDEN.
Our programme selection shows that acceptance of diversity and other opinions can create a new sense of cohesion. It shows us other potential lifeworlds, inviting us to dream; it explores human potential and presents visions of a “not-impossible”: utopia. Our young audiences do not miss out either. Our ever-popular Family Shorts will delight short film fans of all ages once again. So there is a lot to discover – and a lot to discuss afterwards.
It goes without saying that FILMFEST DRESDEN cannot guarantee stable weather conditions in April. But what we can promise is some of the loveliest big screen entertainment on our high-resolution and daylight-capable LED screen.

We would like to thank the FILM NIGHTS ON THE BANKS OF THE ELBE for their support, which enables us to hold our open-air programme in its usual form and size.
Admission is free, but we are grateful for your support in the form of donations so that our open-air short film programme can continue into the next decade.

Sven Pötting

Pickles

Oleksandra Krasavtseva
Germany, Ukraine, 2023
3:10 Min

Elena and Katya were two neighbors who lived on the border of two countries. War began and their world turned upside down, Katya fell under the influence of propaganda, while Olena looked out her window and saw that her land was on fire due to an attack from neighbors site. Olena is going to have a difficult conversation with her neighbor in which not only words but also pickles will be used.

Director Oleksandra Krasavtseva Producer Oleksandra Krasavtseva Screenplay Oleksandra Krasavtseva Animation Oleksandra Krasavtseva Editor Oleksandra Krasavtseva Sound Oleksandra Krasavtseva Distribution Oleksandra Krasavtseva, Oleksandra Krasavtseva

Under the Wing of a Night

Lesia Diak
Ukraine, Portugal, Belgium, 2023
19 Min, Ukranian

Olesia, an 11-year-old teen from Ukraine, is growing up under the wing of her mother, away from home. Dance and touch are her ways to release anger and adjust to the reality of Brussels. Every evening Olesia waits for her dad’s call from the Ukraine. The family’s extreme closeness nurtures the strength of this young girl whose fragility is exposed to constant war-related anxiety.

Director Lesia Diak Producer Lesia Diak Distribution n/a n/a

As It Was

Damian Kocur, Anastasiia Solonevych
Poland, Ukraine, 2023
15 Min, Ukranian, German

Lera has been living in Berlin for almost a year since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. One day she decides to go back to Kyiv. On her way, she finds out that her family is not in Kyiv and will arrive only the next day. She meets her friend Kyrylo, with whom she spends the day.

Director Damian Kocur, Anastasiia Solonevych Producer Piotr Steczek Screenplay Anastasiia Solonevych, Damian Kocur Camera Damian Kocur Editor Damian Kocur Distribution Michal Hudzikowski

Ah So

Polina Piddubna
Germany, Ukraine, 2022
2:37 Min, Ukranian, English, German OV

I rent a very small room in Berlin that reminds me of a coffin and have strange dreams there. People are held in suspense for two years without knowing when it will all be over. The club is closed, the ambulance won’t come and all that’s left to do is walk around the city with your inner monsters.

Director Polina Piddubna Producer Polina Piddubna Screenplay Polina Piddubna Animation Polina Piddubna, Sofia Leliukh Sound Danylo Okulov Cast Polina Piddubna, Derya Atakan, Mario Henkel Distribution Polina Piddubna

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International Short Film Cinema
The days are getting longer and the air is “as soft as if it were made of down”, as Erich Kästner once wrote, with spring enticing us to take a stroll around the city. If you are a short film fan or would like to become one, or if you just want to pop in for a quick look or get comfy with us, then come and visit us again this year at Schlossplatz for our open-air programme. Drop by and celebrate our mini anniversary with us.
Already for the tenth time FILMFEST DRESDEN is opening up a window to the world in the middle of this imposing ensemble of buildings with its unique atmosphere. As usual, the works being screened include highlights from the festival season: a best-of selection with regional, national and international short films. They enchant us with timeless images of nature or are empathetic, bittersweet and moving, but they are always creative explorations of current issues that move us. Yet again our curatorial team has compiled the usual variety of voices and moods for you – one as varied as the April weather. And of course, there is also a connection with this year’s main theme of the 36th FILMFEST DRESDEN.
Our programme selection shows that acceptance of diversity and other opinions can create a new sense of cohesion. It shows us other potential lifeworlds, inviting us to dream; it explores human potential and presents visions of a “not-impossible”: utopia. Our young audiences do not miss out either. Our ever-popular Family Shorts will delight short film fans of all ages once again. So there is a lot to discover – and a lot to discuss afterwards.
It goes without saying that FILMFEST DRESDEN cannot guarantee stable weather conditions in April. But what we can promise is some of the loveliest big screen entertainment on our high-resolution and daylight-capable LED screen.

We would like to thank the FILM NIGHTS ON THE BANKS OF THE ELBE for their support, which enables us to hold our open-air programme in its usual form and size.
Admission is free, but we are grateful for your support in the form of donations so that our open-air short film programme can continue into the next decade.

Sven Pötting

The Family Portrait

Lea Vidakovic
Croatia, France, Serbia, 2023
14:35 Min

A quiet Sunday afternoon in the aristocratic, family home, just before the fall of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Andras and his daughter Zsofia are caught by surprise when Andras’ brother Zoltan intrudes in the intimacy of their home, along with his big family. A poetic, dark, and somewhat humorous social observation, in which family ties and relationships are broken down and dissected to pieces.

Director Lea Vidakovic Producer Jean Francois Le Corre, Nikolina Vucetic Zecevic, Drasko Ivezic Screenplay Lea Vidaković Music Hngarian folk song performed by Miroslav Hngarian folk song performed b Distribution Varicoloured OÜ, Lara Casirati

Xiaohui and his cows

Xinying Lao
China, USA, 2023
14:54 Min, Mandarin

Except for mountain landscapes, magical rocks, and a few other kids, the village where Xiaohui lives with his grandfather and two cows has nothing to offer. The nine-year-old sorely misses his parents who work in the city. When grandpa has to sell a calf, the clever grandson tries everything to prevent the separation of mother and child. A soulful cry for love in times of capitalism.

Director Xinying Lao Producer Haozheng Li Screenplay Xinying Lao Camera Hark Xu Editor Youmin Kang, Xinying Lao Music Evan Roth Sound Bobo Lau, Qi Liu, Qi Liu Cast Yamiao Tang, Jinhao Wei, Yuanmo Wei Distribution ShortsFit Distribucion, Lucila Riggio

Granny's Dog: The Big Escape

Iván Becker Gurrea
Germany, 2023
4:33 Min, German

A loyal companion, doesn't want to be so loyal to his owner anymore. Will he escape from her to be close to his true love?

Director Iván Becker Gurrea Producer Marc Zappel Animation Iván Becker Gurrea Sound Lukas Wrobel Distribution Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg GmbH, Eva Steegmayer

Summer 96

Bédouet Mathilde
France, 2023
12:13 Min, French

The eternal "August 15 picnic" on Callot Island. But this year, Paul, his family and their friends find themselves trapped by the tide. Paul, upset, stuck between the world of adults and that of children, becomes aware of his individuality.

Director Bédouet Mathilde Producer Simon Ingelaere, Ninon Chapuis Screenplay Mathilde Bédouet Animation Mathilde Bédouet, Marta Gennari, Jérémie Cousin, Flora Molinié Camera Nedjma Berder Editor Catherine Aladenise, Albane du Plessix Music Thomas Rossi, Jonathan Leurquin Sound Pierre-Albert Vivet, Frédéric Hamelin Distribution Miyu Distribution, Luce Grosjean

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International Short Film Cinema
The days are getting longer and the air is “as soft as if it were made of down”, as Erich Kästner once wrote, with spring enticing us to take a stroll around the city. If you are a short film fan or would like to become one, or if you just want to pop in for a quick look or get comfy with us, then come and visit us again this year at Schlossplatz for our open-air programme. Drop by and celebrate our mini anniversary with us.
Already for the tenth time FILMFEST DRESDEN is opening up a window to the world in the middle of this imposing ensemble of buildings with its unique atmosphere. As usual, the works being screened include highlights from the festival season: a best-of selection with regional, national and international short films. They enchant us with timeless images of nature or are empathetic, bittersweet and moving, but they are always creative explorations of current issues that move us. Yet again our curatorial team has compiled the usual variety of voices and moods for you – one as varied as the April weather. And of course, there is also a connection with this year’s main theme of the 36th FILMFEST DRESDEN.
Our programme selection shows that acceptance of diversity and other opinions can create a new sense of cohesion. It shows us other potential lifeworlds, inviting us to dream; it explores human potential and presents visions of a “not-impossible”: utopia. Our young audiences do not miss out either. Our ever-popular Family Shorts will delight short film fans of all ages once again. So there is a lot to discover – and a lot to discuss afterwards.
It goes without saying that FILMFEST DRESDEN cannot guarantee stable weather conditions in April. But what we can promise is some of the loveliest big screen entertainment on our high-resolution and daylight-capable LED screen.

We would like to thank the FILM NIGHTS ON THE BANKS OF THE ELBE for their support, which enables us to hold our open-air programme in its usual form and size.
Admission is free, but we are grateful for your support in the form of donations so that our open-air short film programme can continue into the next decade.

Sven Pötting

Issues with my other Half

Anna Vasof
Austria, 2023
5:40 Min

Deep-seated fears are visualized as surreal nightmares. Things get really creepy when the upper and lower torso of a woman move separately on two swings, one behind the other. Or when her head mutates into a cellphone on which she scrolls while bent over. Any laughs die down when an arm becomes a baguette that a knife cuts open...

Director Anna Vasof Producer Anna Vasof Distribution Sixpackfilm, Gerald Weber

Growing Soul

Franziska Glückstein
Austria, 2023
4:15 Min

We explore the different stages of development in the female body. Starting at birth, the protagonist goes through a continuous change in her self-perception and self-love, which over time is increasingly influenced by comparisons with other bodies as well as external influences.

Director Franziska Glückstein Producer Franziska Glückstein Screenplay Franziska Glückstein Animation Franziska Glückstein Editor Franziska Glückstein Sound Franziska Glückstein, Franziska Glückstein, Franziska Glückstein Distribution Franziska Glückstein

Like Drops on a Bed of Embers

Juliette Pons
Belgium, 2023
9:10 Min, English

Through the evolution of animated mediums, the dancing protagonist experiences different stages of her illusory quest for romantic love: from toxic admiration, the constant switch of partners and complete exhaustion to surrender and embracing her change of heart.

Director Juliette Pons Producer Juliette Pons Music Casper Van De Velde Sound Gustave de Pavant Distribution Juliette Pons

I Am a Horse

Chaerin Im
South Korea, Denmark, 2022
7:58 Min

Where are the girls? Unable to find girls in the diverse artwork of the Korean artist Lee Jung-seob, Chaerin Im unravels an imaginative tale of women born with half of their bodies being a horse and a tiger. The tale is inspired by her family’s Korean birth dreams, Tae-mong.

Director Chaerin Im Producer Chaerin Im Screenplay Chaerin Im Animation Chaerin Im Editor Chaerin Im Music Joreng Jung Sound Joreng Jung, Joreng Jung Distribution Bonobostudio, Vanja Andrijevic

Unless We Dance

Fernanda Pineda, Hanz Rippe Gabriel
Colombia, 2023
14:39 Min, Spanish

Jonathan (Bonays), an Afro dance teacher, undertakes an initiative to rescue young people from the crime that stalks Quibdó, a city with the highest homicide rates in Colombia. This is how Black Boys Chocó emerged, a dance company where hundreds of young people face brutal destinies through a passion. Union and dance are portrayed as the greatest expression of shielding the Afro people.

Director Fernanda Pineda, Hanz Rippe Gabriel Producer Fernanda Pineda Screenplay Fernanda Pineda, Hanz Rippe Gabriel Camera Hanz Rippe Gabriel Editor Juan Sebastian Rincon Puerta Music Carlos Mena, Ricardo Gallo Sound Julian Pineda, Angel Alonso, Angel Alonso Cast Rhianna Asprilla, Yosuar Mendoza, Jhonatan Martinez, Carlos Mena Distribution FilmsToFestivals Distribution Agency, Gisela Chicolino

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International Short Film Cinema
The days are getting longer and the air is “as soft as if it were made of down”, as Erich Kästner once wrote, with spring enticing us to take a stroll around the city. If you are a short film fan or would like to become one, or if you just want to pop in for a quick look or get comfy with us, then come and visit us again this year at Schlossplatz for our open-air programme. Drop by and celebrate our mini anniversary with us.
Already for the tenth time FILMFEST DRESDEN is opening up a window to the world in the middle of this imposing ensemble of buildings with its unique atmosphere. As usual, the works being screened include highlights from the festival season: a best-of selection with regional, national and international short films. They enchant us with timeless images of nature or are empathetic, bittersweet and moving, but they are always creative explorations of current issues that move us. Yet again our curatorial team has compiled the usual variety of voices and moods for you – one as varied as the April weather. And of course, there is also a connection with this year’s main theme of the 36th FILMFEST DRESDEN.
Our programme selection shows that acceptance of diversity and other opinions can create a new sense of cohesion. It shows us other potential lifeworlds, inviting us to dream; it explores human potential and presents visions of a “not-impossible”: utopia. Our young audiences do not miss out either. Our ever-popular Family Shorts will delight short film fans of all ages once again. So there is a lot to discover – and a lot to discuss afterwards.
It goes without saying that FILMFEST DRESDEN cannot guarantee stable weather conditions in April. But what we can promise is some of the loveliest big screen entertainment on our high-resolution and daylight-capable LED screen.

We would like to thank the FILM NIGHTS ON THE BANKS OF THE ELBE for their support, which enables us to hold our open-air programme in its usual form and size.
Admission is free, but we are grateful for your support in the form of donations so that our open-air short film programme can continue into the next decade.

Sven Pötting

Good Boy

Kira Joy Mielke
Netherlands, 2023
4:41 Min

Your pet might not be able to say ‘I love you’ but their pure existence leaves an undeniable impact on the people they share their life with. Good Boy consists of a collection of small, yet meaningful memories I have of my childhood dog, Jojo. They are simple moments, but they made up his life and truly defined mine.

Director Kira Joy Mielke Producer Kira Joy Mielke Screenplay Kira Joy Mielke Animation Kira Joy Mielke Editor Kira Joy Mielke Sound Kira Joy Mielke, Kira Joy Mielke, Kira Joy Mielke Distribution Kira Joy Mielke

The Passing

Patrick Bresnan, Ivete Lucas
USA, United Kingdom, 2023
17:27 Min, English

A veterinarian’s series of home visits culminates in a painful but very kind-hearted experience with a special patient.

Director Patrick Bresnan, Ivete Lucas Producer Charlie Phillips Distribution Patrick Bresnan

Greylands

Charlotte Waltert, Alvaro Schoeck
Switzerland, 2023
11:49 Min, German

An autumn day and the first winter night in the high mountains: it is hunting season. The paths of animals and humans cross and fade away. Swathes of mist blur the boundaries between dream, imagination and reality.

Director Charlotte Waltert, Alvaro Schoeck Producer Saskia von Virág Distribution Square Eyes, Wouter Jansen

Ingresso Animali Vivi

Igor Grubic
Croatia, 2023
14:33 Min

Animals from Eastern Europe for the Italian food/meat industry used to be transported to the towns along the state border in Northeast Italy. From those conveyor-belt spaces of death, only one animal managed to come in and out alive.

Director Igor Grubic Producer Igor Grubic Screenplay Igor Grubic Animation Marko Mestrovic Camera Bojan Mrdjenovic Editor Damir Cucic Sound Iva Kraljevic, Ivan Zelic Distribution Bonobostudio, Vanja Andrijevic

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International Short Film Cinema
The days are getting longer and the air is “as soft as if it were made of down”, as Erich Kästner once wrote, with spring enticing us to take a stroll around the city. If you are a short film fan or would like to become one, or if you just want to pop in for a quick look or get comfy with us, then come and visit us again this year at Schlossplatz for our open-air programme. Drop by and celebrate our mini anniversary with us.
Already for the tenth time FILMFEST DRESDEN is opening up a window to the world in the middle of this imposing ensemble of buildings with its unique atmosphere. As usual, the works being screened include highlights from the festival season: a best-of selection with regional, national and international short films. They enchant us with timeless images of nature or are empathetic, bittersweet and moving, but they are always creative explorations of current issues that move us. Yet again our curatorial team has compiled the usual variety of voices and moods for you – one as varied as the April weather. And of course, there is also a connection with this year’s main theme of the 36th FILMFEST DRESDEN.
Our programme selection shows that acceptance of diversity and other opinions can create a new sense of cohesion. It shows us other potential lifeworlds, inviting us to dream; it explores human potential and presents visions of a “not-impossible”: utopia. Our young audiences do not miss out either. Our ever-popular Family Shorts will delight short film fans of all ages once again. So there is a lot to discover – and a lot to discuss afterwards.
It goes without saying that FILMFEST DRESDEN cannot guarantee stable weather conditions in April. But what we can promise is some of the loveliest big screen entertainment on our high-resolution and daylight-capable LED screen.

We would like to thank the FILM NIGHTS ON THE BANKS OF THE ELBE for their support, which enables us to hold our open-air programme in its usual form and size.
Admission is free, but we are grateful for your support in the form of donations so that our open-air short film programme can continue into the next decade.

Sven Pötting

[tw: epilepsy]

OVO

Stiv Spasojevic
France, 2023
6:40 Min

This is the story of a meeting between an astonishing robot from outer space and an adorable little bird, that just hatched from its egg…

Director Stiv Spasojevic Producer Philippe Monerris Screenplay Santiago Pajares Animation Clara Loubry, Giovanna Pinero, Charline Hedreville Camera Nicolas Beauchamp Editor Océane Figare Sound Gabriel Guerin, Olivier Bodin Distribution LINE UP - Film Agency, Alfonso Díaz

Strangers in the Dark

Perttu Juhani Inkilä, Jenni Pystynen
Finland, 2023
12:47 Min, Finnish OV

An experimental documentary of how light pollution makes glow-worms’ love life a living hell as they try to find a partner in an environment that is no longer dark at night. The story about light and darkness moves from the scale of planetary to microscopic, from the calmness of nature to a hectic city and from artificial light to the green shimmer of glow-worm's behind.

Director Perttu Juhani Inkilä, Jenni Pystynen Producer Oona Saari Screenplay Jenni Pystynen, Perttu Inkilä Animation Pekka Tavi Camera Perttu Inkilä Editor Jussi Sandhu Music Timo Kaukolampi Sound Janne Jankeri Distribution Illume Oy, Oona Saari

Nature Attack

Erik Sémashkin
Ukraine, France, 2023
3:25 Min

A bird decides to hunt crickets, but his crossing will be more complicated than expected.

Director Erik Sémashkin Producer Erik Sémashkin Screenplay Erik Sémashkin Animation Erik Sémashkin Camera Erik Sémashkin Editor Erik Sémashkin Music Erik Sémashkin Sound Erik Sémashkin, Erik Sémashkin, Erik Sémashkin Cast Erik Sémashkin Distribution Erik Sémashkin

Bait

Nancy-Bleu Hwang
South Korea, USA, 2023
5:48 Min, no dialogue

The head is tired of overthinking and jumps into the lake.

Director Nancy-Bleu Hwang Producer Nancy-Bleu Hwang Animation Nancy-Bleu Hwang Music Nancy-Bleu Hwang Sound Anant Shah, Sam Gerike Distribution KIAFA AniSEED, Jinsan Kim

The Deer

Baran Sedighian Bidgoli
Netherlands, 2023
4:42 Min

There is a herd of deer living in the forest. The hunters attack them and one of them is injured. After a while, the wounded deer gets better and wants to go back to his old life, but he realizes that there is no going back, he has changed. The deer starts to migrate so that he can know his new self.

Director Baran Sedighian Bidgoli Producer Baran Sedighian Bidgoli Distribution Baran Sedighian Bidgoli

I’m Leaving

Michelle Brand
Germany, France, 2023
2D, 3D, 3:34 Min, French OV

As the night comes, the journey begins. Running rushing, racing. Unbound from time and swept away by the night’s surreal cascade of lights, we leave day-life behind.

Director Michelle Brand Producer Célestine Gonzalez Screenplay Michelle Brand Animation Lisa Cruz, Michelle Brand, Camille Gibut, Toby Auberg Editor Toby Auberg, Michelle Brand Music Arthur Vonfelt Distribution Michelle Brand

[tw:]

epilepsy

High Frequency

Anya Amosova
France, 2023
4:06 Min

In a world of her own, a young sound engineer spends all her time recording the sounds of the city. That is, until she encounters a man and succeeds in picking up on his inner melody…

Director Anya Amosova Producer Annick Teninge Screenplay Anya Amosova Editor Julia Perrin Music Serge Besset Distribution LA POUDRIERE, Annick Teninge

Night Ride from LA

Martin Gerigk
Germany, USA, 2023
5 Min

Based on a real car ride from downtown LA to Palm Springs, this footage was taken by continually shooting single long exposure photos to document the ride of about two hours. This technique condensed the whole trip to a flickering twirl of time-stretched movements and night light graffiti. A love letter to the energy and vibe of the Californian way of life.

Director Martin Gerigk Producer Martin Gerigk Screenplay Martin Gerigk Camera Martin Gerigk Editor Martin Gerigk Music Martin Gerigk Sound Martin Gerigk, Martin Gerigk, Martin Gerigk Distribution Martin Gerigk

[tw:]

epilepsy

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>

International Short Film Cinema
The days are getting longer and the air is “as soft as if it were made of down”, as Erich Kästner once wrote, with spring enticing us to take a stroll around the city. If you are a short film fan or would like to become one, or if you just want to pop in for a quick look or get comfy with us, then come and visit us again this year at Schlossplatz for our open-air programme. Drop by and celebrate our mini anniversary with us.
Already for the tenth time FILMFEST DRESDEN is opening up a window to the world in the middle of this imposing ensemble of buildings with its unique atmosphere. As usual, the works being screened include highlights from the festival season: a best-of selection with regional, national and international short films. They enchant us with timeless images of nature or are empathetic, bittersweet and moving, but they are always creative explorations of current issues that move us. Yet again our curatorial team has compiled the usual variety of voices and moods for you – one as varied as the April weather. And of course, there is also a connection with this year’s main theme of the 36th FILMFEST DRESDEN.
Our programme selection shows that acceptance of diversity and other opinions can create a new sense of cohesion. It shows us other potential lifeworlds, inviting us to dream; it explores human potential and presents visions of a “not-impossible”: utopia. Our young audiences do not miss out either. Our ever-popular Family Shorts will delight short film fans of all ages once again. So there is a lot to discover – and a lot to discuss afterwards.
It goes without saying that FILMFEST DRESDEN cannot guarantee stable weather conditions in April. But what we can promise is some of the loveliest big screen entertainment on our high-resolution and daylight-capable LED screen.

We would like to thank the FILM NIGHTS ON THE BANKS OF THE ELBE for their support, which enables us to hold our open-air programme in its usual form and size.
Admission is free, but we are grateful for your support in the form of donations so that our open-air short film programme can continue into the next decade.

Sven Pötting

Catch Up!

Anton Krämer, Justus Krämer
Germany, 2023
10:54 Min, English

After two bears and their prosperous yet illegal business are overrun by technical development, they decide to leave their village. Their journey leads them into an anonymous city. Lost in the unfamiliarly hectic environment they soon find a new determination in music. But their criminal past won’t let them go and after a little while the bears are confronted with it again…

Director Anton Krämer, Justus Krämer Producer Anton Krämer, Justus Krämer Screenplay Justus Krämer, Anton Krämer Animation Justus Krämer, Anton Krämer Camera Justus Krämer Editor Justus Krämer Music Tarik Moussaid, János Uhlig Cast Gustav Samuelsson, Janne Samuelsson, David Wahlbuhl Distribution Justus Krämer

Wände

Alize Heiser
Germany, 2024
13:59 Min, German

Franka moves into a shared flat where Viv already lives. Viv wants to decide for themselve with whom they live. The landlord and third flatmate Petrus is never at home. When people live together, they usually share more than a fridge and a bathroom. Who owns which space? Who is allowed to determine which space and how?

Director Alize Heiser Producer Hannah Buhr Screenplay Gabriel Kowak Camera Leoni Gora Editor Lukas Wengorz Cast Lara Maria Humm, Jonathan Fiebig, Rabea Lüthi Distribution Filmakadedmie Baden-Württemberg

Poemmelte Project

Murat Haschu
Germany, 2023
2:25 Min

The animated film focuses on a more than 4,000-year-old cult site, the so-called "German Stonehenge". The film, which is hand-drawn and developed in analogue throughout, was created as part of the project "Ringheiligtum Pömmelte", a residency programme for contemporary visual art in Saxony-Anhalt.

Director Murat Haschu Producer Murat Haschu Screenplay Murat Haschu Animation Murat Haschu Editor Murat Haschu Sound Claus Stoermer, Claus Stoermer Distribution Murat Haschu

Summit Dreams

Anna Theil
Germany, 2023
18 Min, German

Meet the authors of critical entries in the summit books of Saxon Switzerland from the 1800s and accompany them as they climb the Saxon sandstone cliffs, where they reflect on various aspects of freedom before and after the fall of the Wall. The film thus becomes a small piece of the puzzle of East German history.

Director Anna Theil Producer Anna Theil Screenplay Anna Theil Camera Hans Radetzki Editor Sven Heußner Sound Birte Gerstenkorn Distribution Anna Theil, Anna Theil

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International Short Film Cinema
The days are getting longer and the air is “as soft as if it were made of down”, as Erich Kästner once wrote, with spring enticing us to take a stroll around the city. If you are a short film fan or would like to become one, or if you just want to pop in for a quick look or get comfy with us, then come and visit us again this year at Schlossplatz for our open-air programme. Drop by and celebrate our mini anniversary with us.
Already for the tenth time FILMFEST DRESDEN is opening up a window to the world in the middle of this imposing ensemble of buildings with its unique atmosphere. As usual, the works being screened include highlights from the festival season: a best-of selection with regional, national and international short films. They enchant us with timeless images of nature or are empathetic, bittersweet and moving, but they are always creative explorations of current issues that move us. Yet again our curatorial team has compiled the usual variety of voices and moods for you – one as varied as the April weather. And of course, there is also a connection with this year’s main theme of the 36th FILMFEST DRESDEN.
Our programme selection shows that acceptance of diversity and other opinions can create a new sense of cohesion. It shows us other potential lifeworlds, inviting us to dream; it explores human potential and presents visions of a “not-impossible”: utopia. Our young audiences do not miss out either. Our ever-popular Family Shorts will delight short film fans of all ages once again. So there is a lot to discover – and a lot to discuss afterwards.
It goes without saying that FILMFEST DRESDEN cannot guarantee stable weather conditions in April. But what we can promise is some of the loveliest big screen entertainment on our high-resolution and daylight-capable LED screen.

We would like to thank the FILM NIGHTS ON THE BANKS OF THE ELBE for their support, which enables us to hold our open-air programme in its usual form and size.
Admission is free, but we are grateful for your support in the form of donations so that our open-air short film programme can continue into the next decade.

Sven Pötting

[tw: violence/discrimination against LGBTQIA* persons]

I go in to the Day

Mariola Brillowska
Germany, 2023
3:55 Min, German

Director Mariola Brillowska Producer Mariola Brillowska Screenplay Mariola Brillowska Animation Mariola Brillowska Camera Mariola Brillowska Editor Mariola Brillowska Music Günter Reznicek Sound Günter Reznicek, Günter Reznicek, Günter Reznicek Cast Mariola Brillowska Distribution Mariola Brillowska, Mariola Brillowska

She and Her Good Vibrations

Olivia Griselda, Sarah Cheok
Singapore, 2023
10:48 Min

After receiving a vibrator by mistake, a middle-aged, stressed-out woman gets hooked on solo pleasure sessions, but as her addiction sets in, she begins losing touch with her reality.

Director Olivia Griselda, Sarah Cheok Producer Jerrold Chong Screenplay Olivia Griselda Animation Hatije Kargin, Jerrold Chong, Fira Razman, Yi Ting Wong, Annie Hung, S. Linkeswaran, Bobby Jackson, Raul Garcia, Saksham Arora, Charlotte Hong, Novella, Jane Lee Ji Yuan, Sarah Cheok, Aron Ng, Andre Quek, Yue Wang, Shahrazad Binti Logan, Eve Lim Yu Tong Editor Olivia Griselda Music Ernie Goh Sound Heather Andrews, Heather Andrews, Heather Andrews Distribution Olivia Griselda

The Authentic Self

Fred Bendz, Peter Malmgren, Simon Folger, Olof Bendz
Sweden, 2022
7:38 Min, Swedish

A bad winner and a good loser are struggling to understand conflicting emotions after a surprisingly uneven badminton game.

Director Fred Bendz, Peter Malmgren, Simon Folger, Olof Bendz Producer Olof Bendz Screenplay Simon Folger Camera Peter Malmgren, Fred Bendz Editor Simon Folger, Olof Bendz Sound Martin Persson, Martin Persson, Martin Persson Cast Olof Bendz, Simon Folger Distribution Simon Folger

Outside the Lines

Stan Oversteegen
Netherlands, 2023
4:48 Min, English, Dutch

Three young queer people share their experiences on what it's like to deviate from the straight-, cis- norm and how this makes them feel. Not meeting certain expectations is often complicated, but it also offers many advantages.

Director Stan Oversteegen Producer Stan Oversteegen Screenplay Stan Oversteegen Animation Stan Oversteegen Editor Stan Oversteegen Sound Stan Oversteegen, Stan Oversteegen Distribution Stan Oversteegen, Stan Oversteegen

[tw:]

violence/discrimination against LGBTQIA* persons

Ik Ben Hier

Cheyenne Goudswaard
Netherlands, 2023
5:34 Min

The fear of oblivion can be overwhelming, but it can also be a driving force. We want to imprint ourselves on the future, build a legacy, leave something behind - a name in the sand, a hand on the wall of a cave. The characters of ‘Ik Ben Hier’ strive to connect and contribute to the world, ensuring that their presence is felt and remembered.

Director Cheyenne Goudswaard Producer Cheyenne Goudswaard Animation Cheyenne Goudswaard Sound Thomas Powell Distribution Cheyenne Goudswaard

Happy New Year

Saki Muramoto
Japan, 2023
3:21 Min, Japanese, English

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…

Director Saki Muramoto Producer Saki Muramoto Screenplay Saki Muramoto Animation Saki Muramoto Editor Saki Muramoto Sound Saya Kikuchi, Saya Kikuchi Distribution Saki Muramoto

Feel the Heat

Pasi Autio
Finland, 2022
9:06 Min

A one-man disco in a forest at night, where the atmosphere is magnificent – the lights are flashing, birds are singing, dancing continues and time disappears. The night cannot go on forever and, in the morning, the surrounding reality is revealed.

Director Pasi Autio Producer Pasi Autio Screenplay Pasi Autio Camera Pasi Autio Sound Pasi Autio Cast Saku Koistinen Distribution AV-arkki - Centre for Finnish Media Art, Tytti Rantanen

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International Short Film Cinema
The days are getting longer and the air is “as soft as if it were made of down”, as Erich Kästner once wrote, with spring enticing us to take a stroll around the city. If you are a short film fan or would like to become one, or if you just want to pop in for a quick look or get comfy with us, then come and visit us again this year at Schlossplatz for our open-air programme. Drop by and celebrate our mini anniversary with us.
Already for the tenth time FILMFEST DRESDEN is opening up a window to the world in the middle of this imposing ensemble of buildings with its unique atmosphere. As usual, the works being screened include highlights from the festival season: a best-of selection with regional, national and international short films. They enchant us with timeless images of nature or are empathetic, bittersweet and moving, but they are always creative explorations of current issues that move us. Yet again our curatorial team has compiled the usual variety of voices and moods for you – one as varied as the April weather. And of course, there is also a connection with this year’s main theme of the 36th FILMFEST DRESDEN.
Our programme selection shows that acceptance of diversity and other opinions can create a new sense of cohesion. It shows us other potential lifeworlds, inviting us to dream; it explores human potential and presents visions of a “not-impossible”: utopia. Our young audiences do not miss out either. Our ever-popular Family Shorts will delight short film fans of all ages once again. So there is a lot to discover – and a lot to discuss afterwards.
It goes without saying that FILMFEST DRESDEN cannot guarantee stable weather conditions in April. But what we can promise is some of the loveliest big screen entertainment on our high-resolution and daylight-capable LED screen.

We would like to thank the FILM NIGHTS ON THE BANKS OF THE ELBE for their support, which enables us to hold our open-air programme in its usual form and size.
Admission is free, but we are grateful for your support in the form of donations so that our open-air short film programme can continue into the next decade.

Sven Pötting

[tw: racism]

Hometopia

Heejung Ko
South Korea, 2022
4:21 Min

Toya started her first independent life. Her mind is full of fantasies about her own space. She tries to do housework one by one, such as assembling furniture, cooking and cleaning, but contrary to her expectations, everything gets messed up. She's trying to get through the situation by herself.

Director Heejung Ko Producer Heejung Ko Distribution KIAFA AniSEED, Jinsan KIM

Everything Depends On Mr. K

Hassan Hekmat Ravesh
Iran, 2023
14 Min, Farsi

Living in a small blue house in a desert, an old man's lifelong dream of reaching the sea hinges on Mr. K's decision. Accompanied only by his beloved goat and countless rejections, hope emerges with Mr. K's arrival. By a deserted roadside, he waits for fate, knowing this fleeting encounter holds the key to his dream's destiny.

Director Hassan Hekmat Ravesh Producer Hassan Hekmat Ravesh, Iranian Youth Cinema Society Iranian Youth Cinema Society Screenplay Hassan Hekmat Ravesh Camera Matin Baqeri Editor Bahram Emrani Sound Neda Mohseni, Neda Mohseni Cast Amin Mahmoudi, Morteza Jalali Distribution Hassan Hekmat Ravesh

Porta d'Europa

Samuel Mueller
Italy, Germany, 2023
8:06 Min, English

A boat has been stranded off the coast of Lampedusa, Italy. Emergency calls made to European authorities have been ignored. The Sea-Watch Crew deploys an aircraft in a race against time. As they pinpoint the boat’s location and send out distress calls, an unknown vessel appears on the horizon. As events unfold, the crew has no choice but to witness the failure of European human rights policy.

Director Samuel Mueller Producer Samuel Mueller Sound Marc Hinrichsmeyer, Johannes Wimmer, Johannes Wimmer, Marc Hinrichsmeyer Distribution Samuel Mueller

[tw:]

racism

Withdrawn – Visions of a Dreamt Sunset

Yasmine Benabdallah

The filmmakers chose to withdraw their film in support of Strike Germany and in solidarity with Palestine. We respect their decision and will not replace the film in the programme.

Director Yasmine Benabdallah

Heartbeat

Kim Spierenburg
Netherlands, 2023
3:40 Min

Heartbeat is an ode to (new) life and its creation. Inspired by the sound of the violin that revives me. Heartbeat is about moving on and how making music is precious and should be cherished. As a disabled artist, I have firsthand knowledge of the fragility of life. With Heartbeat, I try to elevate life from the grey nothingness and pain with sound, colors, forms and images.

Director Kim Spierenburg Producer Kim Spierenburg, Andy Dockett Animation Kim Spierenburg Editor Kim Spierenburg Music Kim Spierenburg Sound Kim Spierenburg, Kim Spierenburg, Pat Stewart Distribution Kim Spierenburg

<

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International Short Film Cinema
The days are getting longer and the air is “as soft as if it were made of down”, as Erich Kästner once wrote, with spring enticing us to take a stroll around the city. If you are a short film fan or would like to become one, or if you just want to pop in for a quick look or get comfy with us, then come and visit us again this year at Schlossplatz for our open-air programme. Drop by and celebrate our mini anniversary with us.
Already for the tenth time FILMFEST DRESDEN is opening up a window to the world in the middle of this imposing ensemble of buildings with its unique atmosphere. As usual, the works being screened include highlights from the festival season: a best-of selection with regional, national and international short films. They enchant us with timeless images of nature or are empathetic, bittersweet and moving, but they are always creative explorations of current issues that move us. Yet again our curatorial team has compiled the usual variety of voices and moods for you – one as varied as the April weather. And of course, there is also a connection with this year’s main theme of the 36th FILMFEST DRESDEN.
Our programme selection shows that acceptance of diversity and other opinions can create a new sense of cohesion. It shows us other potential lifeworlds, inviting us to dream; it explores human potential and presents visions of a “not-impossible”: utopia. Our young audiences do not miss out either. Our ever-popular Family Shorts will delight short film fans of all ages once again. So there is a lot to discover – and a lot to discuss afterwards.
It goes without saying that FILMFEST DRESDEN cannot guarantee stable weather conditions in April. But what we can promise is some of the loveliest big screen entertainment on our high-resolution and daylight-capable LED screen.

We would like to thank the FILM NIGHTS ON THE BANKS OF THE ELBE for their support, which enables us to hold our open-air programme in its usual form and size.
Admission is free, but we are grateful for your support in the form of donations so that our open-air short film programme can continue into the next decade.

Sven Pötting

[tw: physical violence]

The Concord

Sylvestre Meinzer
France, 2023
3:43 Min, French

On June 30, at the Place de la Concorde, on the border between the Tuileries and the Jeu de Paume, a demonstration took place against police exactions. The graffiti was harsh, the slogans violent, but the faces serene. The Concorde has a history. It is a symptom of the excesses and lies of successive governments. But what if the demonstrators were ready to take the plunge?

Director Sylvestre Meinzer Producer Sylvestre Meinzer Screenplay Sylvestre Meinzer Camera Sylvestre Meinzer Editor Sylvestre Meinzer Sound Sylvestre Meinzer Distribution Sylvestre Meinzer

Lobi ekosimba

kumbuka maene
2023
14:50 Min, French, Swahili

This film is the story of the resilience and resistance of the inhabitants of Goma, a town in eastern DR Congo that has been cut off by war for decades.

Director kumbuka maene Producer kumbuka maene Screenplay kumbuka maene Camera kumbuka maene Music kumbuka maene Sound kumbuka maene Distribution UHURU FILMS COMPAGNY, kumbuka maene

Suddenly TV

Roopa Gogineni
Sudan, Qatar, 2022
18:41 Min, Arabic

At a besieged protest in Khartoum, a group of young Sudanese create an imaginary television station to meet fellow revolutionaries. What begins as play becomes an urgent conjuring of a new Sudan.

Director Roopa Gogineni Producer Reem Haddad, Trevor Snapp, Fiona Lawson-Baker, Roopa Gogineni Screenplay Roopa Gogineni Camera 3ayin, Trevor Snapp, Mohamed Aminn, Roopa Gogineni Editor Roopa Gogineni, Isidore Bethel Distribution FREAK Agency, Vanesa Toca

The Mourning

Bruno Christofoletti Barrenha
Germany, 2023
7:35 Min, Spanish

The paradoxical range of emotions of "hinchas" (football fans) on the day of the death of Argentine icon Diego Armando Maradona in November 2020. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, millions of people gathered around the world to pay their last respects and mourn, as if in a collective catharsis, the passing of such an emblematic figure.

Director Bruno Christofoletti Barrenha Producer Bruno Christofoletti Barrenha Editor Bruno Christofoletti Barrenha Sound Bruno Christofoletti Barrenha Distribution Bruno Christofoletti Barrenha

[tw:]

physical violence

<

>

International Short Film Cinema
The days are getting longer and the air is “as soft as if it were made of down”, as Erich Kästner once wrote, with spring enticing us to take a stroll around the city. If you are a short film fan or would like to become one, or if you just want to pop in for a quick look or get comfy with us, then come and visit us again this year at Schlossplatz for our open-air programme. Drop by and celebrate our mini anniversary with us.
Already for the tenth time FILMFEST DRESDEN is opening up a window to the world in the middle of this imposing ensemble of buildings with its unique atmosphere. As usual, the works being screened include highlights from the festival season: a best-of selection with regional, national and international short films. They enchant us with timeless images of nature or are empathetic, bittersweet and moving, but they are always creative explorations of current issues that move us. Yet again our curatorial team has compiled the usual variety of voices and moods for you – one as varied as the April weather. And of course, there is also a connection with this year’s main theme of the 36th FILMFEST DRESDEN.
Our programme selection shows that acceptance of diversity and other opinions can create a new sense of cohesion. It shows us other potential lifeworlds, inviting us to dream; it explores human potential and presents visions of a “not-impossible”: utopia. Our young audiences do not miss out either. Our ever-popular Family Shorts will delight short film fans of all ages once again. So there is a lot to discover – and a lot to discuss afterwards.
It goes without saying that FILMFEST DRESDEN cannot guarantee stable weather conditions in April. But what we can promise is some of the loveliest big screen entertainment on our high-resolution and daylight-capable LED screen.

We would like to thank the FILM NIGHTS ON THE BANKS OF THE ELBE for their support, which enables us to hold our open-air programme in its usual form and size.
Admission is free, but we are grateful for your support in the form of donations so that our open-air short film programme can continue into the next decade.

Sven Pötting

Flower Show

Elli Vuorinen
Finland, 2024
8:31 Min, English

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

Director Elli Vuorinen Producer Jani Lehto Screenplay Elli Vuorinen Animation Sanni Lahtinen Camera Elli Vuorinen Editor Elli Vuorinen Music Jani Lehto Sound Jani Lehto, Jani Lehto Distribution Miyu Distribution, Luce Grosjean

Clown*esses

Jana Rothe
Germany, 2023
22:21 Min, German, English

CLOWN*ESSES shows the lives of contemporary female clowns who turn the world upside down beyond learned structures.The clown*esses Gözde and Lokke emancipate themselves from patriarchal structures and representations in search of their very own homeland. An underestimated theatrical art becomes a niche of feminism. A documentary between reality and magic.

Director Jana Rothe Producer Lilli Thalgott, Maike Mia Höhne Screenplay Jana Rothe Camera Elena Friedrich Editor Jannis Lange Distribution Radiator Sales, Ben Vandendaele

There is no End to this Story

Cosima Frei
Switzerland, Germany, 2023
17:34 Min, German, Vietnamese

Oscillating between procrastination and to-do lists, MENA wanders through her neighbourhood in Berlin for the last time. She has to cancel a mobile phone subscription, get rid of a necklace and wants to buy her ex some flowers. The hybrid film is about the ups and downs of life, of failing and trying again. and mixes improvised fiction and documentary.

Director Cosima Frei Producer Nadine Lüchinger Screenplay Cosima Frei Camera Meret Madörin Editor Lea Filadoro Sound Jingle Jungle Cast Carol Schuler Distribution Nadine Lüchinger

<

>

International Short Film Cinema
The days are getting longer and the air is “as soft as if it were made of down”, as Erich Kästner once wrote, with spring enticing us to take a stroll around the city. If you are a short film fan or would like to become one, or if you just want to pop in for a quick look or get comfy with us, then come and visit us again this year at Schlossplatz for our open-air programme. Drop by and celebrate our mini anniversary with us.
Already for the tenth time FILMFEST DRESDEN is opening up a window to the world in the middle of this imposing ensemble of buildings with its unique atmosphere. As usual, the works being screened include highlights from the festival season: a best-of selection with regional, national and international short films. They enchant us with timeless images of nature or are empathetic, bittersweet and moving, but they are always creative explorations of current issues that move us. Yet again our curatorial team has compiled the usual variety of voices and moods for you – one as varied as the April weather. And of course, there is also a connection with this year’s main theme of the 36th FILMFEST DRESDEN.
Our programme selection shows that acceptance of diversity and other opinions can create a new sense of cohesion. It shows us other potential lifeworlds, inviting us to dream; it explores human potential and presents visions of a “not-impossible”: utopia. Our young audiences do not miss out either. Our ever-popular Family Shorts will delight short film fans of all ages once again. So there is a lot to discover – and a lot to discuss afterwards.
It goes without saying that FILMFEST DRESDEN cannot guarantee stable weather conditions in April. But what we can promise is some of the loveliest big screen entertainment on our high-resolution and daylight-capable LED screen.

We would like to thank the FILM NIGHTS ON THE BANKS OF THE ELBE for their support, which enables us to hold our open-air programme in its usual form and size.
Admission is free, but we are grateful for your support in the form of donations so that our open-air short film programme can continue into the next decade.

Sven Pötting

Things Unheard Of

Ramazan Kilic
Turkey, 2023
15:36 Min, Kurdish, Turkish OV

The story is about 10 years old Şevîn who wants to make a Kurdish-speaking television for her bedridden and mute grandmother.

Director Ramazan Kilic Producer Ramazan Kilic Screenplay Ramazan Kilic Camera Sebastian Weber Editor Abdullah Enes Ünal Music Xebat Aşmî Sound İlker Rukan Cast Reyhan Kilic, Şukran Aktı, Muhammed Ali Kilic, Elanur Kilic Distribution Premium Films, Martina Fiorellino

Reem Al Shammary – The Bedouin Boxeur

Mattia Ramberti
Italy, 2023
15:20 Min, Arabic OV

In a stylized film portrait, the bedouin female boxeur Reem Al Shammary is driven by her desire to forge a path into the Olympics and inspire a younger generation of women to fight against gender inequality in Jordan.

Director Mattia Ramberti Producer Giorgio Viscardini, Gabriele Rossi Distribution Virginia Gherardini

A Day In The Life Of A Female Frame

Ilke Paddenburg
Netherlands, 2023
7:04 Min, Dutch

A painted, nude female figure is transported from the studio to a museum for a exhibition. We follow the figure on her journey through the outside world with all its noise and banalities. But is someone genuinely paying attention to her? The film is a playful metaphor for how patriarchy is still present in everything, in a handful of small moments on an ordinary day.

Director Ilke Paddenburg Producer Rachel van Bommel, Ivo Siebum Screenplay Ilke Paddenburg Distribution Millstreet Films BV, Laura Palthe

SPA

Ieva Šakalytė
Lithuania, 2023
12 Min, Lithuanian OV

Four exhausted women, who don’t know each other, accidentally meet at the SPA centre. There, they get into uncomfortable situations, which happens to be the first step to face their personal problems. Moreover, there is a fifth character, it's the SPA itself, trying to be perfect, but failing.

Director Ieva Šakalytė Producer Akvilė Žilionytė-Khan Screenplay Ieva Šakalytė Camera Martynas Norvaišas Editor Gabrielė Urbonaitė Sound Julius Grigelionis Cast Aistė Diržiūtė, Augustė Ona Šimulynaitė, Martyna Gedvilaitė, Kristina Savickytė Distribution VŠĮ Artišokai, Akvilė Žilionytė-Khan

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>

International Short Film Cinema
The days are getting longer and the air is “as soft as if it were made of down”, as Erich Kästner once wrote, with spring enticing us to take a stroll around the city. If you are a short film fan or would like to become one, or if you just want to pop in for a quick look or get comfy with us, then come and visit us again this year at Schlossplatz for our open-air programme. Drop by and celebrate our mini anniversary with us.
Already for the tenth time FILMFEST DRESDEN is opening up a window to the world in the middle of this imposing ensemble of buildings with its unique atmosphere. As usual, the works being screened include highlights from the festival season: a best-of selection with regional, national and international short films. They enchant us with timeless images of nature or are empathetic, bittersweet and moving, but they are always creative explorations of current issues that move us. Yet again our curatorial team has compiled the usual variety of voices and moods for you – one as varied as the April weather. And of course, there is also a connection with this year’s main theme of the 36th FILMFEST DRESDEN.
Our programme selection shows that acceptance of diversity and other opinions can create a new sense of cohesion. It shows us other potential lifeworlds, inviting us to dream; it explores human potential and presents visions of a “not-impossible”: utopia. Our young audiences do not miss out either. Our ever-popular Family Shorts will delight short film fans of all ages once again. So there is a lot to discover – and a lot to discuss afterwards.
It goes without saying that FILMFEST DRESDEN cannot guarantee stable weather conditions in April. But what we can promise is some of the loveliest big screen entertainment on our high-resolution and daylight-capable LED screen.

We would like to thank the FILM NIGHTS ON THE BANKS OF THE ELBE for their support, which enables us to hold our open-air programme in its usual form and size.
Admission is free, but we are grateful for your support in the form of donations so that our open-air short film programme can continue into the next decade.

Sven Pötting

[tw: epilepsy]

Interns

Núria Poveda, Marina Cortón, Marina Donderis
Spain, 2023
9:40 Min

Three young friends face the challenge of paying rent for their shared flat each month.

Director Núria Poveda, Marina Cortón, Marina Donderis Producer Leticia Montalvá Screenplay Marina Donderis, Marina Cortón, Núria Poveda Animation Sergio Lara, Nuria Bataller, Vicente Mallols Sound José Serrador, José Serrador Distribution Institut Valencià de Cultura, Dora Martí

[tw:]

epilepsy

House of Existence

Yumi Joung
South Korea, 2022
8 Min

There is a house. The house starts falling apart. Roof and wall collapses, slowly revealing belongings inside the house. They too collapse and break and disappear. When all goes away, a person appears, left alone in the remains.

Director Yumi Joung Producer Kihyun Kim Animation Jisu Kim Distribution Match Cut Inc., Kihyun Kim

Evanescence

Mare Šuljak
Croatia, 2023
3:32 Min

Walking through empty corridors, dancing with light. Erasing yourself from every frame and meeting all versions of yourself.

Director Mare Šuljak Producer Mare Šuljak Screenplay Mare Šuljak Animation Mare Šuljak Camera Mare Šuljak Editor Mare Šuljak Sound Jeronim Jandrić, Jeronim Jandrić, Jeronim Jandrić Distribution Mare Šuljak

Bye Bye Benz Benz

Jules Rouffio, Mamoun Rtal Bennani
France, Morocco, 2023
9:30 Min, Morrocan

Since 2016, the Moroccan government has introduced a program to scrap old taxis. Kbir is one of the few drivers still attached to his old Mercedes 240.

Director Jules Rouffio, Mamoun Rtal Bennani Producer Said Hamich Benlarbi Screenplay Mamoun Rtal Bennani, Jules Rouffio Camera Jules Rouffio, Mamoun Rtal Bennani Editor Laura Rius Sound Jules Rouffio, Mamoun Rtal Bennani Distribution Shortcuts, Elise Notseck

Bayusa

Mohsen Bagheri Dastgerdi
Denmark, Iran, 2023
7:35 Min

A rock creature, to find out itself and overcome geographical determinism, resolves to climb up stairways but greed turns around its life.

Director Mohsen Bagheri Dastgerdi Producer Luqman Qasemi, Azad Kamalifar Screenplay Mohsen Bagheri Dastgerdi Animation Tayebeh Baghbani Editor Sina Koohi Fayegh Dehkordi Sound Hossein Ghoorchian Cast Amin Hekmatpanah, Barzan Ghasemi, Mashaallah Mohammadi, Pedram Farokhnia, Fatemeh Bagheri Hafshejani, Anahid Ghasemi Distribution Mohsen Bagheri Dastgerdi

Fill3

Anne Lucas
Germany, 2022
3:21 Min

Fill3 begins with a stereotypical factory setting that evolves into an an increasingly strange production system.

Director Anne Lucas Producer Anne Lucas Screenplay Anne Lucas Animation Anne Lucas Editor Anne Lucas Sound Melina Stephan Distribution Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Anne Lucas

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International Short Film Cinema
The days are getting longer and the air is “as soft as if it were made of down”, as Erich Kästner once wrote, with spring enticing us to take a stroll around the city. If you are a short film fan or would like to become one, or if you just want to pop in for a quick look or get comfy with us, then come and visit us again this year at Schlossplatz for our open-air programme. Drop by and celebrate our mini anniversary with us.
Already for the tenth time FILMFEST DRESDEN is opening up a window to the world in the middle of this imposing ensemble of buildings with its unique atmosphere. As usual, the works being screened include highlights from the festival season: a best-of selection with regional, national and international short films. They enchant us with timeless images of nature or are empathetic, bittersweet and moving, but they are always creative explorations of current issues that move us. Yet again our curatorial team has compiled the usual variety of voices and moods for you – one as varied as the April weather. And of course, there is also a connection with this year’s main theme of the 36th FILMFEST DRESDEN.
Our programme selection shows that acceptance of diversity and other opinions can create a new sense of cohesion. It shows us other potential lifeworlds, inviting us to dream; it explores human potential and presents visions of a “not-impossible”: utopia. Our young audiences do not miss out either. Our ever-popular Family Shorts will delight short film fans of all ages once again. So there is a lot to discover – and a lot to discuss afterwards.
It goes without saying that FILMFEST DRESDEN cannot guarantee stable weather conditions in April. But what we can promise is some of the loveliest big screen entertainment on our high-resolution and daylight-capable LED screen.

We would like to thank the FILM NIGHTS ON THE BANKS OF THE ELBE for their support, which enables us to hold our open-air programme in its usual form and size.
Admission is free, but we are grateful for your support in the form of donations so that our open-air short film programme can continue into the next decade.

Sven Pötting

Soup

christa moesker
Netherlands, 2023
10 Min

A castaway and the ocean in a confrontational walz: A castaway is trapped on a small sandbank. One day he digs a plastic masonry tub out of the sand and tries to escape the island with it. However, the sea has other plans and takes the castaway on a confrontational excursion.

Director christa moesker Producer martin venema Distribution happy ship, martin venema

In The End We're All Music

Katharina Schnekenbühl
Germany, 2024
12:42 Min, German

Under the roof of an indoor swimming pool, the stories of three different women coincide. Eight-year-old Lilo wants to finally swim without swimmies. Kira, a competent businesswoman, chases the elusive speed of the waves, while retiree Frida secretly longs to jump from the 10-meter tower. In the microcosm of the swimming hall, they each discover what it means to be strong in their own way.

Director Katharina Schnekenbühl Producer Katharina Schnekenbühl, Thomas Slatter, Felix Sommer Screenplay Katharina Schnekenbühl, Nathalie Zeidler Camera Paula Tschira Editor Katharina Schnekenbühl Music Hans Könnecke Distribution Katharina Schnekenbühl

Telsche

Sophie Colfer, Ala Nunu
Poland, 2023
8:34 Min

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.

Director Sophie Colfer, Ala Nunu Producer Mikolaj Blonski, Majed Z. Samman Screenplay Sophie Colfer Animation Ismael Fati, Ala Nunu, Ana Iutes, Agnieszka Czachor, Jakub Kaczmarek, Sophie Colfer, Olga Grechanova Editor Sophie Colfer Music Krzysztof Guzewicz, Natalia Czekala Sound Krzysztof Guzewicz, Natalia Czekala, Krzysztof Guzewicz, Natalia Czekala Distribution Pigeon Productions, Anna Waszczuk

Ten Meter Tower

Axel Danielson, Maximilien Van Aertryck
Sweden, 2016
16:18 Min, Swedish OV

A 10-metre diving tower. People who have never been up there before have to choose whether to jump or climb down. The situation in itself highlights a dilemma: To weigh up the instinctive fear of taking the step out against the humiliation of having to climb down.

Director Axel Danielson, Maximilien Van Aertryck Producer Axel Danielson, Erik Hemmendorff Screenplay Axel Danielson, Maximilien Van Aertryck Camera Axel Danielson, Maximilien Van Aertryck Editor Axel Danielson, Maximilien Van Aertryck Sound Gustaf Berger, Lars Wignell Distribution Plattform Produktion AB, Axel Danielson

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International Short Film Cinema
The days are getting longer and the air is “as soft as if it were made of down”, as Erich Kästner once wrote, with spring enticing us to take a stroll around the city. If you are a short film fan or would like to become one, or if you just want to pop in for a quick look or get comfy with us, then come and visit us again this year at Schlossplatz for our open-air programme. Drop by and celebrate our mini anniversary with us.
Already for the tenth time FILMFEST DRESDEN is opening up a window to the world in the middle of this imposing ensemble of buildings with its unique atmosphere. As usual, the works being screened include highlights from the festival season: a best-of selection with regional, national and international short films. They enchant us with timeless images of nature or are empathetic, bittersweet and moving, but they are always creative explorations of current issues that move us. Yet again our curatorial team has compiled the usual variety of voices and moods for you – one as varied as the April weather. And of course, there is also a connection with this year’s main theme of the 36th FILMFEST DRESDEN.
Our programme selection shows that acceptance of diversity and other opinions can create a new sense of cohesion. It shows us other potential lifeworlds, inviting us to dream; it explores human potential and presents visions of a “not-impossible”: utopia. Our young audiences do not miss out either. Our ever-popular Family Shorts will delight short film fans of all ages once again. So there is a lot to discover – and a lot to discuss afterwards.
It goes without saying that FILMFEST DRESDEN cannot guarantee stable weather conditions in April. But what we can promise is some of the loveliest big screen entertainment on our high-resolution and daylight-capable LED screen.

We would like to thank the FILM NIGHTS ON THE BANKS OF THE ELBE for their support, which enables us to hold our open-air programme in its usual form and size.
Admission is free, but we are grateful for your support in the form of donations so that our open-air short film programme can continue into the next decade.

Sven Pötting

Silent Night

Philipp Schaeffer, Jonathan Schaller
Germany, 2023
13:40 Min, English, Arabic

A group of international tourists travel to Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank to see religious sites. But something is strange - the city is on strike. And the tour guide duo, one Israeli, the other Palestinian, won´t tell us what's going on - for differing reasons.

Director Philipp Schaeffer, Jonathan Schaller Producer Jonathan Schaller, Philipp Schaeffer Editor Jouri Hoepfner Sound Jan-Eric Heitland Distribution Schaeffer/Schaller Filmproduktion, Philipp Schaeffer

The Birds have left Beirut

Khalil Dreyfus Zaarour
Lebanon, 2022
15 Min, Arabic

August 4th, 2020 is a date that shook a country, changed a city, and destroyed lives. The film views the disaster through Zeina’s eyes.

Director Khalil Dreyfus Zaarour Producer Khalil Dreyfus Zaarour Distribution MAD Solutions

Ardent Other

Alice Brygo
France, 2022
16:13 Min, French

A stunned crowd faces a fire. The threat has no name, a diffuse anguish spreads. Fear needs to be conjured, fire must be turned into a sign.

Director Alice Brygo Producer Luc-Jérôme Bailleul Screenplay Alice Brygo, Paulo Gatabase Editor Alice Brygo Music Fatma Pneumonia, Paul Lajus Sound Paul Lajus, Paul Lajus, Alice Brygo Distribution Square Eyes, Wouter Jansen

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International Short Film Cinema
The days are getting longer and the air is “as soft as if it were made of down”, as Erich Kästner once wrote, with spring enticing us to take a stroll around the city. If you are a short film fan or would like to become one, or if you just want to pop in for a quick look or get comfy with us, then come and visit us again this year at Schlossplatz for our open-air programme. Drop by and celebrate our mini anniversary with us.
Already for the tenth time FILMFEST DRESDEN is opening up a window to the world in the middle of this imposing ensemble of buildings with its unique atmosphere. As usual, the works being screened include highlights from the festival season: a best-of selection with regional, national and international short films. They enchant us with timeless images of nature or are empathetic, bittersweet and moving, but they are always creative explorations of current issues that move us. Yet again our curatorial team has compiled the usual variety of voices and moods for you – one as varied as the April weather. And of course, there is also a connection with this year’s main theme of the 36th FILMFEST DRESDEN.
Our programme selection shows that acceptance of diversity and other opinions can create a new sense of cohesion. It shows us other potential lifeworlds, inviting us to dream; it explores human potential and presents visions of a “not-impossible”: utopia. Our young audiences do not miss out either. Our ever-popular Family Shorts will delight short film fans of all ages once again. So there is a lot to discover – and a lot to discuss afterwards.
It goes without saying that FILMFEST DRESDEN cannot guarantee stable weather conditions in April. But what we can promise is some of the loveliest big screen entertainment on our high-resolution and daylight-capable LED screen.

We would like to thank the FILM NIGHTS ON THE BANKS OF THE ELBE for their support, which enables us to hold our open-air programme in its usual form and size.
Admission is free, but we are grateful for your support in the form of donations so that our open-air short film programme can continue into the next decade.

Sven Pötting

ALEXX196 & the pink sand beach

Loïc Hobi
France, Switzerland, 2023
23 Min, French

Alex and Sacha are shaken up by the closing of the online video game on which they met. While Alex and his mother go on vacation in the south where Sacha lives, the two teenagers will do everything to meet and finish the game together.

Director Loïc Hobi Producer Flavien Giorda, Consuelo Frauenfelder, Yann Gonzalez Screenplay Loïc Hobi Animation Robin Deriaud Camera Jacques Baguenier Editor Loïc Hobi Music Simon Backes, Nico Pavolvic Sound Vuk Vukmanovic, Vuk Vukmanovic Cast Julien Chaudet, Claude Emmanuelle Gajan Maull, Pierre Gommé, Paulin Aloise Jaccoud, Julia Leblanc Lacoste Distribution VENIN FILMS, Flavien Giorda

Falling for Greta

Gustavo Arteaga
United Kingdom, 2023
11:16 Min

When love comes knocking, Greta’s world is turned upside down. As her passion grows, complications follow but there is hope in the shape of water.

Director Gustavo Arteaga Producer Gustavo Arteaga Distribution Gustavo Arteaga

Playground

Raul Villalba
Spain, 2023
16:11 Min, Catalan, Spanish

When Uri arrives at a rave in Montjuic, he can't quite find his place. It's his first time... But he'll end up finding a way. A short film about integration at a hardcore rhythm.

Director Raul Villalba Producer Noor Husheri Screenplay Raul Villalba, Noor Husheri Camera Santi Pujol Amat, Fran Moreno Blanco Editor Celeste Barria Sound Tamara Lores, Martha Bap Cast Juan Gil, Oriol Vall-Llosera, Adri Sanchez Lopez, Xavier Miñarro Distribution FREAK Agency, Vanesa Toca

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International Short Film Cinema
The days are getting longer and the air is “as soft as if it were made of down”, as Erich Kästner once wrote, with spring enticing us to take a stroll around the city. If you are a short film fan or would like to become one, or if you just want to pop in for a quick look or get comfy with us, then come and visit us again this year at Schlossplatz for our open-air programme. Drop by and celebrate our mini anniversary with us.
Already for the tenth time FILMFEST DRESDEN is opening up a window to the world in the middle of this imposing ensemble of buildings with its unique atmosphere. As usual, the works being screened include highlights from the festival season: a best-of selection with regional, national and international short films. They enchant us with timeless images of nature or are empathetic, bittersweet and moving, but they are always creative explorations of current issues that move us. Yet again our curatorial team has compiled the usual variety of voices and moods for you – one as varied as the April weather. And of course, there is also a connection with this year’s main theme of the 36th FILMFEST DRESDEN.
Our programme selection shows that acceptance of diversity and other opinions can create a new sense of cohesion. It shows us other potential lifeworlds, inviting us to dream; it explores human potential and presents visions of a “not-impossible”: utopia. Our young audiences do not miss out either. Our ever-popular Family Shorts will delight short film fans of all ages once again. So there is a lot to discover – and a lot to discuss afterwards.
It goes without saying that FILMFEST DRESDEN cannot guarantee stable weather conditions in April. But what we can promise is some of the loveliest big screen entertainment on our high-resolution and daylight-capable LED screen.

We would like to thank the FILM NIGHTS ON THE BANKS OF THE ELBE for their support, which enables us to hold our open-air programme in its usual form and size.
Admission is free, but we are grateful for your support in the form of donations so that our open-air short film programme can continue into the next decade.

Sven Pötting

La montée

David Tessier
France, 2023
1:10 Min, French

A political debate, broadcast live on a 24-hour news channel. As the speakers are arguing about social issues, water invades the set and floods the whole room. Nobody seems to notice ...

Director David Tessier Producer Boiron Maxime, Jennifer Bauche Screenplay Olivier Moine, David Tessier Camera Laurent Tangy Editor David Tessier Music Madeleine Peyroux Sound Ambroise Cabry, Alexandre Robieux, Alexandre Robieux Cast Aitor Bourgade, Carine Ribert, Patrick Courtois, Facelina Laurence, Saverio Maligno Distribution MARCO DELAFUENTE

The End of The World Show

Bridie Gane
United Kingdom, 2022
3:41 Min, English

Let your climate cares get gently swept away in the loveliness that is 'The End of the World Show!', a spoof 1970's TV show that completely disregards the warning signs and sees us through right to the end... It investigates our sense of unease around our future, playing with our ridiculous skills of procrastination and denial as the deadlines loom.

Director Bridie Gane Producer Bridie Gane Distribution Bridie Gane

Scales Fell From their Eyes

Coline Confort
Switzerland, 2023
20 Min, English, French

Just out of childhood, Julian is thrust into a role too big for him: finding alternative housing for the last resident of his condemned building, Stefan, whose apartment is leaking with water. He needs to find a solution so that neither of them will end up on the street.

Director Coline Confort Producer Pascaline Sordet Distribution Varicoloured OÜ, Lara Casirati

De Imperio

Alessandro Novelli
Portugal, Spain, 2023
13 Min

The pieces silently start gathering into the room, while the giants, unaware, keep living their macabre routines.

Director Alessandro Novelli Producer David Doutel, Bruno Simões, Vasco Sá, Alexandra Ramires, Carlota Pou Editor Alessandro Novelli Sound Jonathan Darch, Simon Smith, Jonathan Darch, Simon Smith, Jonathan Darch, Simon Smith Distribution AGENCIA - Portuguese Short Film Agency, Joaquim Pinheiro

Atomic Chicken

Morgane Siriex, Solène Polet, Capucine Prat, Ermeneux Thibault, Anna Uglova, Lucie Lyfoung
France, 2023
5:04 Min

A chicken coop set up at the foot of a nuclear power plant sees its daily life turned upside down by a series of comic, cartoon-style mutations.

Director Morgane Siriex, Solène Polet, Capucine Prat, Ermeneux Thibault, Anna Uglova, Lucie Lyfoung Producer Julien Deparis Distribution Miyu Distribution

Hot Stuff

Pascal Schuh, Jonas Riemer
Germany, 2023
1:19 Min, English

"Hot Stuff" artfully depicts people engrossed in mundane routines—watching TV, preparing for a flight, or on a carefree cruise—unaware of being consumed by destructive flames. This striking contrast between calm demeanor and raging chaos mirrors Earth's grim reality. Our daily rituals inflict devastating consequences on our planet.

Director Pascal Schuh, Jonas Riemer Producer Claudius Buchzik, David Kettner Screenplay Jonas Riemer, Pascal Schuh Camera Robert Schulzmann Editor Ronja Selle Music Erik Fodi Sound Nico Voß, Nico Voß Distribution Jonas Riemer

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International Short Film Cinema
The days are getting longer and the air is “as soft as if it were made of down”, as Erich Kästner once wrote, with spring enticing us to take a stroll around the city. If you are a short film fan or would like to become one, or if you just want to pop in for a quick look or get comfy with us, then come and visit us again this year at Schlossplatz for our open-air programme. Drop by and celebrate our mini anniversary with us.
Already for the tenth time FILMFEST DRESDEN is opening up a window to the world in the middle of this imposing ensemble of buildings with its unique atmosphere. As usual, the works being screened include highlights from the festival season: a best-of selection with regional, national and international short films. They enchant us with timeless images of nature or are empathetic, bittersweet and moving, but they are always creative explorations of current issues that move us. Yet again our curatorial team has compiled the usual variety of voices and moods for you – one as varied as the April weather. And of course, there is also a connection with this year’s main theme of the 36th FILMFEST DRESDEN.
Our programme selection shows that acceptance of diversity and other opinions can create a new sense of cohesion. It shows us other potential lifeworlds, inviting us to dream; it explores human potential and presents visions of a “not-impossible”: utopia. Our young audiences do not miss out either. Our ever-popular Family Shorts will delight short film fans of all ages once again. So there is a lot to discover – and a lot to discuss afterwards.
It goes without saying that FILMFEST DRESDEN cannot guarantee stable weather conditions in April. But what we can promise is some of the loveliest big screen entertainment on our high-resolution and daylight-capable LED screen.

We would like to thank the FILM NIGHTS ON THE BANKS OF THE ELBE for their support, which enables us to hold our open-air programme in its usual form and size.
Admission is free, but we are grateful for your support in the form of donations so that our open-air short film programme can continue into the next decade.

Sven Pötting

[tw: epilepsy]

Big Monster

Esther Weber
Germany, 2023
2:34 Min, German

Let's get going! And everything is turning! The Big Monster takes us into a strange world and blots out our perception. A time-lapse film with individually edited long exposures and a sound collage from self-made field recordings.

Director Esther Weber Producer Esther Weber Screenplay Esther Weber Animation Esther Weber Camera Esther Weber Editor Esther Weber Sound Michael Kleibrink, Michael Kleibrink, Michael Kleibrink Distribution Esther Weber

[tw:]

epilepsy

I Would Eat It if I Could

Bence Hlavay
Hungary, 2024
10:06 Min, no dialogue

Marci, in his twenties, returns to his former home in a peaceful rural environment. His friends welcome him, and they go to their favourite place. On the way, it quickly becomes clear that Marci cannot settle back into the old idyll.

Director Bence Hlavay Producer József Fülöp Screenplay Bence Hlavay Editor Domonkos Kovács Music SYNONYMS (Gergely Matos, Kristóf Huszár) Sound Márk Puszta, Borbála Sinkó Distribution Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest, Krisztina Darók

Beautiful Figures

Soetkin Verstegen
Belgium, Switzerland, 2023
4:01 Min

Thoughts ripple over the pages of a personal notebook, kept during a stay at different science labs in Zürich. They float from one to another, like a mind map of unfinished ideas on memory, medical imaging, cells, and aging.

Director Soetkin Verstegen Producer Soetkin Verstegen Distribution Soetkin Verstegen

Sweet Like Lemons

Jenny Jokela
United Kingdom, Finland, 2023
5:31 Min

Sweet Like Lemons is a visual reflection on getting out of a harmful relationship and moving on. The title is a play on the saying “when life gives you lemons make lemonade”, only in this case there is no lemonade to be made but the lemons still taste sweeter than what you left behind.

Director Jenny Jokela Producer Jenny Jokela Screenplay Jenny Jokela Animation Jenny Jokela Editor Jenny Jokela Music Sarah Playford Sound Adam Woodhams Distribution Bonobostudio, Vanja Andrijevic

Tapping Black Boots

Kaoru Furuko
Slovakia, Japan, Sweden, 2023
11:11 Min

Enchanted by the vibrant Slovak folk culture, a Japanese animation artist and a Swedish musician traverse through its folklore, tales, and music. Collaging visual fragments with techno beats, they embody their vision in this audiovisual sketchbook.

Director Kaoru Furuko Producer Christian Wellbo, Kaoru Furuko Screenplay Kaoru Furuko Animation Kaoru Furuko Camera Kaoru Furuko Editor Kaoru Furuko Music Christian Wellbo Sound Christian Wellbo, Christian Wellbo, Christian Wellbo Distribution Kaoru Furuko

Opto Optics

Pearl Seemann
Germany, 2024
4:13 Min

A man gets lost trying to obtain ingredients for his dinner.

Director Pearl Seemann Producer Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf Distribution Christina Marx

When Doves Try

Thalia de Jong
Netherlands, 2023
2:32 Min

A male pigeon courts a female in this awkwardly familiar dance of attraction, seduction and... disillusionment.

Director Thalia de Jong Producer Thalia de Jong Screenplay Thalia de Jong Camera Thalia de Jong Editor Thalia de Jong Music Flavia Faas Sound Flavia Faas Distribution Thalia de Jong, Thalia de Jong

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Back in Party City (where we all belong!), FILMFEST DRESDEN is serving up another DRAGcellent extravaganza. Start your engines and get ready to slay the dancefloor with Sita Messer and Meo Wulf (Berlin) whilst the iconic DJ Mamede (Berlin) and Noë (Dresden, Leipzig) WERK the decks to heat up the floor. Because dancing is what? Fundamental!

Admission €9 pre-sales / €12 at box office (€9 at box office for people in drag), free admission with accreditation

The excitement is rising as the winning films are awaiting their awards. After a week full of cineaste moments, the ten Golden Horsemen and the six special awards with prizemoney amounting to €72,000 in total are about to be officially bestowed on the lucky winners.

Admission €8.50 or by invitation or accreditation
With translation into German sign language

In this gaming live lecture, the Total Refusal media guerrillas are guiding us through the digital metropole of Los Santos, the digital cityscape of the GTA V videogame. Along the way, you visit locations in the city that were used as filmsets for important elements of the game art. You also discuss the concept of hyperrealism and the ways to appropriate it artistically.

It might get a bit cold sitting in the lecture hall, so please bring warm clothes. Blankets can also be borrowed at the event for a deposit – as long as stocks last.

€12, in English

During the masterclass, the multi-prizewinning film collective NEOZOON – which was founded in Berlin and Paris in 2009 – are speaking about their films, as well as about the de- and recontextualising and the recycling of YouTube material, in addition to working in a collective. The masterclass is linked to this year’s tribute programme.

Moderation: Alina Cyranek, filmmaker

Free admission, in English

Cinema posters were printed in East German GDR for about 375 animated films and short film programmes from Germany and abroad. These highly diverse works were created by about 70 different designers – including young graduates, as well as renowned illustrators. This show is presenting nine of these artists.

Free admission, in German

“Places. We owe them respect as they have a deeper meaning for us than just being there. They accompany us in silence. They shape our lives and our history. They are our stage.” Wim Wenders, “A Sense of Place”, 2005

Film curator Afsun Moshiry was fascinated by this phrase from the book “A Sense of Place” by Wim Wenders while she was in Iran, as she wondered how to preserve places within cinematic works and make them eternal. When back in Germany in 2021, together with the Wim Wenders Foundation she started the episodic film project and invited six Iranian filmmakers to embark on this journey between Iran, Germany and France. From the troglodytes in rural Iran to the luxurious buildings of Tehran, from a beach constantly threatened by war to a wandering transit in an airport to a canal in the Paris suburbs where migrants find refuge...

At the 36 FILMFEST DRESDEN films from the project are being shown in one screening at the Schauburg festival cinema, as well as during repeated screenings at the open-air event. These screenings will be accompanied by poetic audio casts, which can be accessed and listened to online. In these audio casts, Wim Wenders introduces “A Sense of Place” edited from his talk to the project participants in 2021. And locals who moved to Dresden from far out places give a glimpse of their interaction in touch with “A Sense of Place”. The locations associated with each audio cast can be visited while letting your thoughts wander with them.

At the open-air event, the films PHOBOS (directed by Mina Keshavarz) and IN TRANSIT (directed by Azin Feizabadi) are being shown repeatedly during the entire festival week, always before the actual film programme. On 16 April 2024, the films are being screened there between 12.00 and 19.00, while on the other days between 10.00 and 14.00.

The following films will be screened on Thu, 18 April at 15:30:
HOLLOW by Mohamadreza Farzad (2023) 15 min
DENSITY OF EMPTINESS by Shirin Barghnavard (2023) 20 min
MALTOURNÉE by Pooya Abbasian (2023) 20 min

You can access the audio casts via the link or by scanning the QR code: https://on.soundcloud.com/6a3TYXRRpUJyLyiC9

Free admission, in English

Are we able at all to guarantee having “safe spaces”, places where people should feel safe and secure? How can we ensure having an impartial, unbiased “community space” open to everyone, and that even and especially in times of political controversies and tensions? What responsibility do we have towards our guests? May we invite you to join us in the discussion, exchanging experiences, and with critical self-analysis.

Speakers:
Afsun Moshiry, producer, curator and part of Sinema Transtopia Berlin
Francisca Khamis Giacoman, artist and filmmaker
Nitzan Rozen, filmmaker
Maike von Harten, freelance worker, Montagscafé Dresden
Moderation: Vincent Förster, member of Berlinale Generation selection committee

Free admission, in English

Whether and how can a discourse involving society as a whole succeed, especially when it involves complex and controversial issues? How can two opposing views meet in a dialogue? And what is the task of cultural institutions in this regard? The discussion here is focusing especially on the role of film festivals in cultivating democratic discussion cultures.

Discussion panel guests:
Nicolas Khabbaz, Artistic Director Beirut Shorts International Film Festival
Sarnt Utamachote, culture production, film direction and curation
Niv Fux, Festival Director Leiden Shorts Festival
Monica Koshka-Stein, Artistic Director and Programme Director KUKI Berlin
Moderation: Vincent Förster, member of Berlinale Generation selection committee

Free admission, in English

The growing influence of artificial intelligence on almost all areas of life is having an increasing impact on the public discourse, where it is being met by both rejection and approval – with the film scene being no exception to this. Does AI represent a threat to creative filmmaking, or more of an opportunity? The intention with the discussion is to contribute to this debate.

Discussion panel guests:
Prof. Dr. Dagmar Monett Diaz, Professor of Computer Science, HWR Berlin
Robert Seidel, artist and filmmaker
Veneta Androva, artist and filmmaker
Moderation: Yun-hua Chen, freelance film academic, critic and curator

Free admission, in English

The “Dreamer” exhibition combines works by Erich Wolfgang Hartzsch, a pioneer of East German avantgarde, with works by the young contemporary artist Juliane Vowinckel. In addition to the two art positions, during FILMFEST DRESDEN experimental films from E. W. Hartzsch are being screened, with the event being presented by the film academic Dr. Claus Löser.

Free admission, in German

In conversation with an Oscar© winner: Thomas Stellmach (1997 Academy Award for the animation film QUEST) is presenting his prizewinning works and chatting about what you find in the animation filmmaker’s toolkit. With techniques and tricks, anecdotes and facts, backgrounds and future plans – an infotainment evening for all animated film fans.

Admission €12, in German, no dialogue in the films

During FILMFEST DRESDEN, the Saxon Film Association together with Łužycafilm, the Sorbian-German film network, and the Foundation for the Sorbian People are inviting all those interested to attend a film programme. The intention with the programme is to enhance the focus on Sorbian film within the film industry and emphasise the support urgently required in the current Sorbian film production area.
The first film GAŽ WĚTŠYK DUJO …/AND THE TRUTH STANDS UP… is a documentation from 1984 that sheds light on the life and struggles of the Lower Sorbian poet and journalist Mina Witkojc. Her steadfastness in resisting war and expulsion, as well as her reception of the Soviet liberators are portrayed in this work. The film is being screened in the Lower Sorbian language version, with German translations.
This is followed by the world premiere of SOM DOMA. This documentary short follows the protagonists Luka and Mira during the shooting of the short fiction film PYTAŚ A NAMAKAŚ/SEARCH AND FIND. Doing so, they reflect on their everyday lives and their cultural identity as they are confronted with the challenges of growing up.
In conclusion, PYTAŚ A NAMAKAŚ/SEARCH AND FIND takes us into a world of growing up in a Lower Sorbian context. This short film explores themes of identity, friendship and coming out in a village during a summer adventure. The question of whether a Sorbian and a trans identity are compatible is at the heart of this sensitive film.
Sorbian language passages are subtitled in German.
In addition to the films, the book “Sorbian Film Landscapes” by Grit Lemke and Andy Räder, which is about to be released, will be presented and discussed. The book is being published by the DEFA Foundation and the Sorbian Institute. Cosima Stracke-Nawka is moderating the event.
Following the screenings and film discussions, there will be an opportunity for exchanges and networking at the film association’s get-together with cold drinks and delicious canapés from 18.00 in the beautiful atmosphere of the Sternensaal in Lingnerschloss.

Please register for the event by email to m.mager@filmverband-sachsen.de.
Free admission, in German and Sorbian

In addition to snacks, the Sandwich Talks also provide the time and opportunity to explore and examine the competition films. In discussions, filmmakers are invited to talk about their artistic and thematic approaches and answer questions about their works. Presented by members of the selection committees, each Sandwich Talk focuses on a different aspect and considers the various thematic or stylistic trends in this year’s competitions in conversations with the filmmakers.

Focal area on Wednesday 17.4.: Breaking out of Structures

Free admission, in English

In addition to snacks, the Sandwich Talks also provide the time and opportunity to explore and examine the competition films. In discussions, filmmakers are invited to talk about their artistic and thematic approaches and answer questions about their works. Presented by members of the selection committees, each Sandwich Talk focuses on a different aspect and considers the various thematic or stylistic trends in this year’s competitions in conversations with the filmmakers.

Focal area on Thursday, 18.4.: Against Forgetting

Free admission, in English

In addition to snacks, the Sandwich Talks also provide the time and opportunity to explore and examine the competition films. In discussions, filmmakers are invited to talk about their artistic and thematic approaches and answer questions about their works. Presented by members of the selection committees, each Sandwich Talk focuses on a different aspect and considers the various thematic or stylistic trends in this year’s competitions in conversations with the filmmakers.

Focal area on Friday, 19.4.: Mental Health

Free admission, in English

The film from Hans Richter (1947) is a dream performance and surrealistic archive at one and the same time. Artistic works, narratives and avantgarde processes are described and experienced via dream episodes. The film is testimony to the efforts to have an independent telling of the story of the pre-war avantgardes. Introduction: Przemysław Strożek

Dreams that Money Can Buy

Hans Richter
USA, 1947
79:15 Min, English OV

The film from Hans Richter (1947) is a dream performance and surrealistic archive at one and the same time. Artistic works, narratives and avantgarde processes are described and experienced via dream episodes. The film is testimony to the efforts to have an independent telling of the story of the pre-war avantgardes.

Director Hans Richter Producer Hans Richter, Kenneth Macpherson, Peggy Guggenheim Screenplay Josh White, Man Ray, Hans Rehfisch, Hans Richter, David Vern, Max Ernst, Fernand Léger, Marcel Duchamp, Alexander Calder Camera Werner Brandes Editor Hans Richter Music Louis Applebaum, Paul Bowles, John Cage, David Diamond, Darius Milhaud, Josh White, Duke Ellington Cast Jack Bittner, Bernard Friend, Jack Shaindlin, Jo Fontaine-Maison, Julien Levy, Max Ernst, Dorothea Tanning, Arthur Seymour, Ruth Sobotka, Bill Frankel, Evelyn Hausman, Anthony Laterie, Alexander Calder, Dorothy Griffith, Jacqueline Matisse Distribution BFA, Espen Bale

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After the juries award the “Golden Horsemen” to the lucky winners of the 36 FILMFEST DRESDEN on Saturday evening, all of the prizewinning films are gracing the silver screens once more on Sunday. This is the last opportunity for all you film enthusiasts to marvel at the cinematic highlights of this year’s festival.

[tw: abortion]

The Un-Chaotic Cabinet that Wishes for Me to Sleep

Cillian Green
Ireland, 2022
Mixed Technique, 7:25 Min, English OV
German Premiere

A young adult struggling with his identity makes his way through suburban Dublin in the hopes that the trip can clear his head.

Director Cillian Green Producer Cillian Green Screenplay Cillian Green Animation Cillian Green Music Olivey Olive Distribution Green Ray Film Agency, Peter Zemek

The Beads

Rafaela Camelo, Emanuel Lavor
Brazil, 2023
19:09 Min, Brazilian OV

In a house surrounded by nature, two sisters prepare an abortion without noticing that there is a snake inside.

Director Rafaela Camelo, Emanuel Lavor Producer Daniela Marinho Screenplay Emanuel Lavor Camera Joanna Ramos Editor Henrique Laterza Music Letícia Fialho Sound Lyn Santos, Alexandre Martins Cast Tícia Ferraz, Pâmela Germano Distribution FREAK Agency, Vanesa Toca

[tw:]

abortion

Land of Mountains

Olga Kosanović
Austria, Germany, 2023
28 Min, German, Serbian OV

An insurance scam and the left thumb of single father Vladimir find themselves in a low-key tragedy about the Kafkaesque barriers of Austrian immigration law.

Director Olga Kosanović Producer Deniz Cooper, Rupert Casper, Olga Kosanović Screenplay Olga Kosanović Camera Simone Hart Editor Sebastian Schreiner Sound Flora Rajakowitsch, Theda Schifferdecker, Rudi Pototschnig Cast Vladimir Vulević, Filipa Gregec, Noah Kaufmann, Gerhard Weber, Clemens Berndorff, Gabriele Roller, Anton Noori, Birgit Waite, Julia Edtmeier, Thomas Mraz Distribution Lemonade Films, Marija Milovanovic

My Orange Garden

Anna-Sophia Richard
Germany, 2023
21:18 Min, Farsi OV

MY ORANGE GARDEN tells the story of the Iranian singer Faravaz Farvardin, who was set to be arrested by the Iranian police for singing in public. The film dives into Faravaz childhood memories and her journey in finally finding her homeland within her own body.

Director Anna-Sophia Richard Producer Dominik Eder, Linda Hartogs Screenplay Anna-Sophia Richard Camera Diara Sow Editor Anselm Koneffke Music Jan Brett, Enrico Cesaro aka Mace Sound Simon Peter Cast Faravaz Farvardin Still photographer Ana Grancho Distribution OKSUPERDANKE, Dominik Eder

Carrotica

Daniel Sterlin-Altman
Germany, 2024
Puppets, Stop Motion, 13:05 Min, English OV
World Premiere

In a Canadian suburb, 16-year-old Nadav is writing explicitly gay erotica in private. His mother Shari is a fertility botanist studying the mating patterns of carrots, and she becomes aroused by the seductive Femme Carrot. Through fantasy, music and tango, the two find themselves overwhelmed with their lust and forced to confront their inner selves.

Director Daniel Sterlin-Altman Producer Luis Morat Screenplay Daniel Sterlin-Altman Animation Daniel Sterlin-Altman, Anselm Mende Camera Philip Köhler Editor Daniel Sterlin-Altman Music Felix Gayed, Lena Radivoj Sound Enrique Cuesta, Anastasiia Nasonkina Cast Daniel Sterlin-Altman, Summer Banks, Enaitz Greaney Distribution Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, Cristina Marx

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After the juries award the “Golden Horsemen” to the lucky winners of the 36 FILMFEST DRESDEN on Saturday evening, all of the prizewinning films are gracing the silver screens once more on Sunday. This is the last opportunity for all you film enthusiasts to marvel at the cinematic highlights of this year’s festival.

[tw: physical violence]

Alex in the Fields

Marie Zrenner
Germany, 2023
22 Min, German OV

Adrian, a young ex-alcoholic trying to start a new life, is living on a therapy-farm in the south of Germany. When a friend from the past shows up out of nowhere, old feelings bring back the urge to drink and he risks to lose everything.

Director Marie Zrenner Producer Johanna Seggelke Screenplay Marie Zrenner, Leo van Kann Camera Nina Wesemann Editor Marie Zrenner Sound Stefan Möhl, Leo van Kann Cast Ivan Dubrovin, Marten Quirin Korte Distribution University of Television and Film, Tina Janker

A Kind of Testament

Stephen Vuillemin
France, 2023
Computer Drawing 2D, 16:24 Min, English OV

A young woman comes across animations on the internet that have clearly been created from her private selfies. An unknown female with the same name confesses to identity theft. But death is quicker than the answer to the question: Why?

Director Stephen Vuillemin Producer Ugo Bienvenu, Félix de Givry, Stephen Vuillemin Screenplay Stephen Vuillemin Animation Stephen Vuillemin, Jocelyn Charles, Tom Rameaux, Gabrielle Selnet, Simon Cadilhac Music Qoso Sound Lucien Krampf, Matthieu Gasnier Cast Naomi Yang, Angela Clerkin, Freida Siddall, Aisha Arden, Bethy Read Distribution Manifest, Anaïs Colpin

[tw:]

physical violence

Mast-del

Maryam Tafakory
Iran, United Kingdom, 2023
17:17 Min, Farsi, English ST

Two women are lying in bed together. One tells the other the colourful memory of a date with a man in Tehran. Her story is inscribed on the screen via superimpositions of images of embraces and flashes of Iranian films produced after the Islamic revolution.

Director Maryam Tafakory Producer Maryam Tafakory Screenplay Maryam Tafakory Camera anonymous, Maryam Tafakory Editor Maryam Tafakory Music Sarah Davachi Sound Maryam Tafakory, Action Pyramid/Tom Fisher Cast Saba, Fateme, Maryam Distribution Square Eyes, Wouter Jansen

Zoopticon

John Frickey, Thies Mynther, Sandra Trostel
Germany, 2023
29:03 Min, English OV

Drifting through space with no purpose on spaceship Zoopticon, five mutated singing animals find a goal when they learn of their origin – a mysterious planet called Earth.

Director John Frickey, Thies Mynther, Sandra Trostel Producer Sandra Trostel Screenplay Jon Frickey, Thies Mynther, Sandra Trostel, Christoph Mathieu Animation Jon Frickey Editor Sandra Trostel Music Thies Mynther Sound Thies Mynther Cast Sarah Thom, “Shimo” Dong Zhou, Alex Murray-Leslie, Amanda Romero, Achan Malonda, Jon Frickey, Veit Sprenger, Roosa Voima Distribution Square Eyes, Wouter Jansen

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After the juries award the “Golden Horsemen” to the lucky winners of the 36 FILMFEST DRESDEN on Saturday evening, all of the prizewinning films are gracing the silver screens once more on Sunday. This is the last opportunity for all you film enthusiasts to marvel at the cinematic highlights of this year’s festival.

[tw: physical violence, psychological violence, epilepsy]

Urlaubsversuche

Paula Milena Weise, Finn Ole Weigt
Germany, 2022
15:58 Min, German OV

What is next? Two friends make an attempt to go on vacation to the Baltic Sea. Soon their lack of perspective becomes a problem in their friendship.

Director Paula Milena Weise, Finn Ole Weigt Producer Finn Ole Weigt Screenplay Anton Artibilov, Finn Ole Weigt Camera Tilman Bensiek Editor Leonie Faschian, Finn Ole Weigt Music Elias Lenzen, Pari Pari Sound Elias Lenzen, Thomas Schöttl Cast Linda Marie Rohrer, Ronja Herberich Distribution Finn Ole Weigt

AliEN0089

Valeria Hofmann
Chile, Argentina, 2023
21:49 Min, Spanish OV
German Premiere

While a gamer uploads a testimonial video to denounce the harassment she is suffering in a war videogame, a stranger enters her home and hacks her computer, blurring the boundaries of the real and the virtual with chaotic consequences.

Director Valeria Hofmann Producer Augusto Matte, Daniela Camino, Pascual Mena, Valeria Hofmann Screenplay Valeria Hofmann Animation Team 23 Camera Manuel Vlastélica Editor Javiera G Oteiza Music Christopher Manhey Sound Roberto Espinoza Cast Mariana di Girolamo Distribution Parina Films, Rodrigo Díaz

[tw:]

physical violence, psychological violence

Zima

Tomek Popakul, Kasumi Ozeki
Poland, 2023
Drawing, 26:26 Min, Polish OV

A punk Christmas tale of a small fisherman’s village.

Director Tomek Popakul, Kasumi Ozeki Producer Marcin Podolec Screenplay Tomek Popakul Animation Pola Wlodarczyk, Magdalena Botor, Tomek Popakul, Jakub Baniak, Maria Nitek, Adrianna Matwiejczuk, Karolina Kajetanowicz, Agata Mianowska-Zamarlo, Agnieszka Czachor, Weronika Szyma, Magdalena Basinska, Michał Orzechowski, Katarzyna Melnyk, Olga Kłyszewicz, Patrycja Cmak, Jagoda Czarnowska, Marcjanna Urbanska, Alicja Blaszczynska, Marcin Podolec, Michalina Musialik, Marcin Kotlinski, Alicja Grotuz Camera Tomek Popakul Editor Tomek Popakul Music King Midas Sound, Circle of Ouroborus, Godflesh, 19 Wiosen, Tenhi, Ait! Sound Sound Mind Studio, Michał Fojcik M.P.S.E. Cast Tymon Jankowski, Bartosz Woch, Anna Pyrka, Janusz Komorowski, Stanislaw Jaskulka, Marek Beylin, Wojciech Wysocki, Grzegorz Ryzynski, Maciej Malec, Mauri Sxnchez, Bartosz Bielenia, Magdalena Zawadzka, Maurycy Stankiewicz, Nina Michnik, Mateusz Kmiecik Distribution KFF Sales & Promotion, Marta Świętek

[tw:]

epilepsy

Sensitive Content

Narges Kalhor
Germany, Iran, 2023
8:50 Min, Farsi OV

Behind the “sensitive content“, behind this symbol of the crossed out eyes, two real eyes have been erased by the violence in the Middle East. This is about the eyewitnesses who don't look away, with their fainting eyes and their trembling hands, recording the “sensitive content“. They are risking their lives, fighting for visibility.

Director Narges Kalhor Producer Nicholas Coleman Screenplay Narges Kalhor Camera People of Iran Editor Narges Kalhor Music Philipp Hutter Sound Philipp Huter, Narges Kalhor Distribution Oasysdigital, Nicholas Coleman

[tw:]

physical violence

La Perra

Carla Melo Gampert
France, Colombia, 2023
Ink and Watercolour on Paper, 14:05 Min, no dialogue

In Bogotá, a bird-girl leaves behind the family home, her domineering mother and faithful dog to go and explore her sexuality.

Director Carla Melo Gampert Producer Capucine Mahé, Franco Lolli, Julie Billy, Naomi Denamur Screenplay Carla Melo Gampert Animation Carla Melo Gampert, Andrea Muñoz Álvarez Editor Juan Sebastián Quebrada Sound Juanma López, Daniel Giraldo Distribution Shortcuts, Elise Notseck

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The industry get-together of Dresden’s film institutions has become a tradition as a platform for regional filmmaking and offers a special opportunity to exchange views on current topics. The discussion in the fishbowl format entitled “East Perspective(s) – Who Is Telling Our Stories?” opens this year’s industry get-together with questions about the visibility of East German identities in film and media. Are there not actually many more facets than just the one “East German” identity? Is this complexity even captured by the local production conditions? Is it made visible in film and television? After the discussion, the film institutions based in Dresden invite you to a joint reception.

Fishbowl event with, among others:
David Campesino, independent filmmaker and visual artist
Luka Golinski, co-director and screenplay PYTAŚ A NAMAKAŚ/VOM SUCHEN UND FINDEN
Laura Brandt-Reichwald, filmmaker
Moderation: Sirkka Möller, festival curator and consultant

With invitation or registration by email to festival@filmfest-dresden.de, in German

International Short Film Cinema
The days are getting longer and the air is “as soft as if it were made of down”, as Erich Kästner once wrote, with spring enticing us to take a stroll around the city. If you are a short film fan or would like to become one, or if you just want to pop in for a quick look or get comfy with us, then come and visit us again this year at Schlossplatz for our open-air programme. Drop by and celebrate our mini anniversary with us.
Already for the tenth time FILMFEST DRESDEN is opening up a window to the world in the middle of this imposing ensemble of buildings with its unique atmosphere. As usual, the works being screened include highlights from the festival season: a best-of selection with regional, national and international short films. They enchant us with timeless images of nature or are empathetic, bittersweet and moving, but they are always creative explorations of current issues that move us. Yet again our curatorial team has compiled the usual variety of voices and moods for you – one as varied as the April weather. And of course, there is also a connection with this year’s main theme of the 36th FILMFEST DRESDEN.
Our programme selection shows that acceptance of diversity and other opinions can create a new sense of cohesion. It shows us other potential lifeworlds, inviting us to dream; it explores human potential and presents visions of a “not-impossible”: utopia. Our young audiences do not miss out either. Our ever-popular Family Shorts will delight short film fans of all ages once again. So there is a lot to discover – and a lot to discuss afterwards.
It goes without saying that FILMFEST DRESDEN cannot guarantee stable weather conditions in April. But what we can promise is some of the loveliest big screen entertainment on our high-resolution and daylight-capable LED screen.

We would like to thank the FILM NIGHTS ON THE BANKS OF THE ELBE for their support, which enables us to hold our open-air programme in its usual form and size.
Admission is free, but we are grateful for your support in the form of donations so that our open-air short film programme can continue into the next decade.

Sven Pötting

Cat

Julia Ocker
Germany, 2022
2D, 3:37 Min, no dialogue

The cat has an especially delicious recipe: mouse soup!

Director Julia Ocker Producer Thomas Meyer-Herrman Screenplay Julia Ocker Animation Ged Haney Camera Julia Ocker Editor Ralf Bohde Music Christian Heck Sound Christian Heck Distribution Studio FILM BILDER, Bianca Just

Mister Paper´s birthday

Steven de Beul, Ben Tesseur
Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, 2021
Paper Cut-Outs, 5 Min, Flemish, German

Mister Paper cuts and sticks together the world that he wants. He lives in a paper surrounding. His sole companion is a cat. But thanks to his scissors and his childlike imagination, he is never alone. For every situation, Mister Paper creates a solution by cutting or pasting something new. Even for his birthday.

Director Steven de Beul, Ben Tesseur Producer Ralf Kukula, Dries Phlypo, Karlijn Van de Cruys, Marleen Slot, Bruno Wyndaele Screenplay Steven de Beul, Elvis Peeters Animation Rosanne Jassens Music Stan Lee Cole Sound Florian Marquardt Distribution Telepool GmbH, Martina Vera Spahl

Mosquito Pieks on the Phone

Maria Steinmetz
Germany, 2022
Puppets, Clay, 5:30 Min, German OV

The little mosquito Pieks is very thirsty. In search of something to drink, she ends up in a lawyer’s office where she has to respond to a strange phone call.

Director Maria Steinmetz Producer Maria Steinmetz Screenplay Maria Steinmetz Animation Maria Steinmetz Music Michael Buk Sound Michael Buk Cast Tony De Maeyer, Julie Sophie Steinmetz Distribution Maria Steinmetz

The Smortlybacks Come Back!

Ted Sieger
Switzerland, 2022
3D, 8:15 Min, no dialogue

In a barren world, TamLin of the Little People travels with his herd of smortlybacks in search of greener pastures. They become stranded on the shore of an ocean. With the help of a mermaid TamSin and her smortlysharks, they cross the ocean and find a happy end.

Director Ted Sieger Producer Josef Burri, Gerd Gockell Screenplay Ted Sieger Animation Wouter Dierickx Music Christoph Utzinger Sound Thomas Gassmann, Aline Schoch Distribution Magnetfilm, Georg Gruber

I’m Not Afraid!

Marita Mayer
Germany, Norway, 2022
2D, 7 Min, German OV

During a game of hide-and-seek, Vanja leaves the bright living room and enters a dimly lit courtyard that has far too many dark corners, weird shadows and strange noises. To overcome their fear, Vanja turns into a dangerous tiger.

Director Marita Mayer Producer Fabian Driehorst, Lillian Løvseth, Anita Killi Screenplay Marita Mayer Animation Florian Maubach, Carlo Palazzari, Hero Hendel, Lena Fraundienst, Sinéad Nolan, Yann Le Bot Music Marius Kirsten Sound Simon Bastian Cast Frede Mayer-Gulliksen Distribution Fabian&Fred, Fabian Driehorst

Franzy’s Soup Kitchen

Ana Chubinidze
France, Georgia, 2021
Puppets, Stop Motion, 8:30 Min, no dialogue

The lonely alien chef Franzy discovers that her special pink soup is not just delicious, but also magical, when she shares it with starving creatures living on a strange planet.

Director Ana Chubinidze Producer Reginald de Guillebon, Ana Chubinidze, Olivier Catherin, Pierre Méloni Screenplay Ana Chubinidze Animation Chaïtane Conversat, Loreleï Palies, Iula Voitova, Sophie Roze Camera Sara Sponga Editor Antoine Rodet Music Erekle Gestadze, Zviad Mgebry Sound Beso Kacharava, George Murgulia, Biko Gogaladze Distribution Folimage, Jérémy Mourlam

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International Short Film Cinema
The days are getting longer and the air is “as soft as if it were made of down”, as Erich Kästner once wrote, with spring enticing us to take a stroll around the city. If you are a short film fan or would like to become one, or if you just want to pop in for a quick look or get comfy with us, then come and visit us again this year at Schlossplatz for our open-air programme. Drop by and celebrate our mini anniversary with us.
Already for the tenth time FILMFEST DRESDEN is opening up a window to the world in the middle of this imposing ensemble of buildings with its unique atmosphere. As usual, the works being screened include highlights from the festival season: a best-of selection with regional, national and international short films. They enchant us with timeless images of nature or are empathetic, bittersweet and moving, but they are always creative explorations of current issues that move us. Yet again our curatorial team has compiled the usual variety of voices and moods for you – one as varied as the April weather. And of course, there is also a connection with this year’s main theme of the 36th FILMFEST DRESDEN.
Our programme selection shows that acceptance of diversity and other opinions can create a new sense of cohesion. It shows us other potential lifeworlds, inviting us to dream; it explores human potential and presents visions of a “not-impossible”: utopia. Our young audiences do not miss out either. Our ever-popular Family Shorts will delight short film fans of all ages once again. So there is a lot to discover – and a lot to discuss afterwards.
It goes without saying that FILMFEST DRESDEN cannot guarantee stable weather conditions in April. But what we can promise is some of the loveliest big screen entertainment on our high-resolution and daylight-capable LED screen.

We would like to thank the FILM NIGHTS ON THE BANKS OF THE ELBE for their support, which enables us to hold our open-air programme in its usual form and size.
Admission is free, but we are grateful for your support in the form of donations so that our open-air short film programme can continue into the next decade.

Sven Pötting

Tuu-Tuu-Til

Veronica Solomon
Germany, 2024
4:32 Min, German, English

For small children the world is full of mystery and unknown and they need the help of a wiser being to navigate the challenges of every-day life. Or maybe it is the adults who, in the company of children, rediscover the magic in everyday life?

Director Veronica Solomon Producer Veronica Solomon Screenplay Veronica Solomon Animation Veronica Solomon Music Marius Kirsten Sound Luis Schöffend, Luis Schöffend, Luis Schöffend Distribution Wait A Second!, Veronica Solomon

Mitmalmeisterin Dörtel Hochknie

Uli Seis
Germany, 2023
1:56 Min

The highly inspired turtle Dörtel enthusiastically paints one picture after another. But her grandma doesn't like any of the artworks. This seems strange to Dörtel until she discovers the real reason.

Director Uli Seis Producer Uli Seis Screenplay Alice von Gwinner Animation Aline Helmcke, Uli Seis, Letty Felgendreher, Dirk Reddig Music Maximilian Zwiener Sound Maximilian Zwiener Distribution Mitmalfilm UG haftungsbeschränkt, Uli Seis

Pousse

Oana Lacroix
Switzerland, 2024
8:45 Min

Baon, a little crocodile, has the misfortune to have to face the most difficult ordeal of all for a young child: mourning.

Director Oana Lacroix Producer Nicolas Burlet Screenplay Oana Lacroix Animation Oana Lacroix Editor Oana Lacroix Music Jerome Vittoz Sound Jerome Vittoz, Jerome Vittoz Distribution Nadasdy Film, Nicolas Burlet

Little Fan

Sveta Yuferova
Germany, 2023
5 Min

A story about an unexpected encounter that grows into a meaningful friendship.

Director Sveta Yuferova Producer Paul Maresch Screenplay Sveta Yuferova Animation John Cimino, Anton Khlebnikov Sound Rachel Oker, Tobias Scherer, Tobias Scherer, Tobias Scherer Distribution Fabian&Fred, Fabian Driehorst

Rhino

Julia Ocker
Germany, 2022
3:37 Min

The rhino is looking forward to his date with the rhino lady.

Director Julia Ocker Producer Thomas Meyer-Hermann Screenplay Julia Ocker Animation Eliza Plocieniak-Alvarez, Sofiia Melnyk Music Christian Heck Sound Christian Heck Distribution Studio FILM BILDER GmbH, Bianca Just

So ein Käse

Jette Steindecker, Marlies Deutschmann, Theresa Stark
Germany, 2024
2 Min

Every day mousie brings cheese for the hungry king. Then he falls asleep. What will mousie do now?

Director Jette Steindecker, Marlies Deutschmann, Theresa Stark Producer Fantasia Dresden e.V. Trickfilmschule Distribution Fantasia-Dresden e.V., Stefan Urlaß

The Journey

Pia Schmiedchen
Germany, 2023
2:42 Min

A snail realizes that it doesn't have its own house, while other snails have their own houses. So it wants to get a house too.

Director Pia Schmiedchen Producer Fantasia Dresden e.V. Trickfilmschule Distribution Fantasia-Dresden e.V., Fantasia Dresden e.V. Trickfilmschule

Glow

Wenzel Schöne
Germany, 2023
4:10 Min

The battery of a firefly is low and the animal tries to search for new energy.

Director Wenzel Schöne Producer Wenzel Schöne Distribution Fantasia-Dresden e.V., Fantasia Dresden e.V. Trickfilmschule

Beaver

Julia Ocker
Germany, 2022
3:37 Min

The mouse rescues a starving beaver from an island.

Director Julia Ocker Producer Thomas Meyer-Hermann Screenplay Julia Ocker Animation Marius Jiro Magracia Music Christian Heck Sound Christian Heck Distribution Studio FILM BILDER GmbH, Bianca Just

Dormouse

Julia Ocker
Germany, 2022
3:37 Min

The dormouse overslept and missed his birthday party.

Director Julia Ocker Producer Thomas Meyer-Hermann Screenplay Julia Ocker Animation Ged Haney, Eliza Plocieniak-Alvarez, Ilya Lorenz Barrett Music Christian Heck Sound Christian Heck Distribution Studio FILM BILDER GmbH, Bianca Just

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International Short Film Cinema
The days are getting longer and the air is “as soft as if it were made of down”, as Erich Kästner once wrote, with spring enticing us to take a stroll around the city. If you are a short film fan or would like to become one, or if you just want to pop in for a quick look or get comfy with us, then come and visit us again this year at Schlossplatz for our open-air programme. Drop by and celebrate our mini anniversary with us.
Already for the tenth time FILMFEST DRESDEN is opening up a window to the world in the middle of this imposing ensemble of buildings with its unique atmosphere. As usual, the works being screened include highlights from the festival season: a best-of selection with regional, national and international short films. They enchant us with timeless images of nature or are empathetic, bittersweet and moving, but they are always creative explorations of current issues that move us. Yet again our curatorial team has compiled the usual variety of voices and moods for you – one as varied as the April weather. And of course, there is also a connection with this year’s main theme of the 36th FILMFEST DRESDEN.
Our programme selection shows that acceptance of diversity and other opinions can create a new sense of cohesion. It shows us other potential lifeworlds, inviting us to dream; it explores human potential and presents visions of a “not-impossible”: utopia. Our young audiences do not miss out either. Our ever-popular Family Shorts will delight short film fans of all ages once again. So there is a lot to discover – and a lot to discuss afterwards.
It goes without saying that FILMFEST DRESDEN cannot guarantee stable weather conditions in April. But what we can promise is some of the loveliest big screen entertainment on our high-resolution and daylight-capable LED screen.

We would like to thank the FILM NIGHTS ON THE BANKS OF THE ELBE for their support, which enables us to hold our open-air programme in its usual form and size.
Admission is free, but we are grateful for your support in the form of donations so that our open-air short film programme can continue into the next decade.

Sven Pötting

Mr Chicken Goes to Mars

Katrina Mathers, Leigh Hobbs
Australia, 2023
3:15 Min

Mr Chicken is very curious. He loves meeting new people and traveling to new places. One day, he realises that he has never been to Mars! So, off he goes. It's a big day.

Director Katrina Mathers, Leigh Hobbs Producer Leigh Hobbs, Katrina Mathers Screenplay Leigh Hobbs, Katrina Mathers Animation Leigh Hobbs, Aaron Gietman Camera Aaron Gietman, Katrina Mathers Editor Katrina Mathers Sound Mark D'Angelo, Mark D'Angelo, Mark D'Angelo Distribution The Lampshade Collective, Katrina Mathers

Prinzessin Aubergine

Dina Velikovskaya
Germany, 2022
7:37 Min

A king and a queen have almost everything, but something is missing. Desperate as they are, they search for the perfect seed to grow a child, but the only thing sprouting is their garden.

Director Dina Velikovskaya Producer Florian Grolig, Dina Velikovskaya, Lilia Paul Schneider Screenplay Dina Velikovskaya Animation Pauline Flory, Kris van Alphen, Marta Magnuska Camera Alexander Pötzsch Sound Eugeny Kadimsky, Eugeny Kadimsky, Eugeny Kadimsky Distribution CINÉ-LITTÉ Productions, Lilia Paul Schneider

Shark or Hyena

Britt Dunse
Germany, 2023
15 Min, German

The North Sea island kids Fritzi, Kalle, Ava and Bo have a problem. Mama Leos new friend drives away the invisible elf Nisse because he doesn't believe in him and putting the new family in danger. A children's courage story about the power of trust and magical connection.

Director Britt Dunse Producer Britt Dunse Screenplay Britt Dunse Camera Lukas Eylandt Editor Sarah Kaiser Sound Tilo Alpermann, Tilo Alpermann Cast Britt Dunse Distribution Britt Dunse Produktion, Britt Dunse

Mû

Malin Neumann
Germany, 2023
6:25 Min

"Mû" is a 2D animated short film that poetically explores the theme of water scarcity and the importance of water as a life-giving force. As an essential divine water spring has dried up, a child accompanied by an otter-like creature sets out to find a cure for the life-threatening water shortage.

Director Malin Neumann Producer Malin Neumann Screenplay Malin Neumann Animation Malin Neumann Editor Malin Neumann Music Henric Schleiner Sound David Stolz, Leon Sudahl, Henning Großmann, Henning Großmann Distribution Malin Neumann

Tangerine Jam

Anya Ru
Italy, Sweden, 2022
3:35 Min

A short and surprising story about the never-ending connection with the ones we love.

Director Anya Ru Producer Michael Hudson Screenplay Anya Ru Animation Masha Rumyantseva Editor Anya Ru Music Axletree Distribution Anya Ru

Scrubby

Paul Vollet
Germany, 2023
6:33 Min

Scrubby wants to live in his mother's thick fur forever, but she's starting to lose hair. When he brings back a strand of hair that flew away, all he finds is a pile of hair and a trail in the snow. In search of his mother, Scrubby encounters a naked, freezing creature. Is his fur enough to warm both of them?

Director Paul Vollet Producer Paulina Larson, Johannes Lübke Animation Lilli-Luisa Heckmann, Müge Bulazar, Felicitas Schmelz, Christian Kaufmann, Deborah Callenberg, Vanessa Schneider, Marius Magracia, Harald Dieterichs, Elias Weber, Stella Raith Sound Niklas Menschik, Jonathan Rösch Distribution Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg GmbH, Sigrid Gairing

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International Short Film Cinema
The days are getting longer and the air is “as soft as if it were made of down”, as Erich Kästner once wrote, with spring enticing us to take a stroll around the city. If you are a short film fan or would like to become one, or if you just want to pop in for a quick look or get comfy with us, then come and visit us again this year at Schlossplatz for our open-air programme. Drop by and celebrate our mini anniversary with us.
Already for the tenth time FILMFEST DRESDEN is opening up a window to the world in the middle of this imposing ensemble of buildings with its unique atmosphere. As usual, the works being screened include highlights from the festival season: a best-of selection with regional, national and international short films. They enchant us with timeless images of nature or are empathetic, bittersweet and moving, but they are always creative explorations of current issues that move us. Yet again our curatorial team has compiled the usual variety of voices and moods for you – one as varied as the April weather. And of course, there is also a connection with this year’s main theme of the 36th FILMFEST DRESDEN.
Our programme selection shows that acceptance of diversity and other opinions can create a new sense of cohesion. It shows us other potential lifeworlds, inviting us to dream; it explores human potential and presents visions of a “not-impossible”: utopia. Our young audiences do not miss out either. Our ever-popular Family Shorts will delight short film fans of all ages once again. So there is a lot to discover – and a lot to discuss afterwards.
It goes without saying that FILMFEST DRESDEN cannot guarantee stable weather conditions in April. But what we can promise is some of the loveliest big screen entertainment on our high-resolution and daylight-capable LED screen.

We would like to thank the FILM NIGHTS ON THE BANKS OF THE ELBE for their support, which enables us to hold our open-air programme in its usual form and size.
Admission is free, but we are grateful for your support in the form of donations so that our open-air short film programme can continue into the next decade.

Sven Pötting

Children of the Bird

Julia Tudisco
Hungary, 2024
11:25 Min

A fictional mythological movie about the birth and death of our planet. The movie shows things happening on the planet through the eyes of two naive god figures; a wild girl who has the power of creation, and a shy boy who has the power of destruction. This is not a fight between “bad” and “good”, but a game between two equal parts to find harmony.

Director Julia Tudisco Producer József Fülöp Distribution Krisztina Darók

Shadow Play

Paula Wodniok, Mayra Ebensen, Silvia Loose
Germany, 2023
4:20 Min, German

A little girl is left home alone and her fears of the dark and of being alone begin to overwhelm her. In her vivid mind, these fears take the shape of a scary shadow monster that chases her wherever she goes. Her unique imagination gives her the courage to finally confront the monster and overcome her fear in a playful way.

Director Paula Wodniok, Mayra Ebensen, Silvia Loose Producer Lissy Giglberger Screenplay Silvia Loose, Mayra Ebensen Animation Paula Wodniok, Mayra Ebensen, Silvia Loose Camera Mayra Ebensen, Silvia Loose, Paula Wodniok Editor Mayra Ebensen, Silvia Loose, Paula Wodniok Music Julia Chen, Victor Ardelean Sound Gerhard Auer, Gerhard Auer Distribution Lissy Giglberger

Waking Up In Vegas

Michèle Flury
Switzerland, 2023
15:03 Min, German, Turkish

Yael is at the beginning of puberty and is searching for his own identity between his virile big brother and his queer best friend Aaron. In the process, he not only questions himself, but also endangers his friendship with Aaron.

Director Michèle Flury Producer Lea Dettli, Cyrill Gerber, Manuela Rüegg Screenplay Michèle Flury Distribution Cyrill Gerber

Roots

Fons Bulens
Belgium, 2023
5 Min

A poetic story based on interviews and experiences of people with a background in adoption.

Director Fons Bulens Producer Fons Bulens Animation Fons Bulens Editor Fons Bulens Sound Wendel Berckmans, Wendel Berckmans Distribution Fons Bulens

Mr Kuddles

Micha Gress
Germany, 2023
3:06 Min

“Mr Kuddles" is a 3D/2D-Animation short film about the journey of a young girl named Izzy on a mission to rescue her beloved stuffed animal from her thieving cat, Mr Kuddles. Along the way, she confronts shadow monsters which reflect her fears of loss and the unknown.

Director Micha Gress Producer Micha Gress Screenplay Micha Gress Animation Micha Gress Camera Micha Gress Editor Micha Gress Music Micha Gress, David Stolz Sound David Stolz, David Stolz, David Stolz Cast Giselle Ramsey Distribution Micha Gress

Inbetweening Beings

Isaac King
Canada, 2023
5 Min

Inbetweening Beings connects animation and ecology. With projected installation, outdoor stop-motion, and found materials, humans are invited and implicated into nature.

Director Isaac King Producer Isaac King Screenplay Isaac King Animation Isaac King Camera Isaac King Sound Isaac King Distribution Isaac King

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Well-founded reviews of short films are rare. And people who write about them are even rarer. For this reason, the online magazine Talking Shorts was launched in 2020 to take a critical look at the medium of short film. Three years later, the European Network for Film Discourse (The END) was founded that, among others, organises tandem workshops to teach aspiring film critics the basic craft of film criticism in order to subsequently publish the resulting texts on talkingshorts.com. The second workshop is taking place in Dresden in collaboration with our friends from VIENNA SHORTS.

Would you like to talk to the members of the selection committee in person and learn more about the FILMFEST DRESDEN selection process? Filmmakers, especially those who present their films in the competition sections, are cordially invited for a drink in Altes Wettbüro. The screening committee is very much looking forward to meeting the filmmakers behind the selected works.

Hear, hear: Film sound plays the leading role at this reception. For the tenth time now, the Ballroom Studios are sponsoring the Golden Horseman for the best film soundtrack, which is being celebrated with a musical evening. You can expect live music and live scoring of films from the current festival programme at the event. In addition, the award-winning films of the Golden Horseman Sound Design in recent years will be presented. Come along, toast the film soundtracks with us and let the glasses clink.

By accreditation

The impulse event organised by AG Animationsfilm/ASIFA GERMANY invites regional and international animated filmmakers to the Thalia cinema for relaxed exchanges. At the start, Alice von Gwinner and Sebastian Stoer will talk about the creation of their series STORIES FROM THE SHOE SHELF and show small excerpts from the working process. After this short inspiring presentation, discussions will be held in a pleasant atmosphere. There will also be an opportunity to get to know each other, ask questions, present your own projects and chat with the organisers.

This is a good opportunity to get to know other festival guests from the industry over snacks and drinks. On both days, representatives of the special programmes – curators and participating filmmakers – will introduce themselves, while culinary specialities from their respective regions of origin can be sampled. The representatives present are looking forward to some tasty and relaxed exchanges with you. Feel free to bring along a small delicacy from your home country!

By accreditation

At this workshop, representatives of the film festival industry are coming together to consider alternative financing models for film festivals and how to make them less financially dependent on funding in the future. Which different financing options already exist? Do these have other disadvantages? The aim of this exchange is to collect concrete recommendations for action and to record these for the future.

Moderation: Borjana Gaković, film and media academic

Please register by email to lehmann@filmfest-dresden.de!

How do I organise my festival submissions? Which strategies make sense? How can the AG Kurzfilm support filmmakers? What funding is available for short films in Germany? How does the FFA’s reference funding for short films work? Jutta Wille, managing director of AG Kurzfilm, would like to answer these and other questions and at the same time talk to the filmmakers about their working conditions.

By accreditation, in German

As the name suggests, the aim here is to connect up-and-coming short film talents, especially from different countries and regions, and show how co-productions can be successfully organised. Filmmakers report on their experiences with international cooperations and provide helpful insights into funding systems. The focus is on co-productions between Saxony and neighbouring countries.

Discussion panel guests:
Izabela Plucinska, filmmaker
Ben Galster, filmmaker
Bettina Renner, filmmaker
Moderation: Linda Kujawski, media dramaturge, Selection Committee of the Central German Competition FILMFEST DRESDEN

Free admission, in English

For two hours, important representatives of the short film industry will answer questions and discuss concerns. Big names from the TV editorial teams, festival organisations, production and film funding can be met and contacts made in this speed-dating process. The biggest challenge: the meetings must be kept short; only ten minutes are available for each personal discussion.

List of dialogue partners:
- Gabriele Brunnenmeyer (drama expert, project advisor and pitching coach)
- Daniela Adomat (MDR TV broadcaster commissioning editor)
- Josephine Meissner (Creative Europe Desk Berlin-Brandenburg)
- Amos Geva (T-Port, co-founder and head of industry)
- Ivana Kvesić (Festival Director, Fantoche)
- Enrico Vannucci (selection committee Pardi di Domani, Locarno Film Festival)
- Laurence Rilly (ARTE G.E.I.E., Short Film Commissioning Dept.)

Please register and indicate the desired discussion partners by 19 April by email to events@filmfest-dresden.de.

The tension is rising, the winning films are being awarded! After a week full of cinematic moments, the ten Golden Horsemen and six special prizes with prize money totaling €72,000 will now be ceremoniously awarded.

“Places. We owe them respect as they have a deeper meaning for us than just being there. They accompany us in silence. They shape our lives and our history. They are our stage.” Wim Wenders, “A Sense of Place”, 2005

Film curator Afsun Moshiry was fascinated by this phrase from the book “A Sense of Place” by Wim Wenders while she was in Iran, as she wondered how to preserve places within cinematic works and make them eternal. When back in Germany in 2021, together with the Wim Wenders Foundation she started the episodic film project and invited six Iranian filmmakers to embark on this journey between Iran, Germany and France. From the troglodytes in rural Iran to the luxurious buildings of Tehran, from a beach constantly threatened by war to a wandering transit in an airport to a canal in the Paris suburbs where migrants find refuge...

At the 36 FILMFEST DRESDEN films from the project are being shown in one screening at the Schauburg festival cinema, as well as during repeated screenings at the open-air event. These screenings will be accompanied by poetic audio casts, which can be accessed and listened to online. In these audio casts, Wim Wenders introduces “A Sense of Place” edited from his talk to the project participants in 2021. And locals who moved to Dresden from far out places give a glimpse of their interaction in touch with “A Sense of Place”. The locations associated with each audio cast can be visited while letting your thoughts wander with them.

At the open-air event, the films PHOBOS (directed by Mina Keshavarz) and IN TRANSIT (directed by Azin Feizabadi) are being shown repeatedly during the entire festival week, always before the actual film programme. On 16 April 2024, the films are being screened there between 12.00 and 19.00, while on the other days between 10.00 and 14.00.

The following films will be screened on Thu, 18 April at 15:30:
HOLLOW by Mohamadreza Farzad (2023) 15 min
DENSITY OF EMPTINESS by Shirin Barghnavard (2023) 20 min
MALTOURNÉE by Pooya Abbasian (2023) 20 min

You can access the audio casts via the link: https://on.soundcloud.com/6a3TYXRRpUJyLyiC9

Free admission, in English

Hollow

Mohmmadreza Farzad
Germany, France, Iran, 2023
15 Min, no dialogue

An essayistic observation of life and death framed by a panopticon. A minimalistic reflection on how we are born, live and die in cells struggling to release. A struggle under an omniscient eye.

Director Mohmmadreza Farzad Producer Marcella Jellic Distribution Road River Films, Marcella Jellic

Density of Emptiness

Shirin Barghnavard
Germany, Iran, France, 2023
20:11 Min, Arabic OV

DENSITY OF EMPTINESS showcases the unbalanced density in the concept of place; the unbalanced division of space in the city of Tehran. A reality that the filmmaker exposes through a voice-over narration based on her research and by comparing photographs of vulnerable women living in a semi-public shelter.

Director Shirin Barghnavard Producer Afsun Moshiry Camera Mohammadreza Jahanpanah Distribution Splitscreen, Marcella Jellic

Maltournée

Pooya Abbasian
France, Germany, Iran, 2023
20 Min, French OV

A short documentary about a missed appointment with a community of refugees on the banks of the canal in Saint-Denis, France. A poetic observation of the traces of past lives left in the post-industrial landscape of the Paris suburbs.

Director Pooya Abbasian Producer Afsun Moshiry, Baptiste Bertin Screenplay Pooya Abbasian Editor Pooya Abbasian Distribution Splitscreen, Marcella Jellic

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The prevailing image of South Tyrol is characterised by a fictional idyll in the service of its tourism industry: In an enactment of a perfect world aiming to attract as many wealthy guests as possible to the region.
Filmic narratives – whether short or long – that scratch the surface of this elaborately constructed image have an equally difficult time here. Yet for that, a small but diverse film scene has developed over the years that ruptures the constraints of this restrictive self-portrayal and provides alternative narratives.
In Carmen Tartarotti’s short film KRIBUS KRABUS DOMINE, eight-year-old Lisa is spending her summer holidays on a remote Alpine pasture. While the picturesque hut is the “most beautiful place in the world” for the adults, the Alpine pasture feels like a prison for the girl, enclosed by an imposing yet also threatening natural backdrop. The girl satisfies her longing for the big wide world with letters to an imaginary Persian pen pal.
Lisa could stand symbolically for many filmmakers, because their films, just like the girl's letters, also seem to me to be an attempt to overcome the perceived sense of confinement in this region. With this selection, I would like to provide a small insight into the diversity of the short film oeuvre in this multilingual and contradictory border region, which has much more to offer behind its facade than just images of green Alpine meadows and snow-covered mountain peaks.

Ronny Trocker

[tw: abortion]

Kribus Krabus Domine

Carmen Tartarotti
Germany, 1982
16 Min, German OV

A “Heidi” idyll reveals cracks: Eight-year-old Lisa is spending the summer with her parents on the mountain pastures. But the much-vaunted beauty of nature is not really able to console her for the barrenness up there.

Director Carmen Tartarotti Screenplay Carmen Tartarotti Camera Marian Czura, Norbert Bandel Editor Christine Tönnessen-Kegler, Carmen Tartarotti Sound Kurt Eggmann Cast Janine Tartarotti, Irma Tartarotti, Otto Tartarotti Distribution Carmen Tartarotti

Pater Noster

Valentina Pedicini
Italy, 2008
18:35 Min, Italian OV

A closed commune of 15 Catholic Shaolin monks in the mountains of Bolzano. For ten years now, Laura, an Italian kung fu master and warrior with a mystical calling, has been following this path of mercilessly hard training, meditation and a life in a family far beyond normality.

Director Valentina Pedicini Producer Valentina Pedicini Screenplay Valentina Pedicini Camera Bastian Esser Editor Sven Kurt Albertini, Kathrin Dietzel Sound Kathrin Dietzel Distribution Zelig – School for Documentary, Television and New Media , Emanuele Vernillo

Riafn

Hannes Lang
Italy, Germany, 2019
29 Min, no dialogue

A cinematic expedition into the soundscapes of the Alps, in which the dialects, calls and songs of the shepherds are condensed into a rhythmic and sensual atmospheric image.

Director Hannes Lang Producer Hannes Lang, Mareike Wegener Screenplay Hannes Lang, Mareike Wegener Camera Jakob Stark Editor Hannes Lang Music Hannes Lang Sound Hannes Lang Cast Sepp Oberhöller, Melanie Dantone, Hubert Gasser Distribution Petrolio, Hannes Lang

Two Mothers

Giulia Palaia
Italy, 2022
16:55 Min, Italian OV
German Premiere

Two women, two beginnings of pregnancies, one strongly desired, the other accidental, unintended. In just a few weeks, feelings and emotions intersect, leading the protagonists to share a hospital corridor, with a miscarriage on the one hand, and a life choice on the other.

Director Giulia Palaia Producer Alessio Vasarin, Michaela Parlavecchio Screenplay Giulia Palaia, Valentina Parisi, Federica di Cesare Animation Marianna Pasina Camera Federico Russo Editor Saverio Sabatini Sound Daniele Alessi Cast Emma Palaia, Salvatore Cutri, Sandra Passarello, Emanuele Cerra Distribution Frabiatofilm, Giulia Palaia

[tw:]

abortion

ein mann zu sein

Felix Rier
Italy, 2020
4:39 Min, German OV

He is not the offender and yet he feels guilty. Because of his gender, he feels morally responsible for the victim of a crime of sexualised violence. From the perspective of a discouraged man, the film represents his search for words to address the unpleasant feeling of being a man.

Director Felix Rier Producer Nadia Caruso, Emanuele Vernillo, Heidi Gronauer, Lorenzo Pacagnella Screenplay Felix Rier Camera Felix Rier Editor Felix Rier, Nicola Maccanetti Sound Felix Rier, Nicola Maccanetti Distribution Zelig – School for Documentary, Television and New Media , Emanuele Vernillo

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Three great masters, three young filmmakers plus a bonus: This is the game of mirrors proposed in “The Island in the Wine-Coloured Sea”, the programme on Italy seen from the south that I have chosen to propose to you viewers of the Dresden Film Festival.
Vittorio De Seta is one of the most important exponents of what today is usually called cinema of the real. His anthropological curiosity and aesthetic taste represented a shock in the 1950s: The choice to take the voice off documentary, the will to build narratives from reality were extraordinary innovations and continue to be an inescapable cinematic reference point today. Two authors, Filippo Foscarini and Federico Cammarata, trained in the Sicilian branch of the Centro sperimentale di Cinematografia are aware of this, and in LATE AUGUST they empty Sicily of the many human presences of De Seta’s films and focus on a much lesser known landscape, embodying a gaze that shows the wounds of the destruction of a civilization and makes every camera movement an event, managing to capture in an original way some of the many essences of the island.
The cinema of Daniele Ciprì and Franco Maresco probably constitutes the most luminous and radical example of auteur cinema in Italy from the 1990s to the present: Great experimenters, declared heirs of a tradition that holds together Buñuel and the Marx Brothers, Italian-style comedy and John Ford, in ARRUSO the two pay a very peculiar tribute to director and writer Pier Paolo Pasolini on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his murder in 1975. It is the dimension of homosexuality that emerges from the interviewees’ accounts, with the ironic and apocalyptic edge that always characterises the work of the Palermo duo. And gender issues also move HIM AND I by Giulia Cosentino who, starting from the story of a woman set in the city of Catania, reworks archival materials to reveal a reflection on gender roles and stereotypes, showing how the personal is always also political.
At the end in the theatre, a bonus for the viewers: A hymn to life in a Mediterranean Sea too often dotted with unacceptable and guilty deaths, following the Siren of HIERÀ in a short film by Emilio Orofino.

Andrea Inzerillo (Sicilia Queer Filmfest)

The Time of the Swordfish

Vittorio De Seta
Italy, 1954
9:44 Min, no dialogue

The silence that fills the fishermen’s long wait is suddenly broken by the shout of the lookout. The harpooner moves into position. The feast is already being prepared on the beach. The hunt begins. A documentary about traditional swordfish fishing in the Strait of Messina.

Director Vittorio De Seta Producer Vittorio De Seta Screenplay Vittorio De Seta Camera Vittorio De Seta Editor Vittorio De Seta, Luciana Rota Sound Maurizio Tebaldi Distribution Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, Carmen Accaputo

Late August

Federico Cammarata, Filippo Foscarini
Italy, 2021
47:20 Min, Italian, Arab OV

Sicily, 2020. In a godforsaken countryside, a sudden change in the weather finally marks the end of a suffocating summer. An immersion in the landscapes of a wounded island.

Director Federico Cammarata, Filippo Foscarini Producer Ivan Scinardo Screenplay Federico Cammarata, Filippo Foscarini Camera Federico Cammarata, Filippo Foscarini Editor Marta Violante Sound Federico Cammarata, Filippo Foscarini, Francesco Liotard Cast Ousman Balde Distribution Filippo Foscarini

Him and I

Giulia Cosentino
Italy, 2019
13:45 Min, Italian OV
German Premiere

A reworking of the female status as a political act to tell that love is an act of acceptance of differences and that personal memories are part of the collective history.

Director Giulia Cosentino Producer Giulia Cosentino, Davide Minotti Screenplay Giulia Cosentino, Natalia Ginzburg Camera Raffaele Libra Editor Davide Minotti Sound Bernard Crispin Bursill-Hall Distribution Giulia Cosentino

Arruso

Daniele Ciprì, Franco Maresco
Italy, 2000
20:15 Min, Italian OV
German Premiere

Referencing Pier Paolo Pasolini’s visits to Palermo, in 2000 Ciprì and Maresco shot ARRUSO, which consists of imaginary interviews with some local characters who are presumed to have had homosexual relationships with the director. The two record the testimonies – some affectionate others less so – of those who had the opportunity to meet him.

Director Daniele Ciprì, Franco Maresco Producer Daniele Ciprì, Franco Maresco Screenplay Daniele Ciprì, Franco Maresco Camera Daniele Ciprì Editor Daniele Ciprì, Franco Maresco Sound Daniele Ciprì, Franco Maresco Cast Francesco Tirone, Carlo Giordano, Mario Salmeri, Angelo Prollo, Fortunato Cirrincione, Gregorio Napoli, Rosalino Spatola Distribution Lumpen Film, Francesco Guttuso

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We are presenting rare, hybrid and seemingly incidental animated short films that were created by Chilean artists over the past ten years. These artists do not necessarily believe in perfection, nor do they feel the urge to reproduce styles correctly; rather, they see the art of animation as a process of discovery.
Not so long ago, a film reel was found in the rubbish that turned out to be the first ever animated film in the history of Chile, if not the whole of South America: In LA TRANSMISIÓN DEL MANDO PRESIDENCIAL from 1921, the directors Alfredo Serey and Nicolás Martínez, who were themselves autodidacts, produced a parody of the nation’s political situation.
The film was restored and screened again 100 years after it first premiered. This unique find, almost bordering on the miraculous, is even more significant in that there has never been an established animation tradition or any important animation schools in Chile from which us contemporary artists could take our own routes.
While there were some exceptional cases in the past, such as Vivienne Barry or Tomás Welss, these are not comparable to the current boom in Chilean animation, which has led to international acclaim and film awards. Yet in a mysterious way, LA TRANSMISIÓN DEL MANDO PRESIDENCIAL anticipated some of the characteristics that we can recognise today in the most striking examples of this emerging generation: On the one hand, a critical view of the political landscape, while on the other, the autodidactic character that obliges the artists to seek out their own paths in animation art, which is experimental and decolonised at one and the same time.
Chile is a country that is regularly shaken up by both earthquakes and political violence, resulting in a telluric reality of life between constant destruction and semi-reconstruction. And these animated contributions mirror this. They present reflections on the language of animation, sketches, failed attempts, monstrosities and “dirty” results: “animaciones bastardos”.

Joaquín Cociña and Cristóbal León

[tw: physical violence, psychological violence, epilepsy]

Intros

Claudia Bitran
Chile, 2013
Hand-drawn, Painting, 3:28 Min, no dialogue

With much love, fantasy and the willingness to improvise, DIY artist Claudia Bitran reconstructs the logos of the big Hollywood production companies and creates reenactments of their movie intros.

Director Claudia Bitran Producer Claudia Bitran Screenplay Claudia Bitran Animation Claudia Bitran Camera Claudia Bitran Editor Claudia Bitran Sound Claudia Bitran Distribution Claudia Bitran

The Mask

Matías Bárquez
Chile, 2023
Hand-drawn, 2:53 Min, no dialogue

We observed and copied in order to go unnoticed. The difficulty of being ourselves made us create a mask, but the weight of it caused us enormous wear and tear. It is not fair to live in disguise. Being autistic means accepting and knowing your needs.

Director Matías Bárquez Producer Matías Bárquez Screenplay Matías Bárquez Animation Matías Bárquez Editor Matías Bárquez Music Matías Bárquez Sound Matías Bárquez Distribution Matías Bárquez

Uninhabited

Camila Donoso Astudillo
Chile, 2021
Stop Motion, Plasticine, Papier Mâché, Styrofoam, 6:50 Min, no dialogue

An old woman wakes up in her room. The place comes to life, revealing her spaces from a past full of pain and innocence. An experimental short film that goes through emotional scenarios of a woman in the last moments of her life.

Director Camila Donoso Astudillo Producer Camila Donoso Astudillo, Amanda Puga Salman Animation Enrique Ortega Camera Francisco Donoso Editor Camila Donoso Astudillo, Cristóbal Donoso Music José Pedro Dal Pozzo Sound José Pedro Dal Pozzo Distribution Praxia producciones, Amanda Puga Salman

Something in the Garden

Marcos Sánchez
Chile, 2022
2D, 6:07 Min, Spanish OV

It’s nighttime in the suburbs and the stillness is interrupted by a strange presence, a creeping being that lurks in the dark.

Director Marcos Sánchez Producer Marcos Sánchez Screenplay Marcos Sánchez Animation Marcos Sánchez Editor Marcos Sánchez Music John Dieterich Sound Gonzalo Pérez Distribution Marcos Sánchez

Bestia

Hugo Covarrubias
Chile, 2021
Puppets, Animated Objects, Stop Motion, 15:54 Min, no dialogue

Based on true events, the film explores the life of a secret female police agent during the military dictatorship in Chile. Her relationships with her dog, her body, her fears and her frustrations reveal a grim fracture in her mind and in the country.

Director Hugo Covarrubias Producer Tevo Díaz Screenplay Martín Erazo, Hugo Covarrubias Animation Hugo Covarrubias, Matías Delgado Camera Hugo Covarrubias Editor Hugo Covarrubias Music Ángela Acuña, Camilo Salinas Sound Roberto Espinoza, Roberto Zúñiga, Pablo Bahamondez Distribution Miyu Distribution, Luce Grosjean

[tw:]

physical violence, psychological violence

The Son of Trauko

Esteban Pérez Ojeda
Chile, 2020
Hand-drawn, 4:13 Min, no dialogue
German Premiere

An exercise in memory and alternative language created through the director’s artistic expression of collective memories and meanings within a territory. Shared codes are discovered through the observation and description of natural forms.

Director Esteban Pérez Ojeda Producer Esteban Pérez Ojeda Screenplay Esteban Pérez Ojeda Animation Esteban Pérez Ojeda Editor Esteban Pérez Ojeda Music Alexis Briones Bustamante Sound Alexis Briones Bustamante Distribution Esteban Pérez Ojeda

31°42'49.5"N 35°10'13.9"E

Francisca Khamis Giacoman
Chile, Netherlands, 2023
CG Modeling, 10:39 Min, Spanish OV

Francisca Khamis Giacoman revisits the remnants of her family home in Al-Makhrour in Palestine that is inaccessible to her family.

Director Francisca Khamis Giacoman Producer Francisca Khamis Giacoman Screenplay Francisca Khamis Giacoman Animation Finn Wagner Camera Francisca Khamis Giacoman Editor Francisca Khamis Giacoman Sound Constanza Castagnet Cast Labibe Khamis, Eduardo Khamis B., Constanza Khamis, Eduardo Khamis, Andrés Khamis, Francisca Khamis, Siwar Kraitem Distribution Francisca Khamis Giacoman

Pepe Pollo – A Little Bit of Love

Enzo Cortavitarte
Chile, 2014
2D, 1:29 Min, Spanish OV

Comic artist and cartoonist Enzo Cortavitarte has created a grotesquely surreal universe that seems to be populated by mutant characters. We accompany the main character Pepe Pollo, a horrible yet lovable chicken who already has many fans in Chile, on one of his adventures.

Director Enzo Cortavitarte Producer Enzo Cortavitarte Screenplay Enzo Cortavitarte Animation Enzo Cortavitarte Editor Enzo Cortavitarte Music Daniel Cancino Sound Daniel Cancino Distribution Enzo Cortavitarte

Waldo‘s Dream

Jorge Campusano, José Ignacio Navarro, Santiago O'Ryan
Chile, 2018
2D, 3:15 Min, Spanish OV

The story of Waldo Joy, a man tormented by the horrible birth malformation of his only son; a grief that he tries to leave behind through the construction of a huge amusement park named Happyland so as to control the world under his own utopia of order and beauty.

Director Jorge Campusano, José Ignacio Navarro, Santiago O'Ryan Producer Jorge Campusano, José Ignacio Navarro, Santiago O'Ryan, Juan de Dios Larraín, Juan Correa, Pablo Larraín Screenplay Jorge Campusano, José Ignacio Navarro, Santiago O'Ryan, Daniel Martínez Animation Manuel Plata Acevedo, Joshua Schneider, José Gregorio Moreno, Camilo Ayala Nieto, Michael Abarcca, Venturia Animation Studios Music Tomás Vidal Sound Sebastián Pappalardo Distribution LUNES Animation Studio, José Ignacio Navarro

Vitanuova

Niles Atallah
Chile, Spain, Mexico, 2023
Stop Motion, Digital 3D, 13:43 Min, English OV
German Premiere

In a fable created by hypermechanisms of the future, a message in an algorithmic bottle relives a story of extinction from the past to a clay humanoid in the present.

Director Niles Atallah Producer Lucas Engel Screenplay Niles Atallah Animation José Tomás Urrutia Goldsack, Carla Puelma Ordenes, Norkys Sarai, Martín Velasco, Niles Atallah Camera Niles Atallah Editor Mayra Morán, Niles Atallah Music Amiina Sound Mayra Morán, Niles Atallah, Roberto Espinoza Distribution Pista B, Lucas Engel

[tw:]

epilepsy

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From flawless optimisation to systems spiralling out of control, “Drift Mode” delves into a world where memory and autonomy threaten to fail. Promises of efficiency hide a grim reality. In DELIVERY DANCER’S SPHERE, delivery drivers like Ernst Mo are impelled by the merciless logic of the Dancemaster, the navigation AI dictating deliveries in techno-futuristic Seoul. Routes transform into a labyrinth of Alexander-horned spheres, blurring any sense of time and space in a relentless pursuit of performance within the strictly monitored economy of platform work.
Digital precarity extends far beyond the gig economy. In VO, the veil is lifted on autonomous driving. An investigation into the role of human workers in training autonomous vehicles challenges us to rethink what “autonomous” truly means. And what about the systems built on this precarious foundation?
ML_CRSH exposes their inherent instability. Algorithms aiming to mimic flawless results generate unpredictable digital debris. The quest for control echoes within a dystopian landscape.
In RANDOM ACCESS, China’s “Big Data Valley” Guiyang becomes a haunted backdrop for resilience. Here, malfunctions are not errors, but acts of resistance. Lost memories emerge from digital cracks. Humans and AI alike confront the consequences of a past ruthlessly overwritten in the name of seamless progress.
A stage for uprisings is provided by THETA with SimBeijing, a testing ground for automated technology. A self-driving car questions constructed perfection and challenges us to extend our empathy beyond the familiar. Under the gaze of omnipresent surveillance, it becomes clear that questions of autonomy and resistance transcend any simple distinction between the human and the artificial.

Veneta Androva

supporter Animation 2

Vo

Nicolas Gourault
France, 2021
17 Min, English OV

A deadly accident between a self-driving car and a pedestrian sets off an investigation about the role of human workers in the training of driverless cars. Testimonies from vehicle operators guide us through a nightshift where the landscape merges with data from the car’s sensors.

Director Nicolas Gourault Producer Le Fresnoy, Studio national Screenplay Nicolas Gourault Camera Nicolas Gourault, Alan Guichaoua Editor Félix Rehm Sound Arno Ledoux Cast Ryan Kelley, Jessica Champeaux, Yosra Mojtahedi Distribution Square Eyes Film, Wouter Jansen

Random Access

Zike He
China, 2023
14:20 Min, Chinese OV
World Premiere

The film takes a realistic approach to the locations and facts in Guiyang, China, a mountainous and cloudy city nestled on the central Asian Karst landscape, which has often been referred to recently as the Chinese data capital. Whether it be the first iCloud data centre in Asia or the renowned FAST telescope servers built here, these rapid developments are profoundly impacting on the lives of people who have lived here over the past decade.

Director Zike He Producer Woody Wang, Mengling Zhan Screenplay Zike He Animation Wenxin Zhang Camera Mao Glosoli Editor Zike He Music 31 Sound 31 Cast Hongyan Zhan, Ning He Distribution Hyundai Motor Group, Taiyun Kim

ML_CRSH

Anton Ginzburg
Germany, USA, 2021
3D and AI Processing, 3:26 Min, no dialogue

This video work was developed using a 3D gaming engine environment for self-driving vehicles. The AI algorithm was used to apply the database collection of photo materials and textures of Dresden to the 3D models, causing unpredictable digital artifacts.

Director Anton Ginzburg Producer Anton Ginzburg Screenplay Anton Ginzburg Animation Konrad Raue Music John Blackford Distribution Anton Ginzburg

Delivery Dancer’s Sphere

Ayoung Kim
South Korea, 2022
3D Avatar, 25:12 Min, Korean OV
German Premiere

The main character is Ernst Mo (an anagram of monster), a female delivery rider sprinting through a fictitious Seoul. The evening-night view of Seoul filled with artificial lights is somewhere between techno-orientalism and Asian futurism.

Director Ayoung Kim Producer Heejung Oh Screenplay Ayoung Kim Camera Syeyoung Park Editor Hyunji Lee, Ayoung Kim, Chae Yu Music Đ.K. (aka Dang Khoa Chau) Sound Đ.K. (aka Dang Khoa Chau) Cast Jang Seo-kyung Distribution Oyster Films, Christina Demetriou

Theta

Lawrence Lek
United Kingdom, 2022
CGI, 3D Avatar, 11:15 Min, Chinese OV

Set within the fictional smart city of SimBeijing, we follow a self-driving car as they discuss their troubles with their built-in therapy program called Guanyin. Accompanied by CGI drive-through renders of SimBeijing, the narrator is the eponymous Theta, a self-driving police car who patrols the streets of an uninhabited cityscape. Over the course of their dialogue with Guanyin, Theta reveals the darker reasons behind why the city has been abandoned.

Director Lawrence Lek Producer Lawrence Lek Screenplay Lawrence Lek Animation Lawrence Lek Camera Lawrence Lek Editor Lawrence Lek Music Kode9, Lawrence Lek Sound Kode9, Lawrence Lek Cast Joni Zhu, Wavenet Distribution Lawrence Lek Studio, Daniella Smiths

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Videogames are luring ever-more people out of the crises of their daily lives and into immersive dreamscapes. At the same time, capital is forcing its way into these digital havens that are always on the brink of evolving from social spaces into isolation cells. Yet between the memes and glitches of an increasingly hyper-real reality, there are wonderful niches and utopias to be discovered: places of resistance, as indeed those from which even the global conflagration can at least be enjoyed.
THE FUTURE AHEAD WILL BE WEIRD AF (THE ULTIMATE AI CORECORE EXPERIENCE) PART ONE from Silvia Dal Dosso aka Hawaidolphino takes us at full speed into the wonderfully disruptive world of digital misinformation. BATRACHIA by the Giungla collective continues this tour de force in an enchanting way: with neuroses blooming next to toadstools between the assets of a generically repeated digital world.
The journey continues with a multilayered drive past the overripe blossoms of late capitalism: In EVERYTHING BUT THE WORLD, the DIS collective queers digital narratives with black humour, posing the question: What do the ideas of finiteness and infiniteness mean after the end of history?
THE GRANNIES then sweep us away to an unexpected neverland: A group of female players explore infinity in the “beyond” of the walk-in world from a video game and discover a surprisingly poetic space of yearning there. A peaceful utopia located between pixels and polygons – so peaceful that in Antoine Chapon’s MY OWN LANDSCAPES it can even comfort the frayed nerves of a soldier traumatised by war. Who would have thought it? The wonderful and sublime lurking, hidden within the blind spots of a digital world dominated by war and capitalism.

Total Refusal

supporter Focus

The Future Ahead Will Be Weird AF (The Ultimate AI CoreCore Experience), Part One

Silvia Dal Dosso
Italy, Germany, 2024
Machinima, 10 Min, English OV

Welcome to the post-post-post-truth AI world. We live in a time of great ambiguity and confusion. Dead celebrities are coming back from heaven and millionaires are hiding in the bottom of the Earth, while the rest of humankind is trapped in a mediated reality where love is constantly intercepted by emotional advertising and robots.

Director Silvia Dal Dosso Producer Silvia Dal Dosso Screenplay Silvia Dal Dosso Editor Silvia Dal Dosso Music Scott Noise, m3ta Sound Silvia Dal Dosso, ElevenLabs Distribution Clusterduck, Silvia Dal Dosso

Batrachia

Lorenzo Silano
Italy, 2023
3D, 6:48 Min, no dialogue
World Premiere

A young cashier working at a small fast-food restaurant in the middle of nowhere is haunted by a mysterious yet familiar figure. The strong pull of the forest will urge him to leave behind a world to which he has never belonged.

Director Lorenzo Silano Producer Andrea Damiano, Lorenzo Silano Screenplay Lorenzo Silano Animation Lorenzo Silano Editor Lorenzo Silano Music Riccardo De Stefanis Sound Riccardo De Stefanis Distribution Giungla Collective, Andrea Damiano

Everything but the World

DIS (Lauren Boyle, Solomon Chase, Marco Roso, David Toro)
USA, 2021
37:36 Min, English OV

A non-linear natural history show about us – homo sapiens. The film links the agricultural revolution to Amazon fulfillment centers, addresses the gulf between the complexity of humans’ global existence and the smallness of their private, everyday lives, and confronts our obsession with “the end of the world”, knowing the arrogance of that word, “the”.

Director DIS (Lauren Boyle, Solomon Chase, Marco Roso, David Toro) Producer Meg Murnane, Riel Roch-Decter, Sebastian Pardo Screenplay DIS (Lauren Boyle, Solomon Chase, Marco Roso, David Toro) Camera Alex Huggins, Caleb Heller, Simone D'Arcangelo Editor Anthony Valdez Music Fatima Al Qadiri Sound James Kelly Cast Leilah Weinraub, Omahrya Mota, Ryan Trecartin, Lizzie Fitch Distribution DIS, Lauen Boyle

The Grannies

Marie Foulston
United Kingdom, Australia, 2021
Machinima, 16:34 Min, English OV

The Grannies are a group of players who venture beyond the boundaries of the Red Dead Online videogame. With enthusiasm and curiosity, they speak about the landscapes and experiences they discover beyond the limits of the game’s virtual world. These recollections are combined with photographs and video excerpts from their adventures to create an otherworldly travelogue about a journey to a different digital dimension.

Director Marie Foulston Producer Nick Murray, Marie Foulston Screenplay Marie Foulston Animation Marie Foulston Editor Luke Neher Music Luke Neher, Sam Gill Sound Sam Gill Cast Marigold Bartlett, Andrew Brophy, Ian MacLarty, Kalonica Quigley Distribution Marie Foulston

My Own Landscapes

Antoine Chapon
France, 2020
3D Simulation, Digital Animation, 18:40 Min, English OV

A military game developer created videogame scenarios intended to prepare soldiers for culture shocks and heal trauma, until he himself went to war and his relationship with games and life changed.

Director Antoine Chapon Producer Antoine Chapon Screenplay Antoine Chapon Animation Antoine Chapon Camera Antoine Chapon Editor Antoine Chapon Sound Antoine Chapon Cast Cyril Poitevineau-Millin Distribution Antoine Chapon

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Are womXn becoming the main characters of our liberation in our visions of the Afro future(s)? Or what does it mean to experience a present and a past in a system not designed for our wellbeing.
Afrofuturism was born outside of the African continent. It has been infused with nostalgia for the motherland and determination to liberate the Black experience. Through access to technology, dreams and a life finally lived in freedom. A struggle and a quest for liberation that is still relevant (and necessary) to this day.
“Afro Visions of the Future(s), Memories and Liberation” is an ensemble of films that explore the journey of several womxn filmmakers and/or womxn protagonists from the continent or its diaspora, informing us about the current struggles of those who are fighting every day for liberation from a violent patriarchal, capitalistic and, still to this day, colonial system. A dream towards new futures and a drive towards change that resonate with the original birth of Afrofuturism, but reactualises the thematics to address the current Afro Visions of our new Futures.
We start with Ghanaian filmmaker Nuotama Frances Bodomo that takes a look into a past future. And tells us about Matha, the main protagonist of AFRONAUTS, who is training to participate in the race to space, and manages to break one of the many glass ceilings.
We then dive into two filmic objects by visionary Afro-Brazilian-French musician, composer, illustrator and visual artist Gystère. Firstly, WOMXN, THE NIGHTMARE OF YOU KNOW WHO, co-directed by multidisciplinary artist Eden Tinto Collins, where a superheroine is summoned from outer space by a dolphin to put an end to police violence. Secondly, in WOMXN: TIME MACHINE, Gystère and his brother Anthony Peskine challenge the violence a patriarchal society generates against any bodies that differ from the dominant (white cis-male) narrative.
Then, Nigerian filmmaker Olive Nwosus’ short film MASQUERADE immerses us in a meditation on home, memory and identity through the journey of Salewa our lead character, who meets an important person from her past at a funeral back home, and is forced to set out in search of her own peace.
Another journey awaits with SO WHAT IF THE GOATS DIE, where our main character is a young man, but the voice of Moroccan filmmaker Sofia Alaoui reveals itself strongly in this supernatural, slow, meditative film. And the director addresses issues like religion, philosophy and belief: What happens when all what we took for certain – our place in the universe – is suddenly challenged? A vertiginous and elegant allegory that will send shivers down our spine.
Finally, TERRA MATER by Rwandan filmmaker Kantarama Gahigiri closes the programme by bringing us to question our link to the earth, to the soil, and addresses the circle of what is being extracted and what is being brought back to the land. The audio-visual litany exposes the ties between capitalism and eco-responsibility, denouncing a system that is violently neo-colonial. And demands the need for respect and change, in order to find healing in the future.
At the end of the journey, we realise that there are as many New Visions of the Afro Future(s) as there are filmmakers. And what could be observed here is a common ground, inherited from culture and ancestral memories, that nourishes the notions of today’s Black identity, agency and freedom through art, creative works and the need for activism: Visions of liberated futures for Black life.

Kantarama Gahigiri

[tw: racism]

supporter Focus

Afronauts

Nuotama Frances Bodomo
USA, 2014
14:06 Min, English OV

16 July 1969: The USA are preparing to launch Apollo 11. Thousands of miles away, the Zambia Space Academy hopes to beat America to the moon. Inspired by true events.

Director Nuotama Frances Bodomo Producer Isabella Wing-Davey, Ken Birdwell Screenplay Nuotama Frances Bodomo Camera Joshua James Richards Editor Sara Shaw Music Brian McOmber Sound Scott Hirsh Cast Diandra Forrest, Hoji Fortuna, Yolonda Ross Distribution Nuotama Frances Bodomo

WomXn, The Nightmare of You Know Who

Adrien Gystère Peskine, Eden Tinto Collins
France, 2019
5:26 Min, English OV

In this inspired musical collage that combines Afrofuturism, allusions to Black culture, outer space and Z-series, a superheroine is summoned from outer space by a dolphin to put an end to police violence.

Director Adrien Gystère Peskine, Eden Tinto Collins Producer Adrien Gystère Peskine, Eden Tinto Collins Screenplay Adrien Gystère Peskine, Eden Tinto Collins Camera Adrien Gystère Peskine Editor Adrien Gystère Peskine Music Adrien Gystère Peskine Sound Adrien Gystère Peskine Cast Eden Tinto Collins, Nhoé Tinto Distribution Adrien Gystere Peskine

[tw:]

racism

Masquerade

Olive Nwosu
United Kingdom, Nigeria, 2021
14:55 Min, Yoruba OV

Salewa must return home for her mother’s funeral to Lagos, a place where she once had to hide herself. At the funeral, she runs into an important person from her past, and is forced to go in search of her own peace. A meditation on home, memory and identity – on the many versions of ourselves that haunt us.

Director Olive Nwosu Producer Alex Polunin Screenplay Olive Nwosu Camera Tom L. Weir Editor Tom L. Weir Music Tzvi Sherman Sound Tzvi Sherman Cast Teniola Aladese, Sheila Chukwulozie, Loveth Onyemaobi Distribution Ouat Media, Sabrine Spence

[tw:]

racism

WomXn: Time Machine

Adrien Gystère Peskine, Anthony Peskine
France, 2022
12:13 Min, English OV

Wominasa met her best friends at her worst job ever, thanks to whom she quit and is happy again. Life is sweet, full of laughter and activities until she bumps into the cop that killed her father in 1993…

Director Adrien Gystère Peskine, Anthony Peskine Producer Adrien Gystère Peskine Screenplay Adrien Gystère Peskine Camera Adrien Gystère Peskine, Anthony Peskine Editor Adrien Gystère Peskine Music Adrien Gystère Peskine Sound Adrien Gystère Peskine Cast Virginie Ehonian, Christiane Prince, Founé Mamie Tounkara Distribution Adrien Gystère Peskine

[tw:]

racism

So What If the Goats Die

Sofia Alaoui
France, Morocco, 2019
23:28 Min, Berber OV

In the Atlas Mountains, the young shepherd Abdellah and his father are hemmed in by snow at their goat pen. Their animals are wasting away. Abdellah must go to find supplies at a market village more than a day’s walk away. When he arrives with his mule, he finds the village abandoned due to a strange event that has wreaked havoc on the lives of all believers.

Director Sofia Alaoui Producer Margaux Lorier, Frédéric Dubreuil Screenplay Sofia Alaoui Camera Noé Bach Editor Héloïse Pelloquet Music Amine Bouhafa Sound Nani Chaouki, Sébastien Savine Cast Fouad Oughaou, Saïd Oughaou, Oumaïma Oughaou Distribution Envie de Tempête Productions, Valentine Verhague

Terra Mater – mother land

Kantarama Gahigiri
Rwanda, Switzerland, 2023
9:51 Min, English, French OV

Technology and waste, in our lands, our systems, our bones. Wandering our spaces, she cannot help but wonder, where is the space for healing?

Director Kantarama Gahigiri Producer Daniel Bleuer, Kantarama Gahigiri Screenplay Kantarama Gahigiri Camera Daniel Bleuer Editor Jules Claude Gisler Music Coco EM feat Sisian & Kasiva Cast Cheryl Isheja Distribution Sudu Connexion, Claire Diao

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Our crisis-filled present does not engender optimism and is perceived by many people as being the gloomy end to any belief in progress. (Existential) fear and anger are shaping the new zeitgeist. We find ourselves in a post-futuristic era, one in which we almost inevitably imagine a future that resembles a horror scenario. Although crisis awareness is imperative, “resignation is no viewpoint” (Erich Kästner), since fear is just as unproductive as fleeing into the illusion of a better past. Utopian thinking is both an antidepressant and a necessity at one and the same time.
Repeatedly, cinema is even referred to as a dream factory, through which is has the unique power to create not only vanishing points into nostalgic and other fantasy worlds, but also into positive alternatives to the present: with ideas of how we shall live in the near future – and also want to dwell there. Thus, it is time to dream!
THE VEILED CITY by Natalie Cubides-Brady interweaves a science-fiction narrative with documentary archive images from the past to create a reflection on current environmental issues. THE VEILED CITY is the projection of a “future as catastrophe” (Eva Horn) – yet the catastrophe has not yet occurred and can still be averted. So there is still hope.
Camille Authouart’s THE GREAT ARC is an ode to the Parisian district of La Défense. The hand-drawn animated film also asks how much utopia still exists in the monuments of architecture that were once created there as a field of experimentation for a new model of the city and as a “vision for tomorrow”.
In his film IN THE FUTURE..., Juan Rmzv presents urban spaces and urban dreams. Places where the plannable and the unplannable become assembled, representing a highly complex network of relationships, in which different cultures and lifestyles collide, come together and interweave with each other.
In this plea for the feasibility of utopias, Sasha Pirker and Michael Klein’s film 60 ELEPHANTS. EPISODES OF A THEORY. portrays the ideas of architect Yona Friedman, which are based on principles such as co-determination and openness.
RESOLUTION, a critical summation of humanity since the beginning of the Anthropocene, is a further speculative science-fiction work. Bjørn Melhus takes as his basis a scene from Richard Fleischer’s genre classic SOYLENT GREEN (1973), “overwrites” it and brings this early eco-dystopia to a happy ending. THE VEILED CITY and RESOLUTION thus form cinematic counterparts within this programme intended to inspire the exchanging of thoughts and ideas.

Sven Pötting

supporter Focus

The Veiled City

Natalie Cubides-Brady
United Kingdom, 2023
13 Min, English OV

In this film, historical footage of the smog catastrophe in London from 1952 is edited together to create an eerie collage that is both a warning and a vision of the future.

Director Natalie Cubides-Brady Producer Jacob Swan Hyam Screenplay Natalie Cubides-Brady Editor Ona Bartroli Music Athena Varosio Sound Ben Goodall Cast Aerynne Eastwood Distribution Natalie Cubides-Brady

The Great Arc

Camille Authouart
France, 2023
2D, 11:58 Min, French OV
German Premiere

With nearly 70 monumental works of art scattered throughout the district, La Défense in Paris is Europe’s largest open-air museum. Sitting between the legs of the gigantic Red Spider, I wonder how I didn’t notice them before…

Director Camille Authouart Producer Emmanuel-Alain Raynal, Pierre Baussaron Screenplay Camille Authouart Animation Camille Borot-Bossot, Mina Convers, Axel Rousselot, Eliott Moreau Editor Camille Authouart, Albane Duplessix Music Bachar Mar-Khalifé Sound Mathieu Tiger Cast Flora Fishbach Distribution Miyu Distribution, Luce Grosjean

In the Future...

Juan Rmzv
Germany, 2022
13:24 Min, German, English OV
World Premiere

For years, we try to envision what a city is. How it is supposed to be, expending time asking ourselves if everything fits optimally to our routines. The city of our dreams turns out to be a plan that finds itself in an indefinable status of ongoing construction. What is the effect of the architectonic design of this dream-city on our minds?

Director Juan Rmzv Producer Ekaterina Mostovaia, Juan Rmzv, Cecilia Trautvetter Screenplay Juan Rmzv Camera Ekaterina Mostovaia Sound Sebastian Pablo Poloni Cast Jasmina Al Zihairi, Pati Revera Distribution Cecilia Trautvetter

60 Elephants. Episodes of a Theory.

Michael Klein, Sasha Pirker
Austria, France, 2018
21:40 Min, English OV

Michael Klein and Sasha Pirker translating their shared exploration of the theories from the architect and visionary Yona Friedman into a cinematic language. Instead of the grand narrative, Friedman places the small and seemingly incidental at the centre of his reflections on feasible utopias.

Director Michael Klein, Sasha Pirker Producer Michael Klein, Sasha Pirker Screenplay Michael Klein, Sasha Pirker Animation Michael Klein, Sasha Pirker Camera Michael Klein, Sasha Pirker Editor Michael Klein, Sasha Pirker Sound Andreas Pils Cast Yona Fridman Distribution sixpackfilm, Gerald Weber

Resolution

Bjørn Melhus
Germany, 2023
18:48 Min, English OV

It is the year 2078. A 112-year-old man on a hospital bed is pushed through a seemingly endless, industrial-looking hallway and recounts the events on Earth over the past 112 years in a 18 min monologue. A radical utopia inspired by the death scene with E. G. Robinson in SOYLENT GREEN.

Director Bjørn Melhus Producer Bjørn Melhus Screenplay Bjørn Melhus Camera Ann Oren Editor Bjørn Melhus Sound Bjørn Melhus Cast Bjørn Melhus Distribution Bjørn Melhus Studio, Bjørn Melhus

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In all probability, there is hardly any concept as emotionally charged and at the same time as difficult to grasp as that of a house or home. Home is a place of yearning for individual and cultural security and comfort, yet it is also capable of meaning an artistic origin. Our programme, which combines ideas of utopia and home, was created in collaboration with the directors Hoda Taheri (MOTHER PRAYS ALL DAY LONG, 2022) and Boris Hadžija (YUGOTRANSPORT – WE ARE ALL ON THE SAME BUS, 2022).
THE HOUSE IS BLACK: In this Iranian film from 1962 portraying the suffering and daily life in a leper colony in Tabriz, the Iranian poet and film director Forough shows us how beauty can be discovered in the seemingly ugly. With her poetic black and white images, she invites us into a utopian world where you can find healing in illness and richness in poverty. Perhaps utopia should be understood so that, as André Gide explained, its meaning lies in what we see.
MEZOSTAJUN (2019) is an experimental documentary that explores the ever-changing relationship between time, space and public life in a Mediterranean city. Through the subtle cinematic merging of elements from moments in the summer and winter, it invites viewers to reflect upon a new existential realm called “Mezostajun”.
The film PARADISE EUROPE (2023) reveals encounters that are riddled with subtle prejudices and criticisms of identity, combining them with scenes depicting protests against exploding rents. This narrative exposes Berlin’s unfriendly attitude towards outsiders and those in need of protection, painting a poignant picture of the city’s social challenges.
REQUIEM FOR SOMETHING WHICH IS VERY SMALL (1997) shows a complex web of power dynamics, provocations and sexuality, with Esther trapped in her single-family house together with her husband Michael. The cinematic narrative reaches its climax through the merging of various expressive means and differing genres. Director Isabelle Stever recognised the ultimate way out of what looks like a “dead end”: hope. For the house is bright.

Hoda Taheri, Boris Hadžija, Sven Pötting

[tw: pornography]

supporter Focus

The House Is Black

Forugh Farrokhzad
Iran, 1962
21:55 Min, Farsi OV

In black and white images, the film takes a frank look at life and suffering in an Iranian leper colony at the beginning of the 1960s. The initial shock is followed by beauty: Orchestrated by the director’s off-screen voice – of her reading excerpts from the Old Testament, the Koran and her own poems – the disfigurations become outshone by the magic of being human.

Director Forugh Farrokhzad Producer Ebrahim Golestan Screenplay Forugh Farrokhzad Camera Soleiman Minasian Editor Forugh Farrokhzad Cast Forugh Farrokhzad, Ebrahim Golestan, Hossein Mansouri Distribution Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, Carmen Accaputo

Mezostajun

Ivan Ramljak
Croatia, 2018
20:15 Min, Croatian OV

An experimental documentary film exploring spatiotemporal relations in a Mediterranean city where the role of public spaces in people’s lives varies greatly depending on the season of the year. Elements of summer and winter are cinematically interlaced to create in the viewers’ perception a new existential interspace called “mezostajun”.

Director Ivan Ramljak Producer Tibor Keser, Vanja Jambrović Screenplay Ivan Ramljak Camera Smiljka Guštak Editor Damir Čučić, Jelena Maksimović Sound Jakov Munižaba Distribution Restart, Tibor Keser

Requiem for Something Which Is Very Small

Isabelle Stever
Germany, 1997
20:25 Min, German OV

Esther is living a middle-class life with her husband Michael. Yet both seem to be caught up in a strange game that revolves around power, sex and provocation. Esther is on the brink of madness. One day, an artist wants to display himself in her garden for seven days as “art under construction”. His action brings Esther one big step closer to insanity ...

Director Isabelle Stever Producer Isabelle Stever Screenplay Isabelle Stever Camera Christian Schidlowski Editor Isabelle Stever Music Markus Fritzsch Sound Mark Wegner Cast Hanns Zischler, Wookie Mayer, Alexander Rochholz Distribution Deutsche Kinemathek, Susanne Schumann

Paradise Europe

Leandro Goddinho, Paulo Menezes
Germany, Brazil, 2023
17 Min, German, Brazilian, English OV

On the day thousands of people head for the streets protesting against unaffordable rents in Berlin and the abolishment of the rental cap law, a gay Brazilian immigrant who has just been kicked out of his apartment struggles to find a new room as his personal life falls apart together with the city around him.

Director Leandro Goddinho, Paulo Menezes Producer Leandro Goddinho, Paulo Menezes Screenplay Leandro Goddinho, Paulo Menezes Camera Álfgerður Malmquist Editor Carolina Cardoso Sound Nico Fanari Cast Murillo Basso, Greta Amend, Cleo Spiro, Marcio Reolon, Blake Kendall, Dilan GeZaza, Daniel-Ryan Spaulding, Zoe Valentini Distribution Cinema Pósgenero, Leandro Goddinho

[tw:]

pornography

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“Why do we look at animals?” the writer John Berger once asked in one of the best-known texts on animal philosophy. One could even add the question: Since when have we looked at animals? J. M. Coetzee lets his eponymous protagonist Elizabeth Costello provide a possible answer in his novel published in 2003: “We used to wage a war against the animals that we called hunting [...]. This war lasted for millions of years. We only finally won it a few hundred years ago when we invented guns.” It was only when the struggle between the species became unequal, when animals were brutally subjugated with firearms and killed to extinction, that they could become the object of compassion – this is the conclusion of the South African winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature who as an animal rights activist raises elementary questions about the dignity of non-human creatures in many of his works.
The unnatural relationship that has arisen between humans and animals in the Anthropocene is also exposed by the NEOZOON collective, which was founded in 2009. The female artists in the collective first became known for their street art actions in public spaces, where they attached recycled material – cut-up remnants of fur coats – to house walls as silhouettes of animals.
NEOZOON have also applied the recycling notion to their cinematic works, with the inexhaustible archives of the internet serving as their source here. In the digital public spaces of YouTube, they find material from others that they transform. They render visible repetitive patterns of behaviour, basic structures of human behaviour, and compact them – “the copy of the copy of the copy” (Romano) – via complex cinematic montages into theses. They reflect on how humans define themselves through the conceptual pairing of nature and culture, or on the ambivalent relationship between modern humans and animals, which is torn between utopia and obsession, cruelty and love, recognition and denial of the differences between the species. They demonstrate the frequent and even seemingly absurd way in which non-human animals – as a result of over-identification – function as a projection screen for humans.
Other works from their oeuvre unearth post-colonial traces, while revealing neoliberal and consumer-oriented thinking and action in all areas of life within our capitalist modern age. Their films are an inventory of the present time as they address existential human insecurity in the Anthropocene era when facing rising temperatures and natural disasters.
Their films are activist, yet do not lecture. They have humour, yet do not expose. Instead, they hold up a mirror to us who are – at one and the same time – both “perpetrators” and “victims of larger narratives” (Dennis Vetter), and thus enable us to gain new perspectives on ourselves and our behaviour.
The tribute is providing an in-depth insight into NEOZOON’s extensive creative range. In addition, the tribute is linked to this year’s masterclass.

Sven Pötting

The Non-Toed Fur-Coatie

NEOZOON
Germany, 2010
3:14 Min, German OV

The NEOZOON art collective transformed old fur coats into animals. The film shows the species inside an enclosure of the Münster zoo and documents the reactions of the visitors.

Director NEOZOON Producer NEOZOON Screenplay NEOZOON Editor NEOZOON Sound POLEPOSITION DC Distribution Art Collective NEOZOON,

FragMANts

NEOZOON
Germany, 2019
5:52 Min, English OV

The people in the video worship their consumer goods like religious cult objects. The religion venerated here is that of capitalism, which reveals itself to be superficial and meaningless. The believers are only uprooted fragments of themselves.

Director NEOZOON Producer NEOZOON Screenplay NEOZOON Editor NEOZOON Music NEOZOON Sound NEOZOON, Jochen Jessuzek Distribution Art Collective NEOZOON,

MY BBY 8L3W

NEOZOON
Germany, 2014
3:02 Min, English OV

Independently from one another, thirty women present themselves and their beloved pets in selfie poses on the internet. They declare their love for the animals as enthusiastically as they hug, kiss and cuddle them. Since all the women use the same vocabulary as if rehearsed, their utterances swell into a chorus of meaninglessness.

Director NEOZOON Producer NEOZOON Screenplay NEOZOON Editor NEOZOON Sound NEOZOON Distribution Art Collective NEOZOON,

Love Goes through the Stomach

NEOZOON
Germany, 2017
14 Min, English OV

This found-footage film is dedicated to the topic of nutrition. The film collage provides insights into the behaviour of affluent Western society. The source material for the collage comes from YouTube and utilises various internet phenomena, such as ASMR, mukbang and Let’s Play videos.

Director NEOZOON Producer NEOZOON Screenplay NEOZOON Editor NEOZOON Sound Jochen Jezussek Distribution NEOZOON, Art Collective NEOZOON

Shake, Shake, Shake

NEOZOON
Germany, 2016
3:55 Min, no dialogue

The film consists of a collection of GIFs showing trophy hunters in Africa shaking hands. A seemingly simple gesture that forms a central focus here and that also, given our increasing awareness the contradictions inherent to big game hunting, appears controversial and absurd in equal measure.

Director NEOZOON Producer NEOZOON Screenplay NEOZOON Editor NEOZOON Sound NEOZOON Distribution Art Collective NEOZOON,

Big Game

NEOZOON
Germany, 2012
7:25 Min, English OV

The five track installation documents big game hunting through the eyes of tourist trophy hunters. It shows white men hunting in Africa, posing in front of the cameras with the shot game and taking back masses of trophies to their homes in America and Europe.

Director NEOZOON Producer NEOZOON Screenplay NEOZOON Editor NEOZOON Sound NEOZOON Distribution Art Collective NEOZOON,

Little Lower than the Angels

NEOZOON
Germany, 2019
13:14 Min, English OV

The found footage film explores the relationship between religion and speciesism. The main focus is on the numerous YouTube representatives of creationism and the idea that man is the undisputed pinnacle of creation.

Director NEOZOON Producer NEOZOON Screenplay NEOZOON Editor NEOZOON Sound NEOZOON, Jochen Jezussek Distribution Light Cone, Emmanuel Lefrant

Biting The Dust

NEOZOON
Germany, 2021
Other animation techniques, 13:30 Min, English OV

Found footage film about the Christian idea of life after death and the central question which living beings will go to heaven. In a field of tension between fear and fearlessness, the view is directed to social and religious imagery full of contradictory statements. In face of the growing strength of the world views of the religious right, this is particularly relevant in times of climate crisis.

Director NEOZOON Producer NEOZOON Screenplay NEOZOON Editor NEOZOON Sound Jochen Jezussek Distribution Art Collective NEOZOON,

Lake of Fire

NEOZOON
Germany, 2022
Found Footage, 11 Min, English OV

LAKE OF FIRE deals with religious filter bubbles in the social network Youtube and addresses the fear of death and hell as a place of eternal damnation. The film reveals which fatal consequences anthropocentrism has for planet Earth.

Director NEOZOON Producer NEOZOON Editor NEOZOON Sound Jochen Jezussek Distribution Art Collective NEOZOON,

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In the 1960s and early 1970s, footloose and non-bourgeois bohemians and bon vivants insinuated their way into the economic miracle of post-war everyday life in West Germany and of course even onto the cinema screens there. As protagonists, these hippies and airheads – who had an alternative, a utopian ideal of a “better life” to the consumerist majority – shaped and left their stamp on the so-called dropout films. Thanks to them, pop culture and a sense of social upheaval became interconnected in West German cinema like never before.
Unfortunately, only a few of the works by these young directing talents, including May Spils, Ulrich Schamoni or Klaus Lemke, made it into the national cinematic canon. Yet for that, they convey a surprising freshness and playful lightness, standing for imaginative curiosity and often possessing an ambiguous or anarchic humour that, amazingly, seem to have aged very little even today. And these films are worth rediscovering.
For which reason in this year’s retrospective, we are presenting two gems from this short-lived genre: SO WHAT…? (from Marquard Bohm and Helmut Herbst, 1967/68), in which Marquard Bohm plays an irreverent idler and likeable oddball, as well as a rarely screened work by Marran Gosov, whose title even reads like a description of its contents: MEETING MY BROTHER FROM BULGARIA AGAIN AFTER MANY YEARS DURING A SHORT STOPOVER IN MUNICH (1973). The multi-talented Bulgarian Gosov, who during his time in exile in Germany was a formative part of the then extremely lively Munich artist and film scene, represents the dreams, wishes and utopias of the so-called guest workers in his enigmatic film.
At around the same time in East German GDR, the socialism of the new millennium was being planned for the cinema. In 1971, the DEFA Studio artistic working group called “futurum” began their work. Science fiction films and fictional documentations were produced, intended to be enlightening, instructive and entertaining, and from a technological view to be understood especially as social projections of the future.
But of course, under no circumstances should these “controlled utopias” offer alternative lifestyles to real existing socialism, as it was termed. The future films proved to be a short intermezzo and entertaining curiosities within the history of film in East Germany, as Joachim Hellwig’s LOVE 2002 from 1972 shows.
The programme is being rounded off with IKARUS – SHE KILL THE LAUGH. The film was made in 1989 for Wolfgang Engel’s legendary Faust I and II theatre productions, in which the equally legendary Friends of the Italian Opera collaborated.

Sven Pötting

Meeting My Brother from Bulgaria Again After Many Years During a Short Stopover in Munich

Marran Gosov
Germany, 1973
13:10 Min, Bulgarian, German OV

A film about the pride of being a Bulgarian in West Germany.

Director Marran Gosov Producer Marran Gosov, Veith von Fürstenberg Screenplay Marran Gosov Camera Bernd Fiedler, Helga Harnisch Editor Sybille Mar, Marran Gosov Sound Peter Wagner, Marran Gosov Cast Mitko Vulev, Lilith Ungerer, Guslar Raschko Distribution RAMSCH, Bernhard Marsch

So What…?

Helmut Herbst, Marquard Bohm
Germany, 1967
34 Min, German OV

Adapting to the circumstances in the Federal Republic of Germany is the be-all and end-all of post-war reality. The woodwork is creaking and groaning for some time now. Marquard Bohm is also groaning – under the same constraints. He doesn’t want to go to work. He can’t go to work. Nothing works anymore.

Director Helmut Herbst, Marquard Bohm Producer Helmut Herbst Screenplay Helmut Herbst, Marquard Bohm Camera Nils-Peter Mahlau Editor Marlis Detjens Sound Helmut Herbst, Marquard Bohm, Marlis Detjens Cast Hark Bohm, Marquard Bohm, Petra Grüger Distribution Deutsche Kinemathek, Susanne Schumann

In the Dust of the Stars

Gottfried Kolditz
East Germany (GDR), 1976
3:03 Min, German OV

Trailer of the science fiction film IN THE DUST OF THE STARS, a feature film produced by the DEFA artistic working group “futurum” under the direction of Gottfried Kolditz and with a prominent cast.

Director Gottfried Kolditz Producer Horst Schmidt Screenplay Joachim Hellwig, Gottfried Kolditz Camera Dieter Lück Editor Christa Helwig Music Karl-Ernst Sasse Sound Christian Müller Distribution DEFA-Filmverleih – Deutsche Kinemathek, Mirko Wiermann

Love 2002

Joachim Hellwig
East Germany (GDR), 1972
24:03 Min, German OV

Using trendy, gaudy colours and futuristically dressed actors, this documentary explores the question of: What will love be like in 2002? The well-known GDR hit-song studio presenter Chris Wallasch takes the viewers through the programme with light-hearted remarks and questions for passengers at Berlin’s Schönefeld Airport.

Director Joachim Hellwig Producer Hans Hohmann Screenplay Joachim Hellwig, Claus Ritter Camera Siegfried Hönicke Editor Waltraut Hartmann Music Milan Jerzy Sound Jürgen Crasser, Thaddäus Frantz Cast Chris Wallasch Distribution DEFA-Filmverleih – Deutsche Kinemathek, Mirko Wiermann

Ikarus – She Kill the Laugh

Michael Knof
East Germany (GDR), 1989
4:30 Min, German, English OV

DEFA film made for Wolfgang Engel’s legendary production of Faust. The film outlines the life of Euphorion, who was played by Ray van Zeschau.

Director Michael Knof Producer Ray van Zeschau Screenplay Michael Knof Camera Thomas Plenert Editor Gudrun Steinbrück-Plenert Music Freunde der italienischen Oper Sound Joey A. Vaising Cast Ray van Zeschau, Heiko Schramm, Jänz Dittschlag Distribution Strandard63, Ray van Zeschau

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When watching a film, we let ourselves be fascinated by its images. However, its impact only unfolds in its entirety through the interplay with the artistic and creative strengths of the sound design, permitting an immersion of the viewers in filmic worlds.
The sound design of films is created for cinema auditoria, and this is where films should be screened and received, ideally. And of course, our pre-jury and jury members were able to view the films there. By awarding the Golden Horseman Sound Design, Joh Nico Pavlovic, Wannanelly and Moritz Lobeck are honouring an outstanding artistic achievement, as well as creativity and the highest quality in the film auditory area. At the screening for the Golden Horseman Sound Design, up to ten films are being shown to the public that were selected from all of the competition entries as being the most interesting in terms of their soundscapes by a pre-jury consisting of up-and-coming musicians. Come along and enjoy a programme that is truly “sound breaking”!

Sven Pötting

[tw: epilepsy, physical violence, abortion]

Old Age

Anna-Maria Dutoit
Portugal, Germany, 2023
8:25 Min, Portuguese OV

A landscape remembers how it developed into the mountain it is today. From glacial tongues to raging wildfires, the story is a reminiscence of the human impact on landscapes.

Director Anna-Maria Dutoit Producer Anna-Maria Dutoit Screenplay Anna-Maria Dutoit Camera Louis Dickhaut Editor Anna-Maria Dutoit Music Marta Haladzhun Sound Ricardo Reis, Hanna Stock Cast Maria Teresa Falkenberg Distribution Anna-Maria Dutoit

Such Miracles Do Happen

Barbara Rupik
Poland, 2022
Mixed Media, Puppets, 13:48 Min, Polish OV

“It’s walking with no muscles, though it shouldn’t be able to walk. Stone tissue. How strange,” said the girl and looked at her boneless body.

Director Barbara Rupik Producer Agata Golanska Screenplay Barbara Rupik Animation Barbara Rupik Editor Barbara Rupik Music Barbara Rupik Sound Barbara Rupik Distribution KFF Sales & Promotion, Marta Świętek

The Electric Kiss

Rainer Kohlberger
Austria, Germany, 2024
2D Computer, 17:45 Min, English ST

Drawing on excerpts from sci-fi films, THE ELECTRIC KISS imagines a world not unlike our own, in which people plug their brains into a kind of neuro-network that connects the whole of human consciousness.

Director Rainer Kohlberger Producer Rainer Kohlberger Screenplay Rainer Kohlberger Animation Rainer Kohlberger Music Jung an Tagen Sound Jung an Tagen Distribution Sixpackfilm, Gerald Weber

[tw:]

epilepsy

A Kind of Testament

Stephen Vuillemin
France, 2023
Computer Drawing 2D, 16:24 Min, English OV

A young woman comes across animations on the internet that have clearly been created from her private selfies. An unknown female with the same name confesses to identity theft. But death is quicker than the answer to the question: Why?

Director Stephen Vuillemin Producer Ugo Bienvenu, Félix de Givry, Stephen Vuillemin Screenplay Stephen Vuillemin Animation Stephen Vuillemin, Jocelyn Charles, Tom Rameaux, Gabrielle Selnet, Simon Cadilhac Music Qoso Sound Lucien Krampf, Matthieu Gasnier Cast Naomi Yang, Angela Clerkin, Freida Siddall, Aisha Arden, Bethy Read Distribution Manifest, Anaïs Colpin

[tw:]

physical violence

The Beads

Rafaela Camelo, Emanuel Lavor
Brazil, 2023
19:09 Min, Brazilian OV

In a house surrounded by nature, two sisters prepare an abortion without noticing that there is a snake inside.

Director Rafaela Camelo, Emanuel Lavor Producer Daniela Marinho Screenplay Emanuel Lavor Camera Joanna Ramos Editor Henrique Laterza Music Letícia Fialho Sound Lyn Santos, Alexandre Martins Cast Tícia Ferraz, Pâmela Germano Distribution FREAK Agency, Vanesa Toca

[tw:]

abortion

Nun or Never!

Heta Jäälinoja
Finland, 2023
2D, 10:49 Min, no dialogue

The nuns are living together in happy harmony. When one nun finds a man in the garden, the harmony is disrupted and she loses the rhythm with the others. When her dreams do not come true, she finds out that everyone in the community has their own hidden universe.

Director Heta Jäälinoja Producer Jani Lehto Screenplay Heta Jäälinoja Animation Sanni Lahtinen, Roope Heimonen, Heta Jäälinoja Camera Heta Jäälinoja Editor Heta Jäälinoja Music Jukka Herva Sound Jani Lehto Distribution Miyu Distribution, Luce Grosjean

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This year’s festival is again setting a focus on gender diversity and presenting the LUCA Award for the 7th time. In addition to further events on the subject of gender equality and justice, we are also dedicating a programme to the nominated films this year.
In this regard, LUCA is setting a clear example for the acceptance of all genders and sexual orientations, against sexism and all forms of discrimination. The commitment demonstrated here in this form is virtually unique within the festival scene, and especially in the short film area. The nominated films visualise differing ways of living and loving, show the strength of love, acceptance and solidarity, and advocate living self-determined lives. At the same time, stereotyping and various experiences of violence that women* and men* have had, as well as the experiences of people with multiple sexual identities are also thematised.
Representatives from the Saxon Gender Competence Centre, the LAG Jungen- und Männerarbeit Sachsen e. V. boys and men’s advocacy association in Saxony and the LAG Queeres Netzwerk Sachsen e. V. queer Saxon network have acted as a pre-jury and selected the films. They are attending the film discussion after the screening together with the main jury of the LUCA GenderDiversity Film Award and are happy to answer any questions from the audience.

Sophie Koch, Thomas Qiu Hönel and Lei Meng

[tw: fleeing, pornography]

The Dance-off

Nicolás Keller Sarmiento
USA, Argentina, 2023
13 Min, Spanish OV

Deep in a rural town's flatlands, a young queer boy, Ernesto, secretly dreams of becoming a dancer. Mind you, no ‘real’ men dance around here. But it’s only after a magical encounter with a broken-hearted drag queen, Ruby, that Ernesto finds the courage to do so.

Director Nicolás Keller Sarmiento Producer Nicolás Keller Sarmiento, Manuela García Screenplay Nicolás Keller Sarmiento Camera Naicol Perren Editor Rocío Eliges Music Yerba, Sophie Oliver Sound Martín Galimany Cast Valentín Gerez, Nicolás Keller Sarmiento Distribution FilmsToFestivals Distribution Agency, Gisela Chicolino

Videobotschaft zu 266270 El Dance Off

Dreams Like Paper Boats

Samuel Suffren
Haiti, 2024
18:45 Min, Haitian Creole OV
German Premiere

Edouard has been living in Port-au-Prince with just his daughter Zara for five years. Since his wife left, his daughter and he have only received a cassette from her. After years of absence, what can we expect from a distant love?

Director Samuel Suffren Producer Samuel Suffren Screenplay Samuel Suffren Camera Phalonne Pierre Louis Editor Samuel Suffren Music Chorale Les Théophiles, Daphné Menard, Daniel Larivière Sound Pablo Dali Bonnely Cast Kenny Laguerre, Clorette Jacinthe, Zaraina Ruth-Amma Suffren, Auguste Marie Helga Danaica, James Joseph, Daphnée Avril, Robson Marvensky Jean-Louis Still photographer Stherlandy Simon Distribution Square Eyes, Wouter Jansen

[tw:]

fleeing

Paradise Europe

Leandro Goddinho, Paulo Menezes
Germany, Brazil, 2023
17 Min, German, Brazilian, English OV

On the day thousands of people head for the streets protesting against unaffordable rents in Berlin and the abolishment of the rental cap law, a gay Brazilian immigrant who has just been kicked out of his apartment struggles to find a new room as his personal life falls apart together with the city around him.

Director Leandro Goddinho, Paulo Menezes Producer Leandro Goddinho, Paulo Menezes Screenplay Leandro Goddinho, Paulo Menezes Camera Álfgerður Malmquist Editor Carolina Cardoso Sound Nico Fanari Cast Murillo Basso, Greta Amend, Cleo Spiro, Marcio Reolon, Blake Kendall, Dilan GeZaza, Daniel-Ryan Spaulding, Zoe Valentini Distribution Cinema Pósgenero, Leandro Goddinho

[tw:]

pornography

My Orange Garden

Anna-Sophia Richard
Germany, 2023
21:18 Min, Farsi OV

MY ORANGE GARDEN tells the story of the Iranian singer Faravaz Farvardin, who was set to be arrested by the Iranian police for singing in public. The film dives into Faravaz childhood memories and her journey in finally finding her homeland within her own body.

Director Anna-Sophia Richard Producer Dominik Eder, Linda Hartogs Screenplay Anna-Sophia Richard Camera Diara Sow Editor Anselm Koneffke Music Jan Brett, Enrico Cesaro aka Mace Sound Simon Peter Cast Faravaz Farvardin Still photographer Ana Grancho Distribution OKSUPERDANKE, Dominik Eder

Portrait

Grace Louey
United Kingdom, 2023
11:38 Min, English OV
German Premiere

When teenager Siah decides to take a nude selfie, she feels both exhilarated and mature. But when she receives news that her photo has been shared, Siah’s sexual agency all but evaporates before her.

Director Grace Louey Producer Phil Ross, Beier Zhang Screenplay Grace Louey, Nina Street Camera Anant Jain Editor Olutobi Odunubi Music Delyth Field Sound Sicheng Zhao Cast Maria Almeida, Britta Gartner, Coco Wisbey Barbour, Tim Bull, Izabel Bartholomew, Emil Baikousis, Jaz Lowe, Theodore Daniel, Kristal Sisodia, Joshua Eva Still photographer Yingying Zhang Distribution Festival Formula Ltd,

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Short films have the advantage of reacting quickly, experimentally and creatively to the latest political and societal developments. They delve into their subjects, reflecting and mapping them, and always seek new forms of expression doing so. Completely in this sense, the “‘fully political’ – Short Film Award for Democratic Culture” will be conferred on the short film that risk changes of perspective and permits a critical and controversial view of a political subject.
In this way, “fully political” accords consideration to current developments that reveal in numerous places: Politics makes waves, is life, is daily routine. For which reason, political education and information about political systems and developments are required more than ever across broad areas and in numerous – even entertaining – formats. The “‘fully political’ – Short Film Award for Democratic Culture” provides the space and framing required here.
For the second time, the Saxon State Ministry of Justice and for Democracy, Europe and Gender Equality is sponsoring the award. In this way, the democracy ministry is continuing the prize that the Saxon State Centre for Political Education (SLpB) developed and first awarded four years ago.
Five players from the political education and culture field were involved in the viewing and evaluation of the short films. They undertook a preselection of the most interesting films politically speaking from all the competition entries at FILMFEST DRESDEN.
The programme will be followed by a film discussion with filmmakers and members of the preliminary jury, inviting the audience to join in the discussion.

Christina Wittich

[tw: physical violence, psychological violence, ableism]

Basri & Salma in a Never-Ending Comedy

Khozy Rizal
Indonesia, 2023
15 Min, Indonesian OV

A husband and wife together own an Odong-Odong at the carnival, spending their days entertaining other people’s children without any of their own. Between meddling relatives, self-doubt and an explosive confrontation, they uncover why they have not been blessed with a child.

Director Khozy Rizal Producer John Badalu, Sue Turley Screenplay Khozy Rizal Camera Andi Moch Palaguna Editor Khozy Rizal Music Abdul Chaliq DP Sound Sutarjo, Rafiat Arya Cast Arham Rizky Saputra, Rezky Chiki Still photographer Aziziah Dyah Aprilya Distribution Lights On , Flavio Armone

[tw:]

physical violence, psychological violence

Outside

Izabela Plucińska
Poland, Germany, 2023
Drawing, 5 Min, English OV
German Premiere

The coal-drawn film OUTSIDE tells the story of domestic violence.

Director Izabela Plucińska Producer Izabela Plucińska Screenplay Izabela Plucińska Animation Izabela Plucińska Camera Izabela Plucińska Editor Daniela Kinateder Music Andrea Mortignoni Sound Andrea Mortignoni, Michał Krajczok Distribution KFF Sales & Promotion, Marta Świętek

Land of Mountains

Olga Kosanović
Austria, Germany, 2023
28 Min, German, Serbian OV

An insurance scam and the left thumb of single father Vladimir find themselves in a low-key tragedy about the Kafkaesque barriers of Austrian immigration law.

Director Olga Kosanović Producer Deniz Cooper, Rupert Casper, Olga Kosanović Screenplay Olga Kosanović Camera Simone Hart Editor Sebastian Schreiner Sound Flora Rajakowitsch, Theda Schifferdecker, Rudi Pototschnig Cast Vladimir Vulević, Filipa Gregec, Noah Kaufmann, Gerhard Weber, Clemens Berndorff, Gabriele Roller, Anton Noori, Birgit Waite, Julia Edtmeier, Thomas Mraz Distribution Lemonade Films, Marija Milovanovic

Mast-del

Maryam Tafakory
Iran, United Kingdom, 2023
17:17 Min, Farsi, English ST

Two women are lying in bed together. One tells the other the colourful memory of a date with a man in Tehran. Her story is inscribed on the screen via superimpositions of images of embraces and flashes of Iranian films produced after the Islamic revolution.

Director Maryam Tafakory Producer Maryam Tafakory Screenplay Maryam Tafakory Camera anonymous, Maryam Tafakory Editor Maryam Tafakory Music Sarah Davachi Sound Maryam Tafakory, Action Pyramid/Tom Fisher Cast Saba, Fateme, Maryam Distribution Square Eyes, Wouter Jansen

The Master of the Swamps

Sasha Svirsky
Germany, 2023
4:07 Min, Russian OV

The weird heritage of the distant past is haunting us as a crappy horror under its familiar mythologised disguise. And encouraging modern cosplayers to bring this horror into our present.

Director Sasha Svirsky Producer Michail Zygar, Ilya Khrzhanovsky Screenplay Sasha Svirsky Animation Sasha Svirsky Music Jessica Moss Sound Klim Mint Cast Sasha Svirsky Distribution Nadezhda Svirskaya

Big Bang

Carlos Segundo
France, Brazil, 2022
14:09 Min, Brazilian OV

Uberlandia, Brazil. Chico earns his living fixing ovens, which he easily fits into thanks to his small size. Disregarded and marginalised by a society that hates him, Chico begins to resist.

Director Carlos Segundo Producer Cristiano Barbosa, Damien Megherbi, Justin Pechberty Screenplay Carlos Segundo Camera Roberto Chacur Editor Carlos Segundo, Jérôme Bréau Sound Nemer Castro, Antoine Bertucci Cast Giovanni Venturini, Aryadne Amâncio Distribution Les Valseurs, Alexandre Adam

[tw:]

psychological violence, ableism

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The premiere of this year’s SHORT TIGER NEXT GENERATION programme is being held for the fourth time as part of FILMFEST DRESDEN. Already for the 13th time, the FFA funding body and the GERMAN FILMS export body are providing an opportunity to discover extraordinary short films and new cinematic talents.
SHORT TIGER NEXT GENERATION 2024 consists of a selection of the eleven best productions from German film schools and young directors. The jury members Sophie Linnenbaum (director of THE ORDINARIES (2023), winner of the 2017 SHORT TIGER), Alexandra Gramatke (managing director of the Kurzfilm Agentur Hamburg short film agency) and Christian Bräuer (managing director, Yorck-Kino GmbH cinema group) decided on which works to include in this year’s selection.
The aim of the initiative is to strengthen the perception of short film within the public sphere. The filmmakers receive a platform to present their films throughout the year in cinemas here in Germany, as well as at media industry events abroad. We are delighted that numerous filmmakers are attending the screening.
After the premiere, GERMAN FILMS is sending the films on an international tour, with the first stop-off being the Cannes Film Festival in May 2024. The five FFA Short Tiger winners can be booked by German cinemas via the Kurzfilm Agentur Hamburg short film agency.

Sandra Hoff

[tw: abortion, epilepsy, sexualised violence, physical violence, racism]

Copyright: © Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF/Jakob Grasböck

Good for Me

Hannah Wolny
Germany, USA, 2023
14:30 Min, English OV
World Premiere

Jules wants an abortion and is therefore forced to return to her childhood home. The 72 hours between the consultation and the procedure are increasingly filled with her parents’ unspoken questions.

Director Hannah Wolny Producer Fritzie Benesch Screenplay David Starck Camera Jakob Grasböck Editor Daria Wörmann Music Luis Guldzynski Sound Patrick Gasda Cast Acadia Grace Barrengos, Annette Saunders, Jim Babel, Trent Thompson Distribution Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, Clara Miranda-Scherffig

[tw:]

abortion

The Hidden Dimension

Ben Galster
Germany, 2023
4:22 Min, English OV

THE HIDDEN DIMENSION is an intimate portrait of queer photographer Leo Maki. A dreamlike journey into his mind that explores the artist’s life in Poland, the creative process behind his work and the embracing of his own sexuality. (FFA Short Tiger 2024)

Director Ben Galster Producer Julia Groszek, Christian Ruess Screenplay Ben Galster Camera Bernhard Russow Editor David Fabra Music Gordian Gleiß Sound Dennis Beckmann Cast Leo Maki Distribution Studio Christian Ruess, Christian Ruess

[tw:]

epilepsy

Superbuhei

Josef Brandl
Germany, 2023
6:56 Min, no dialogue

Jesse, an unsuccessful bar owner, is afraid. (FFA Short Tiger 2024)

Director Josef Brandl Producer Rike Steyer Screenplay Josef Brandl Camera Fabio Stoll Editor Robert Strauß Music The Düsseldorf Düsterboys, International Music Sound Tobias Zieziula Cast Oliver Korittke, Susanne Bredehoeft, Milton Welsh, Hans-Jürgen Alf Distribution Skalar Film GmbH, Rike Steyer

Copyright: © Silke Schönfeld, Ich darf sie immer alles fragen, 2023, DoP: Tommy Scheer

I May Always Ask Her Anything

Silke Schönfeld
Germany, Netherlands, 2023
15:09 Min, German OV

The cutting down of a cherry tree becomes the starting point for an intimate dialogue about transgenerational trauma between a mother and daughter. The line between the need to investigate and the desire for healing becomes blurred while a persistent camera depicts the felling of the tree. An attempt to find a shared language for the unspeakable consequences of child sexual abuse within one’s own family.

Director Silke Schönfeld Producer Silke Schönfeld Screenplay Silke Schönfeld Camera Silke Schönfeld, Tommy Scheer Editor Silke Schönfeld, Janina Herhoffer Sound Volker Hennes Cast Silke Schönfeld, Helene Fulton Distribution Silke Schönfeld

[tw:]

sexualised violence

Copyright: © Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF/Scarlett Unverricht

The Bard’s Curse

Scarlett Unverricht
Germany, 2023
Digital 2D, 6:28 Min, German OV

Two singers want to enlighten a king’s cold heart... but end up under a curse. (FFA Short Tiger 2024)

Director Scarlett Unverricht Producer Scarlett Unverricht Screenplay Scarlett Unverricht, Angelina Urbanczyk Animation Scarlett Unverricht Editor Scarlett Unverricht, Amèlie Claire Richter Music Jan Mathis Glauser Sound Anastasiia Nasonkina Cast Christa Abels, Jan Mathis Glauser, Fred Costea, Christian Ballhaus Distribution Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, Cristina Marx

[tw:]

physical violence

Sensitive Content

Narges Kalhor
Germany, Iran, 2023
8:50 Min, Farsi OV

Behind the “sensitive content“, behind this symbol of the crossed out eyes, two real eyes have been erased by the violence in the Middle East. This is about the eyewitnesses who don't look away, with their fainting eyes and their trembling hands, recording the “sensitive content“. They are risking their lives, fighting for visibility.

Director Narges Kalhor Producer Nicholas Coleman Screenplay Narges Kalhor Camera People of Iran Editor Narges Kalhor Music Philipp Hutter Sound Philipp Huter, Narges Kalhor Distribution Oasysdigital, Nicholas Coleman

[tw:]

physical violence

Copyright: © Christian Manzke, Sofie Kienzle

Enjoy Your Meal

Sofie Kienzle, Christian Manzke
Germany, 2023
Stop Motion, 2:31 Min, no dialogue

A creature in space overexploits its own planet with existential consequences. (FFA Short Tiger 2024)

Director Sofie Kienzle, Christian Manzke Producer Sofie Kienzle, Christian Manzke Screenplay Sofie Kienzle, Christian Manzke Animation Sofie Kienzle, Christian Manzke Editor Sofie Kienzle, Christian Manzke Sound Sofie Kienzle, Christian Manzke Distribution Sofie Kienzle

Copyright: © University of Television and Film Munich (HFF)

Don’t Let Go

Antonia Lindner
Germany, 2024
13:47 Min, German, Arabic OV

Amir and Anouk are driving home after their first road trip together. High of their love, they feel nothing can ruin their happiness until they are stopped by the police – and nothing is the same ever again.

Director Antonia Lindner Producer Rafael Kousz, Sandra Cavallaro Screenplay Antonia Lindner Camera Philipp Kaiser Editor Antonia Lindner Music Barry Despenza Sound Andreas Goldbrunner Cast Hassan Kello, Flavia Lefèvre, Cornelia von Fürstenberg, Ben Ulrich, Simon Bogocz, Felix Mann Distribution University of Television and Film, Tina Janker

[tw:]

racism

It’s Just a Whole

Bianca Scali
Germany, 2023
10:37 Min, English, French, German OV

As it finally comes, Maya cannot wrap her head around it. A mole - it’s so small, so insignificant, just a mark... How can it be so hard to part from it? Can Maya ever feel whole again when a bit of her is taken away?

Director Bianca Scali Producer Paulina Larson Screenplay Bianca Scali Animation Bianca Scali, Shadab Shayegan, Paulina Larson Camera Markus Ott Editor Revan Sarikaya Music Demian Martin Sound Vincent Egerter Cast Judith Gaillard, Will de Renzy-Martin, Claudia Lietz Distribution Film Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg, Sigrid Gairing

[tw:]

epilepsy

Black Youth

Isaac Martínez
Germany, 2023
4:05 Min, English OV

The story of young BIPoCs coming of age in a western world characterised by white heteronormative people and structures. A coming of age that is characterised by racism, grief, anger, hatred, the resulting violence and exclusion, as well as the confrontation with one’s own identity. (FFA Short Tiger 2024)

Director Isaac Martínez Producer Vincent Riszdorfer, Isaac Martínez Screenplay Isaac Martínez Camera Gilles Bluhm, Vincent Riszdorfer Editor Gilles Bluhm, Max Porsche Music Manuel Mählenhoff Cast Dimitri Abold, Archad Korodowou, Levy Budiaki, Hafid Ayeva Distribution Isaac Martínez

Copyright: © 2023/KHM, Vierbuchen, Pape, Sprenger

Weeding

Franca Pape, Amelie Vierbuchen, Lea Sprenger
Germany, 2023
9:03 Min, German OV

Who decides which stories are saved or discarded? Three filmmakers are searching for archival material on a chemical factory in Cologne. A film about archiving, searching and discarding, about gaps and mistakes, and about the resistance of the material.

Director Franca Pape, Amelie Vierbuchen, Lea Sprenger Producer Franca Pape, Amelie Vierbuchen, Lea Sprenger Screenplay Lea Sprenger, Franca Pape Camera Amelie Vierbuchen, Lea Sprenger, Franca Pape Editor Lea Sprenger, Franca Pape Music Sektfrühstück Sound Lea Sprenger, Franca Pape, Ralf Schipke Distribution Academy of Media Arts, Ute Dilger

[tw:]

epilepsy

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Short film selection process in 2024: 3,200 submissions. 596 car drives, 404 deaths, 420 fathers, 699 mothers, 674 children, 83 cats, 118 times sex, but only 1 tennis match. You just never know what to expect. Now you have an opportunity once more to slip into the skin of our proven selection committee and for a whole evening get to decide by chance in which sequence the films will be viewed.

A Symphony

Fabian Krebs
Czech Republic, Switzerland, 2023
3:56 Min

A rhythmic audio-visual essay about the nature of the industry. Shot on 35mm in a steel factory using original sounds arranged into an audio-visual experience.

Director Fabian Krebs Producer Fabian Krebs, Jitka Hejtmanová Screenplay Fabian Krebs Camera Fabian Krebs Editor Ariana Nasseri Sound Derek Bui, Derek Bui, Derek Bui Distribution Fabian Krebs

A TURTLE IN TEN SECONDS

Rojda Tugrul
Austria, 2023
6 Min

The film focuses on the spatial and memorial transformation of the Tigris and Euphrates in the context of the ongoing war in Kurdistan. It envisions both submerged and emerged elements in relation to the dam projects while the infant turtle moves for ten seconds upside-down in a moment of water turbulence. The still images follow a desire to dilate and conceptualise an endangered species’lifespan.

Director Rojda Tugrul Producer Rojda Tuğrul Screenplay Rojda Tuğrul Animation Rojda Tuğrul Camera Rojda Tuğrul Music Rojda Tuğrul Sound Rojda Tuğrul Distribution ROJDA TUGRUL

Anaklia

Elisa Baccolo
Georgia, Italy, 2022
6:26 Min

Anaklia, a newly built city overlooking the Black Sea at the border with Abkhazia, a formally independent region since 1999, was supposed to become one of Georgia's top tourist resorts. Visitors, however, are welcomed by an unexpected scenery.

Director Elisa Baccolo Producer Vladic Ravich Editor Elisa Baccolo Sound Christian Quadri Distribution Sayonara Film, Adam Selo

In The End

Linda Stūre
Latvia, 2023
5:17 Min

In the deep countryside of Latvia, relatives and neighbors, near and distant, come together to celebrate the last important ritual of human life. A series of events and details reveal a picture where two different eras overlap.

Director Linda Stūre Producer Sabine Andersone Screenplay Linda Stūre Animation Kristīne Zvirbule, Līva Piterāne, Linda Stūre, Vidaga Grīnberga, Liāna Mihailova Editor Linda Stūre Sound Girts Biss Distribution Atom Art, Sabine Andersone

CALF

Jamie O’rourke
Ireland, 2023
14 Min, English

A sinister farm accident leaves Cáit with a terrible decision to make.

Director Jamie O’rourke Producer Jamie O’rourke Distribution PROMOFEST, PROMOFEST PROMOFEST

Cosmic Routine

Agnieszka Kotulska
Poland, 2023
6:37 Min

Looking for an antidote to the surrounding reality, a girl overwhelmed by monotony escapes into the world of 1980s music videos. In an urban landscape filled with neon lights looming in the dark, she will try to breathe life into a world laden with routine.

Director Agnieszka Kotulska Producer Ewa Jastrzebska Distribution Munk Studio - Polish Filmmakers' Association, Michal Hudzikowski

Crossing Signs

Nikola Drvoshanov, Tanja Balac
Macedonia, 2022
7:34 Min

Crossing Signs, through a research-experimental process of physical displacement and moving away from the "known" and plunging into the unknown, deals with the global topic of migrant crises, while referring to the xenophobic rhetoric present in the mainstream media.

Director Nikola Drvoshanov, Tanja Balac Producer Tanja Balac Animation Nikola Drvoshanov Music Lazar Darkovski Sound Lazar Darkovski, Nikola Drvoshanov Distribution Tanja Balac

Crush

Michal Socha, Jakub Socha
Poland, 2022
6:50 Min

An absurd mix of crime and love story. An ambitious thief wants to steal a precious diamond. On his way, he meets competition - a mysterious femme fatale. The rivalry for the diamond slowly turns into a mutual fascination that takes the couple into a world between dream and reality.

Director Michal Socha, Jakub Socha Producer Jakub Karwowski Distribution KFF Sales & Promotion, Marta Swiatek

Doris & Betty - Marbella Mayhem

Ellen Ekman
Sweden, 2023
7:41 Min, Swedish, English

Doris & Betty – retired women enjoying the hard sun on a Spanish beach. Topless, smoking and sipping on cocktails. After complaints from a guest the manager tries to kick them out, but he is in for a surprise.

Director Ellen Ekman Producer Anna Warfvinge Screenplay Ellen Ekman Distribution Nordisk Film, Anna Warfvinge

East London Gorillas

Margaux Lahaye, Romain Pham Roellet
United Kingdom, France, 2023
2:13 Min, English

Uninhibited and dreamlike wanderings of Alien, Warrior and Armor in the queer and creative North and East London, depicting the encounter of alternative fashion with women's rugby: two worlds driven by unique, strong and liberated women.

Director Margaux Lahaye, Romain Pham Roellet Producer Margaux Lahaye Distribution Romain Pham Roellet

FÁR

Gunnur Martinsdóttir Schlüter
Iceland, 2023
5:13 Min

A bird hits a window of a café and disrupts its customers. A woman faces a decision on whether to ignore nature or to react.

Director Gunnur Martinsdóttir Schlüter Producer Rúnar Ingi Einarsson Distribution Salaud Morisset, Francois Morisset

Fin

Max Houtman, Lieke Bezemer
Netherlands, 2023
8:21 Min, Dutch

Teenage friendships that shaped us into who we are today: When the flowering of Sam’s (17) life comes to a sudden halt and the rest of the world continues, he struggles with grief that only his best friend Fin (18) can understand.

Director Max Houtman, Lieke Bezemer Producer Max Grapperhaus Screenplay Lieke Bezemer, Max Houtamn Camera Max Houtamn Editor Erik van der Bijl Music Felix Houtman Sound Zita Leemans, Zeno Hehenkamp Cast Mingus Claessen, Florian Regtien Distribution Max Houtamn

Forgetting Lenin

Einari Paakkanen, Inka Achte
Finland, 2023
5:42 Min, Finnish

For many Finns, Vladimir Lenin is to thank for Finland’s independence from Russia in 1917. But with Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, citizens of a small Finnish town of Kotka near the Russian border, have to re-evaluate their views about the fate of Finland’s last remaining Lenin statue. Is the bronze monument a disgrace, a tourist attraction, art, or all of the above?

Director Einari Paakkanen, Inka Achte Producer Inka Achte, Einari Paakkanen Screenplay Einari Paakkanen Camera Antti Polojärvi Editor Einari Paakkanen Sound Pietu Korhonen Distribution Raina Film Festival Distribution, Andrew Norton

Ghost

Wingyee Wu
Sweden, 2023
5 Min, Cantonese, English

Ghost looks at the relationship between mother and daughter and the prejudice around the ‘Chinese’. Set in 1978, teenage Ying daydreams as she works late at the family’s restaurant, suddenly interrupted by a voice, the restaurant reminds her of her belonging.

Director Wingyee Wu Producer Hedvig Lundgren, Malin Hüber Distribution Her Film, Hedvig Lundgren

From our Side

Simone Massi
Italy, 2022
5 Min, Italian

History flows, the darkness wets our clothes.

Director Simone Massi Producer Francesco Appoggetti Distribution Varicoloured OÜ, Lara Casirati

My Name Is Edgar and I Have a Cow

Filip Diviak
Czech Republic, Slovakia, 2023
7:47 Min, English, Czech

Edgar’s ordinary life is disrupted by a newborn calf he sees on a tourist trip to a slaughterhouse.

Director Filip Diviak Producer Bara Prikaska Screenplay Filip Diviak Editor Filip Diviak Music Vit Pribyla, Filip Diviak Sound Filip Diviak, Vit Pribyla Distribution Luce Grosjean

Karaoke, The End

Muck van Empel
Netherlands, 2023
8:31 Min, Dutch

While LUNA(17) celebrates her graduation at a karaoke bar with her family, she accidentally bumps into her secret online flirt, MICHAEL (37). Her online identity as a mature and seductive woman clashes harshly with the physical world where she is still daddy’s little girl. Faced with this juxtaposition, Luna is forced to decide which woman she is ready to be.

Director Muck van Empel Producer Chantal Bartels Screenplay Inge ter Schure, Muck van Empel Camera Yorrick van der Gugten Editor Nikki Gorissen Music Alex Lodola Sound Zoé Beekes, Eelco Bakker, Nino Frijmersum, Eelco Bakker, Zoé Beekes, Rob Bekhuis Cast Joe Sinduhije, Michaël Bloos, Kees Boot, Max Laros, Frida Heijmen Distribution Chantal Bartels

COMPOSITION OF EXISTING EXPERIENCES

Joanna Szlembarska
Poland, 2023
7:25 Min

The couple spends the night together. The woman moves freely around the apartment, the only interior inaccessible to her is her partner's painting studio. The clean monochromatic interior of the apartment, the abstract blood-colored paintings and the soft morning light are at once filled with calm and uncertainty.

Director Joanna Szlembarska Producer Anna Mroczek Screenplay Joanna Szlembarska Animation Joanna Szlembarska, Anna Polińska Camera Tomasz Sobczak Editor Aleksandra Rosset - Żak Music Joanna Szczesnowicz Sound Joanna Szczesnowicz, Joanna Szczesnowicz, Joanna Szczesnowicz Distribution Likaon, Anna Mroczek

Butterfly

Suncana Brkulj
Croatia, Denmark, 2024
8:07 Min

A community of garden creatures all contribute to the flow of life, using water from a fountain. When a butterfly gets stuck in the fountain, they’re faced with an unfamiliar situation.

Director Suncana Brkulj Producer Drasko Ivezic Screenplay Suncana Brkulj Animation Claudia Munskgaard Palmqvist, Suncana Brkulj Music Sofie Birch Sound Lukas Engelbreckt Jorgensen, Alfred Bundgaard, Thomas Richard Christensen Distribution Bonobostudio, Vanja Andrijevic

Life after death

Daniel Popovic
Serbia, 2023
3:58 Min

How does AI experience life after death?

Director Daniel Popovic Producer Daniel Popovic Distribution Daniel Popovic, Daniel Popovic

Holes

Sofiya Kruglikova
Slovenia, 2022
6:38 Min, Slovenian

Loneliness. Strong wind and aurora. What do you feel when you listen to the ocean or when an aurora takes you towards the storm? Fear? Are you losing yourself in this crazy environment? Can you eventually become a part of the whole universe and leave everything behind?

Director Sofiya Kruglikova Producer Sofiya Kruglikova Screenplay Sofiya Kruglikova, Uros Jarc Animation Sofiya Kruglikova Camera Sofiya Kruglikova Editor Sofiya Kruglikova Music Oskar Cafnik Sound Oskar Cafnik, Oskar Cafnik, Oskar Cafnik Cast Sofiya Kruglikova Distribution Sofiya Kruglikova

MEDUSA

Makis Kyriakopoulos
Greece, 2023
7:36 Min, English

I struggle with altered human bodies that are fighting to establish dominance in a battle where a mutated value system of inequality, militarization, hostility, and terror prevails. It's a repetitive process of sinking and resurfacing into desires, fears, emotions, and relationships of violence that structure the global hierarchy and draw from colonization.

Director Makis Kyriakopoulos Producer Makis Kyriakopoulos Distribution ARTIST, Makis Kyriakopoulos

Meet Daniel

Aris Katsigiannis
Greece, 2023
5:29 Min, Swahili

If you were born there, who would you be? Daniel speaks about his Maasai culture, beliefs, marriage, circumcision and unity. Learn the value of equality through a young Maasai who does not see colour or religion but unity and oneness.

Director Aris Katsigiannis Producer Elena Domazaki Screenplay Aris Katsigiannis Camera Aris Katsigiannis Editor Til Katsigiannis Sound Helen Kavouki Cast Daniel Distribution Festival Formula Ltd

Metamorphosis

Hannaleena Heiska
Finland, 2022
7:39 Min

What happens when the audience and staff have left and the art begins to live its own life? The work suggests indulging in a viewing experience and surrendering to the introduction of non-verbal narration.

Director Hannaleena Heiska Producer Minna Tervamäki Screenplay Hannaleena Heiska, Minna Tervamäki Editor Oskar Franzén Sound Timo Kaukolampi, Minna Tervamäki, Hannaleena Heiska Cast Minna Tervamäki Distribution AV-arkki - Centre for Finnish Media Art, Tytti Rantanen

Miisufy

Liisi Grünberg
Estonia, 2023
10:30 Min, English

Digital pet cat Miisu gets tired of her owner and starts to revolt. Inspired by Tamagotchi, Miisufy observes the world through the eyes of digital pets.

Director Liisi Grünberg Producer Aurelia Aasa Screenplay Aurelia Aasa Animation Hleb Kuftseryn Music Aigar Vals Sound Martin Kikas, Aigar Vals Cast Maria Ehrenberg Distribution AAA Creative, Aurelia Aasa

Drawn Out

Iskander Mos
Netherlands, 2023
2:15 Min

Yara (13) a shy artist with a special gift for drawing discovers her creations hold remarkable power, inspiring her to stand up against her tyrannical teacher.

Director Iskander Mos Producer Akis Karamanlis Screenplay Rosa Sanne de Jong Animation Leihko Groenewoud, Tom Beukers, Tamara Hooijmans, Mauran Peters, Yessie Blaas, Rik Schlimbach, Iskander Mos, Yegane Mastouri, Kotryna Urbanaviciute, Lois Dobbelaar, Bastiaan Leopold, Sterre de Wit, Olaf van Egmond Music Rosa Sanne de Jong Sound Jeroen Nadorp Distribution Kaboom Distribution, Ursula van den Heuvel

A New Beginning

Daniel Szajdek
Poland, 2022
7:18 Min, Polish

Three brothers run a funeral home they inherited from their father. When a small girl shows up claiming she’s a reincarnation of their dad, it brings the brothers together gradually.

Director Daniel Szajdek Producer Wojciech Kałużyński Screenplay Katarzyna Surma, based on Idea by Daniel Szajdek Animation Albert Wallin Camera Rafał Moczulski, Jacek Kowalczyk Editor Anna Maria Filipow Music Albert Wallin Sound Wojciech Chudziński, Wojciech Chudziński, Wojciech Chudziński Cast Wojciech Kałużyński, Remigiusz Fabich, Michał Surma, Maja Woźnica Distribution - -

Plica polonica

Agata Tracevič
Lithuania, 2023
7:41 Min, Lithuanian, Polish

Plica polonica is a disease people used to believe in. It makes human hair uncombable. The main character of the film- a young girl- feels tangled and stuck. Therefore, she goes on a search for answers to the most matted of them all- the infamous Baba Yaga.

Director Agata Tracevič Producer Agata Tracevič Animation Agata Tracevič Sound Ūla Janulytė Distribution Agata Tracevič

PLSTC

Laen Sanches
France, 2022
1:37 Min

Welcome to the world of PLSTC, an undersea dystopia that submerges you in the disturbing reality of plastic pollution. Through a series of graphically confronting AI-generated and hand-composited images, this animated film confronts you with the devastating consequences of our habits on marine life and leaves you gasping for breath.

Director Laen Sanches Producer Nicolas Schmerkin, Laen Sanches Distribution Miguel Español

Prelude

Eginhartz Kantner
Austria, 2022
3:21 Min

A staccato of light flashes breaks through the darkness of the night. For a brief moment, the past becomes visible.

Director Eginhartz Kantner Producer Eginhartz Kantner Distribution Sixpackfilm, Gerald Weber

Prison is Cool

Elya Randrianaivo
USA, France, 2023
4:29 Min, English

A white supremacist looks back on his time in prison, seeking to make amends.

Director Elya Randrianaivo Producer Elya Randrianaivo Distribution NewBorn Short Film Agency, Dimitris Argyriou

Withdrawn from Political Reasons (Signatory of Strike Germany) – Quadrant

Slava Doytcheva

The filmmakers chose to withdraw their film in support of Strike Germany and in solidarity with Palestine. We respect their decision and will not replace the film in the programme. https://strikegermany.org/

Director Slava Doytcheva

Human Resources

Isaac Wenzek, Trinidad Plass Caussade, Titouan Tillier
France, 2023
3:30 Min, French

Seriously, who came up with the brilliant idea of introducing "human resources"? Simply smart to call employees in the 21st century what they are traded as under capitalism.

Director Isaac Wenzek, Trinidad Plass Caussade, Titouan Tillier Producer Cécile Proust Distribution Miyu Distribution, Luce Grosjean

Shaptach

Mladen Đukić
2023
3:45 Min

Contemplating a conflict and its potential outcomes.

Director Mladen Đukić Producer Mladen Đukić Screenplay Mladen Đukić Animation Mladen Đukić Camera Mladen Đukić Editor Mladen Đukić Sound Predrag Blagojević, Predrag Blagojević Distribution Mladen Đukić

Skin Beneath Sand

Katy Alberdingk Thijm
Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, 2023
4:55 Min

On a hot summer day Agnes and Lisa head to the sea. Soon the sharp sea breeze seems to expose the cold sides of their warm-hearted bond. In a silent battle, boundaries between tenderness and aggression, admiration and envy disappear, while nature and persona merge symbiotically.

Director Katy Alberdingk Thijm Producer Katy Alberdingk Thijm Screenplay Katy Alberdingk Thijm Camera Godefroy Editor Anneliek Noordermeer Music Fons Beijer Sound Becca Reyes, Jurriaan Kruithof, Jurriaan Kruithof Cast Luna De Boos, Alina Pilecka Distribution Katy Alberdingk Thijm

SPOTNOK'S MOTEL

Anes Dhif, Tom Deplagne, Mathieu Dubo
France, 2022
4:08 Min

A fictional story set in a motel: We see what's going on in the motel through the vision of a beast wandering through the air ducts, wandering from room to room.

Director Anes Dhif, Tom Deplagne, Mathieu Dubo Producer Anes Dhif, Mathieu Dubo, Tom Deplagne Screenplay Anes Dhif, Tom Deplagne, Mathieu Dubo Camera Anes Dhif, Mathieu Dubo, Tom Deplagne Editor Mathieu Dubo, Tom Deplagne, Anes Dhif Sound Tom Deplagne, Tom Deplagne Distribution Anes Dhif

Piece by Piece

Reza Rasouli
Austria, 2023
8:58 Min, German

Two teenage friends are roaming the neighborhood together and are having a conversation. The boy asks his friend about her headscarf, as a joke he rips it off her head and drives away. Afraid of the consequences of being seen, the girl runs after him. The unusual chase leads the two of them to new insights and a bit more openness.

Director Reza Rasouli Producer Reza Rasouli Screenplay Reza Rasouli Camera Jonathan Meiri Editor Reza Rasouli Music Brambels Sound Nima Momtaz, Elisabeth Jakobi Cast Alessandro Fraissl, Alara Yilmaz Distribution LEMONADE FILMS

The Artificial Conjuring Circle

Sofia Braga
Austria, 2023
5:14 Min, English

An AI-generated short film, depicting an era of collaboration between humans and non-humans towards earthly survival. Within an artificial scenario, where even the subtitles elude comprehension, we bear witness to the process of human reprogramming.

Director Sofia Braga Producer Sofia Braga Screenplay Sofia Braga Editor Sofia Braga Sound Sofia Braga, Sofia Braga, Sofia Braga Distribution LEMONADE FILMS

Lollipop

Sameli Muurimäki
Finland, 2023
7:31 Min, Finnish

Lollipop is an absurdly humoristic film about the price of principles when a famous rapper meets his obsessed fangirl at a low-budget music video shoot. The film is a part of The Hotel Room -short film series, in which all eight stories are set in the same room and told by different up-and-coming filmmakers.

Director Sameli Muurimäki Producer Janne Lähteenmäki Screenplay Susanna Karttunen Camera Miikka Pakarinen Editor Julia Matinniemi Music Tatu Viitanen Sound Tatu Viitanen Cast Vilma Sippola, Elsi Sloan, Chike Ohanwe Distribution Aalto University, ARTS,ELO Film School Finland, Saara Toivanen

Thunder Story

Margaret Emdal
Norway, 2023
4:52 Min

On a field a scarecrow is standing, singing out loud to scare the birds. The birds want to eat the creatures living on the ground. A woman comes in, bringing thunder and rain. She steals the hat and the coat from the scarecrow, and walks away. The birds now have a free way to eat the creatures on the ground.

Director Margaret Emdal Producer Margaret Emdal Screenplay Margaret Emdal Animation Margaret Emdal Music Steinar Starholm Sound Steinar Starholm, Steinar Starholm, Steinar Starholm Distribution Margaret Emdal Film+Design, Margaret Emdal

X or Y or Z

Mirelle Borra
Germany, Netherlands, 2023
7:17 Min, English

An online-sourced video collage that conflates experiences by multiracial people dealing with issues such as tokenism, racial imposter syndrome, and cultural appropriation. One among other questions the work poses, is our group membership - either self-categorised or chosen by others - considered to be more important in deciding who we are than our own agency as individuals?

Director Mirelle Borra Producer Mirelle Borra Distribution Mirelle Borra

Y

Matea Kovač
Croatia, 2023
6:33 Min, Croatian

An empty paper depicts a struggle between artistic composition and decomposition as the voice of the narrator-protagonist reminisces about her tumultuous relationship with a former girlfriend.

Director Matea Kovač Producer Vinko Brešan Screenplay Matea Kovač Animation Matea Kovač, Kata Gugić, Darko Bakliza Editor Matea Kovač Sound Vjeran Salamon Cast Jadranka Đokić Distribution Ustanova Zagreb film, Sanja Borcic

Bluebird in the Wind

Ellis Kayin Chan
Hong Kong, Spain, 2023
4:41 Min, Mandarin

In a dream-like landscape, a girl journeys through her past and present in search of her own Bluebird. Is she pursuing a mere shadow, or has this Bluebird long been soaring within her heart?

Director Ellis Kayin Chan Producer Ellis Kayin Chan Screenplay Ellis Kayin Chan Animation Ellis Kayin Chan Music Jérémy Ben Ammar Sound Jérémy Ben Ammar, Jérémy Ben Ammar Distribution Ellis Kayin CHAN

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Attention all explorers and adventurers! Join us on a fun trip through the world of our heroes, where there is a lot to discover in addition to original songs and brave rubber boots. With all the hustle and bustle, being a community and having fun are of course at the very top of the programme. So go grab your friends and delve with us into the lives of your favourite animals and even get ready to meet one or two fantasy creatures!
5 to 8 years old, German OV/no dialogue

Mind the Puddle!

Sebastian Stoer, Alice von Gwinner
Germany, 2023
4:05 Min, German OV

Rubber boot Torf will not admit that he is afraid of a big puddle. Luckily, the brave unicorn boots Tunk and Chuva share their unique skill to cross the waters without getting muddy.

Director Sebastian Stoer, Alice von Gwinner Producer Robert Schröder Screenplay Sebastian Stoer, Alice von Gwinner Animation Daniela Benedix, Alexandra Räbner Music Jérôme Navet-Cintract Sound Patrick Becker Cast Sebastian Stoer, Thorsten Giese, Thomas Dehler, Luise Georgi, Victoria Schätzle Distribution Lumalenscape GmbH, Robert Schröder

Pufferfish

Julia Ocker
Germany, 2022
3:37 Min, no dialogue

In an ocean full of big, bad fish, the pufferfish is trying to seem as big and strong as possible.

Director Julia Ocker Producer Thomas Meyer-Hermann Screenplay Julia Ocker Animation Sofiia Melnyk Music Christian Heck Sound Christian Heck Distribution Studio Film Bilder GmbH, Bianca Just

Battery Mommy

Seungbae Jeon
South Korea, 2023
8:35 Min, Korean OV

Battery Mommy works at various stuffs such as soap bubble guns, cameras, and thermometers in the nursery. During the children's nap time of one winter day, Battery Mommy finds out the Christmas tree in the nursery is on fire. At the moment, she urgently runs to the fire alarm to safely rescue sleeping children.

Director Seungbae Jeon Producer Seungbae Jeon Screenplay Seungbae Jeon Animation Seunga Seo Camera Seungbae Jeon Editor Insuk Kang, Seungbae Jeon Music Yerhyun Jung Sound Sangwon Lee Cast Soojung Lee, Jeongah Park Distribution KIAFA AniSEED, Jinsan Kim

The Bridge

Sohyun Kim
South Korea, 2023
5:47 Min, no dialogue
German Premiere

High on the cliffs in the peaceful forest, Golem opens its eyes. Then accidentally, Golem becomes a bridge for the forest animals to travel between the cliffs. One day, the event happens.

Director Sohyun Kim Producer Sohyun Kim, Minjeong Lim Screenplay Sohyun Kim, Jeong Lim Min Animation Sohyun Kim, Juyeong Kim, Eunbi Rho Editor Sohyun Kim, Juyeong Kim Music Junsoon Park, Yeong Choi In Sound Sohyun Kim, Juyeong Kim, Eunbi Rho Distribution KIAFA AniSEED, Jinsan Kim

Forever Seven

Antje Heyn, Alexander Isert
Germany, 2024
9:26 Min, German OV
German Premiere

Mouse doesn't have any idea what treasure awaits him when he stumbles across an abandoned box. Then it is Croc who makes it his own. And then there are Moggy, Dachshund, Frog, Snail and Porker who get into its possession as well – only to find out that the box cannot be possessed. Or in a different way than they thought.

Director Antje Heyn, Alexander Isert Producer Antje Heyn Screenplay Sabine Büchner Animation Alexander Isert, Leia Brunner, Anna-Lena Remme, Carlotta Steckner Music Peer Kleinschmidt Sound Joh Weisgerber, Anna Dorothee von Hammerstein Cast Alexis Krüger Distribution Fabian&Fred, Fabian Driehorst

Ballad of Cake

Meike Fehre
Germany, 2022
3:58 Min, German OV

It's the little green cactus's birthday and Charlie bakes him a cake. But fresh out of the oven, someone has already had a bite of the cake. Charlie sets out to find the culprit by comparing the different bite marks of the forest dwellers.

Director Meike Fehre Producer Meike Fehre, Nina Paysen Screenplay Bertolt Brecht, Geoffrey Schöning Animation Vera Lalyko Music Kurt Weill Sound Darius Shahidifar, Christian Riegel Cast Thomas Neubauer, Lina Denis Distribution Meta Media Entertainment, Sara Cooper

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May we warmly welcome you on a magical journey full of fantastic creatures, magic and funny situations. Get ready for tiny flying agents and solve the mystery of the mixed-up shadows and missing socks together with our protagonists. And who knows – with a bit of luck, you might even meet a real witch.
8 to 11 years old, OV with German live voice-over

Sparrow‘s Brains

Arun Leander Boudodimos
Germany, 2023
2 Min, no dialogue
World Premiere

Visitors to the park frequently leave a few morsels behind – much to the delight of the sparrows. However, the sparrows are not content with mere meager crumbs. They aim to pilfer entire meals from unsuspecting humans. Their special mission comes with top secret sparrowcifications and requires cutting-edge sparweilance technology.

Director Arun Leander Boudodimos Producer Arun Leander Boudodimos Screenplay Arun Leander Boudodimos Animation Arun Leander Boudodimos Editor Arun Leander Boudodimos Music Steven E. Müller, Fabian Zeidler Sound Noël Riedel, Lambert Regel Distribution Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, Cristina Marx

Hex Papa, Hex!

Leonard Carow
Germany, 2023
20:09 Min, German OV

When Marie’s father suddenly becomes a witch both of them have to learn what it means to use his abilities for the good.

Director Leonard Carow Producer Mascha Albl Screenplay Leonard Carow Camera Samuel Ramm Editor Christoph Bargfrede Music Leonard Carow Sound Matthias Sänger Cast Simon Steinhorst, Freda Wilhelm Still photographer Maria Sturm Distribution Albl & Wieden GbR, Mascha Albl

Desert Critter

Lina Walde
Germany, 2023
7:54 Min, German OV

The Desert Critter cast the shadow of a palm tree. Isn’t that wrong? No other animal has such an annoying shadow. A poetic reflection on identity and the friendship between 2 animals regardless of their species.

Director Lina Walde Producer Lina Walde, Ines Christine Geißer Screenplay Lina Walde Animation Lina Walde, Alma Weber, Eunju Ara Choi, Theresa Grysczok, Davi Saveedra, Anna Wolf Editor Lina Walde Music Lina Walde, Paul Thiesen Sound Lina Walde, Michał Krajczok Cast Sonngard Dressler Distribution Lina Walde

The Mystery of Missing Socks

Oskar Lehemaa
Estonia, 2023
Classical Puppet, 18:55 Min, Estonian OV

Little Pille goes to find her father’s missing socks under the bed, to a fantastical world of forgotten things. There she finds that dad’s socks have laid an egg! Now Pille must protect the socks from danger until the tiny egg can hatch.

Director Oskar Lehemaa Producer Kristel Tõldsepp Screenplay Andrus Kivirähki Camera Raivo Möllits Music Rihards Zalupe Distribution A Film Estonia, Kristel Tõldsepp

Noodles au Naturel

Matteo Salanave Piazza
France, 2023
4:15 Min, French OV
German Premiere

In the pool changing room, Anthony realizes he has forgotten to bring his bathing trunks. Swimming class is about to begin, and he needs to find a solution.

Director Matteo Salanave Piazza Producer Annick Teninge Screenplay Matteo Salanave Piazza Animation Matteo Salanave Piazza Editor Antoine Rodet Music Roméo Monteiro Sound Roméo Monteiro Cast Louison Mirabel Prat, Eden Hamadouche, Souren Stepanian, Luc Chareyron Distribution La Poudrière, Annick Teninge

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Being friendly and sharing, admitting mistakes, overcoming prejudices and staying true to yourself – this is not always easy. But with creativity, communications and a degree of courage, success is achievable, as the protagonists in our film selection prove. So trust yourself and come to our exciting and entertaining short film programme to discover how courage is good for you!
10 to 13 years old, OV with German live voice-over

Lotus

Ollie Wolf
United Kingdom, 2023
9:12 Min, English OV

A hot summer’s day in London. Frankie (13) watches a local bike crew from her balcony and suddenly longs to experience the freedom of riding. So she spontaneously steals a bike from the group. Only trouble is, she doesn’t know how to ride it…

Director Ollie Wolf Producer Ellis Fox Screenplay Ollie Wolf Camera Robbie Bryant Editor Matt Nee, Amber Saunders Music M Beat Sound Lucas Trigg Cast Aliyah Sesay, Buddy Skelton, Rashaan Asante, Funke Adeleke, Abass, Marco, Ebi, Natalie Durkin, Lauren Corah Phillips, Ashonte Ferguson Distribution Ollie Wolf

Coot

Marlies van der Wel
Netherlands, 2023
2:15 Min, no dialogue
German Premiere

A coot and a ferry skipper peacefully coexist along a city river. Their harmony is disrupted when a new bridge emerges, causing the skipper to lose all his passengers overnight. Fortunately, the bird, typically engrossed in nest-building, unexpectedly becomes the link that revitalizes the ferry’s purpose.

Director Marlies van der Wel Producer Gijs Kerbosch, Guusje van Deuren, Ingmar Conjarts Screenplay Marlies van der Wel Animation Tessa Stehouwer, Heleen Protheine, Amanda Nedermeijer, Lieke Milder, Sjoerd Olislager Editor Ben Harrex Music Sjam Sjamsoedin, Stan Koch Sound Sharkee HaaiFaai Deluxe Distribution Kaboom Distribution, Ursula van den Heuvel

Peaches

Justine Prince
Canada, 2023
18:05 Min, French, Romanian OV
German Premiere

Julia and Raphaëlle are the best at killing time together. Between walking their blind neighbor’s dogs and finishing their music video before Raph returns to Romania, they unconsciously grow apart. This nostalgic semi-autobiographical story recounts the last moments of the inevitable and awkward summer between childhood and adolescence.

Director Justine Prince Producer Justine Prince Screenplay Justine Prince Camera Cloé Lafortune Editor Alexis Viau Music Antoine Lamothe Sound Christophe Voyer Cast Paris Maria Farago, Siham Kortas, Stella Stirano Distribution La Distributrice de films, Serge Abiaad

#DoudouChallenge

Marine Benabdallah-Crolais, Julie Majcher, Scott Pardailhé-Galabrun, Alexandra Delaunay-Fernandez, Noémie Segalowicz, Sixtine Emerat
France, 2023
6:16 Min, French OV
German Premiere

On the road to her family vacation, Olivia, a 10-year old girl hooked on her phone and social media, is abandoned by her parents in a highway service area. Alone with her plushie, he tries to get her off her phone to play, but things take an unexpected turn!

Director Marine Benabdallah-Crolais, Julie Majcher, Scott Pardailhé-Galabrun, Alexandra Delaunay-Fernandez, Noémie Segalowicz, Sixtine Emerat Producer Philippe Meis Screenplay Julie Majcher Animation Alexandra Delaunay-Fernandez, Sixtine Emerat, Marine Benabdallah-Crolais Editor Noémie Segalowicz Music Axel Guenoun, Milan Gombert, Filiz Tran Sound Adrien Jesupret, Valérian Cornuaille, Louis Deurre Cast Maxime Jolly, Valentine de Vos, Ambroise, Julie Majcher Distribution Je Regarde, Patrick De Carvalho

The Dance-off

Nicolás Keller Sarmiento
USA, Argentina, 2023
13 Min, Spanish OV

Deep in a rural town's flatlands, a young queer boy, Ernesto, secretly dreams of becoming a dancer. Mind you, no ‘real’ men dance around here. But it’s only after a magical encounter with a broken-hearted drag queen, Ruby, that Ernesto finds the courage to do so.

Director Nicolás Keller Sarmiento Producer Nicolás Keller Sarmiento, Manuela García Screenplay Nicolás Keller Sarmiento Camera Naicol Perren Editor Rocío Eliges Music Yerba, Sophie Oliver Sound Martín Galimany Cast Valentín Gerez, Nicolás Keller Sarmiento Distribution FilmsToFestivals Distribution Agency, Gisela Chicolino

Videobotschaft zu 266270 El Dance Off

Bloom

Michael Dämmig
Germany, 2023
3:53 Min, no dialogue

Life isn‘t equally sunny for all: Karl, a tree less fortunate than the trees around him, finds a chance for social acceptance in a fallen mango. But thanks to a cheeky little monkey, Karl realizes what truly makes him happy.

Director Michael Dämmig Producer Luisa Beuschlein Screenplay Stefan Dämmig, Michael Dämmig Animation Michael Dämmig Camera Pasindu Goldmann, Michael Dämmig Editor Michael Dämmig Music Fabian Zeidler Sound Marius Schaaf, Holger Buff Distribution ifs Internationale Filmschule Köln gGmbH, Monika Bremen

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Song of Life

Luise Niklisch
Germany, Cut-out, 2:36 Min, English OV

Lets follow the sound of nature!

Director Luise Niklisch Animation Luise Niklisch Editor Stefan Urlaß Music Luise Niklisch Distribution Fantasia Dresden e. V., Stefan Urlaß

How to Eat Animals

Wieland Zimmermann, Ferdinand Zimmermann
Germany, Cartoon, 1 Min, no dialogue

A food chain story

Director Wieland Zimmermann, Ferdinand Zimmermann Animation Wieland Zimmermann, Ferdinand Zimmermann Editor Stefan Urlaß Music Frieder Zimmermann Distribution Fantasia Dresden e. V., Stefan Urlaß

Pigs

Wojciech Zyga
Poland, Cartoon, Cut-out, 1:13 Min, no dialogue

A point of no return

Director Wojciech Zyga Animation Wojciech Zyga Editor Maria Schmidt Music Sławomir Kandziora Distribution Fantasia Dresden e. V., Stefan Urlaß

The Squirrel Feeds Laboriously

Margarita Zimmermann
Germany, Cut-out, Clay, 1:50 Min, no dialogue

An old saying repackaged

Director Margarita Zimmermann Animation Margarita Zimmermann Editor Stefan Urlaß Music Frieder Zimmermann Distribution Fantasia Dresden e. V., Stefan Urlaß

My Story

Kateryna Husak
Poland, Cut-out, 1:35 Min, English OV

Kateryna`s story about how she losts the peace.

Director Kateryna Husak Animation Kateryna Husak Editor Maria Schmidt Music Sławomir Kandziora Distribution Fantasia Dresden e. V., Stefan Urlaß

The Show Must Not Go On

Jette Steindecker
Germany, Clay, 2:15 Min, no dialogue

A story of friendship and freedom

Director Jette Steindecker Animation Jette Steindecker Editor Stefan Urlaß Music Frieder Zimmermann Distribution Fantasia Dresden e. V., Stefan Urlaß

Luminous Bonds

Helena Lange, Lotte Liebschner
Germany, Puppets, 2:34 Min, no dialogue

A small light is just enough to make the darkness disappear.

Director Helena Lange, Lotte Liebschner Animation Helena Lange, Lotte Liebschner Editor Stefan Urlaß Music Markus Pötschke Distribution Fantasia Dresden e. V., Stefan Urlaß

Love Bum

Roman Litwinowicz
Ukraine, Cartoon, 1:31 Min, no dialogue

Only a cool mind can face the danger.

Director Roman Litwinowicz Animation Roman Litwinowicz Editor Stefan Urlaß Music Markus Pötschke Distribution Fantasia Dresden e. V., Stefan Urlaß

Gone with the Crowd

Maciej Sadowski
Poland, Cartoon, 3D, 2 Min, no dialogue

You always have a choice.

Director Maciej Sadowski Animation Maciej Sadowski Editor Maciej Sadowski Music Johannes Gerstengarbe Distribution Fantasia Dresden e. V., Stefan Urlaß

Agent G

Wenzel Schöne
Germany, Cartoon, 1:39 Min, no dialogue

Discover Your special talent!

Director Wenzel Schöne Animation Wenzel Schöne Editor Wenzel Schöne Music Sławomir Kandziora Distribution Fantasia Dresden e. V., Stefan Urlaß

Special Gift

Kateryna Kravets
Ukraine, Puppets, 1:47 Min, no dialogue

Stop the insatiable!

Director Kateryna Kravets Animation Kateryna Kravets Editor Maria Schmidt Music Johannes Gerstengarbe Distribution Fantasia Dresden e. V., Stefan Urlaß

Thick-skinned

Minou Kropp, Laura Neumann
Germany, Clay, 1:48 Min, no dialogue

Do we want to look to the future, just because we can?

Director Minou Kropp, Laura Neumann Animation Minou Kropp, Laura Neumann Editor André Schmidt Distribution Fantasia Dresden e. V., Stefan Urlaß

As Long as I Breathe

Sophia Eberl
Germany, Cut-out, Sand, 1:22 Min, no dialogue

Air for/is gone.

Director Sophia Eberl Animation Sophia Eberl Editor André Schmidt Distribution Fantasia Dresden e. V., Stefan Urlaß

The Lucky Child

Tetje, Toska
Germany, Cut-out, 1:26 Min, no dialogue

Just a little luck – is this enough for the future?

Director Tetje, Toska Animation Tetje, Toska Editor André Schmidt Distribution Fantasia Dresden e. V., Stefan Urlaß

Hin und weg

Kurz.Film.Club. des FILMFEST DRESDEN
Germany, 2023
8:35 Min, German OV

Director Kurz.Film.Club. des FILMFEST DRESDEN Music Gunnar Olsen, Kevin MacLeod Cast Arina, Arthur, Frederik, Frida, Friedrich, Leonard, Lotta, Nele, Pepe

<

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Do you know the feeling of wanting to change something, but the fear of the unknown makes you doubt yourself? In our captivating short film programme, we focus on aspects of change – be that through the ongoing changes in our environment, the development of interpersonal relationships, or personal conflicts triggered by fear and the urge for freedom. Join us on this journey with an array of stories and be inspired to see change as an opportunity!
13 to 16 years old, OV with German live voice-over

Bird & Shadow

Hyo-Ryeong Lee
South Korea, 2023
3:06 Min, no dialogue
German Premiere

The bird and the shadow are born between god’s hands. God asks the shadow to never let go of the bird’s feet. The shadow feels guilty seeing how the bird aspires to fly away. The shadow agonizes between restraint and liberation.

Director Hyo-Ryeong Lee Producer Hyo-Ryeong Lee Music Johannes Bornlof Distribution KIAFA AniSEED, Jinsan Kim

The Report Card

Myo-gyeoung Kim
South Korea, 2023
17:24 Min, Korean OV
World Premiere

Won-kyung cannot take her report card to her mother.

Director Myo-gyeoung Kim Producer Myo-gyeoung Kim Distribution INDIESTORY INC., Dohee Kim

Last Days of Summer

Stenzin Tankong
France, India, 2023
15 Min, Ladakhi OV

A recurring mysterious sound from mountains in the Himalaya is heard only by two curious young shepherds. Unable to convince the villagers of the scary nature of such sound, they journey into the unknown to unravel the mystery.

Director Stenzin Tankong Producer Flore Cavigneaux, Jérôme Blesson Screenplay Jigmet Wangchuk, Stenzin Tankong Camera Jigmet Wangchuk Editor Stenzin Tankong Music Andrea Boccadoro Sound Gilles Bénardeau, Bigyna Dahal Cast Tsewang Chodak, Stanzin Thupstan, Padma Angmo Distribution La Belle Affaire Productions, Jérôme Blesson

Plasticized

Marie Braun
Germany, 2023
Cartoon, 2:21 Min, no dialogue

One poison coming in from industry will once be found inside our food.

Director Marie Braun Animation Marie Braun Editor Marie Braun Music Creation Distribution Fantasia Dresden e. V., Stefan Urlaß

Crab

Piotr Chmielewski
Poland, France, 2022
Stop Motion, 8:42 Min, no dialogue

Animals are our silent companions; they have witnessed the greatest achievements and most horrible failures of humankind. They live their lives parallel to ours – they are our food, our tools or, in the best case, we just don’t notice them. Usually our victory means death for them, but there are moments where the situation changes.

Director Piotr Chmielewski Producer Wojciech Leszczyński, Anna Mroczek, Justyna Rucińska Screenplay Piotr Chmielewski Animation Sandra Mazur, Catherine Bossy, Piotr Chmielewski, Paulina Szewczyk Camera Tomasz Sobczak Editor Gabriel Goubet Music Wojtek Urbański Sound Piotr Kubiak Distribution KFF Sales & Promotion, Katarzyna Wilk

QA zu 265824 Crab

Red Cassete

Víctor Bastidas
France, Colombia, 2023
14:42 Min, Spanish OV
German Premiere

A young girl wants to dance reggaetón and her father won’t let her.

Director Víctor Bastidas Producer Víctor Bastidas Screenplay Víctor Bastidas Camera Aaron Meister Editor Sebastian Freire Sound Antonio Ponce de León Cast Livis Leon Segovia, Roamir Pineda, Suleydis Hernández Herrera, Luis Tapia Distribution Films on the Road, Víctor Palacios

<

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Regardless of who we are or where we come from – we are all surrounded by the pressures of family life or social expectations and norms, or feel we are trapped in entrenched power structures. Experience how our roots and traditions shape our identity and our understanding of sexuality and attachment and gets to know strong protagonists who manage to break out of these rigid patterns and develop themselves individually!
From 16 years old, OV with English ST

In a Drop

Valeria Weerasinghe
Italy, 2023
8 Min, no dialogue

Split between two cultures, a young girl falls into an imaginary jungle to escape her daily life. Guided by a drop, she finds herself in front of her roots and realises her heritage will forever be an important part of her identity.

Director Valeria Weerasinghe Producer Adam Selo, Olga Torrico Screenplay Valeria Weerasinghe Animation Inês Delicioso, Hsin Hua Hsieh, Jodi Lai Editor Valeria Weerasinghe Music Gus Nicholson Sound Francesco Fusaro Distribution Sayonara Film, Adam Selo

Halfway House

Konstantin Münzel
Germany, 2024
22:30 Min, German OV

A facility for juvenile offenders in the middle of the Black Forest. Physical labor, military structures, circuit training and hierarchy. The disciplined inmate Jurek feels his status threatened by the arrival of the novice Sascha and finds himself caught in a delicate tension between fascinating attraction, suppressed aggression and rediscovered tenderness.

Director Konstantin Münzel Producer Bianca Beer, Helena Zeppenfeldt Screenplay Luis Martinson Camera Paul Ader Editor Emanuel Ramin Funck Music Vincent Egerter Sound Vincent Egerter Cast Florian Geißelmann, Liel Malka, Samia Chancrin Distribution Film Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg, Helena Zeppenfeldt

Our Uniform

Yegane Moghaddam
Iran, 2023
7 Min, Farsi OV

An Iranian girl unfolds her school memories on the folds and fabrics of her old uniform.

Director Yegane Moghaddam Producer Jalil Moghaddam Camera Jalil Moghaddam Distribution Yegane Moghaddam

Portrait

Grace Louey
United Kingdom, 2023
11:38 Min, English OV
German Premiere

When teenager Siah decides to take a nude selfie, she feels both exhilarated and mature. But when she receives news that her photo has been shared, Siah’s sexual agency all but evaporates before her.

Director Grace Louey Producer Phil Ross, Beier Zhang Screenplay Grace Louey, Nina Street Camera Anant Jain Editor Olutobi Odunubi Music Delyth Field Sound Sicheng Zhao Cast Maria Almeida, Britta Gartner, Coco Wisbey Barbour, Tim Bull, Izabel Bartholomew, Emil Baikousis, Jaz Lowe, Theodore Daniel, Kristal Sisodia, Joshua Eva Still photographer Yingying Zhang Distribution Festival Formula Ltd,

The Rooster

Chadi Younes
Lebanon, 2023
7:38 Min, Arabic OV
German Premiere

“In our neighborhood, lives a rooster. In our neighborhood, lives a sadist slaying rooster!" With these first words a poet recites the journey of a dictator rising to power.

Director Chadi Younes Producer Rolly Dib Screenplay Rolly Dib, Nizar Qabbani Camera Chadi Younes, Malek Hosni Editor Halim Sabbagh Music Sary Moussa Sound Sary Moussa Cast Rolly Dib, Nizar Qabbani Distribution Olive Tree Productions, Rolly Dib

My Mother and I

Emma Branderhorst
Netherlands, 2023
19 Min, Dutch, English, French OV

Kees wants to roam far away from home, but her mother doesn't seem ready for the cut-off as of yet. In light of the complexity and ambivalence of their close relationship, a joint road trip develops into an emotional tour de force.

Director Emma Branderhorst Producer Joram Willink, Piet-Harm Sterk, Maaike Neve Screenplay Nena van Driel, Emma Branderhorst Camera Daan Bukman Editor Tessel de Vries Music Jorrit Kleijnen, Jacob Meijer Sound Gijs Domen Cast Celeste Holsheimer, Hannah van Lunteren Distribution Kapitein Kort, Hidde de Vries

<

>

As we present this year’s International Competition programme, a shadow is being cast over our collective consciousness. We find ourselves navigating a world besieged by violent conflicts that displace communities and claim an incomprehensible number of human lives, exemplified by the atrocious wars in Gaza, Yemen and Ukraine.
In this tumultuous social and political landscape dominated by pain, despair, rage and frustration, the role and relevance of film festivals is under scrutiny: Can a festival truly make a meaningful impact in times of such profound suffering, and for whom? Is our celebration of art(ists) an act of solidarity in the face of global crises or merely a distraction from possible complicity in systems of oppression?
These pressingly troublesome questions demand a courageous confrontation. They compel us as mainly white programmers and festival-makers in Germany to interrogate our own positions of power, to explore the perspectives of others, to engage and to empathise with them. It is our responsibility to not only face the uncomfortable reality that our actions can perpetuate injustice, but to also speak out on and help dismantle oppressive structures.
The films selected represent one of the starting points for this enquiry. They serve as both a reflection on and a refraction of reality, capturing the complexities, contradictions and nuances of human existence. As they propel us to collectively rethink the ways in which we have always done things, “what can be” becomes not necessarily an idea of the future in a temporal sense, but relates to the possibility of seeing things differently, forging new connections and opening up unfamiliar realms of making sense of the world.
In this spirit, we aim to embrace this moment as a coming-of-age in which long-held truths are surpassed, and we hope to offer a kind of sanctuary – a space to grapple with uncertainty and seek courage in shared experiences.
We don’t have all the answers; yet for that, we invite you to join us in shaping this space for dialogue that, based on active listening and critical reflection, sustains dissent; a space that embraces imperfection and perhaps, hopefully, generates moments of genuine human connection that kindle solidarity and imagine a way forward.

Vincent Förster on behalf of the Selection Committee for the International Competition

[tw: fleeing, physical violence, epilepsy]

Dreams Like Paper Boats

Samuel Suffren
Haiti, 2024
18:45 Min, Haitian Creole OV
German Premiere

Edouard has been living in Port-au-Prince with just his daughter Zara for five years. Since his wife left, his daughter and he have only received a cassette from her. After years of absence, what can we expect from a distant love?

Director Samuel Suffren Producer Samuel Suffren Screenplay Samuel Suffren Camera Phalonne Pierre Louis Editor Samuel Suffren Music Chorale Les Théophiles, Daphné Menard, Daniel Larivière Sound Pablo Dali Bonnely Cast Kenny Laguerre, Clorette Jacinthe, Zaraina Ruth-Amma Suffren, Auguste Marie Helga Danaica, James Joseph, Daphnée Avril, Robson Marvensky Jean-Louis Still photographer Stherlandy Simon Distribution Square Eyes, Wouter Jansen

[tw:]

fleeing

A Kind of Testament

Stephen Vuillemin
France, 2023
Computer Drawing 2D, 16:24 Min, English OV

A young woman comes across animations on the internet that have clearly been created from her private selfies. An unknown female with the same name confesses to identity theft. But death is quicker than the answer to the question: Why?

Director Stephen Vuillemin Producer Ugo Bienvenu, Félix de Givry, Stephen Vuillemin Screenplay Stephen Vuillemin Animation Stephen Vuillemin, Jocelyn Charles, Tom Rameaux, Gabrielle Selnet, Simon Cadilhac Music Qoso Sound Lucien Krampf, Matthieu Gasnier Cast Naomi Yang, Angela Clerkin, Freida Siddall, Aisha Arden, Bethy Read Distribution Manifest, Anaïs Colpin

[tw:]

physical violence

The Electric Kiss

Rainer Kohlberger
Austria, Germany, 2024
2D Computer, 17:45 Min, English ST

Drawing on excerpts from sci-fi films, THE ELECTRIC KISS imagines a world not unlike our own, in which people plug their brains into a kind of neuro-network that connects the whole of human consciousness.

Director Rainer Kohlberger Producer Rainer Kohlberger Screenplay Rainer Kohlberger Animation Rainer Kohlberger Music Jung an Tagen Sound Jung an Tagen Distribution Sixpackfilm, Gerald Weber

[tw:]

epilepsy

Madden

Malin Ingrid Johansson
Sweden, 2023
12:51 Min, Swedish OV

A story about relating to your herd. About duty versus longing. About high-heeled shoes stepping in dung and heavy animal bodies thundering across a Scandinavian landscape. A forest of tall tree trunks between our protagonist and the outside world.

Director Malin Ingrid Johansson Producer Joel Rostmark, Adam Holmström Meinking, Andrea Gyllenskiöld, Victor Lindström Screenplay Malin Ingrid Johansson Camera Stellan Runge Editor Kristofer Nordin Music Håkan Eriksson Sound David Kuuse Cast Irma Hallberg, Theodora Alm Norell, Maria Alm Norell, Mathias Olofsson Distribution interfilm Berlin Short Film Sales, Cord Dueppe

27

Flóra Anna Buda
France, Hungary, 2023
2D, 10:38 Min, Hungarian OV

Alice is 27 years old. She still lives with her parents and tends to live in her dreams to escape her dreary everyday life. After a party on a factory roof, she has a serious drunken bike accident. Will this give her the courage to become an adult?

Director Flóra Anna Buda Producer Gábor Osváth, Péter Benjamin Lukács, Emmanuel-Alain Raynal, Pierre Baussaron Screenplay Flóra Anna Buda Animation Flóra Anna Buda, Natália Andrade, Melinda Kádár, Zoltán Koska, Gábor Mariai, Luca Tóth, Borbála Zétényi Editor Albane du Plessix Music Rozi Mákó, Mári Mákó Sound Péter Benjámin Lukács Cast Natasa Stork, Ádám Fekete, Éva Enyedi, Márk Kaszás Distribution Miyu Distribution, Luce Grosjean

[tw:]

epilepsy

<

>

As we present this year’s International Competition programme, a shadow is being cast over our collective consciousness. We find ourselves navigating a world besieged by violent conflicts that displace communities and claim an incomprehensible number of human lives, exemplified by the atrocious wars in Gaza, Yemen and Ukraine.
In this tumultuous social and political landscape dominated by pain, despair, rage and frustration, the role and relevance of film festivals is under scrutiny: Can a festival truly make a meaningful impact in times of such profound suffering, and for whom? Is our celebration of art(ists) an act of solidarity in the face of global crises or merely a distraction from possible complicity in systems of oppression?
These pressingly troublesome questions demand a courageous confrontation. They compel us as mainly white programmers and festival-makers in Germany to interrogate our own positions of power, to explore the perspectives of others, to engage and to empathise with them. It is our responsibility to not only face the uncomfortable reality that our actions can perpetuate injustice, but to also speak out on and help dismantle oppressive structures.
The films selected represent one of the starting points for this enquiry. They serve as both a reflection on and a refraction of reality, capturing the complexities, contradictions and nuances of human existence. As they propel us to collectively rethink the ways in which we have always done things, “what can be” becomes not necessarily an idea of the future in a temporal sense, but relates to the possibility of seeing things differently, forging new connections and opening up unfamiliar realms of making sense of the world.
In this spirit, we aim to embrace this moment as a coming-of-age in which long-held truths are surpassed, and we hope to offer a kind of sanctuary – a space to grapple with uncertainty and seek courage in shared experiences.
We don’t have all the answers; yet for that, we invite you to join us in shaping this space for dialogue that, based on active listening and critical reflection, sustains dissent; a space that embraces imperfection and perhaps, hopefully, generates moments of genuine human connection that kindle solidarity and imagine a way forward.

Vincent Förster on behalf of the Selection Committee for the International Competition

[tw: physical violence, psychological violence]

8

Anaïs-Tohé Commaret
France, 2023
22:36 Min, French, Bambara OV

In suburban housing estates in France, young people wish for money and success. Their dreams clog up the air conditioning ducts until everything begins to drip. What might happen if you swallow light?

Director Anaïs-Tohé Commaret Producer Eric Prigent Screenplay Anaïs-Tohé Commaret Animation Malte Zander Camera Nicolas Jardin Editor Rafael Torres, Anaïs-Tohé Commaret Music City_Links, Alexandre Tellier Sound Simon Péneau, City_Links, Benjamin Ramelet, Benjamin Poilane, Luc Aureille Cast Fatime Coulibaly, Foussein Coulibaly, Emma Gonzales-Commaret, Sofia Ben Mefteh, Hassan Cissé, Elisa Commaret Distribution Protest Studios, Florian Fernandez

The Lovers

Carolina Sandvik
Sweden, 2023
Stop Motion, 12:57 Min, no dialogue
German Premiere

A man and a woman are having a candlelit dinner at a restaurant. All of a sudden, the man’s appearance begins to change. A stop-motion relationship horror and unromantic comedy about a couple forced to deal with escalating bodily transformations.

Director Carolina Sandvik Producer Kerstin Übelacker Screenplay Carolina Sandvik Animation Carolina Sandvik Camera Carolina Sandvik Editor Carolina Sandvik Music Leo Berg Sound Carolina Sandvik Distribution We Have a Plan, Kerstin Übelacker

Basri & Salma in a Never-Ending Comedy

Khozy Rizal
Indonesia, 2023
15 Min, Indonesian OV

A husband and wife together own an Odong-Odong at the carnival, spending their days entertaining other people’s children without any of their own. Between meddling relatives, self-doubt and an explosive confrontation, they uncover why they have not been blessed with a child.

Director Khozy Rizal Producer John Badalu, Sue Turley Screenplay Khozy Rizal Camera Andi Moch Palaguna Editor Khozy Rizal Music Abdul Chaliq DP Sound Sutarjo, Rafiat Arya Cast Arham Rizky Saputra, Rezky Chiki Still photographer Aziziah Dyah Aprilya Distribution Lights On , Flavio Armone

[tw:]

physical violence, psychological violence

Such Miracles Do Happen

Barbara Rupik
Poland, 2022
Mixed Media, Puppets, 13:48 Min, Polish OV

“It’s walking with no muscles, though it shouldn’t be able to walk. Stone tissue. How strange,” said the girl and looked at her boneless body.

Director Barbara Rupik Producer Agata Golanska Screenplay Barbara Rupik Animation Barbara Rupik Editor Barbara Rupik Music Barbara Rupik Sound Barbara Rupik Distribution KFF Sales & Promotion, Marta Świętek

Never Come Back

Assaf Gruber
Austria, Germany, 2023
18 Min, English ST

Our mysterious protagonist tentatively plays a familiar melody. It’s a song known to many of us, recognisable from dance floors across Europe – but how many of us have ever bothered to listen to its remarkably racist and imperialistic lyrics?

Director Assaf Gruber Producer Assaf Gruber Screenplay Assaf Gruber Camera Simon Veroneg Editor Assaf Gruber, Janina Herhoffer Sound Jochen Jezussek Cast Rudi Katholnig Distribution Studio Assaf Gruber, Rachel Pronger

<

>

As we present this year’s International Competition programme, a shadow is being cast over our collective consciousness. We find ourselves navigating a world besieged by violent conflicts that displace communities and claim an incomprehensible number of human lives, exemplified by the atrocious wars in Gaza, Yemen and Ukraine.
In this tumultuous social and political landscape dominated by pain, despair, rage and frustration, the role and relevance of film festivals is under scrutiny: Can a festival truly make a meaningful impact in times of such profound suffering, and for whom? Is our celebration of art(ists) an act of solidarity in the face of global crises or merely a distraction from possible complicity in systems of oppression?
These pressingly troublesome questions demand a courageous confrontation. They compel us as mainly white programmers and festival-makers in Germany to interrogate our own positions of power, to explore the perspectives of others, to engage and to empathise with them. It is our responsibility to not only face the uncomfortable reality that our actions can perpetuate injustice, but to also speak out on and help dismantle oppressive structures.
The films selected represent one of the starting points for this enquiry. They serve as both a reflection on and a refraction of reality, capturing the complexities, contradictions and nuances of human existence. As they propel us to collectively rethink the ways in which we have always done things, “what can be” becomes not necessarily an idea of the future in a temporal sense, but relates to the possibility of seeing things differently, forging new connections and opening up unfamiliar realms of making sense of the world.
In this spirit, we aim to embrace this moment as a coming-of-age in which long-held truths are surpassed, and we hope to offer a kind of sanctuary – a space to grapple with uncertainty and seek courage in shared experiences.
We don’t have all the answers; yet for that, we invite you to join us in shaping this space for dialogue that, based on active listening and critical reflection, sustains dissent; a space that embraces imperfection and perhaps, hopefully, generates moments of genuine human connection that kindle solidarity and imagine a way forward.

Vincent Förster on behalf of the Selection Committee for the International Competition

[tw: epilepsy, physical violence]

Kinderfilm

Total Refusal
Austria, 2023
3D Rendering, 11:35 Min, English ST

Everything seems normal in the GTA V videogame: People meet to barbecue, visit the amusement park, lie on the beach. Yet the world is marked by a grave absence. The taboo that children could be hurt in the digital combat zone is so severe that the development company preferred to leave them out altogether.

Director Total Refusal Producer Total Refusal Screenplay Adrian Jonas Haim, Robin Klengel, Michael Stumpf Camera Adrian Jonas Haim, Robin Klengel Editor Adrian Jonas Haim, Robin Klengel, Michael Stumpf Music Adrian Jonas Haim Sound Bernhard Zorzi Distribution Lemonade Films, Marija Milovanovic

[tw:]

epilepsy

Combat

Rita M. Pestana
Brazil, Portugal, 2023
22:30 Min, Portuguese OV
German Premiere

When someone decides to leave, they should leave because they want to, not because they have to.

Director Rita M. Pestana Producer André Hallak, Fernandes Duarte Pedro Screenplay Rita M. Pestana Camera Camila Freitas Editor Rita M. Pestana, Tomás Baltazar Music O Grivo Sound Vitor Brandão Cast Sinara Teles Distribution AGENCIA – Portuguese Short Film Agency, Joaquim Pinheiro

La Perra

Carla Melo Gampert
France, Colombia, 2023
Ink and Watercolour on Paper, 14:05 Min, no dialogue

In Bogotá, a bird-girl leaves behind the family home, her domineering mother and faithful dog to go and explore her sexuality.

Director Carla Melo Gampert Producer Capucine Mahé, Franco Lolli, Julie Billy, Naomi Denamur Screenplay Carla Melo Gampert Animation Carla Melo Gampert, Andrea Muñoz Álvarez Editor Juan Sebastián Quebrada Sound Juanma López, Daniel Giraldo Distribution Shortcuts, Elise Notseck

Spring

Pernille Kjaer
Denmark, 2023
2D, 12:28 Min, no dialogue
German Premiere

In a farmhouse, a woman tries to lure the resident house spirit – a mischievous Nisse – with offerings of food. Spring is just around the corner, but a winter’s chill still lingers. During the night as ghosts move through the house, the Nisse slips into the woman’s dream.

Director Pernille Kjaer Producer Martina Scarpelli Screenplay Pernille Kjaer Animation Pernille Kjaer Editor Pernille Kjaer Music Sofie Birch Sound Sofie Birch, Thomas Richard Distribution Bonobostudio, Vanja Andrijevic

Hito

Stephen Lopez
Philippines, 2023
21:50 Min, Philippino, English OV

Between nuclear reactors and military curfews, 14-year-old Jani lives in a dystopian world oppressively devoid of empathy. Together, she and her slippery new friend Kiefer the talking catfish gear up to strike a surreal blow for freedom.

Director Stephen Lopez Producer Sheka Ong Screenplay Stephen Lopez Animation Sheka Ong Camera Akie Yano Editor Stephen Lopez Music Myles Hilado Sound John Daryl A. Libongco, John Michael Perez Cast Kyrie Allison Samodio, Bor Ocampo, Maricel A. Sombrio, Ina Azarcon-Bolivar, Edwin Barrios Serrano, JunJun Quintana, Ben Alias Distribution Sheka Ong

[tw:]

epilepsy, physical violence

<

>

As we present this year’s International Competition programme, a shadow is being cast over our collective consciousness. We find ourselves navigating a world besieged by violent conflicts that displace communities and claim an incomprehensible number of human lives, exemplified by the atrocious wars in Gaza, Yemen and Ukraine.
In this tumultuous social and political landscape dominated by pain, despair, rage and frustration, the role and relevance of film festivals is under scrutiny: Can a festival truly make a meaningful impact in times of such profound suffering, and for whom? Is our celebration of art(ists) an act of solidarity in the face of global crises or merely a distraction from possible complicity in systems of oppression?
These pressingly troublesome questions demand a courageous confrontation. They compel us as mainly white programmers and festival-makers in Germany to interrogate our own positions of power, to explore the perspectives of others, to engage and to empathise with them. It is our responsibility to not only face the uncomfortable reality that our actions can perpetuate injustice, but to also speak out on and help dismantle oppressive structures.
The films selected represent one of the starting points for this enquiry. They serve as both a reflection on and a refraction of reality, capturing the complexities, contradictions and nuances of human existence. As they propel us to collectively rethink the ways in which we have always done things, “what can be” becomes not necessarily an idea of the future in a temporal sense, but relates to the possibility of seeing things differently, forging new connections and opening up unfamiliar realms of making sense of the world.
In this spirit, we aim to embrace this moment as a coming-of-age in which long-held truths are surpassed, and we hope to offer a kind of sanctuary – a space to grapple with uncertainty and seek courage in shared experiences.
We don’t have all the answers; yet for that, we invite you to join us in shaping this space for dialogue that, based on active listening and critical reflection, sustains dissent; a space that embraces imperfection and perhaps, hopefully, generates moments of genuine human connection that kindle solidarity and imagine a way forward.

Vincent Förster on behalf of the Selection Committee for the International Competition

[tw: abortion, epilepsy, pornography]

The Beads

Rafaela Camelo, Emanuel Lavor
Brazil, 2023
19:09 Min, Brazilian OV

In a house surrounded by nature, two sisters prepare an abortion without noticing that there is a snake inside.

Director Rafaela Camelo, Emanuel Lavor Producer Daniela Marinho Screenplay Emanuel Lavor Camera Joanna Ramos Editor Henrique Laterza Music Letícia Fialho Sound Lyn Santos, Alexandre Martins Cast Tícia Ferraz, Pâmela Germano Distribution FREAK Agency, Vanesa Toca

[tw:]

abortion

The Posthuman Hospital

Junha Kim
South Korea, 2023
3D Computer, 6:54 Min, no dialogue

The film showcases medical records of posthuman patients in an imaginary hospital through experimental digital images.

Director Junha Kim Producer Junha Kim Screenplay Junha Kim Animation Junha Kim Editor Junha Kim Music Squash & Biscuit Sound Squash & Biscuit Distribution KIAFA AniSEED, Jinsan Kim

Zima

Tomek Popakul, Kasumi Ozeki
Poland, 2023
Drawing, 26:26 Min, Polish OV

A punk Christmas tale of a small fisherman’s village.

Director Tomek Popakul, Kasumi Ozeki Producer Marcin Podolec Screenplay Tomek Popakul Animation Pola Wlodarczyk, Magdalena Botor, Tomek Popakul, Jakub Baniak, Maria Nitek, Adrianna Matwiejczuk, Karolina Kajetanowicz, Agata Mianowska-Zamarlo, Agnieszka Czachor, Weronika Szyma, Magdalena Basinska, Michał Orzechowski, Katarzyna Melnyk, Olga Kłyszewicz, Patrycja Cmak, Jagoda Czarnowska, Marcjanna Urbanska, Alicja Blaszczynska, Marcin Podolec, Michalina Musialik, Marcin Kotlinski, Alicja Grotuz Camera Tomek Popakul Editor Tomek Popakul Music King Midas Sound, Circle of Ouroborus, Godflesh, 19 Wiosen, Tenhi, Ait! Sound Sound Mind Studio, Michał Fojcik M.P.S.E. Cast Tymon Jankowski, Bartosz Woch, Anna Pyrka, Janusz Komorowski, Stanislaw Jaskulka, Marek Beylin, Wojciech Wysocki, Grzegorz Ryzynski, Maciej Malec, Mauri Sxnchez, Bartosz Bielenia, Magdalena Zawadzka, Maurycy Stankiewicz, Nina Michnik, Mateusz Kmiecik Distribution KFF Sales & Promotion, Marta Świętek

[tw:]

epilepsy

Nhím

Nicolas Graux, Quý Trương Minh
Belgium, Singapore, Vietnam, 2023
12:29 Min, English, French, Vietnamese OV
German Premiere

In an abandoned hospital, an encounter between a lonely sex streamer and a grieving old lady unleashes a flood of memories and virtual data.

Director Nicolas Graux, Quý Trương Minh Producer Julie Freres, Guo Xiao-dong Screenplay Nicolas Graux, Quý Trương Minh Camera Thomas Schira Editor Chương Minh Sound Arnaud Soulier, Thomas Ferrando Cast Nicole Bonew, Quý Trương Minh, Anne-Marie Loop Distribution Kino Rebelde, María Vera

[tw:]

pornography

Mast-del

Maryam Tafakory
Iran, United Kingdom, 2023
17:17 Min, Farsi, English ST

Two women are lying in bed together. One tells the other the colourful memory of a date with a man in Tehran. Her story is inscribed on the screen via superimpositions of images of embraces and flashes of Iranian films produced after the Islamic revolution.

Director Maryam Tafakory Producer Maryam Tafakory Screenplay Maryam Tafakory Camera anonymous, Maryam Tafakory Editor Maryam Tafakory Music Sarah Davachi Sound Maryam Tafakory, Action Pyramid/Tom Fisher Cast Saba, Fateme, Maryam Distribution Square Eyes, Wouter Jansen

<

>

As we present this year’s International Competition programme, a shadow is being cast over our collective consciousness. We find ourselves navigating a world besieged by violent conflicts that displace communities and claim an incomprehensible number of human lives, exemplified by the atrocious wars in Gaza, Yemen and Ukraine.
In this tumultuous social and political landscape dominated by pain, despair, rage and frustration, the role and relevance of film festivals is under scrutiny: Can a festival truly make a meaningful impact in times of such profound suffering, and for whom? Is our celebration of art(ists) an act of solidarity in the face of global crises or merely a distraction from possible complicity in systems of oppression?
These pressingly troublesome questions demand a courageous confrontation. They compel us as mainly white programmers and festival-makers in Germany to interrogate our own positions of power, to explore the perspectives of others, to engage and to empathise with them. It is our responsibility to not only face the uncomfortable reality that our actions can perpetuate injustice, but to also speak out on and help dismantle oppressive structures.
The films selected represent one of the starting points for this enquiry. They serve as both a reflection on and a refraction of reality, capturing the complexities, contradictions and nuances of human existence. As they propel us to collectively rethink the ways in which we have always done things, “what can be” becomes not necessarily an idea of the future in a temporal sense, but relates to the possibility of seeing things differently, forging new connections and opening up unfamiliar realms of making sense of the world.
In this spirit, we aim to embrace this moment as a coming-of-age in which long-held truths are surpassed, and we hope to offer a kind of sanctuary – a space to grapple with uncertainty and seek courage in shared experiences.
We don’t have all the answers; yet for that, we invite you to join us in shaping this space for dialogue that, based on active listening and critical reflection, sustains dissent; a space that embraces imperfection and perhaps, hopefully, generates moments of genuine human connection that kindle solidarity and imagine a way forward.

Vincent Förster on behalf of the Selection Committee for the International Competition

Nocturne for a Forest

Catarina Vasconcelos
Portugal, 2023
15:56 Min, Portuguese OV, English ST

In 15th century Portugal, monks built a wall around a forest and prevented women from entering it. But in the invisible world where night reigns and only souls light up the forest, women have built their own kingdom of invisibility.

Director Catarina Vasconcelos Producer Pedro Fernandes Duarte Screenplay Catarina Vasconcelos Camera Paulo Menezes Editor Francisco Moreira Sound Miguel Martins, Miguel Diogo Cast Paula Guedes Distribution Portugal Film – Portuguese Film Agency, Luís Lemos

The Miracle

Nienke Deutz
Belgium, France, Netherlands, 2023
2D, Stop Motion, 15 Min, Dutch, English OV

The Miracle, a place where the sun always shines, with endless opportunities to relax and food in abundance. But how do you relate to a place that constantly confronts you with the things you don’t have?

Director Nienke Deutz Producer Annemie Degryse, Peter Lindhout, Koji Nelissen, Derk-Jan Warrink, Jan de Clercq, Nienke Deutz Screenplay Nienke Deutz Animation Nienke Deutz, Digna van der Put, Ben Gijsemans, Maxime Lambert, Karolien Raeymaekers, Annechien Strouven, Geertrui de Vijlder, Jasmine Elsen, Timothée Crabbé, Marie-Hélène van Thuyne, Steven de Beul Camera Steven Frederickx Editor Nienke Deutz, Xander Nijsten Music Mark Schilders Sound Corinne Dubien, Céline Bernard, Aline Gavroy Cast Isabelle van Hecke, Tess Bryant Distribution Miyu Distribution, Luce Grosjean

Nothing But Shadows

Kathy Mitrani
Colombia, USA, 2023
18 Min, Spanish OV
German Premiere

On the anniversary of the death of Marisol’s husband, her neighbour’s construction work uncovers human remains. The coincidence of this discovery terrorises Marisol, a superstitious visionary, into facing her mortality.

Director Kathy Mitrani Producer Olivia Peralta, Lauren Goetzman, Dakota Pailes-Friedman Screenplay Kathy Mitrani Camera Logan Triplett Editor Kathy Mitrani, Natalia Luque Music Carlos Aznarez, Pedro Luis Ferrer Sound Eli Cohn, Jack Sasner Cast Tessie Herrasti, Diana Rosa Pérez Legón, Nancy Martinez Rojas, Josean Ortiz, Carmen Pelaez, Queca Gordilla, Ernesto Merino Distribution Lights On , Flavio Armone

Nun or Never!

Heta Jäälinoja
Finland, 2023
2D, 10:49 Min, no dialogue

The nuns are living together in happy harmony. When one nun finds a man in the garden, the harmony is disrupted and she loses the rhythm with the others. When her dreams do not come true, she finds out that everyone in the community has their own hidden universe.

Director Heta Jäälinoja Producer Jani Lehto Screenplay Heta Jäälinoja Animation Sanni Lahtinen, Roope Heimonen, Heta Jäälinoja Camera Heta Jäälinoja Editor Heta Jäälinoja Music Jukka Herva Sound Jani Lehto Distribution Miyu Distribution, Luce Grosjean

Oyu

Atsushi Hirai
France, Japan, 2023
21:31 Min, Japanese OV
German Premiere

It is the last day of the year and night falls on the small town of Toyama, Japan. A man goes to the public bath to retrieve a forgotten object. But once inside, the promise of a hot bath compels him to stay.

Director Atsushi Hirai Producer Martin Bertier, Damien Manivel Screenplay Atsushi Hirai, Martin Bertier Camera Benoit Pain Editor Jehan Folqué Sound Gen Takahashi, Agathe Poche, Simon Apostolou Cast Okihiko Yoshizawa, Hisako Mizuki, Kôta Tsunezawa, Sachiko Okuno Distribution Manifest, Anaïs Colpin

<

>

As we present this year’s International Competition programme, a shadow is being cast over our collective consciousness. We find ourselves navigating a world besieged by violent conflicts that displace communities and claim an incomprehensible number of human lives, exemplified by the atrocious wars in Gaza, Yemen and Ukraine.
In this tumultuous social and political landscape dominated by pain, despair, rage and frustration, the role and relevance of film festivals is under scrutiny: Can a festival truly make a meaningful impact in times of such profound suffering, and for whom? Is our celebration of art(ists) an act of solidarity in the face of global crises or merely a distraction from possible complicity in systems of oppression?
These pressingly troublesome questions demand a courageous confrontation. They compel us as mainly white programmers and festival-makers in Germany to interrogate our own positions of power, to explore the perspectives of others, to engage and to empathise with them. It is our responsibility to not only face the uncomfortable reality that our actions can perpetuate injustice, but to also speak out on and help dismantle oppressive structures.
The films selected represent one of the starting points for this enquiry. They serve as both a reflection on and a refraction of reality, capturing the complexities, contradictions and nuances of human existence. As they propel us to collectively rethink the ways in which we have always done things, “what can be” becomes not necessarily an idea of the future in a temporal sense, but relates to the possibility of seeing things differently, forging new connections and opening up unfamiliar realms of making sense of the world.
In this spirit, we aim to embrace this moment as a coming-of-age in which long-held truths are surpassed, and we hope to offer a kind of sanctuary – a space to grapple with uncertainty and seek courage in shared experiences.
We don’t have all the answers; yet for that, we invite you to join us in shaping this space for dialogue that, based on active listening and critical reflection, sustains dissent; a space that embraces imperfection and perhaps, hopefully, generates moments of genuine human connection that kindle solidarity and imagine a way forward.

Vincent Förster on behalf of the Selection Committee for the International Competition

[tw: physical violence, psychological violence, epilepsy, ableism]

AliEN0089

Valeria Hofmann
Chile, Argentina, 2023
21:49 Min, Spanish OV
German Premiere

While a gamer uploads a testimonial video to denounce the harassment she is suffering in a war videogame, a stranger enters her home and hacks her computer, blurring the boundaries of the real and the virtual with chaotic consequences.

Director Valeria Hofmann Producer Augusto Matte, Daniela Camino, Pascual Mena, Valeria Hofmann Screenplay Valeria Hofmann Animation Team 23 Camera Manuel Vlastélica Editor Javiera G Oteiza Music Christopher Manhey Sound Roberto Espinoza Cast Mariana di Girolamo Distribution Parina Films, Rodrigo Díaz

[tw:]

physical violence, psychological violence

The Un-Chaotic Cabinet that Wishes for Me to Sleep

Cillian Green
Ireland, 2022
Mixed Technique, 7:25 Min, English OV
German Premiere

A young adult struggling with his identity makes his way through suburban Dublin in the hopes that the trip can clear his head.

Director Cillian Green Producer Cillian Green Screenplay Cillian Green Animation Cillian Green Music Olivey Olive Distribution Green Ray Film Agency, Peter Zemek

In Dreams

Joshua Shaffner
USA, 2023
2D Digital Hand-drawn, 3D CG, 17 Min, English OV
German Premiere

A futuristic hospice care service tends to a terminally injured burn victim.

Director Joshua Shaffner Producer Joshua Shaffner Screenplay Joshua Shaffner Animation Joshua Shaffner Editor Joshua Shaffner Music Joshua Shaffner, Kevin Eskew Sound Joshua Shaffner, Barrett Slagel Cast Julian Petschek, Shannon Lee Distribution Joshua Shaffner

[tw:]

epilepsy

Big Bang

Carlos Segundo
France, Brazil, 2022
14:09 Min, Brazilian OV

Uberlandia, Brazil. Chico earns his living fixing ovens, which he easily fits into thanks to his small size. Disregarded and marginalised by a society that hates him, Chico begins to resist.

Director Carlos Segundo Producer Cristiano Barbosa, Damien Megherbi, Justin Pechberty Screenplay Carlos Segundo Camera Roberto Chacur Editor Carlos Segundo, Jérôme Bréau Sound Nemer Castro, Antoine Bertucci Cast Giovanni Venturini, Aryadne Amâncio Distribution Les Valseurs, Alexandre Adam

[tw:]

psychological violence, ableism

Night Shift

Kayije Kagame, Hugo Radi
Switzerland, 2023
24 Min, no dialogue
German Premiere

One night, an actor prepares to go on stage while a museum guard makes her rounds. Both of them gradually allow themselves to become permeated by these dormant institutions on the sidelines of performances and exhibitions.

Director Kayije Kagame, Hugo Radi Producer Kayije Kagame, Donatien Roustant Screenplay Kayije Kagame, Hugo Radi Camera Augustin Losserand Editor Gabriel Gonzalez Sound Léo Couture, Imanol Pittaluga, Adrien Kessler Cast Gaël Kamilindi, Damiaan de Schrijver, Kayije Kagame Distribution Kayije Kagame

<

>

For a whole weekend each year, we – the National Competition Selection Committee – plunge into the depths of German short filmmaking and compile an exciting, multilayered, moving and touching festival programme. It feels like we’re underground: In a darkened cellar vault, with the pale light of the video projector, the insanity of double-printed scorecards, thick woollen socks, citrus fruits and cut-price gingerbread. Far removed from reality. If it weren’t for the short film, the prism that confronts reality in an artistic way and transforms our dimly glowing viewing cavern into the eyes of the world.
Eventually, we extracted 23 short filmic treasures, including 12 animated contributions, consisting of narrative, experimental and hybrid formats. In these works, the local German filmmakers address current social themes, such as war, flight and displacement, migration and the search for identity, as indeed global protests against oppression, often providing surprising new perspectives in the never-ending search for a possible utopia. At the same time, they sweep us away into fantastic worlds of images, rekindling our enthusiasm for visual cinematic storytelling time and again. And this array of national filmmaking is also reflected in the four short film blocks in this year’s National Competition programme.
Compressed into just a few minutes, with a maximum of emotions and yearnings, precise but dreamy, at times quiet, at other times loud, yet with great courage in terms of their content and creative design: This represents the essence of our programme for the 36 FILMFEST DRESDEN, to which we would as always like to warmly invite you from the bottom of our hearts. Your National Competition Selection Committee.

Christian Hempel on behalf of the National Competition Selection Committee

[tw: epilepsy]

The Fold

Patrick Buhr
Germany, 2024
3D, 10:20 Min, German OV
World Premiere

Four stories about chased pigeons, stolen underpants, judgemental robots and thrown marbles are interwoven in a worldview that enables the narrator to confront her date with unexpected abilities.

Director Patrick Buhr Producer Patrick Buhr Screenplay Patrick Buhr Animation Patrick Buhr Editor Patrick Buhr Music Patrick Buhr Sound Gerald Schauder, Patrick Buhr Cast Valerie Heine, Vincent Pfäfflin Distribution Patrick Buhr

Bitte.Danke.Genau

Polina Kundirenko
Germany, 2023
17:25 Min, Ukranian, Russian, English OV

Four young Ukrainian women flee their homeland for Germany. Their attempts to settle down in a foreign country are constantly interrupted by inner doubts, fears for family and friends, and a sense of constant uncertainty about the future. The flood of incoming news leads to a feeling of complete powerlessness, but the young women still try to settle into their new reality.

Director Polina Kundirenko Producer Justus Hagemann, Lucy Betulius Screenplay Polina Kundirenko Camera Edgar Hill, Viktor Sommerfeld Editor Nils Düren Music Viktoria Leléka Sound Nikita Liubota, Anastasiia Nasonkina Cast Viktoria Kosorukova, Maria Levinshtein, Saniia Bludova, Anna Matviienko Still photographer Simon Reiher Distribution Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, Clara Miranda-Scherffig

[tw:]

epilepsy

TWENTYTИƎWT

Max Hattler
Hong Kong, Germany, 2023
Timelapse Animation, Pixilation, Digital Animation/Compositing, 7 Min, no dialogue
German Premiere

Shot entirely from an apartment on the 36th floor of a high-rise building, the images in this experimental animation survey large parts of Hong Kong’s cityscape, drawing attention to the individual lives hidden inside its buildings. Initially recorded in 2020 and completed in 2023, the film attempts to encapsulate the darkness, confinement and uncertainty of 2020.

Director Max Hattler Producer Max Hattler Animation Zhang Riwen, Ty Lok Yi, Liu Da, Max Hattler Camera Max Hattler Editor Zhang Riwen, Max Hattler Music Eduardo Noya Sound Eduardo Noya Distribution Max Hattler

technically_breathing

Markéta Müllerová
Germany, 2023
3D Digital, 5:43 Min, English OV
World Premiere

A 3D animated film that raises the question of whether avatars and artificial intelligence truly breathe or merely create an illusion. The film explores the idea that breathing in times of societal crises can be understood as an act of survival and resistance.

Director Markéta Müllerová Producer Markéta Müllerová Sound Charlotte Koch Distribution Markéta Müllerová

Land of Mountains

Olga Kosanović
Austria, Germany, 2023
28 Min, German, Serbian OV

An insurance scam and the left thumb of single father Vladimir find themselves in a low-key tragedy about the Kafkaesque barriers of Austrian immigration law.

Director Olga Kosanović Producer Deniz Cooper, Rupert Casper, Olga Kosanović Screenplay Olga Kosanović Camera Simone Hart Editor Sebastian Schreiner Sound Flora Rajakowitsch, Theda Schifferdecker, Rudi Pototschnig Cast Vladimir Vulević, Filipa Gregec, Noah Kaufmann, Gerhard Weber, Clemens Berndorff, Gabriele Roller, Anton Noori, Birgit Waite, Julia Edtmeier, Thomas Mraz Distribution Lemonade Films, Marija Milovanovic

Carrotica

Daniel Sterlin-Altman
Germany, 2024
Puppets, Stop Motion, 13:05 Min, English OV
World Premiere

In a Canadian suburb, 16-year-old Nadav is writing explicitly gay erotica in private. His mother Shari is a fertility botanist studying the mating patterns of carrots, and she becomes aroused by the seductive Femme Carrot. Through fantasy, music and tango, the two find themselves overwhelmed with their lust and forced to confront their inner selves.

Director Daniel Sterlin-Altman Producer Luis Morat Screenplay Daniel Sterlin-Altman Animation Daniel Sterlin-Altman, Anselm Mende Camera Philip Köhler Editor Daniel Sterlin-Altman Music Felix Gayed, Lena Radivoj Sound Enrique Cuesta, Anastasiia Nasonkina Cast Daniel Sterlin-Altman, Summer Banks, Enaitz Greaney Distribution Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, Cristina Marx

<

>

For a whole weekend each year, we – the National Competition Selection Committee – plunge into the depths of German short filmmaking and compile an exciting, multilayered, moving and touching festival programme. It feels like we’re underground: In a darkened cellar vault, with the pale light of the video projector, the insanity of double-printed scorecards, thick woollen socks, citrus fruits and cut-price gingerbread. Far removed from reality. If it weren’t for the short film, the prism that confronts reality in an artistic way and transforms our dimly glowing viewing cavern into the eyes of the world.
Eventually, we extracted 23 short filmic treasures, including 12 animated contributions, consisting of narrative, experimental and hybrid formats. In these works, the local German filmmakers address current social themes, such as war, flight and displacement, migration and the search for identity, as indeed global protests against oppression, often providing surprising new perspectives in the never-ending search for a possible utopia. At the same time, they sweep us away into fantastic worlds of images, rekindling our enthusiasm for visual cinematic storytelling time and again. And this array of national filmmaking is also reflected in the four short film blocks in this year’s National Competition programme.
Compressed into just a few minutes, with a maximum of emotions and yearnings, precise but dreamy, at times quiet, at other times loud, yet with great courage in terms of their content and creative design: This represents the essence of our programme for the 36 FILMFEST DRESDEN, to which we would as always like to warmly invite you from the bottom of our hearts. Your National Competition Selection Committee.

Christian Hempel on behalf of the National Competition Selection Committee

[tw: psychological violence]

Zoopticon

John Frickey, Thies Mynther, Sandra Trostel
Germany, 2023
29:03 Min, English OV

Drifting through space with no purpose on spaceship Zoopticon, five mutated singing animals find a goal when they learn of their origin – a mysterious planet called Earth.

Director John Frickey, Thies Mynther, Sandra Trostel Producer Sandra Trostel Screenplay Jon Frickey, Thies Mynther, Sandra Trostel, Christoph Mathieu Animation Jon Frickey Editor Sandra Trostel Music Thies Mynther Sound Thies Mynther Cast Sarah Thom, “Shimo” Dong Zhou, Alex Murray-Leslie, Amanda Romero, Achan Malonda, Jon Frickey, Veit Sprenger, Roosa Voima Distribution Square Eyes, Wouter Jansen

My Orange Garden

Anna-Sophia Richard
Germany, 2023
21:18 Min, Farsi OV

MY ORANGE GARDEN tells the story of the Iranian singer Faravaz Farvardin, who was set to be arrested by the Iranian police for singing in public. The film dives into Faravaz childhood memories and her journey in finally finding her homeland within her own body.

Director Anna-Sophia Richard Producer Dominik Eder, Linda Hartogs Screenplay Anna-Sophia Richard Camera Diara Sow Editor Anselm Koneffke Music Jan Brett, Enrico Cesaro aka Mace Sound Simon Peter Cast Faravaz Farvardin Still photographer Ana Grancho Distribution OKSUPERDANKE, Dominik Eder

Outside

Izabela Plucińska
Poland, Germany, 2023
Drawing, 5 Min, English OV
German Premiere

The coal-drawn film OUTSIDE tells the story of domestic violence.

Director Izabela Plucińska Producer Izabela Plucińska Screenplay Izabela Plucińska Animation Izabela Plucińska Camera Izabela Plucińska Editor Daniela Kinateder Music Andrea Mortignoni Sound Andrea Mortignoni, Michał Krajczok Distribution KFF Sales & Promotion, Marta Świętek

A Study of Empathy

Hilke Rönnfeldt
Denmark, Germany, 2023
14:35 Min, Danish OV

Dana wants to show empathy. Penelope wants to explore empathy. Penelope's artistic experiment unfolds and Dana's feelings are whirled around.

Director Hilke Rönnfeldt Producer Asbjørn H. Kelstrup Screenplay Hilke Rönnfeldt Camera Roxana Reiss Editor Josefine Svenningsen Music Leslie Ming Sound Juuso Oksala Cast Sara Klein Larsen, Emilie Claudius Kruse, Lisa Carlehed, Mathias Broe Distribution Shortcuts Distribution, Elise Notseck

Not You

Lara Torp, Emilia Zieser
Germany, 2023
5:17 Min, German OV
World Premiere

I recently saw someone that looked like you. I realized quickly that he was not you – but he moved like you. Ran his hands through his hair like you. And had the same backpack in the same shabby state. So I decided to follow your not-you for a while.

Director Lara Torp, Emilia Zieser Producer Lara Torp Animation Emilia Zieser Sound Alexander Wolf Cast Lara Torp Distribution Lara Torp

[tw:]

psychological violence

<

>

For a whole weekend each year, we – the National Competition Selection Committee – plunge into the depths of German short filmmaking and compile an exciting, multilayered, moving and touching festival programme. It feels like we’re underground: In a darkened cellar vault, with the pale light of the video projector, the insanity of double-printed scorecards, thick woollen socks, citrus fruits and cut-price gingerbread. Far removed from reality. If it weren’t for the short film, the prism that confronts reality in an artistic way and transforms our dimly glowing viewing cavern into the eyes of the world.
Eventually, we extracted 23 short filmic treasures, including 12 animated contributions, consisting of narrative, experimental and hybrid formats. In these works, the local German filmmakers address current social themes, such as war, flight and displacement, migration and the search for identity, as indeed global protests against oppression, often providing surprising new perspectives in the never-ending search for a possible utopia. At the same time, they sweep us away into fantastic worlds of images, rekindling our enthusiasm for visual cinematic storytelling time and again. And this array of national filmmaking is also reflected in the four short film blocks in this year’s National Competition programme.
Compressed into just a few minutes, with a maximum of emotions and yearnings, precise but dreamy, at times quiet, at other times loud, yet with great courage in terms of their content and creative design: This represents the essence of our programme for the 36 FILMFEST DRESDEN, to which we would as always like to warmly invite you from the bottom of our hearts. Your National Competition Selection Committee.

Christian Hempel on behalf of the National Competition Selection Committee

Slimane

Carlos Pereira
Germany, 2023
19:10 Min, German OV

In a near future Germany, queer people are becoming even more marginalised and under threat. On the last day of winter, Omar is released from prison. On his first stop, he visits his best friend Ava, who was not expecting to see him. The world keeps falling apart and fear seems to be defeating hope.

Director Carlos Pereira Producer Clara Puhlmann, Carlotta Cornehl Screenplay Carlos Pereira Camera Karim Marold Editor Vanessa Heeger Music P.E.A.R.L. Sound Celine Jünger, Jan Pasemann Cast Akin Victor, Banafshe Hourmazdi Distribution German Film and Television Academy, Anna Wenzel

The Master of the Swamps

Sasha Svirsky
Germany, 2023
4:07 Min, Russian OV

The weird heritage of the distant past is haunting us as a crappy horror under its familiar mythologised disguise. And encouraging modern cosplayers to bring this horror into our present.

Director Sasha Svirsky Producer Michail Zygar, Ilya Khrzhanovsky Screenplay Sasha Svirsky Animation Sasha Svirsky Music Jessica Moss Sound Klim Mint Cast Sasha Svirsky Distribution Nadezhda Svirskaya

The Bear Within

Paula Milena Weise, Finn Ole Weigt
Germany, 2023
25:25 Min, German OV
World Premiere

A female teacher who is skipping class. A boy who cannot tell a lie. And a stray bear.

Director Paula Milena Weise, Finn Ole Weigt Producer Nora Wildenstein Screenplay Anton Artibilov Animation Fabrice Epalle Camera Tilman Bensiek Editor Finn Ole Weigt Music Elias Lenzen Sound Elias Lenzen Cast Thuy Van Truong, Leonard Elias Adamietz, Jade Alina Rasch, Lena Lubatsch, Georg Peetz, Nikolaus Kühn Still photographer Jule Prawitz, Erik Schwede Distribution Paula Milena Weise

Moving Mountains

Jessica Poon
Germany, 2024
5:51 Min, no dialogue
World Premiere

Tiny people wandering across an endless waterscape and moving mountains.

Director Jessica Poon Producer Jessica Poon Screenplay Jessica Poon Animation Jessica Poon Editor Jessica Poon Sound Hui-Cheng Chung, Lan-Ting Hsu Distribution Ute Dilger

Sentimental Stories

Xandra Popescu
Germany, 2023
15:56 Min, Greek, Spanish, German, French OV
German Premiere

An almost deserted port diner. The owner Violeta dreams of a different life. She employs her niece Maria, who steers away from any drive or ambition. Between chores and cigarette breaks they fantasise about the future. They become witnesses to one love story dying out while another one is trying to be born.

Director Xandra Popescu Producer Janna Fodor, Sabrina Holzapfel Screenplay Xandra Popescu Camera Jonathan Steil Editor Xandra Popescu, Lorna Höffler Steffen Sound Florentin Tudor, Cécile Perrot, Magdalena Jacob Cast Artemis Chalkidou, Estelle Widemeyer, Jesus Fernandez de Castro, Grego Belau, Leo Da Silva, Ezra Luke, Marie Tragousti Distribution German Film and Television Academy, Anna Zaluska

Sprout

Florian Maubach
Germany, 2023
2D, 4:26 Min, no dialogue
World Premiere

Emerging excitement, a dancing body and the sensual awakening of sexuality turn this animation film into the nucleus of a transformation process. A stimulating and metaphorically charged short film that pushes boundaries and permits a look behind the curtain of male sexuality.

Director Florian Maubach Producer Florian Maubach Screenplay Florian Maubach Animation Alba Dragonetti, Florian Maubach, Petra Stipetić Music Flavio Zuschini Sound Jonatan Schwenk, Simon Bastian Distribution Florian Maubach

<

>

For a whole weekend each year, we – the National Competition Selection Committee – plunge into the depths of German short filmmaking and compile an exciting, multilayered, moving and touching festival programme. It feels like we’re underground: In a darkened cellar vault, with the pale light of the video projector, the insanity of double-printed scorecards, thick woollen socks, citrus fruits and cut-price gingerbread. Far removed from reality. If it weren’t for the short film, the prism that confronts reality in an artistic way and transforms our dimly glowing viewing cavern into the eyes of the world.
Eventually, we extracted 23 short filmic treasures, including 12 animated contributions, consisting of narrative, experimental and hybrid formats. In these works, the local German filmmakers address current social themes, such as war, flight and displacement, migration and the search for identity, as indeed global protests against oppression, often providing surprising new perspectives in the never-ending search for a possible utopia. At the same time, they sweep us away into fantastic worlds of images, rekindling our enthusiasm for visual cinematic storytelling time and again. And this array of national filmmaking is also reflected in the four short film blocks in this year’s National Competition programme.
Compressed into just a few minutes, with a maximum of emotions and yearnings, precise but dreamy, at times quiet, at other times loud, yet with great courage in terms of their content and creative design: This represents the essence of our programme for the 36 FILMFEST DRESDEN, to which we would as always like to warmly invite you from the bottom of our hearts. Your National Competition Selection Committee.

Christian Hempel on behalf of the National Competition Selection Committee

[tw: epilepsy, physical violence]

Alex in the Fields

Marie Zrenner
Germany, 2023
22 Min, German OV

Adrian, a young ex-alcoholic trying to start a new life, is living on a therapy-farm in the south of Germany. When a friend from the past shows up out of nowhere, old feelings bring back the urge to drink and he risks to lose everything.

Director Marie Zrenner Producer Johanna Seggelke Screenplay Marie Zrenner, Leo van Kann Camera Nina Wesemann Editor Marie Zrenner Sound Stefan Möhl, Leo van Kann Cast Ivan Dubrovin, Marten Quirin Korte Distribution University of Television and Film, Tina Janker

It’s Just a Whole

Bianca Scali
Germany, 2023
10:37 Min, English, French, German OV

As it finally comes, Maya cannot wrap her head around it. A mole - it’s so small, so insignificant, just a mark... How can it be so hard to part from it? Can Maya ever feel whole again when a bit of her is taken away?

Director Bianca Scali Producer Paulina Larson Screenplay Bianca Scali Animation Bianca Scali, Shadab Shayegan, Paulina Larson Camera Markus Ott Editor Revan Sarikaya Music Demian Martin Sound Vincent Egerter Cast Judith Gaillard, Will de Renzy-Martin, Claudia Lietz Distribution Film Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg, Sigrid Gairing

[tw:]

epilepsy

Sensitive Content

Narges Kalhor
Germany, Iran, 2023
8:50 Min, Farsi OV

Behind the “sensitive content“, behind this symbol of the crossed out eyes, two real eyes have been erased by the violence in the Middle East. This is about the eyewitnesses who don't look away, with their fainting eyes and their trembling hands, recording the “sensitive content“. They are risking their lives, fighting for visibility.

Director Narges Kalhor Producer Nicholas Coleman Screenplay Narges Kalhor Camera People of Iran Editor Narges Kalhor Music Philipp Hutter Sound Philipp Huter, Narges Kalhor Distribution Oasysdigital, Nicholas Coleman

[tw:]

physical violence

Old Age

Anna-Maria Dutoit
Portugal, Germany, 2023
8:25 Min, Portuguese OV

A landscape remembers how it developed into the mountain it is today. From glacial tongues to raging wildfires, the story is a reminiscence of the human impact on landscapes.

Director Anna-Maria Dutoit Producer Anna-Maria Dutoit Screenplay Anna-Maria Dutoit Camera Louis Dickhaut Editor Anna-Maria Dutoit Music Marta Haladzhun Sound Ricardo Reis, Hanna Stock Cast Maria Teresa Falkenberg Distribution Anna-Maria Dutoit

Violet

Laura Engelhardt
Germany, 2024
21 Min, German OV
World Premiere

12-year-old Dan has a difficult relationship with his single mother. Nadja pays 17-year-old Anna to take care of Dan when she goes to work at night. Anna is like an older sister and mother-substitute to Dan, but for some time now it is about more than sibling closeness for him.

Director Laura Engelhardt Producer Florian Dedek, Laura Engelhardt Screenplay Laura Engelhardt Camera Sabine Panossian Editor Laura Engelhardt Sound Tom Vermaaten Cast Lila Redlich, Jasper Bartels, Sabine Timoteo Distribution Academy of Media Arts, Ute Dilger

Blouse Fax

Mariola Brillowska
Germany, 2023
3:51 Min, German OV

Mrs. and Mr. Funke fix everything. An 8-year-old schoolgirl wants to have the washing slip lasered out of her blouse so that she can send it into the universe.

Director Mariola Brillowska Producer Mariola Brillowska Screenplay Mariola Brillowska Animation Mariola Brillowska Camera Mariola Brillowska Editor Mariola Brillowska Sound Mariola Brillowska Cast Mariola Brillowska, Günter Reznicek Distribution Mariola Brillowska

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Once more this year, the Central German Competition is bringing together old acquaintances, new voices and great talents. All of the films selected consist of independent productions, while some of them are from film school graduates. Various genres and styles are represented here, as indeed are documentaries that cannot be seen in this pure form in the National and International Competition sections.
As the artist and filmmaker Hito Steyerl writes in her book “The Colour of Truth”, “documentary works” are “palaces of memory that, unlike archives, organise documents not only in space but also in time”. In accordance with this, short and feature-length documentaries thus create the widest possible variety of contexts from a collection of images and sounds. Following Hito Steyerl's concept of the truth in documentaries, the artist, author and director Anna Zett has combined and interwoven various sources and documents in her current film AFRAID DOESN’T EXIST to create a poetic composition that is both affective as indeed informative in character. Doing so, she is drawing our attention to an act of political self-empowerment that is barely known today – the activism by parts of the East German population shortly before the end of the GDR – and providing rarely seen insights into the political mood during the chaotic period of upheaval shortly before German reunification.
Constanze Wolpers takes a more investigative documentary approach when she returns to her home in northern Germany to investigate – in a mixture of anger and discomfort – the murder of 15-year-old Êzîden Arkan Hussein Khalaf. During the process, she learns a lot about socially entrenched racism, institutional ignorance and the gaps in her own knowledge.
Jonas Erler’s THE BOY WITH THE PEARL EARRING is a quiet and subtle film about the search for identity and the realisation of subjective utopias. In his colourful animation NOTHING TO EXPECT, aesthetically inspired by videogames from the 1990s, Franz Impler deals in a cheerfully anarchic way with the isolation caused by corona and neoliberal lifeworlds.
The second animation in the programme, the enchanting cinematic lullaby SOMNI by Sonja Rohleder, is consciously quieter. DEATH ROW, on the other hand, wakes us up again. In his homage, the director Jan Soldat has compiled film excerpts from the cult actor Danny Trejo. This American actor of Mexican origin has elevated cinematic dying to a great art – and when he dies, he never dies quietly. This tongue-in-cheek, yet always affectionate insight into genre films, B-movies and action cinema concludes our programme that is starting with the refreshingly carefree prelude to summer entitled BALCONIA from Finn Ole Weigt and Paula Milena Weise.

Sven Pötting for the Selection Committee of the Central German Competition

[tw: epilepsy, physical violence]

Urlaubsversuche

Paula Milena Weise, Finn Ole Weigt
Germany, 2022
15:58 Min, German OV

What is next? Two friends make an attempt to go on vacation to the Baltic Sea. Soon their lack of perspective becomes a problem in their friendship.

Director Paula Milena Weise, Finn Ole Weigt Producer Finn Ole Weigt Screenplay Anton Artibilov, Finn Ole Weigt Camera Tilman Bensiek Editor Leonie Faschian, Finn Ole Weigt Music Elias Lenzen, Pari Pari Sound Elias Lenzen, Thomas Schöttl Cast Linda Marie Rohrer, Ronja Herberich Distribution Finn Ole Weigt

A Single Incident

Constanze Wolpers
Germany, 2023
19:12 Min, German, Kurdish OV

A young refugee is stabbed to death in the small town of Celle in northern Germany. The police questions, interrogates, autopsies, searches, reconstructs, preserves, records - 1700 pages. An approach to structural racism via investigation files, football and the author's own growing up in Celle.

Director Constanze Wolpers Producer Constanze Wolpers, Jonas Eisenschmidt Screenplay Constanze Wolpers Camera Jonas Eisenschmidt Editor Constanze Wolpers, Jonas Eisenschmidt Sound Nils Plambeck Cast Constanze Wolpers Distribution radpaar films, Constanze Wolpers

Nothing to Expect

Franz Impler
Germany, 2023
3:28 Min, English OV
German Premiere

Isolation leads to strange mental states. A journey though the circling thoughts of the lonely protagonist, which eventually merge with reality.

Director Franz Impler Producer Franz Impler Screenplay Franz Impler Animation Franz Impler Music Franz Impler Sound Franz Impler Distribution Franz Impler

Afraid Doesn't Exist

Anna Zett
Germany, 2023
31:29 Min, German OV

Anna Zett collages video and audio footage from the Berlin Archive of the GDR Opposition into a pulsating and poetic short thriller. A now defunct police state is made tangible both as a source of nebulous horror, and as a site of intimate political agency.

Director Anna Zett Producer Anna Zett Screenplay Anna Zett Editor Anna Zett Music Matti Gajek Sound Matti Gajek, Jochen Jezussek Distribution Arsenal – Institut für Film und Videokunst e. V., Angelika Ramlow

[tw:]

epilepsy

Somni

Sonja Rohleder
Germany, 2023
3:14 Min, no dialogue

A day draws to a close. A little monkey falls asleep. As his mind wanders off, the forest starts to change. What happens to us and our mind when we fall asleep? Somni combines a visual lullaby with the four stages of sleep, taking us through a deep and strange forest.

Director Sonja Rohleder Producer Sonja Rohleder Screenplay Sonja Rohleder Animation Sonja Rohleder Camera Sonja Rohleder Music Jens Heuler Sound Michał Krajczok Distribution interfilm Berlin, Sarah Dombrink

The Boy with the Pearl Earring

Jonas Erler
Germany, 2023
8:33 Min, German OV

The boy is familiar with his surroundings. His path is linear and without any detours. Slowly, doubts creep into his mind and he begins to question the status quo. Where does my path lead?

Director Jonas Erler Producer Ingmar Heide, Benjamin Agsten, Ralf Glaser Screenplay Jonas Erler Camera Leon Brandt Editor Filip Dziuba Music Carl Hangschlitt Sound Carl Hangschlitt, Matti Sittig Cast Emil Heusinger, Jule Ackermann, Benjamin Lommatzsch, Steven Skuppin Distribution Jonas Erler

Death Row

Jan Soldat
Germany, Austria, 2023
5:40 Min, English, Spanish OV

„Death Row“ – actually the part of a prison where inmates await their death sentence – in this case describes the film cell for the much deceased actor Danny Trejo. In more than 260 feature films, over 230 series episodes and 30 short films Danny Trejo has already died over 100 times.

Director Jan Soldat Producer Jan Soldat Screenplay Jan Soldat Editor Jan Soldat Sound Lorenz Fischer Cast Danny Trejo Distribution Jan Soldat

[tw:]

physical violence

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We are shimmering resonant bodies in a cosmic sound field, hidden away in whispering vaults, with acoustic mountains of clouds above us and the trembling impact of sounds below, formed from waves and frequencies, refractions and noise, harmony and dissonance. We are echo; we are reflexion. In this dark and silent vacuum, we flow like light and sound directly into the cinematic ether of this year’s Panorama programme.
An apparent idyll between mountains and valleys, medieval time travellers on a flying visit to the present future, the story of a flight and the search for one’s own identity as a dance choreography, as well as the subtle chirping of an invisible digit – the filmic discoveries in the national Panorama audio-visualise light and sound into an irresistible visual and auditory pleasure.

Christian Hempel on behalf of the National Competition Selection Committee

[tw: epilepsy]

That‘s Allright Mama

Ray van Zeschau
Germany, Bulgaria, 2023
2:13 Min, no dialogue

Music video by the band The Distorted Elvises. Homage to the mothers of the world. No matter what they do or “do to you”, it will always be okay because they are your mothers.

Director Ray van Zeschau Producer Ray van Zeschau Screenplay Ray van Zeschau Camera Ray van Zeschau Editor Ray van Zeschau Sound Ray van Zeschau Distribution Ray van Zeschau

Heimatfilm

Marion Kellmann
Germany, 2023
16:24 Min, German OV

The essence of the sentimental German Heimatfilm set in idealised country surroundings. The film’s structure is simple: A love story that eventually comes to a happy end following a few misunderstandings and the appearance of a villain. HEIMATFILM follows this plot, edited from 50 movies.

Director Marion Kellmann Producer Marion Kellmann Screenplay Marion Kellmann Editor Marion Kellmann Music Justin Stewart Robinson Sound Marion Kellmann, Toshi Trebess Distribution Marion Kellmann

How to Get Rid of Your Husband

Sebastian Ganschow
Germany, 2023
6:16 Min, German OV
German Premiere

Margot and Linda are about to get Linda’s husband – who also happens to be Margot’s boyfriend – sent to prison, when the doorbell rings.

Director Sebastian Ganschow Producer Sebastian Ganschow Screenplay Sebastian Ganschow Camera Sebastian Ganschow Editor Sebastian Ganschow Cast Vreni Sarnes, Alma Buddecke, Louis Hofmann Distribution Sebastian Ganschow

Ah So

Polina Piddubna
Germany, Ukraine, 2022
2:37 Min, Ukranian, English, German OV

I rent a very small room in Berlin that reminds me of a coffin and have strange dreams there. People are held in suspense for two years without knowing when it will all be over. The club is closed, the ambulance won’t come and all that’s left to do is walk around the city with your inner monsters.

Director Polina Piddubna Producer Polina Piddubna Screenplay Polina Piddubna Animation Polina Piddubna, Sofia Leliukh Sound Danylo Okulov Cast Polina Piddubna, Derya Atakan, Mario Henkel Distribution Polina Piddubna

Time Travellers

Christine Gensheimer
Germany, 2023
Stop Motion, Mixed Media, 7 Min, no dialogue

Medieval time travellers on a flying visit to the future; the so-called present and the not so grey past meet burgers, SUVs, esotericists and a mammoth and then (spoiler alert) return to the past.

Director Christine Gensheimer Producer Christine Gensheimer Screenplay Christine Gensheimer Animation Christine Gensheimer Camera Christine Gensheimer Editor Christine Gensheimer Music Jaakko Savolainen Distribution Christine Gensheimer

Until the Moon Is Born in the West

lea Bethke
Germany, 2023
23:55 Min, no dialogue
German Premiere

With dancers who have experienced war and flight, the dance short film recounts through movement and sound the path of one human being on the run: The feeling of hopelessness in a destroyed home, the suffocating fear of fleeing across the ocean, the desolation and all the hopes upon reaching Germany.

Director lea Bethke Producer Niklas Harmsen, Jonas Harmsen, lea Bethke, Valentin Mack, Maximilian Pauly Screenplay lea Bethke Camera Jonas Kolahdoozan, Jacob Sauermilch Editor Jonas Harmsen Music Manouk Roussyalian Sound Alexander Acevado, Jan Brett Cast Exocé Kasongo, Mouafak Aldoable, Ali Enani, Joana Kern, Marcelo Omine, Osman Osman, Lujain Mustafa, Joy Alpuerto Ritter Distribution lea Bethke

Forever

Christian Tung Anh Nopper
Germany, 2023
6:51 Min, German, Vietnamese OV

In the experimental short film, a young German-Vietnamese tries to communicate with his parents. In Vietnamese culture, feelings are rarely expressed. For that reason, the main protagonist uses dance elements to give insights into his inner world.

Director Christian Tung Anh Nopper Producer Maria Khaychuk Screenplay Christian Tung Anh Nopper Camera Valentin Kühn Editor Christian Tung Anh Nopper Music Buddha Kid Cast Nam Tran Xuan Distribution Christian Tung Anh Nopper

Silent Chirping of Invisible Digits

Vera Sebert
Austria, Germany, 2023
Internet Software, Photos, 10:11 Min, no dialogue

Like a single film frame, insects flash for a fraction of a second, only to immediately withdraw from the field of vision again. In between their flickering bodily fragments, the film reveals undefinable voids. What can be seen when familiar filters of vision and the narratives associated with them are missing?

Director Vera Sebert Producer Vera Sebert Animation Vera Sebert Camera Vera Sebert Editor Vera Sebert Music Thelonious Hamel Sound Thelonious Hamel, Vera Sebert Distribution Vera Sebert

[tw:]

epilepsy

I’m Leaving

Michelle Brand
Germany, France, 2023
2D, 3D, 3:34 Min, French OV

As the night comes, the journey begins. Running rushing, racing. Unbound from time and swept away by the night’s surreal cascade of lights, we leave day-life behind.

Director Michelle Brand Producer Célestine Gonzalez Screenplay Michelle Brand Animation Lisa Cruz, Michelle Brand, Camille Gibut, Toby Auberg Editor Toby Auberg, Michelle Brand Music Arthur Vonfelt Distribution Michelle Brand

[tw:]

epilepsy

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This life is one of the hardest, so they say. Either we end up godforsaken and alone on a tree trunk in the boundless ocean, or in the infinite chaotic expanses of the internet. Be they daddy issues or unique forms of animal love, ultimately we all just want to cry away the bad world on the shoulders of a loved one. Right?

[tw: physical violence, pornography, psychological violence]

Drijf

Levi Stoops
Belgium, 2023
2D, 14:59 Min, Dutch OV

Two people adrift at sea are fighting a bloody battle for the survival of both themselves and their relationship.

Director Levi Stoops Producer Annemie Degryse Screenplay Levi Stoops Animation Levi Stoops Editor Levi Stoops Music Mick Lemaire Sound Paulo Rietjens, Arnout Colaert Cast Levi Stoops, Anemone Valcke Distribution Miyu Distribution, Luce Grosjean

[tw:]

physical violence

Furrie

Lucie Grannec
France, 2023
2D, 8:36 Min, English ST

Portrait of the countercultural movement of anthropomorphic animal lovers known as the Furries. This community, often associated with various sexual fetishes, has become a deeply rooted modern social phenomenon in the United States.

Director Lucie Grannec Producer Frédéric Mocellin Screenplay Lucie Grannec Animation Lucie Grannec Editor Lucie Grannec Sound Philipe Baranzini, Christian Phaure, Xavier Drouault Distribution Lucie Grannec

Bold Eagle

Whammy Alcazaren
Philippines, Singapore, 2022
16:20 Min, Philippino OV
German Premiere

Bold, who posts nudes and performs lascivious acts on the internet, suffers an existential crisis and confronts his daddy issues. With the help of his talking cat and hallucinogenic drugs, Bold takes a dive into the chaos of the internet as he seeks refuge in the arms of strange men and masturbates his way to true happiness.

Director Whammy Alcazaren Producer Alemberg Ang Screenplay Whammy Alcazaren Camera Tristan Salas Editor Carlo Francisco Manatad Music Erwin Romulo Sound Pepe Manikan Cast @giogahol, @luckymaybe1923, @pusangmonty, @rickyad Distribution Daluyong Studios, Alemberg Ang

[tw:]

pornography

Circle of Life

Peter Millard
United Kingdom, 2024
3:33 Min, no dialogue
German Premiere

Every species has their own lifecycles.

Director Peter Millard Producer Peter Millard Animation Peter Millard Editor Peter Millard Sound Peter Millard Distribution Peter Millard

Don't Cry Gabriel

Mathilde Chavanne
France, 2023
24:20 Min, French OV
German Premiere

Gabriel is bad, the world is bad, everything is bad. Hopefully, sometimes, lost souls attract each other. Thus embarks Margot in Gabriel’s night.

Director Mathilde Chavanne Producer Jeanne Ezvan, Marthe Lamy Screenplay Mathilde Chavanne Camera Pauline Doméjean Editor Gabriel Gonzalez, Mathilde Chavanne Music Lëstërr Sound Valentine Gelin, Jérôme Petit, Simon Apostolou Cast Dimitri Doré, Tiphaine Raffier, Martine Chevallier Distribution Manifest, Anaïs Colpin

[tw:]

psychological violence

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Reflecting upon this year’s theme of dreaming utopia, this led me to examine spiritual cinema and soul-searching, introspective short films from Quebec in their ability to uncover new portals and draw a palette of wide-ranging experiences. A mix of narrative and experimental shorts from household names and emerging talents in Quebec cinema, this sensory programme oscillates between levity and gravity, touching on healing, revealing and – at times – disturbing aspects of spirituality.
In these films, Quebec landscapes often serve as a backdrop, only turning out to be starting points to venture way further beyond. Nature walks, diaries, trances, meditations, mirages: These brief travels not only inquire the notion of space – tangible, corporeal, mental, metaphysical – as they investigate possible ways to navigate it, but also raise the question of what cinema can be.
Refreshing, efficient, poetic, visceral, boundary-pushing – these intimate yet vibrant shorts cultivate wonder in their purposeful attention to language and their organic use of cinema as a playground, from creative process to finished work. Most of all, these artists are generous with the room, trust and freedom they give to their audience – humbly seeking to share new experiences and sensations with them through form; to move something inside of them.
In the end, I realise these films all manifest an ideal that reminds me of what made me fall in love with short film in the first place. In their commitment to medium-specificity, novelty and sensibility, they embody the purest essence of what I believe short film should be and continue to be and, as earnest as it may sound, they make me hopeful about what is to come for our cinema.

Tam Dan Vu

[tw: epilepsy]

You Are in Bear Country 1

Matthew Rankin
Canada, 2022
1:22 Min, no dialogue
German Premiere

16mm dreamwave micro-hallucinations in National Parks across Canada. A project to commemorate the iconic Parks Canada Interlude Films (1978-1983), in which contemporary electronic musicians reinterpret Alain Clavier’s psychedelic soundtrack that has held enduring mnemonic purchase over generations of stoned Canadians.

Director Matthew Rankin Producer Matthew Rankin Screenplay Matthew Rankin Camera Alex Lampron Editor Matthew Rankin Music Sarah Pagé Sound Sacha Ratcliffe Cast Annie St-Pierre Distribution Matthew Rankin

Today Is Sunday, Tomorrow We Die

Maxime Genois
Canada, 2023
14:28 Min, French OV
International Premiere

Two survivors must learn to deal with a world that has suddenly become empty and deleterious.

Director Maxime Genois Producer Maxime Genois, Maria Gracia Turgeon Screenplay Maxime Genois, Claude Falardeau Camera Jules Cloutier Lacerte Editor Louis Chevalier-Dagenais Music Ilyaa Ghafouri Sound Evan Jerred Cast Jérémie Gariépy Ferland, Jonathan Beaulieu-Cyr, Marie Falardeau Distribution Travelling Distribution, Béatrice Moukhaiber

Happy Life

Amélie Hardy
Canada, 2021
16:12 Min, French OV
German Premiere

In this anxious and hectic time, the film explores those unusual outlets that soothe the turmoil of the body and mind. In a meditative journey through these analgesic places, this documentary essay paints a portrait of a society in search of meaning and relief.

Director Amélie Hardy Producer Fanny Drew Screenplay Amélie Hardy Camera Étienne Roussy, Ariel Méthot, Marie Davignon Editor Amélie Hardy Music Samuel Gougoux Sound Marie-Pierre Grenier Distribution Travelling Distribution, Pierre Brouillette-Hamelin

[tw:]

epilepsy

You Are in Bear Country 5

Matthew Rankin, Lindsay McIntyre, Pirouz Nemati
Canada, 2022
3:31 Min, French OV
German Premiere

Another chapter of the 16mm dreamwave micro-hallucinations in National Parks across Canada. A project to commemorate the iconic Parks Canada Interlude Films (1978-1983), in which contemporary electronic musicians re-interpret Alain Clavier’s psychedelic soundtrack that has held enduring mnemonic purchase over generations of stoned Canadians.

Director Matthew Rankin, Lindsay McIntyre, Pirouz Nemati Producer Matthew Rankin Screenplay Matthew Rankin Camera Lindsay McIntyre Editor Matthew Rankin Music Charbonneau/Amato Sound Sacha Ratcliffe Cast Pirouz Nemati Distribution Matthew Rankin

She Who Wears the Rain

Marianne Métivier
Canada, 2019
16:54 Min, French OV

After a difficult visit to her dying father, Agnes decides to escape to a pension in the forest. Immersed in a world that wavers between reality and dreaming, Agnes will have to confront her mourning.

Director Marianne Métivier Producer Clara L’Heureux-Garcia, Émile Lavoie Screenplay Marianne Métivier Camera Ariel Méthot Editor Amélie Hardy Music Ilyaa Ghafouri Sound Ilyaa Ghafouri Cast Amaryllis Tremblay, Gabriel Arcand, Edina Portas Distribution H264 distribution, Lamontagne Jean-Christophe J.

Solar Wind

Ian Lagarde
Canada, 2011
18 Min, French OV

In the countryside, an isolated religious sect approaches its ultimate move: their transfer to the next world through mass suicide…

Director Ian Lagarde Producer Gabrielle Tougas-Fréchette Screenplay Ian Lagarde Camera Mathieu Laverdière Editor Mathieu Grondin Sound Marie-Pierre Grenier Cast Sandrine Bisson, Pascal Contamine Distribution Les Films du 3 Mars, Philippe Gendron-Comeau

A Fortress

Myriam Charles
Haiti, Canada, 2018
6 Min, French OV

After the death of their adoptive daughter, a couple goes to Haiti looking for her relatives. They meet a DNA specialist there who might have the power of resurrection.

Director Myriam Charles Producer Miryam Charles Screenplay Miryam Charles Camera Miryam Charles Editor Miryam Charles Music Miryam Charles Sound Miryam Charles Cast Eve Duranceau, Matthew Rankin, Maxime de Cotret, Annie Darisse, Florence Blain M'Baye, Mariola Camilien Distribution La Distributrice de Films, Serge Abiaad

Passage #14

Alexandre Larose
Canada, 2013
10 Min, no dialogue

A path that extends from my family’s backyard into Lac-Saint-Charles (Québec City), condensed in multiple layers.

Director Alexandre Larose Producer Alexandre Larose Screenplay Alexandre Larose Camera Alexandre Larose Editor Alexandre Larose Distribution Light Cone, Miguel Armas

[tw:]

epilepsy

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Ah yes, the 1990s. For some, it feels like only yesterday, for others, images from this time seem like they are from a bygone era. These were the years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and in Dresden too some were discovering the adventures of the market economy, while others were discovering themselves. Some struggled to survive the reappraisal of all their values, while others used their newfound freedom to finally raise hell – and that artistically as well. Harmony was not always vainly found between the citizens and the bohemians, as indeed the other varieties of East German existence in the post-reunification years, with these worlds often clashing. As is the case in Tilo Schiemenz’s film PILGRIM, where the artistic will takes over a self-constructed theatre stage in a rundown backyard and the local citizens takes up arms in the face of so much cheerful anarchy. Or else like in Bern Kilian’s 5UHR53, when the confrontation between completely opposing sociocultural milieus in the Prohlis high-rise neighbourhood ends in unexpected harmony.
In their works, these two Dresden-based filmmakers documented the realities of the post-reunification years by translating them into cinematic art. One primarily in short films, the other in longer formats. What resulted from this were no high-end film productions, with their being only of limited value as film festival fodder. These were works that would probably not be shown by public TV broadcasters until well after midnight – and yet they are important contemporary testimonies, as mirrors of this city of Dresden, of an era and of an attitude to life.
As in previous years, the Saxony Film Association and the Saxon State Library – Dresden State and University Library (SLUB) are screening excerpts from their joint “Securing the Audio-Visual Heritage in Saxony” (SAVE) federal state digitisation programme in the festival’s Regional Focus section. This time around, the focus is not on private and documentary footage, but on these two filmic artists’ works that, on the one hand, have a historical value in and of themselves for the images they show and, on the other hand, are absolutely worth preserving as an expression of a (filmic) artistic niche in a certain place and at a certain time.
A reception for the event is being held in Lingnerschloss on 17 April 2024, to which everyone is warmly invited.

André Hennig

5Uhr53

Bernd Kilian
Germany, 2002
5 Min, German OV

Five in the morning, somewhere in Germany. The clash of completely opposing lifestyles ends unexpectedly.

Director Bernd Kilian Distribution Saxon State Library – Dresden State and University Library (SLUB),

Lisa Goes to the Cinema

Bernd Kilian
Germany, 2005
7 Min, German OV

A little girl, a town and some surprising encounters. The silent movie genre rethought.

Director Bernd Kilian Screenplay Bernd Kilian Camera Bernd Kilian Editor Bernd Kilian Music Stephan Naumovich Cast Lisa Güngör Distribution Saxon State Library – Dresden State and University Library (SLUB),

Images of the Defence of a Courtyard

Bernd Kilian
Germany, 2006
11 Min, no dialogue

In this filmic adaptation of a text by Franz Kafka, soldiers are defending a farm against an enemy that is nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile, the local inhabitants try to settle into as much normality as possible.

Director Bernd Kilian Screenplay Bernd Kilian Camera Martin Preiss Editor Milos Krejcar Music Frieder Zimmermann Cast Petr Koutecky Distribution Saxon State Library – Dresden State and University Library (SLUB),

Young Germans in May

Bernd Kilian
Germany, 2001
7 Min, no dialogue

Every year, the most beautiful, best and proudest representatives of German youth meet in Dresden and take to the streets together.

Director Bernd Kilian Distribution Saxon State Library – Dresden State and University Library (SLUB),

Daphnis and Chloe on the Elbe (Excerpt I)

Tilo Schiemenz
Germany, 2000
0:41 Min, German OV

The archer on the banks of the Elbe at Dresden-Neustadt tries his hand at playing Cupid – and then skedaddles.

Director Tilo Schiemenz Producer Tilo Schiemenz Distribution Saxon State Library – Dresden State and University Library (SLUB),

Pilgrim (Excerpt I)

Tilo Schiemenz
East Germany (GDR), 1992
10:13 Min, German OV

A small theatre group is rehearsing in a backyard in Dresden’s Neustadt district, and is shot at by begrudging citizens.

Director Tilo Schiemenz Producer Tilo Schiemenz Distribution Saxon State Library – Dresden State and University Library (SLUB),

Pilgrim (Excerpt II)

Tilo Schiemenz
East Germany (GDR), 1992
1:22 Min, German OV

A man greets the morning on his balcony, which follows the call of gravity; the neighbours go about their daily work unimpressed.

Director Tilo Schiemenz Producer Tilo Schiemenz Distribution Saxon State Library – Dresden State and University Library (SLUB),

Schnapphahn and Kallaputschni (Excerpt)

Tilo Schiemenz
Germany, 1996
5:57 Min, German OV

When the building site manager reaches for the saw to clear out the birch trees in the gutters of Dresden Neustadt, conflicts are inevitable. In the end, the trees have to fall, as do the old residents.

Director Tilo Schiemenz Producer Tilo Schiemenz Distribution Saxon State Library – Dresden State and University Library (SLUB),

Tigerlilli (Excerpt)

Tilo Schiemenz
Germany, 1994
3:13 Min, German OV

The boom in east Germany is showing its first signs of success in Dresden, with investors sparing neither costs nor resources. But elements that have nothing to do with the new order are leaving their dirty mark behind.

Director Tilo Schiemenz Screenplay Tilo Schiemenz, Barbara Blaschke Camera Jürgen Rehberg Editor Tilo Schiemenz Music Uwe Krause Distribution Saxon State Library – Dresden State and University Library (SLUB),

Daphnis and Chloe on the Elbe (Excerpt II)

Tilo Schiemenz
Germany, 2000
6 Min, German OV

A young couple are evicted from the rear building where they live. Their youthfulness, and their self-confident love life, as indeed their lifestyle have become an annoyance to some citizens.

Director Tilo Schiemenz Producer Tilo Schiemenz Distribution Saxon State Library – Dresden State and University Library (SLUB),

Daphnis and Chloe on the Elbe (Excerpt III)

Tilo Schiemenz
Germany, 2000
9:21 Min, German OV

In 2000, the shepherd boy Daphnis – under the influence of psychoactive substances – is staggering through the Dresden City festival. The outing turns into a horror trip for him.

Director Tilo Schiemenz Producer Tilo Schiemenz Distribution Saxon State Library – Dresden State and University Library (SLUB),

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The films in the “Experiments” programme series are essentially interventions that steer established forms of representation in new directions and invite the viewers to alter their perspectives. They concern border-crossings where categories such as genre and style, as indeed even time and space become dissolved. Located beyond the space-time continuum or in “interim spaces”, utopian constellations even permit the observing of power and social systems from the outside, shaking them up in this way.
Our programme consists of an invitation to travel: firstly to Detroit. Detroit has always been a city of utopias, not only in terms of technological progress, but also musically. The film LO-TECH REALITY was created in collaboration with the “underground Resistance Collective”, headed by Detroit techno pioneers Jeff Mills and Mike Banks. Their specific sound design evolves into “sonic fiction” (Kodwo Eshun), which refers to a society that has detached itself from capitalism. For the “Underground Resistance Collective”, this represents a hopeful future.
The journey continues to New York, where Viktoria Schmid shows us analogue, hypnotic images of New York in NYC RGB, in which different time levels become combined and merge into a harmonious whole.
In their multimedia project THE CURRENCY – SENSING 1 AGBOGBLOSHIE, Elom 20ce, Musquiqui Chihying and Gregor Kasper question capitalist logics, exploitation and power structures by tracing the global cycles of raw materials and electronic devices, making them visible and audible. To this end, they travel to the “toxic city” of Agbogbloshie, where the remnants of the dreams of prosperity from rich countries are recycled and have become nightmares for the local population due to the resulting high environmental pollution.
Max Hattler’s O/S is inspired by experiments from avantgarde movements in the 20th century. These incorporated their present into the future and formed alignments vis-a-vis the formulating of political and aesthetic convictions in the relationship between art, politics and society.
In their photo film enhanced with modern technology, Gusztáv Hámos and Katja Pratschke question the political utopia of communism and tell the story of the life of an artist who finds himself in an “interim world” in so-called real socialist Hungary during the Cold War, and whose world becomes disjointed and reconstructed.
These border-crossings expand the viewers’ fields of vision as they explore new possibilities, challenging them to “think further”. Crossing borders thus always provides space for utopian constellations.

Sven Pötting

[tw: epilepsy, psychological violence]

Lo-Tech Reality

Guillermo García López
France, Spain, USA, 2022
8:09 Min, English OV

Above the post-industrial landscape of Detroit, visitors descend from space in search of knowledge. There, among the sounds and lights of the city, they find only the traces of a civilization and an encoded tradition.

Director Guillermo García López Producer Marina García López, Cornelius Harris, Justin Pechberty, Damien Megherbi Screenplay Guillermo García López Camera Guillermo García López Editor Guillermo García López Music Mike Banks Sound Barto Alcaine, Adrien Koumrouyan, Guillermo García López Cast Cornelius Harris Distribution Les Valseurs, Alexandre Adam

NYC RGB

Viktoria Schmid
Austria, USA, 2023
7 Min, no dialogue

This film surveys the architecture of Manhattan in a series of fixed-frame compositions, each exposed three times, through red, green and blue filters. The city’s range of beiges, browns and greys remain steady, while highlights and shadows splinter into geometric arrays of colour.

Director Viktoria Schmid Producer Viktoria Schmid Camera Viktoria Schmid Editor Viktoria Schmid Sound Liew Niyomkarn Distribution Sixpackfilm, Gerald Weber

The Currency – Sensing 1 Agbogbloshie

Elom 20ce, Musquiqui Chihying, Gregor Kasper
Germany, Taiwan, Togo, 2023
16:12 Min, no dialogue

An experimental poetic investigation of Agbogbloshie, one of the world’s largest e-waste recycling sites, as a contact zone of complex global economic, social, power-political and technological processes.

Director Elom 20ce, Musquiqui Chihying, Gregor Kasper Producer Gregor Kasper, Patrick Atakpa Ayele-Yawou Screenplay Elom 20ce, Musquiqui Chihying, Gregor Kasper Camera Gregor Kasper Editor Gregor Kasper Music Elom 20ce Sound Ilya Selikhov, Sum-Sum Shen Cast Elom 20ce Distribution Thomas Kaske

Withdrawn – Jill, Uncredited

Anthony Ing

Director‘s statement: We have chosen to withdraw our film JILL, UNCREDITED from FILMFEST DRESDEN in solidarity with the Strike Germany campaign whose motivations and demands can be reviewed here: https://strikegermany.org/ Calling for Palestinian liberation, against the system of apartheid and genocide imposed by Israel, is a call for dignity and human rights for an oppressed people; we should be deeply critical of any institutions that attempt to stifle or distort this message. Free Palestine.

Director Anthony Ing

O/S

Max Hattler
Hong Kong, Germany, 2023
2D Digital, 5 Min, no dialogue

Taking inspiration from 20th century avantgarde experiments in graphical sound generation, the entire image in O/S functions as an optical soundtrack. Abstract motion becomes sound. What you hear is what you see.

Director Max Hattler Producer Max Hattler Animation Xiaozhi Hu, Xiaoyu Zhang, Yujie Lu, Marvin Hauck, Xiaobu Wang, Riwen Zhang, Tatia Pui Wan Lau, Hattie Chan, Chit Ng Sound Marvin Hauck, Xiaobu Wang, Riwen Zhang, Tatia Pui Wan Lau, Hattie Chan, Chit Ng, Xiaozhi Hu, Xiaoyu Zhang, Sune Petersen, Yujie Lu Distribution Max Hattler

[tw:]

epilepsy

In Limbo

Katja Pratschke, Gusztáv Hámos
Germany, 2022
Google Earth, Photofilm, 30 Min, English OV

IN LIMBO is about a young man who flees from Hungary to West Berlin during the Cold War. Kiesling’s story begins with his conscription into the people’s army for military service. Ever since realising that the state – in which he lives – claims ownership of him, his relationship with reality, with real freedom, has changed dramatically. He decides to reset his identity.

Director Katja Pratschke, Gusztáv Hámos Producer Katja Pratschke Screenplay Gusztáv Hámos, Katja Pratschke Animation Ramus Kaulitzke, Armano Forster Camera Gusztáv Hámos Editor Katja Pratschke Music Gusztáv Hámos, Pedro Rodolpho Ramos Sound Gusztáv Hámos, Gaston Ibarroule, Martin Steyer Cast Gusztáv Hámos, Atanáz Babinchak, Péter Forgács, Isabelle Redfern Distribution Katja Pratschke

[tw:]

psychological violence

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Final Girls Berlin Film Festival showcases horror cinema that has been directed, written or produced by women and non-binary filmmakers. We are committed to creating space for female voices and visions, whether monstrous, heroic or some messy combination of the two, in the horror genre. We have seen more than enough representations of women as beautified victims and constructions of male fantasies or anxieties, and we are working towards the primacy of women as subjects and storytellers in horror.
In this special programme highlighting some of our favourite queer horror films, you will see shorts overflowing with queer creativity. Dystopian group dynamics, body dysphoria, transgressive creatures, dangerous, sexy relationships – get ready for a thrilling and subversive selection that upends the norm!

Sara Neidorf, Eli Lewy

[tw: psychological violence, physical violence]

Lone Wolf

January Jones
Australia, 2018
7 Min, English OV

Determined to fit in at a sleepover, 15-year-old Sam ignores cruel taunts from Blair and her growing feelings for Willow, but she cannot ignore the strange things happening to her body.

Director January Jones Producer Mary Musolino Screenplay January Jones Camera Emma Paine Editor January Jones Music Chris Clarke Sound David Weaver Cast Freya van Dyke-Goodman, Izabella Measham-Park, Mackenzie Mazur, Charlotte Cook Distribution January Jones

Skin

Audrey Rosenberg
USA, 2019
22:56 Min, English OV

A queer teenager struggling with the onset of puberty discovers a living cave that presents them with a new skin and a chance to explore their identity.

Director Audrey Rosenberg Producer Cailin Lowry Screenplay Audrey Rosenberg Camera Brandon Somerhalder Editor Hunter Bermudez Music Amanda Yamate Sound Elle Callahan Cast Rhys Fehrenbacher, Summer Phoenix, Daniel Rashid Distribution Audrey Rosenberg

Coming Out

Cressa Maeve Beer
USA, 2020
Stop Motion, 2 Min, no dialogue

A tender stop-motion animation about identity, love and giant monsters. Endorsed officially by Toho, the studio responsible for the iconic creature, this short brings awareness and support for LGBTQ stories into the Godzilla canon.

Director Cressa Maeve Beer Producer Cressa Maeve Beer Screenplay Cressa Maeve Beer Animation Cressa Maeve Beer Camera Cressa Maeve Beer Editor Cressa Maeve Beer Music a[way] (stock), Akira Ifukube (stock) Sound Cressa Maeve Beer Cast Julia Durr Distribution Cressa Maeve Beer

Skin

Cyrus Gainer
USA, 2023
10 Min, English OV

In a present-day post-apocalypse where New York City has become a wasteland with a resting temperature of 140 degrees, Kai struggles to find an intimate connection using an online dating device that allows you to feel someone else’s touch.

Director Cyrus Gainer Producer Faoileán Cosgrove, Chris Davis, Cyrus Gainer Screenplay Cyrus Gainer Camera Isabel Padilla Editor Alex Sennet Sound Joseph Neilon Magee Cast Chris Davis, Dionne Robinson, Aileen Wu Distribution Cyrus Gainer

[tw:]

psychological violence

New Flesh for the Old Ceremony

Adamska Elizaveta Rakhilkina
USA, 2020
12:35 Min, Spanish, English OV

A lesbian reverie set amidst the backwoods of New England, the film explores the physicality of grief through a macabre fable about a woman whose wife is devoured by and then possesses their beloved pack of dogs.

Director Adamska Elizaveta Rakhilkina Producer Lecia Ductan, Alexander Rakhilkin Screenplay Adamska Elizaveta Rakhilkina Camera Stefan Nachmann Editor Jo Shaffer, Morgan Gu Music Chat Gunter, Aleksandra Labutkina Sound Chat Gunter, Aleksandra Labutkina Cast Catherine Curtin, Lee Anne Hutchison, Ana Maria Jomolca Distribution Adamska Elizaveta Rakhilkina

[tw:]

physical violence, psychological violence

Possum

Daisy Rosato
USA, 2023
15 Min, English OV

When the leader of an artist residency kills the possum that has been eating their cauliflower, the residents come to a shocking consensus.

Director Daisy Rosato Producer Daisy Rosato, Lea Delaria, Jackie Monoson Screenplay Daisy Rosato, Sophie Sagan-Gutherz Camera Zach Sky Editor Laure Conte Music Ariel Loh Sound Wren Stark Haven Cast Misha Brooks, Hannah Shealy, Michelle Davis Distribution Daisy Rosato

Swipe Up, Vivian

Hannah Welever
USA, 2020
13:33 Min, English OV

Two agoraphobic women find love via a virtual dating app.

Director Hannah Welever Producer Addison Heimann, Madison Ginsberg Screenplay Addison Heimann Camera Taylor Russ Editor Jess Weber Music Matthew Young Sound Chris Nawrocki, Katie Campos Cast Emily Marso, Mary Williamson, Isa Arciniegas, Desiree Staples Distribution Hannah Welever

Monsterdyke

Kaye Adelaide, Mariel Sharp
Canada, 2021
4:25 Min, English OV

A transgressive portrait of desire shot on 16mm, MONSTER DYKE examines trans-lesbian love and longing with humour, heat, puppetry and a subversive twist.

Director Kaye Adelaide, Mariel Sharp Producer Kaye Adelaide, Mariel Sharp Screenplay Kaye Adelaide, Mariel Sharp Camera Naomi Silver-Vézina Editor Kaye Adelaide, Mariel Sharp Music Kue Varo Cast Colin Lloyd Distribution True Sweetheart Films, Mariel Sharp

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Who doesn’t know it? Big brown eyes, soft hair, instant infatuation – no we’re not talking about your last date, but about the positive feelings that we often have towards our mostly four-legged fellow creatures. Yes, you’ve read that right: This year we’re plunging into the incredibly exciting world of animals! Biting and snappish, that goes without saying.

Gonzo

Jannis Lenz
Germany, Austria, 2023
3:47 Min, English OV

Gonzo is a polar bear, born in the wrong body. He must find the confidence and courage in himself to overcome the ignorance and violence of others. A heavy metal fairy tale in reminiscence of Hunter S. Thompson.

Director Jannis Lenz Producer Jannis Lenz Screenplay Jannis Lenz Camera Jannis Lenz Editor Jannis Lenz Sound Benedict Palier Cast Gonzo, Yuyu Kim Distribution Jannis Lenz

Moxie

Stephen Irwin
United Kingdom, 2011
2D Drawn/2D Computer, 5:45 Min, English OV

Huh, it's all black and white, a faraway voice is telling a children's story in a foreign language. Yet when you listen carefully, you understand every word – and even bears rescue voids of which we have little idea.

Director Stephen Irwin Screenplay Stephen Irwin Animation Stephen Irwin Camera Stephen Irwin Editor Stephen Irwin Cast Ragga Gudrun Distribution Stephen Irwin

Good Boy

Eros V
United Kingdom, 2022
9 Min, English OV

A tiny, adorable Pomeranian turns out to be a psychotic killing machine, to the horror of his inexperienced dog sitter.

Director Eros V Cast Patricia Allison, James Eeles, Halema Hussein Distribution Premium Films,

We Are Future Shock

Zohar Dvir
United Kingdom, 2019
4:20 Min, no dialogue

A Grizzly bear, Jesus Christ and Elvis Presley find utopias in an unsatisfying life.

Director Zohar Dvir Animation Zohar Dvir Music Hila Ruach Sound Alexia Charoud Distribution Zohar Dvir

Coyote

Lorenz Wunderle
Switzerland, 2018
Digital Painted, 10 Min, no dialogue

A coyote loses his wife and children from an attack of wolfs. Anguished from human emotions he‘s trying to process the experience. Besides grief and delusion, evil takes up more and more space.

Director Lorenz Wunderle Producer Ramon Schoch, Lukas Pulver, Gabriela Bloch Steinmann Screenplay Lorenz Wunderle Animation Fela Bellotto, Aira Joana, Julia Munz, Etienne Mory, Lorenz Wunderle Camera Lorenz Wunderle Editor Lorenz Wunderle, Ramon Schoch Music Rahel Zimmermann, Nicolas Luna Castro, Jakob Eisenbach Sound Moritz Flachsmann, Thomas Gassmann Cast Michael Fuchs, Thomas Gassmann Distribution YK Animation Studio GmbH, Ramon Schoch

Internet Gaga

Reinhold Bidner
Austria, 2023
2:17 Min, English OV
German Premiere

Once upon a time (not so long ago), we humans believed that we would create a free and democratic place of endless knowledge through the internet. Just a few downloads, swipes and dislikes later, we now know that we have failed massively. 4Real!

Director Reinhold Bidner Screenplay Reinhold Bidner Animation Reinhold Bidner Camera Reinhold Bidner Editor Reinhold Bidner Music Reinhold Bidner Sound Reinhold Bidner Distribution gold extra, gold extra

Don't Die

Yuseon Park
South Korea, 2023
4:48 Min, Korean OV
German Premiere

A human carelessly throws a stone that kills a frog, but the frog returns to life and takes revenge on the human.

Director Yuseon Park Producer Yuseon Park Distribution KIAFA AniSEED, Jinsan Kim

The Chickening

Nick DenBoer, Davy Force
Canada, 2015
5 Min, English OV

The first of its kind in remixed, augmented cinema. It is a theatrical trailer for a fictional film in which Stanley Kubrick’s classic film THE SHINING has been artfully transformed into a new, poultry infused comedy adventure by digitally altering the film to create a new narrative. This new style of filmmaking is a hilarious collision of classic films with modern day visual effects; “Cinegraffiti” – the ultimate neo nostalgic visual feast for this digital age.

Director Nick DenBoer, Davy Force Producer Nick DenBoer, Davy Force, John Wooden, Kenny Hotz Screenplay Nick DenBoer, Davy Force Animation Nick DenBoer, Davy Force Editor Nick DenBoer, Davy Force Music Nate Mills, Nick DenBoer Sound Nick DenBoer, Davy Force Cast Kenny Hotz, Cad Gold Jr., Nick Dibrizzi, Tim Beresford, Leanne O’Brien Distribution Nick DenBoer

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Sometimes the utopian dream explodes in your face. Science will save us! … if it doesn’t kill us first. A programme with men doing stupid manly things and experiments gone horribly and hilariously wrong.
Penicillin, LSD and Viagra may all have been invented by accident, but most accidents in science and technology are decidedly less happy. Take for example the unfortunate experiments in this programme: a series of ambitious high-wire dreams of a better future backfiring gloriously badly. It seemed like a good idea at the time… Remember what the doctor said: This will only hurt a little bit – and only sting for a moment. Caution: The content’s potential side effects include shock, disgust, hysteria and laughter.

Christoffer Ode

Spider

Nash Edgerton
Australia, 2007
9:31 Min, English OV

Jack and Jill are always hurting each other’s feelings. But like Mum said: It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye.

Director Nash Edgerton Producer Nash Edgerton Screenplay Nash Edgerton, David Michod Camera Greig Fraser Editor Nash Edgerton Music Paul Pirola Sound Paul Pirola Cast Mirrah Foulkes, Nash Edgerton Distribution Kurzfilm Verleih, Anne Jagemann

Man-Spider

Tom Oxenham
United Kingdom, 2019
7:54 Min, English OV
German Premiere

Everyone knows the Spiderman story: A man gets bitten by a spider, gains spider powers, becomes a hero. But a radioactive metamorphosis is a two-way street. And what about the spider that bit Peter Parker? Whatever became of it?

Director Tom Oxenham Producer Tom Oxenham, Simon Alcock, Hugo Nicholson Screenplay Tom Oxenham, Simon Alcock Camera Fabio Mota Editor Charlie Bird Sound Bálint Csáki Cast Harry Michell, Liz Kingsman Distribution Tom Oxenham

Carlitopolis

Luis Nieto
France, 2006
4 Min, English OV

A filmed experiment involving a mouse that is screened behind the scientist.

Director Luis Nieto Producer Nicolas Schmerkin Screenplay Luis Nieto Camera Luis Nieto Editor Luis Nieto Sound Luis Nieto Cast Luis Nieto, Carlito Distribution Autour de Minuit, Nicolas Schmerkin

Survivers

Carlos Gómez-Trigo
Spain, 2021
6:11 Min, Spanish OV

A dark night. A car in a parking lot. Three science-freak geeks are the only survivors of an undetermined catastrophe. An opportunity to start humanity from scratch. But between them differences arise about when to remove the headgear that is protecting them.

Director Carlos Gómez-Trigo Producer Carlos Gómez-Trigo Screenplay Carlos Gómez-Trigo Camera Marino Pardo Editor David Castro Gónzalez Music Christian Azuaje Sound Alex Marais Cast Stephanie Magnin, Maarten Dannenberg, Alex Moreu Distribution Carlos Gómez-Trigo

The Centrifuge Brain Project

Till Nowak
Germany, 2011
6:35 Min, English OV

In the 1970s, New York scientists studied the effects of carousels on the learning curve of four-year-olds. The results were so surprising that the Institute of Centrifugal Research in Florida started to construct a series of devices to test the effects on adults.

Director Till Nowak Screenplay Till Nowak Animation Till Nowak Camera Ivan Robles Mendoza Editor Till Nowak Music Siriusmo, Sergio Garcia, Francesco Rivero Cast Leslie Barany Distribution Kurzfilm Verleih, Anne Jagemann

Lazarov

Luis Nieto
France, 2010
5:35 Min, Russian OV

Refusing to accept the decline of the USSR, a handful of Russian scientists work secretly on resurrecting Soviet power. Here is some never-seen-before footage of the mysterious Lazarov programme.

Director Luis Nieto Producer Nicolas Schmerkin Screenplay Luis Nieto Camera Luis Nieto Editor Luis Nieto Sound Luis Nieto Cast Luis Nieto Distribution Autour de Minuit, Nicolas Schmerkin

Bad Hair

Oskar Lehemaa
Estonia, 2019
14:28 Min, no dialogue

If you ever thought about getting rid of that awkward-looking bald spot on your head, you might wanna reconsider after this intense journey into the dark alleys of male vanity. Luscious locks come at a price you may not be prepared to pay.

Director Oskar Lehemaa Producer Evelin Soosaar-Penttilä Screenplay Oskar Lehemaa Camera Ivar Taim Editor Sander-Kalle Somma, Oskar Lehemaa Music Paul Oja Sound Aleksandra Koel, Markus Andreas Cast Sten Karpov Distribution Origine Films, Chen Ming

Silly Human

Cory Williamson
USA, 2020
13:11 Min, English OV

Linda is an actress who steps into a key role on a hit TV show. We soon find out the production is being run by an AI that demands perfection. If a cast member does not meet this requirement, the consequences could prove fatal.

Director Cory Williamson Producer Emilio J. Mazariegos Screenplay Cory Williamson Camera Andres Aragon Editor Cory Williamson Music Wyatt Barclay Sound Wyatt Barclay Cast Alicia Blasingame, Corey Landis, Joseph Miller Distribution Cory Williamson

Technology Lake: Meditations on Death and Sex

Brandon Daley
USA, 2019
8:21 Min, English OV

A dog and her owner navigate the perils of modern technology.

Director Brandon Daley Producer Ben Gojer Screenplay Brandon Daley Camera Drew Angle Editor Brandon Daley Music Brock Chart Distribution Brandon Daley

Monsterdyke

Kaye Adelaide, Mariel Sharp
Canada, 2021
4:25 Min, English OV

A transgressive portrait of desire shot on 16mm, MONSTER DYKE examines trans-lesbian love and longing with humour, heat, puppetry and a subversive twist.

Director Kaye Adelaide, Mariel Sharp Producer Kaye Adelaide, Mariel Sharp Screenplay Kaye Adelaide, Mariel Sharp Camera Naomi Silver-Vézina Editor Kaye Adelaide, Mariel Sharp Music Kue Varo Cast Colin Lloyd Distribution True Sweetheart Films, Mariel Sharp

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