WHO I COULD POSSIBLY BE — Hungary 2023 — Directed by: Lia Lőrinczy — 29 min — Subtitles: English — Production Company: University of Theatre and Film Arts — Producer: Attila Csáky — Script: Lia Lőrinczy — Photography: Lola Bedécs — Editing: Krisztián Fábián — Sound: Péter Terner — Music: Péter Fancsikai
At first sight, Viki is an ordinary woman, a single mother, who does everything for her four children, but the apparent family harmony, the recordings of the playful moments in the Mothers’ Home (shelter) are covering a dramatic past. The actual setting of the family is the result of more than 10 years of Viki’s hard work. Viki was constantly abused as a child but her life changed forever when she was sold at 18 years old to a human trafficking business, She could only escape after long years of prostitution. She started a new life, got married, got four kids but that is when real struggles just started in her life. Two of her children stayed with their father, Viki’s youngest could stay with her, and her middle child was raised by foster parents until the age of seven. Viki never gave up on her children to be with them. This short documentary is a statement of hers, a story of facing difficulties when an exceptional survivor decised not to be in silence anymore.
Germany, Serbia 2023 — Directed by: Dragana Jovanovic — 61 min — Production Company: DOK 33 — Producer: Dragana Jovanovic
What happens when beauty falls asleep? Aurora’s Dream explores the collective unconscious during a period of contemporary crisis. Individual participants share their most vivid and personal dreams. The subconscious narratives visually intertwine with the turbulence of our present era, bringing archetypes and motifs from the Sleeping Beauty fairytale to the fore.
Spain 2023 — Directed by: Dhanraj Barkote — 30 min — Spoken language: Nepali — Subtitles: English, Spanish — Production Company: ESCAC FILMS — Producer: Alberto Godoy
Dhanraj, a Nepalese filmmaker, decides to return to his hometown twenty years after the loss of his biological parents, with the desire to bring them back to life through film, and to reconnect with the people that are part of his roots.
CAPTURES — Romania 2023 — Directed by: Ana Gurdiș — 22 min — Spoken language: Romanian — Subtitles: English — Producer: Larisa Crunțeanu
An incomplete family album and a series of street-found photographs lead the author on an introspective journey, unveiling the way her passion for cinematography is passed down from father to daughter.
Switzerland 2023 — Directed by: Nathalie Berger — 62 min — Spoken language: English — Subtitles: English — Production: ZHDK Zürich — Producer: Filippo Bonacci
The sun shines every day in Chagrin Valley, USA. Frozen in a 1950s-inspired artificial decor, this assisted living facility for people who suffer from dementia is home to fragile and ageing residents. Here, everyday life drags on slowly. Florence and her companions dream of an elusive elsewhere during their days punctuated by confusion, fleeting conflicts and overdue family visits. The caregivers – as kind as they are exhausted – run the show in this pastel-coloured, sanitised social theatre. Between two shifts, they confess their desire for a better future; one that is not so different from that of the residents, after all.
ECHOES FROM BORDERLAND — Germany 2023 — Directed by: Lara Milena Brose — 70 min — Spoken language: English — Subtitles: English — Script: Lara Milena Brose — Producer: Lara Milena Brose — Production Company: University of Television and Film Munich (HFF Munich) — Photography: Natalia Mamaj, Lilly Rose Pongratz — Editing: Aora Helmzadeh, Lara Milena Brose, Boris Gavrilović — Sound: Hanna Hocker — Music: Ludovico Failla
Ferida, a Bosnian, lives within sight of the EU’s external border. Every day she witnesses refugees’ desperate attempts to reach the EU and her memories of violence and war come flooding back. Nahid is 15 years old and is stranded here after fleeing the Taliban. In this hypnotic narrative, the fading echoes of Ferida’s stories and Nahid’s voicemails intertwine.
Hungary, Belgium, Portugal 2023 — Directed by: Anna Gyimesi — 16 min — Spoken language: Hungarian — Subtitles: English — Production Company: Docnomads Joint Masters — Producer: Anna Gyimesi, Docnomads Joint Masters — Script: Anna Gyimesi — Photography: Anna Gyimesi — Editing: Anna Gyimesi — Sound: Anna Gyimesi
In her late forties, divorced, and in love again, Els struggles with the reality that her twenty-year-old daughter has requested psychiatric euthanasia. Torn by guilt, anger, and hope, she finds solace in love, which helps her step forward despite her impossible situation. She meets her daughter weekly, trying to maintain distance to live as an independent woman while waiting for the euthanasia decision. Falling is a lyrical, found footage-based film capturing a mother’s journey through the taboos of motherhood and an incredibly challenging personal crisis.
France, Lebanon 2023 — Directed by: Diala Al Hindaoui — 15 min — Spoken language: French — Subtitles: English — Production Company: La cinéfabrique — Producer: Timothé Perrier — Script: Diala Al Hindaoui — Photography: Maïssa Elydja Olivier, Cléo Miquel Delhon — Editing: Hugo Pichon-Martin, Lili Cazals — Sound: Plume Languille And Margot Delaunay — Music: Plume Languille
Fatmé, 11 years old, lives in Lebanon with her family, in a tent by the side of a country road. Her disheveled hair, dirty clothes, and love for fighting are subjects of discussion among those around her. Her mother wonders: Is she a girl or a boy? To this question, Fatmé responds with laughter, "I just want to be the strongest."
Serbia 2023 — Directed by: Eluned Zoë Aiano, Alesandra Tatić — 77 min — Production Companies: Servia Film, Wild Pear Arts — Producers: Greta Rauleac, Miloš Ljubomirović
In Eastern Serbia, in a town with a dual identity divided between magic and industry, a family whose destiny is intrinsically linked with both does their best to ensure the survival of their traditions and their future generations. Desa is the widow of the union leader who is trying to continue his legacy by ensuring the rights of fellow mine-worker families. Meanwhile, her brother Dragan Markovic is the last in a line of dragon hunters, but it’s hard to continue now even the dragons are being driven away.
LIGHT OF LIGHT — Greece 2023 — Directed by: Neritan Zinxhiria — 13 min — Production Company: Reconstructing Memories — Producer: Efijeni Kokedhima
Before his death in 1932, a monk created his own camera in one of the most isolated places in the world. Nearly a century later, a filmmaker discovers and reconstructs the 3000 preserved photographic plates, blending them with his own evocative Super 8, crafting a cinematic pilgrimage, where the past interlaces seamlessly with the present, in a spellbinding visual narrative that defies the constraints of time itself.
I Feel Your Silence — Germany 2023 — Directed by: Laura Heinig — 17 min — Spoken language: German — Subtitles: English — Production: Filmakademie B-W — Producer: Laura Heinig
Every sentence about grandma is like a loss. She didn't talk much - certainly not about what moved her. It is only after her death that I use this film to search for how war and violence affect relationships and create silence. In everyday life, in the household and in the family. A tender portrait that takes us back to that time, which still resonates with us today.
THE LAST KO — France 2023 — Directed by: Timothée Catherine — 70 min — Spoken language: French — Subtitles: English — Production Company: Tripode Productions — Producer: Guillaume Dreyfus — Script: Timothée Catherine — Photography: Mathieu Kauffmann — Editing: Lucas Marchina — Sound: Adriano Cerone, Clément Lemariey — Music: Balthazar Naturel
Carl Strugnell, the world chessboxing champion, is just a few months away from his final showdown in the ring. It's a challenge that promises to be decisive for the fight he's waged all his life, to break free from his condition, but also for all those left behind, to whom he dreams of offering the opportunity to become heroes. Because Karl is himself an imperfect character, champion of an imaginary discipline invented in the drawings of Enki Bilal.
Please activate Javascript to access our site.
