ANTON'S JOURNEY — France 2023 — Directed by: Mariana Loupan — 73 min — Spoken language: French — Subtitles: English, French — Production company: Schuch Productions — Producer: Anne Schuchman-Kune — Script: Mariana Loupan — Photography: Sarah Blum / Emmanuelle Collinot / Pukyo Ruiz de Somocurcio — Editing: Santi Minasi — Sound: Lilian Matigot / Graciela Barrault
Nothing and nobody could have predicted that Anton Hirschfeld, a young man with special needs, would one day become a recognized painter. Anton’s Journey retraces his journey, filmed by his mother since his birth. A journey made possible by the determination and love of his family and the pivotal encounters that marked his path.
THE LIGHTS OF KYIV — Switzerland 2023 — Directed by: Serhii Tykhoniuk — 16 min — Spoken language: Ukrainian — Subtitles: English, French — Production Company: ECAL — Producer: Paolo Moretti — Script: Serhii Tykhoniuk — Photography: Serhii Tykhoniuk — Editing: Serhii Tykhoniuk — Sound: Serhii Tykhoniuk — Music: Mathys Nouspikel
In negative, we are shown snapshots of a city that Serhii Tykhoniuk is afraid to begin to forget. “I want you to describe it as it created you,” he continues in voice-over, speaking to the heroine of his film. She is one of the 8 million Ukrainians who have sought refuge in Europe since the war triggered by the Russian invasion. During night-time strolls in the streets of Lausanne, or working on the floor on a canvas inspired by abstract expressionism, Lisa evokes her native city, the keen loss of the sense of freedom that she still associates with it, its smells, and even “the espresso tonic of Bar 1818” – as many fragments of imagination that the forced refugees have taken from home along with their suitcases. In front of her compatriot’s watchful camera, the young woman speaks frankly about her torments and the sense of strangeness she feels in her host country. “Kyiv is me!” she exclaims in a kind of hallucinogenic trance, dreaming out loud of its now distant “lights”, which continue to burn brightly in her heart of hearts.
Spain 2023 — Directed by: Núria Ubach, Marta Codesido, Dubi Cano, Ulrika Andersson — 20 min — Spoken language: Catalan — Subtitles: English, Spanish — Production: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) — Producers: Marta Codesido, Núria Ubach
The daily walk of three grandmothers in Cabrianes is disrupted by the sudden death of one of them. But life goes on. In the meantime, party preparations are taking place for the oldest person in the village. A portrait that makes us reflect on the passage of time, our society’s aging population, and feeling closer to death.
LOVE ME TRUE — France 2023 — Directed by: Ines Sedan — 7 min — Spoken language: French — Subtitles: English, Spanish — Production Company: LARDUX FILMS — Producer: Benoit Ayraud — Script: Ines Sedan — Photography: Ines Sedan — Editing: Michele Le Guernevel — Sound: Adam Wolny, Olivier Calvert — Music: Olivier Calvert
Laurence is desperately looking for love. On the advice of a friend, she starts using online dating sites to find her soulmate. She becomes addicted to her phone and addicted to a toxic man. Adapted from the report “Love me Tinder” by Alain Lewkowicz, produced for Sonia Kronlund's radio program “Les pieds sur terre” on France Culture.
Spain 2023 — Directed by: Aina Palomer — 24 min — Spoken language: Catalan — Subtitles: English, Spanish — Producer: Jane Claudine
L'art de l'antídot tells the story of Agus and his photography practice as a therapeutic art form after suffering an accident that changed his life and his relationship with his body. A short film that transports us through the streets of Barcelona and shows us a new perspective, reminding us of the importance of creation as a way to overcome obstacles.
Spain 2023 — Directed by: Asier García — 4 min — Spoken language: Spanish — Subtitles: English, Spanish, Catalan — Producer: Asier García
Monstruo explores the possibilities of trans identity, in a context in which Asier (director) questions how to live in today's society and system. They do so through film, with its power of representation and identification, and with the etymological questioning of the words "identity" and "monster".
France, Martinique 2023 — Directed by: Aliha Thalien — 23 min — Spoken language: French — Subtitles: English — Production Company: Le Fresnoy — national studio — Producer: Bruno Morat — Script: Aliha Thalien — Photography: Nino Defontaine, Nicolaos Zafiriou — Editing: Eva Studzinski — Sound: Alexandre Pastel
In Martinique, a curse upon men leads to their disappearance. A group of young friends meet and talk about their relationship to the island.
Алое, фікус, авокадо і 6 драцен — France, Ukraine 2023 — Directed by: Marta Smerechynska — 8 min — Subtitles: English — Production Company: La Fémis — Producer: Julie Tingaud — Script: Marta Smerechynska, Kateryna Babkina — Photography: Asma Benazouz, Sarp Uzunoglu — Editing: Marta Smerechynska — Sound: Karina Rezhevska — Music: Marusya Chuprinenko — Co-Production: Marta Smerechynska, Ukraine
What to take, what to leave? How important are material possessions when you’re trying to save your life? Packages from Ukraine – filled with everything and nothing – wait patiently under a bridge to be found, while a voice stirs memories of frivolous and treasured personal effects, in an apparent heart-breaking farewell letter to Kyiv.
When we meet — Spain 2023 — Directed by: Group of young people from diverse backgrounds — 26 min — Production: Cinema en curs (amb estudiants d’EMAV, ERAM, UB i ESCAC)
"We met at the beginning of winter. It’s now April. To start this letter, we want to show you the city we have gotten to know and filmed together." This is how the film opens, created collectively by a group of young people aged between 16 and 23, some recently arrived in Barcelona from Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Senegal, Cambodia, Albania; others born in the city or who have lived there since childhood. Based on the portrait and experiences of six people who migrated to the city a long time ago, the group of filmmakers invite us on a journey that is external, poetic and introspective through the city, the trees and the moon. A celebration of cinema and the possibility of sharing life and making the world bigger.
Germany 2023 — Directed by: Gudrun Gruber — 72 min — Spoken language: English — Subtitles: English — Production Company: NeoSolaris Film - Gudrun Gruber Filmproduktion — Producer: Gudrun Gruber — Script: Gudrun Gruber and Sabrina Banks — Photography: Bernd Effenberger — Editing: Sophie Oldenbourg — Sound: Andrew Mottl — Music: Dominik Giesriegl — Co-production: University of Television and Film Munich
More than a decade after a sexual assault in her teen years, Detroit resident Sabrina struggles to get by. Non-epileptic seizures and other post-traumatic symptoms deprive her of her mobility and her freedom. Her father, Darnell, who owns an auto repair shop in the city, is one of her closest confidants. Every day he makes himself available to drive his daughter where she needs to go. Together with her husband Tim, the two men form a cocoon around the young woman, but questions of guilt surrounding the past and her illness dominate family life. The vacant house of Sabrina’s godmother, a source of her wounding, becomes the focal point in her need to confront that awful night. Sabrina decides to return to both – her trauma place and her own voice as a writer and speaker – to come to terms with her violent past. A film about post-traumatic growth and self restoration.
Croatia, Italy 2023 — Directed by: Tea Vidović Dalipi — 75 min — Spoken languages: Croatian, Albanian, English — Subtitles: English — Production Company: Restart — Producer: Oliver Sertić
Just married Croatian-Roma couple, Tea and Mirsad, are trying to live together, suspended between expectations from families and communities in culturally irreconcilable backgrounds that do not accept diversities.
Spain, United Kingdom 2023 — Directed by: Priya Woods — 8 min — Production: OTOXO Productions
Through the use of an interview and film footage, the film contrasts between the warm chaos of some old family tapes and the harsh reality of the present. A Christmas tape from 2002, of the director's family preparing for Santa's arrival. The camera suddenly cuts to today, in the same house, now empty. When her father goes to the pub, she decides to ask him some questions about the past. While drinking a beer, they reminisce about a life that once was, before everything changed when the mother died of a cancer.
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