Check point, 15:30
Experiencing failure does not always mean going back to the beginning. The experience, even if bad, leaves a mark and direction for some other attempts. Maybe more successful precisely because of that experience. The protagonist of the documentary, Flora, shows that it is crucial not only to know what we want from life but also what we do not want. Ultimately, life is not a game, and the possibilities of repetition are limited. Moreover,
when life consists of a series of unfortunate events, as in the touching animation The Heart of Betel Nuts, it is difficult to find a moment where life could be built in a positive direction. One cat and a warm word from a passerby still hold the weak threads of the life of the protagonist of the documentary My Friend Alexander Grigorievich. After the traumatic way of earning a living in the fiction film Lili Alone, will the young woman manage to find her checkpoint?
out of competition
Flora
David Kumpare, documentary, 9’, Croatia, 2022
Music Conservatory, numerous nights out and vineyards. Flora is just like flora, she gradually grows her true self.
Producer: New School of Documentary film, Filmaktiv
Distribution: Filmaktiv
My Friend Alexander Grigorievich
Pavel Zelenov, documentary, 25’, Russian Federation, 2022
Alexander Grigorievich is a lonely man. Both his sons emigrated abroad many years ago: each has his own family and spares no thoughts for his father. His relationship with his ex-wife has gone sour: they are not interested in each other’s lives. He collects scrap metal at garbage dumps and hands it over at drop-offs, and only his cat waits for him at home.
Producer: St. Petersburg State Institute of Cinematography and Television
Distribution: [email protected]
The heart of Betel Nuts
CHENG-TSE Wu, animation, 4’, Taiwan, 2022
This film is inspired by my grandmother’s betel nut stand. Expressing the mood of the lonely little boy, telling the feeling when the author of the film was little and the environmental issues in Taiwan.
Producer: Shih Chien University Department of Communications Design, Taipei, Taiwan
Distribution: Shih Chien University Department of Communications Design, Taipei, Taiwan
Lili Alone
ZOU Jing, fiction, 22’, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, 2021
Lili, a young mother, lives with her gambler husband in a remote part of Sichuan. Lonely and poor, she heads for the city in a bid to earn enough money to save her dying father.
Producer: WANG Yang, QIU Yang
Distribution: [email protected]
Time-out, 17:00
Faced with new stimulation, we are more sensitive and vulnerable. In moments of rest from everyday life – when we put the brakes on the obligations that surround us and go in some other, unexpected direction – we feel livelier than usual. The protagonist of the documentary If the Streets Were Mine, a sharp-witted homeless man whose freedom has genuine charms but also several sensitive points of weakness, left his life to this idle driving. Likewise,
the inspiring animated story Matapacos, about a dog that became a symbol of activism in Chile, reminds us of a moment of touching the strength and power of the individual. On the other hand, a break from work turns into a sigh of despair and fear for the protagonist of the tense drama, Borzaya, after learning about the true nature of the illegal operation undertaken to save her family’s existence. Maybe the rest is in the quiet moments of the night in the documentary film Nocturno. Or is it only from the silence that a real nightmare arises?
out of competition
Nocturne
Silvija Bumbak, documentary,13’, Croatia, 2022
By immersing herself in thoughts, with sharpened senses at night, the author becomes an observer of hidden night scenes and the secret life of other non-sleepers.
Producer: New School of Documentary film, Filmaktiv
Distribution: Filmaktiv
If This Street Were Mine
Julia Lea de Toledo, documentary, 39’, Brazil, Argentina, 2022
In the center of Rio de Janeiro, far away from the typical postcards of the “Marvelous City”, a small street reveals a different city. Cristina and Romeu are homeless; he lives on memories of a glorious past; she denounces the misery that surrounds them. Careca is a mystical car parker who summons his saints asking for energy and protection. Custódio resists an eviction threat. All four characters share the same street in central Rio de Janeiro, unveiling their survival practices in a city in decline, whilst awaiting changes whose outcomes are uncertain.
Producer: Universidad del Cine, Buenos Aires
Distribution: Universidad del Cine, Buenos Aires
Matapacos
Karla Riebartsch, Lion Durst, animation, 7’, Germany, 2022
Based on the famous Chilean “Riot Dog” Negro Matapacos.
A stray dog gets to know María, a young protester. Together they radicalize. One day both go a step too far. They’re being separated and María goes to jail. When she gets out her courage and will has left. But when she finds out that the dog kept going to protests until he died and furthermore got famous for it she takes new courage.
Producer: Filmakademie Baden – Württemberg
Distribution: Filmakademie Baden – Württemberg
Borzaya
Simon Schneckenburger, fiction, 20’, Germany, Poland, 2021
In the Ukrainian Carpathians, large Western companies threaten to destroy the existence of the forestry owned by Sylwia’s family. In order to make some urgently needed money, Sylwia agrees to help smuggle refugees across the nearby external EU border.
Producer: Filmakademie Baden – Württemberg
Distribution: Filmakademie Baden – Württemberg
Hide and seek, 18:30
The dark and unknown, at every age, brings back that childhood fear in us, which cries out for warmth and security. What if our bogeyman from childhood is just a poor and unhappy woman from the neighborhood? The author of the documentary Babajanja set out in search of his fear, which has followed him since childhood. How to hide the first
impulses of your body and everything that the body unexpectedly wants in teenage years is the subject of the fiction film Cousins. At the same time, the equally sweet and brutal, dark-humor animation Let Sleeping Dogs Lie deals with the issue of parental secrets in front of children. Moreover, the secret of the challenge lies in the unknown when everything familiar becomes tiresome, as in the case of the protagonist of the film Fall of Our Summer.
Babajanja
Ante Zlatko Stolica, documentary, 24’, Croatia, 2022
“Babajanja” is a short essay documentary with horror elements. Going back to the past, the narrator is trying to find the mysterious woman he was scared of as a boy. Rummaging across his memories, dreams and forgotten horror films, he is trying to find out who she is and where she is today. He includes his family, relatives, fellow villagers in his investigation – no one is particularly keen on helping, but gathering more and more information about her, the narrator is getting closer to finally meeting her.
Producer: Tibor Keser, Restart
Distribution: Restart
Cousins
Michal Haggiag, fiction, 24’, Israel, 2021
A family united under one roof, in grief, in the summer. A boy and a girl – cousins – experience that first burst of emotion and hormonal explosion which comes to us all at a certain age. But conflicting emotions, confusion and volcanic uproar can also spur out of that first emotional earthquake. A gripping tale of first love and betrayal.
Producer: The Steve Tisch School of Film and Television – Tel Aviv University
Distribution: FRAUKE KNAPPKE Acquisitions & Festivals, MAGNETFILM GmbH
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
Sarai Abergel, Noy Friman, Guy Livnat, animation, 10’, Israel, 2021
A funny, wild and dark animated short. Ofri, a four-year-old girl, discovers that her beloved dog has gone missing. The sad truth is that he was accidentally run over by her parents. Fearing her reaction, they tell lie after lie in order to calm Ofri down. But the lies only end up sparking Ofri’s imagination with wild and dangerous ideas. When they hit rock bottom, the lies become worse than the truth and end up breaking Ofri’s heart and losing her.
Producer: School of Audio and Visual Arts, Sapir College
Distribution: School of Audio and Visual Arts, Sapir College
Fall of our summer
Karlo Vorih, fiction, 28’, Croatia, 2021
During the summer, Karlo moves in with his girlfriend, but the infatuation quickly starts to evaporate. As autumn approaches, their life together becomes repetitive and it seems like the only true pleasure may be found in the past.
Producer: Academy of Dramatic Art (Zagreb)
Distribution: Academy of Dramatic Art (Zagreb)
Marbles, 20:30
Youth is beautiful but fragile. Sometimes innocent, and sometimes not. What if we do not have the right to the moments that should belong to her? In the documentary Love Me, young Laetitia searches for love and her place in a world that perceives self-realization through filtered photographs. The alienated city life of three teenagers is accompanied
by the sounds of machines (instead of people) in the animated film Golden Margarita. A friend’s secret slowly but surely extinguishes all the possible carefreeness and brilliance of youth from the team in the fiction film Tomorrow’s in a Few Hours. One should only play with the beauty of youth, just like with the marbles, as long as one can, as in the associative and vivid animation Parade.
Love Me
Romane Garant Chartrand, documentary, 23’, Canada, 2021
Nearly seventeen years old, Laetitia navigates between her attachment disorder and her blatant need for love. In a world where image control is absolute, LOVE ME tells the story of the quest for love with a capital L, through the various forms of self-representation.
Producer: UQAM, Montréal
Distribution: UQAM, Montréal
Golden Margarite
Keren Karasik, animation, 7’, Israel, 2021
The film documents brief moments in the daily lives of three teens, and the dynamics with the environment in which they live. The desolate city is not empty but feels alienated. The only “live” noise is not the sounds of the neighborhood and the people, but the “sounds” of the buildings, power poles, and chimneys – all of which accompany the young teens throughout the day.
Producer: Department of Screen Based Arts Bezalel Academy of Arts Design
Distribution: Bezalel Academy of Art and Design
Tomorrow’s in a Few Hours
Jan Daniel, fiction, 33’, Czech Republic, 2021
A group of five 20-year-old friends live a young naive way of life, which often revolves only around drinking alcohol and trying to enjoy the time spent together as much as possible. Their carelessness is disrupted by a serious illness of one of them. Others learn about the disease one by one, which leads to misunderstandings, strife in the group and eventually to the separation of the sick friend. The story tells of the superficiality of their relationships, helplessness and sobriety from a youthful point of view.
Producer: Filmová akademie Miroslava Ondříčka v Písku
Distribution: Filmová akademie Miroslava Ondříčka v Písku
Parade
Léa Buffard, animation, 4’, Belgium, 2021
A procession in line of stripes, squares, flippers, picnic blanket, vacationers, a giant woman on a train, a bathtub, a pinata, cranes, a frying egg, a wedding cake, a coral snake and a parachute that goes to space.
Producer: ENSAV La Cambre
Distribution: [email protected]
