Prophecies, 19:00
Does looking back at the past hinder our future, or are the foundations for our life’s journey forged there? The signs are all around us, but the question remains whether we are ready to recognize them. A snowy and difficult-to-access mountain range in Georgia is home to a blind man whose grand vistas and quiet, intimate suffering in the documentary “Uncle Vakho’s Dream” offer a solitary penance for a long-ago family tragedy.
In the frozen landscapes of the snowy Croatian animated film “Breaking the Ice,” a new relationship warms the hearts of two previously lonely protagonists. In the animated film “Fur,” a girl’s infatuation gradually clears through the fading mist of her initial idealism. In the Georgian drama “Runaway,” a family’s everyday life is disrupted by the forced hiding of a fugitive stranger.
Uncle Vakho’s Dream
Joanna Rój, documentary, 22’, Poland, 2022
An elderly man, Vakho, lives alone in a deserted village high in the Kazbegi mountains. For years, he has been haunted by the memory of a prophetic dream, foreshadowing the tragic events he punishes himself for with seclusion.
Production: MUNK STUDIO, Poland
Distribution: MUNK STUDIO, Poland
Breaking the ice
Tara Klepac, animation, 3’, Croatia, 2023
Two seemingly different characters meet in an unusual way in a Snowy desert. The destined meeting changes the lonely character’s Life completely – he is alone no more. By working together, they Conquer many obstacles and finally live together in the snowy desert which doesn’t look as empty as before.
Production: Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, Croatia
Distribution: Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, Croatia
Fur
Zhen Li, animation, 7’, USA, 2022
When the fumbly feelings of a crush are held out for too long, they turn wet and furry.
Production: California Institute of the Arts, USA
Distribution: California Institute of the Arts, USA
Runaway
Salome Kintsurashvili, fiction, 25’, Georgia, 2022.
Ten-year-old Gigi lives with his family in the back of a small Georgian cafe that they own and run in a Moscow suburb. Gigi’s life takes a drastic turn when his father is pressured into sheltering a stranger who turns out to be a criminal on the run.
Production: Moscow School of New Cinema, Russia
Distribution: Eastwood Agency, Poland
Constellations, 20:30
Relationships are dense, multi-layered, and multifaceted bonds that are intertwined and interdependent. The way we relate to others is one of the defining characteristics of who we are. In the Polish film “A Beautiful Wildflower Meadow,” a neurotic father is too preoccupied with himself and the ideas that consume him, turning his daughter’s trip to the airport into a tense battle with his own nerves.
The mythology of a well-connected suburban neighborhood in Osijek on a late summer afternoon is depicted with dreamy and refreshing observations in the Croatian fiction film “Short Cut Grass” The Dutch documentary “Filho” raises the question of the search for birth parents from the perspective of the author, who was provided with everything he needed by his adoptive parents while growing up.
A Beautiful Wildflower Meadow
Emi Buchwald, fiction, 30’, Poland, 2022
Emil is a landscaper who loves nature but doesn’t understand people. He is a visionary and a romantic, but he is also impatient and neurotic. He has one simple goal: getting his daughter to the airport. But Emil is incapable of letting daily adversities go. He is trying to bring the chaotic universe back to harmony. When his actions make the reality even more chaotic, reaching the airport on time is no longer a given.
Producer: MUNK STUDIO, Poland
Distribution: MUNK STUDIO, Poland
Short Cut Grass
David Gašo, fiction, 26’, Croatia, 2023
An early summer evening begins with a game, while one kid counts to three thousand, the others hide in a row of suburban gardens. During that time, a young father spends the rest of his day with someone else’s child, an old man awaits a call that will change his life and the future of a year-long friendship becomes uncertain. The game ends when mosquitos start rising from the grass.
Producer: Academy of dramatic arts in Zagreb, Croatia
Distribution: Academy of dramatic arts in Zagreb, Croatia
Filho
Tomas Ponsteen, documentary, 23’, Netherlands, 2022
Filmmaker Tomas Ponsteen was adopted from Brazil and does not feel the need to search for his biological mother. Since revelations about adoption abuses, he wonders to what extent his choice not to search is without obligation. Is it a moral duty of every adoptee to search his or her biological mother?
Production: Netherlands Film Academy, Netherlands
Distribution: Netherlands Film Academy, Netherlands
