Beats, 18:00
The open question of what the future holds often quickens the pulse. The unknown can be daunting and unsettling, requiring courage to confront it.But what to do when the horizon is shrouded in fog? This painful question torments the protagonist of the Czech drama “Waiting Room,” who embarks on an uncertain battle with endometriosis.
An unexpected move by a fellow actor corners a young drama student in the Slovenian film “Joža.” In the Israeli documentary “Samira,” a lesbian Arab artist invites her family to her concert for the first time. Meanwhile, the animated protagonist “Cat,” a street criminal who spares no one, including himself, runs out of life options.
Waiting Room
Katarina Zrinka Šarić, igrani film, 12’, Czech Republic, 2023
Mia, awakes by a stabbing sensation in her stomach in the middle of the night, which seems to be a recurring event. As Mia goes into the hospital for a scheduled appointment, in the waiting room she finds her struggle with endometriosis will be longer than expected.
Production: FAMU, Czech Republic
Distribution: FAMU, Czech Republic
Joža
Jan Krevatin, fiction, 17’, Croatia, 2022
Ema is a first-year acting student. While grocery shopping, she encounters Jakov, an already-established young actor. Jakov offers to help her with a self-tape audition and for that reason, they agree to meet at her place later that day. While Ema is excited to get acting advice from an acclaimed actor, Jakov sees this as an opportunity for a hook-up.
Production: Academy of Dramatic Arts, University of Zagreb, Croatia
Distribution: Academy of Dramatic Arts, University of Zagreb, Croatia
Samira
Anna Anat Gofman Banai, documentary, 18’, Israel, 2021.
Leading up to her concert, Samira, an Arab lesbian singer, invites her family to see her on stage for the first time – something that feels almost like coming out again.
Production: Tel Aviv University, Israel
Distribution: Tel Aviv University, Israel
The Cat
Zofia Strzelecka, animation, 6’, Poland, 2022
A short story, but taking place over 30 years. Times, trends, parties, drugs – they’re changing. Martin Cat sometimes succeeds, sometimes fails as a drug dealer. He enjoys parties, escapes the police, goes to prison, all the while becoming more resilient. Sigmund Dog – a tireless, ambitious, but not very clever policeman – constantly follows Cat’s footsteps. History keeps going full circle until Cat discovers that the world has changed so much that he is no longer able to live here.
Production: MUNK STUDIO, Poland
Distribution: MUNK STUDIO, Poland
In Between, 19:00
There are places where time stands still, where movements have stopped, where passages are blocked and where one can only wait. Isolated from the world, with interrupted connections, travelers are forgotten. At such a station there are no passengers left. In the Croatian documentary “Knin-Zadar”, a switchman maintains the railroad line on which no train has run for almost a decade.
The border between Belarus and Poland, a fatal stop on the way to a better life for countless migrants, is explored “through the eyes of two humanitarian activists in the German documentary “Border Conversations.” Two girls in the Romanian drama “Fragmentations,” on the other hand, are also on hold while their parents work in Spain to complete their family home before they can finally return.
Knin – Zadar
Melita Vrsaljko, documentary, 15’, Croatia, 2023
Short documentary “Knin – Zadar” is a story about the everyday life of a traffic worker in Benkovac who works at a train station through which passenger trains no longer pass. With nothing to do, Zvonko spends his time at the station and checks the switches, despite the fact that the train has not passed for months. The film is at the same time a presentation of an absurd job and a criticism of all the policies that led to the fact that life and progress stopped in a whole region and an empty railway still remains a reminder of the past.
Production: Dinaridi Film,Croatia
Distribution: Dinaridi Film,Croatia
Border Conversations
Jonathan Brunner, documentary, 30’, Germany, 2022
Border Conversations is set in November 2021 as thousands of migrants are trying to enter the EU across Poland‘s border with Belarus. Kornelia and Karolina, two Polish activists, receive urgent calls for help via text messages on a daily basis. Trying to help, their support efforts are not successful. A film about facing the limitations of humanitarian aid.
Production: Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg GmbH, Germany
Distribution: Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg GmbH, Germany
Fragmentations
Miruna Minculescu, igrani film, 25′, Rumunjska, 2021
Once upon a time there was a little girl who lived happily with her parents and her younger sister. But the little girl lived in Romania and her parents really wanted a house for them, so they went to work in Spain. The little girl stayed with her sister in the care of her grandmother and so the years passed, until one day the little sister told her that their parents were going to return. So the little girl began to hope.
Produkcija: UNATC I.L.CARAGIALE, Romania
Distribucija: UNATC I.L.CARAGIALE, Romania
Breaking points, 20:30
Points of no return, moments that realign our lives, whether with or without our will, propel us into the unknown, the new, and the unexplored. Whether intentional or not, change is inevitable and constant. How we adapt will be determined by time. The Dutch documentary “How Shall We Comfort Ourselves” takes viewers on a journey through old churches that now serve a different purpose, dogmatically exploring eternal societal shifts and the ongoing quest for meaning.The Montenegrin road movie “Boiling” shows us how the omnipresent social aggression affects a young
couple and changes their relationship and themselves. A harmless football game between a Palestinian boy and an Israeli soldier escalates into an unequal battle in the very relevant Israeli animated film “Friendly Fire”. Meanwhile, a fierce resistance and the desire for change simmer to a boiling point in the tense American drama “Men in Blue” about Indian immigrants whose dignity has been stripped away in a Texas shipyard.
How shall we comfort ourselves
Machiel van Hoek, documentary, 11′, Netherlands, 2022
The short tableau documentary “How shall we comfort ourselves.” takes us on a journey to a dozen repurposed church buildings in the Netherlands. From a fitness gym to a hardcore rave, all Inside the same walls where religion once was practiced. This film dogmatically explores our ever-evolving society and its endless search for meaning.
Producer: St.joost School of Art & Design, Netherlands
Distribution: St.joost School of Art & Design, Netherlands
Boiling
Luka Đikanović, fiction, 27′, Montenegro, Czech Republic, 2023
Pent up social aggression affects a young couple already plagued by their internal problems.
Producer: FAMU, Czech Republic, Cut Up, Montenegro
Distribution: Cut Up, Montenegro
Friendly Fire
Tom Koryto Blumen, animation, 6’, Israel, 2022
A friendly soccer game between an Israeli soldier and a Palestinian boy that takes place on the West Bank barrier, start to escalate into an uneven battle.
The film was painted frame by frame on the wall and become part of the ongoing conflict by staining the wall with over a hundred liters of paint.
Producer: Bezalel Academy of art & design, Israel
Distribution: Bezalel Academy of art & design, Israel
Men in Blue
Sachin Dheeraj Mudigonda, fiction, 35’, USA, 2022
Resistance brews among the Indian immigrants who were stripped of their dignity when a reputed shipyard in Texas conscripted them as guest workers to repair the oil rigs and ships damaged after Hurricane Katrina.
Producer: The University of Texas at Austin, USA
Distribution: The University of Texas at Austin, USA
