Encounters 15 · Bristol
295 films from 36 countries are recorded in the archive for this edition, with 7 award winners.
The fifteenth anniversary edition featured a retrospective programme looking back across the festival's history, alongside a Northern Ireland focus and the first Fresh Flix young people's festival. Screenwriter Tony Grisoni discussed his career from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas to the Red Riding Trilogy in an intimate dialogue. Paper Cinema performed live, and experimental artist Alex MacKenzie presented The Wooden Lightbox. Nick Park's Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death screened in a special event. The Contentertainment strand explored cross-platform digital storytelling, reflecting the evolving landscape for short-form content.
Isabelle, an Alzheimer;s sufferer, struggles to make sense of her everyday life.
8-year-old Joe has a birthday he will never forget. After friends tease him, he sneaks off to the sick bay, wishing everyone in the world would go away.
Grandpa, a foul-mouthed old curmudgeib is stuck spending the day with Edward, his neurotic, bible-loving grandson. When Grandpa accidentally says the F-word, he discovers something peculiar about Edward. His 'pansy of a grandson' is tormented by swear words.
Light and Dark is a about the filmmakers, Michael Smith and Tom Stubbs and their alteregos 'Graham Lightside’ and 'The Dark Fox'. A complex collaboration, will all of them survive?
Circus is a short film about a boy who overcomes a personal conflict, inspired by the positive influence of the people he meets in the streets of Rotterdam.
Pigeon: Impossible is the tale of Walter, a rookie secret agent faced with a problem seldom covered in basic training: what do you do when a curious pigeon gets trapped inside your multi-million dollar, government-issued nuclear briefcase.
A man performs his usual trip to work, immersed in a world where the use of people as objects is an everyday thing.
Ethiopian's king of Laughter visits England to see if laughter is really shrinking in the western world and whether his brand of laughter therapy can cheer up the UK's unhappiest town.
Documentary exploring the lives of the residents of a London tower block from inside a lift. Trapped in this confined space and suspended in time, the lift is transformed into a place of comedy and reflection.
After moving to a remote valley in Wales, peter forms an unlikely, but enduring friendship with Ben, a newborn orphaned lamb.
Based around the creation of a real-life 'apology line', the apologies of people from all over the UK are blended with beautiful visuals to give new, fascinating meanings.
Paul Mawhinney has amassed what has become the world's largest record collection. Due to health issues and a struggling record industry Paul is being forced to sell his collection.
A bitter-sweet comic tale of how the once famous stuntman Larry LeTan tried and failed to discover his place in the modern world.
A family portrait session goes horribly wrong as jealousy and suspicion bubble to the surface under the photographer's unflappable gaze.
Travelogue of a sex tourist in a land beyond the sea.
The most dangerous journey needs a helping hand.
A boy discovers what his annoyingly rubbish robot is actually for.
When Joe's racing pigeon dies he turns to the power of Voodoo magic to try and win the next race.
An orphan girl must outwit a terrible sorceress with the help of a magical lunar bird.
A mysterious girl visits an old man's garden at the edge of a forest and offers him a glowing flower.
A parable about a man who fears life so much that he moves into a giant wardrobe. The monotony of modern urban architecture invades living spaces, causing man's withdrawal.
A satirical film based on a story by Lazar Lagin about a bureaucrat who lacks initiative, but is ready to take on any task and lead it to complete absurdity.
A boy catches a butterfly while playing with his electronic toys. He puts it in a jar, and catches more and more butterflies. Then he falls asleep and dreams of a giant butterfly that seizes him.
Based ona tale by Lazar Lagin, the film tells of how the desire for power can corrupt people, and about the spiritual revival that art can bring about.
Based on Samuil Marshak's translation of an English lullaby this film provides cheerful and witty illustration to the story.
A comic film based on A.A. milne's poem 'The King's Breakfast' in Samuil Marshak's translation, which tells about a whimsical king demanding 'butter' and upsetting his entire kingdom.
The quiet and order of a campsite at the height of summer is disturbed by the arrival of unwanted guests. While mayhem breaks out on the lawn, a group of ants make brave new discoveries in the grass.
“Like a picture puzzle where you have to look for the differences, the detail oscillates between animated photography, film still and tableau vivant. And precisely this suggestiveness makes Current Shot 01 so fascinating: the slightly weird impression that results when faceless figures – motionless and then in motion – start looking at you...” —Alexandra Seibel.
Fore-and-Aft was created by the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, Canada—site of the highest tides in the world. Images of the tides are married with celluloid that was buried in the sea bed and dragged through the ocean behind a boat, recording tactile evidence of the repetition and changes wrought by tide cycles.
Referring to Ernie Gehr’s masterpiece Serene Velocity, YeonJeong Kim’s film explores the speed and movement between ordinary signs and memories. The collision between 16mm and 35mm film creates new movement and new meanings of film itself, materially—as well as a subtle range of emotions.
Made as an experiment in hand-processing, Tape Film cycles through five different film stocks and a variety of processing methods. The result creates dimensional havoc in the image. The concepts of inside and outside are troubled and the act of enclosure itself creates a screen on which to project the filmmaker’s own image.
“Utilitarian objects, related to health and hygiene, rendered in unconventional ways. This unsettling film questions the way in which we relate to our surroundings by exploring the ‘radical otherness’ of things.” —Mark Webber, London Film Festival.
An intoxicating flower; a metaphorical insect; a longing reach across the centuries. The Parable of the Tulip Painter and the Fly is a philosophical search drenched in luminous colours and sparkling light.
A black-and-white film is projected onto a wall. Blue paint starts to issue from the projected image, until the room is filled with paint and the distinction between room, image and seascape is lost, to dizzying effect.
A filmic and sculptural enquiry into the depth and slippage between a two-dimensional field and its actual location in three-dimensional space.
Details of a room counteract with slow pans across trees, duckweed and brushwood, describing the mood of a moment like a string of haikus. The opening aria of Bach’s Goldberg Variations forms the frame of this ‘associative editing’ piece which references the still-life paintings of Dutch artists Pieter Claesz and Lara de Moor.
Two teenagers accept a mission to become part of the local gang but find themslves over their heads in a confused and dangerous world, with both tragic and comic results.
Three twenty-somethings on the Indian dance party scene search for the elusive Manali Cream. But along the way, Indian Karma has a lesson for each of them. Nothing is ever as it seems.
Tony is a teenager whose enigmatic Chinese dad has a near-death experience in a car crash. Tony yearns to break down the cultural barriers between him and his Dad before it's too late.
This is a true story of 97 year old Fauja Singh, the fastest over-90s marathon runner in the world, who gets quicker every year.
Harpreet is struggling with her father's mental illness. The burden of his condition leaves Harpreet feeling lonely and desperate. When she confronts her fears she is left with a terrifying conclusion.
One sleepy Sunday morning, Jean notices a chip on a treasured vase. Employing a variety of tactics, she attempts to get to the bottom of the situation. Celia Imrie and John Henshaw star in this unique musical-of-sorts set to the music of jazz cornetist Rex Stewart.
Kirsty’s mission: to put vegetables into her grandfather’s coffin, who’s being cremated tomorrow. Peter Mullan stars in this UK Film Council/BBC Films co-production.
The story of an affair between a sweet-natured young charity worker (Ben Whishaw), and a woman who turns out to be the physical embodiment of his hatred (Hayley Atwell).
Enduring an ill-judged camping trip into the wild Scottish Highlands, father and son Bill and Robbie have to face up to the difficult secrets they’ve kept from each other. Starring David Hayman and Jamie Michie. Co-funded by Scottish Screen.
On his sixth birthday Robert receives three beautiful broken old birds in his mother's sitting room. A memory of an afternoon with tea and cake, lace pink slips and a tale of an emperor with no skin.
A fifteen-year-old boy with only months to live is granted one wish from the Dreamscape Charity. But David doesn't want to go to Disneyland or meet Gary Neville; what he really wants is an hour alone with a naked woman.
A young man buys a tin of Tuna.
A teenager uses photo booth pictures as a form of expression and means for changing their identity.
A boy is forced to travel a distance too far into his father's world.
It takes two men to make one brother...
Discover how an everyday routine like leaving the house for school becomes the worst possible nightmare for a teenage boy; or the way in which numbers completely over take a young mind.
Police Inspector Matthew questions a mother, Donna, at the hospital. In the process a dark and disturbing secret is revealed.
A year after his brother's death, Rob discovers that the only way to help his father cope with the loss is to “force” his affection onto him.
A series of short animated documentaries which used real testimonies of teenage experiences of mental distress, combined with engaging visuals, to explore the world of young people struggling with anxiety disorders, self-harm and depression, eating disorders and Asperger’s Syndrome.
Diego’s Story follows a single event, a terrifying ordeal that, while over in a matter of minutes, leaves lasting repercussions. Diego, a thirty year-old living in London, becomes victim to a brutal crime.
The line between sanity and insanity is fine. What drives 'normal' people to act in extraordinary ways? When a man loses custody of his children he is forced to take control of his own destiny.
Carla, 11, has arrived in London with her father after leaving Brazil. Through her unique viewpoint we are led on a journey into friendships and misunderstandings as she tries to settle into her new life in 1970's London.
Adam finds a mysterious roll of film. Its pictures show him committing terrible acts. Are they evidence, or fakes? As he searches for answers, he becomes unsure of the truth.
Dominic & Debbie live with Grandad but dream of getting a place of their own. Set amidst New Labour's 1997 election landslide, this is a film about love, aspiration and morality in post Thatcher Britain.
A small band of text men land on a remote tropical island. With ruthless efficiency, the men plunder the island's natural resources and begin converting the island into a new kind of paradise.
An animate documentary based on audio recording made with asylum seekers in indefinite detention in the UK. Mixing satire with traumatic imagery, 1000 Voices delivers an intense, visceral audiovisual experience.
The moon looks down. A stranger arrives in the city looking for work, love and respect. We travel with him; briefly dipping into other lives, treading a tragically inevitable road that leads him back to the beginning.
Looking for photographs of Jesus, yetis and Hitler in 1948? Help is at hand with this documentary-fantasy based on true stories of requests for impossible images.
Derek Jacobi plays an elderly man who gets his own back at the World by gate crashing funerals and stealing from the gathered crowd. A bitter-sweet comedy from BAFTA nominated Peep Show/Green Wing Director, Tristram Shapeero.
Homer, a seemingly dysfunctional teenager, makes a bet with his eccentric bong-smoking grandfather that could spell danger for a local shopkeeper.
An impassioned man tries to do the right thing by his children but goes about it in the wrong way.
Violent nightmares, suicidal wishes and an inability to live in your own skin. This film explores the dynamics that can drive young people to develop eating disorders.
Lucy is young, Lucy is damaged, Lucy is pretty, and Lucy likes to play. Everything changes for Lucy when she texts an unknown boy and arranges a date.
Stranded for the night in a foreign city, Saul retreats into its labyrinthine backstreets, where a chance encounter with a mysterious and seductive woman seems to offer an escape…but the woman it seems, has quite different plans for him.
Jay and Vicky's dull wait for the train is interrupted by some boisterous teenagers. Jay slowly grows paranoid by their presence questioning if there is a threat from the boys or if he is overreacting.
An inner journey of a young girl catching reindeer in the twilight expanses of the Far North.
Driving home one night in London, a woman hits a man who shouldn't be there.
Kyle is a bedwetter. His mum thinks washing his own sheets will cure him, but it only makes him late for school. When she writes a note stating the unvarnished truth, he bunks off in search of his own solution.
When he is released from a young Offender’s Institute, Bobby Brewer a wayward 16 year old, is forced to take to the road with his errant troubadour father, Ronnie.
Returning to the village of his estranged wife, James grows increasingly concerned when the sinister owner of his guest house refuses to let him leave. A psychological suspense with a surprising yet moving denouement.
Grandpa, a foul-mouthed old curmudgeib is stuck spending the day with Edward, his neurotic, bible-loving grandson. When Grandpa accidentally says the F-word, he discovers something peculiar about Edward. His 'pansy of a grandson' is tormented by swear words.
Irene is about the filmmaker's 92-year-old grandmother and the daughter who cares for her. Suffering from Alzheimer's and decreasing physical ability, Irene's personality still shines through, often leading to both laughter and heartache.
Jade, caught in a dilemma of her own making, struggles to choose the right path. It becomes apparent to her, though, that she may have no choice at all.
This film explores the impulses that cause some young people to self-harm and the relief that physical pain seemingly provides from the emotional pain they suffer.
Brixton rude girls Donna and Felicia are inseperable best friends but aspiring MC Donna is unquestionably top girl. Truthful, tender and brutally comic, Top Girl tells a story about girls growing up in a man's world.
James never misses his dreams - he records them straight to VHS using Dreamspoon wireless technology. But when a work colleague, Erica, stops by one evening, she finds something surprising amongst the titles...
A sad stick-figure with walrus-like bristles and a Tom Waits hat starts collecting everyday detritus: a cigarette butt, paper-clip, rusty fork, nails, pine cones, tin foil, shells, adding them to his legs, as he embarks on an epic journey.
One desperate couple. One last chance. One inconceivable outcome.
Light and Dark is a about the filmmakers, Michael Smith and Tom Stubbs and their alteregos 'Graham Lightside’ and 'The Dark Fox'. A complex collaboration, will all of them survive?
Ana is slipping into her imagination, her daily struggle and her spiraling habits are pulling her further into a disturbed escapist dream. Beautiful audio visual journey, softening the hard edges of inner city Bristol, exploding into blistering sound and light.
The story of Francis Cooper and his mother; Emily Maddison and that man's face; and Craig Mackay and his cat.
Sick of being robbed, Alan sets a bear-trap at home and catches Danny, a thief. A power-struggle follows over morality and what you can do in your own home. Playing God, he offers redemption. But Danny wants revenge.
Wallace and Gromit's new bakery business faces danger when a mysterious killer starts targeting all the bakers in town.
Aston feels sorry for stones. They are lonely, bored and frozen, so he picks them up and takes care of them. Soon Aston's house gets crowded and his parents suggest the stones go on vacation. While the stone collection maybe comes to an end, a new one seems to begin.
Told in the form of a travel notebook, the story follows the steps of a Western traveller who is brought face to face with the Malagasy customs and rituals, especially the Famadihana or 'turning of the bones'.
I don't like parties.' Nothing, not even her friends' insistance, could make Sarah change her mind. Nothing, except perhaps the sexy and mysterious Edward whose presence gets her, in the space of a few seconds, to go to the party she had decided to boycott.
Alma, a little girl, skips through the snow covered streets of a small town. Her attention is caught by a strange doll in the window of an antique toy shop.
A coffee on glass animation which tells the exciting, softening and surprising story of a little fox searching for a friend. After a long search it looks like her wish is finally granted.
The mother of four-year-old Jonas brings him to his first swimming lesson. Jonas is scared and wants to go home. While trying to escape, he falls into a deep bath and nobody notices him.
in a fancy parisian Café of the sixties, an uptight businessman is about to pay the check when he finds out that he's lost his wallet. To save time he decides to order more coffee.
Pig Me is the story about a pig that escapes from a slaughter house. He finds his way to a pet shop but realises nobody wants to buy a pig. What will be the solution?
Temptation is hard to resist for Wilson and his finger trap.
A two-minute animated voyage through nature's life cycle, following the trials and tribulations of a humble apple seed.
Circus is a short film about a boy who overcomes a personal conflict, inspired by the positive influence of the people he meets in the streets of Rotterdam.
For Nathan, Rebecca and Kerry, Friday night holds the promise of dreams coming true, but what happens when they don't?
A man gets more than he bargained for when he dumps his rubbish.
It's 1986. Luke, the only child, has problems at home and at school, but he's on an 'out-of-this-world' mission to leave it all behind.
A story about monsters, moon-walks and what happens to your imaginary friend when you make your first real one?
Struggling writer Finkle is so hampered by his inability to create ideas he will go to any length in his search for inspiration.
A teenage girl living in a remote petrol station in the Scottish Highlands is taken closer than ever to the edge of the road and her desire to escape when a salesman stops and offers her a taste of the outside world.
How often can you hurt… before you lose all feeling?
A sleepy village in Lincolnshire is awakened by the arrival of a knicker salesman.
Bored? Watch TV! But that's not so easy if you are a TV set.
A sick girl embarks on a journey through a strange and curious world.
A surreal world in which the women despair at the demise of their men.
A fast-paced chronicle of the demise of a marriage, from 'It's perfect' to 'It's over'.
An animated contemplation on humanity, nature, and the captive animals who survive between the two.
In the heart of the city, behind metal fences, the cycle of growth carries on.
A study of creatures of habit who follow a complicated and pecific Saturday morning procedure.
A man. His dog. A topsy-turvy tunnel.
A collection of small moments recorded using 8mm film, digital video, homemade cameras, and contact microphones.
Retro animated 8-Bit fun for the Nintendo generation.
The ever-shifting shape of analogue Futurism.
The film follows a young Somali girl who is on her way to the nearest water pump which is located far from her home. When she gets there, a terrible ambush takes place and Samira's life is in jeopardy.
Once upon a time, a Cowgirl and a Werewolf travel the Wild West. As a chicken walks their way, a fight about the appropriate use of it makes them forget the danger around them.
A child's lonely life improves when Elephants move into her attic.
A photographer warns his model that, like everything else in her life, her beauty will be subjected to the ravages of time.
A little girl, a woman and an old lady are all in constant movement. They all live their own simple journeys that culminate together in one unique and revealing story ending.
A chimpanzee is captured and put in the space program. After intense training, he finds himself in the jungle again battling his true nation.
Nothing happens where we live so we do special ops.
This animation sardonically shows what happens when real life infects the imagery of a glossy property advert.
A rebellious sheep seeks vengence on a hungry wolf. Even though the sheep is well prepared for battle, tampering with the natural order of the food chain is a dangerous venture.
A crazed religious fanatic is killing young females around the city. Those sinners who wear make-up and like to dance. Its up to detective Sam Smith and his partner Ben, to stop the maniac.
The Girl With Liquid Eyes is a rhyming tale of love and loss.
A cat upsets a dog and gets more than he bargained for… touche!
A young graffiti artist gets caught in action.
It is logical, that it is easy to live in a world with logic, using logically its logic!
This is a film about poo, about things you should and shouldn't do.
Join the Unbelievable family, Spandiman, Consomme and Delphinium, for this darkly festive look at Christmas.
A woman and a bear live peacefully in the woods. But a cub will grow and what was nice and cuddly today will beocme a menace and tomorrow as sure as seasons will change. A film about disproportionate love.
A playful boy and his protective dog, along with a bucket full of fresh fish meeting a hungry polar bear ata asea cliff is a recipe for disaster.
When falling in love means being tied together, what happens when you discover the length of that piece of string.
A young boy's adventure in a fairground animated ina unique graphic style.
The film is a modern interpretation of William Blake's 'London', a poem as relevant today as it was 200 years ago. Each line of the poem inspires a futuristic yet gritty parallel of Blake's London.
Up, left, right and round, but not down.
A troubled relationship between a cat and a mouse set in the distant future.
Mild-mannered Ralph wakes up to find his perfect life being challenged by all sorts of disastrous events. After struggling to come to terms with his eroding World, we see Ralph exact revenge on a life he once loved and cherished.
A quirky pixilated visual insight into Paul, a hoarder, artist and collector of stuff!
The Rhythm of Story: The Quest is an abstract film about story, with story defined as a series of episodes of tension and release. The visual patterns and soundtrack are composed using Joseph Schillinger's techniques of mathematical composition.
An enormous cliff top, blue sky, multiple deaths and a man keeping a meticulous note of it all.
When Daphne returns to the island that she grew up, she finds herself trapped between the sea and the past.
Two strangers who live in neighboring apartments spend a night together.
A regular day in a greek family ends up in tragedy.
A local old man meets a young couple. He will reveal to them the secrets of the circle of life.
A man and a young girl meet occasionally at a hotel somewhere in the suburbs of Athens. They meet when he walks his dog and she pretends to attend Japanese language courses. Until one day she does not come to the meeting, but sends a letter instead.
A young Vietnamese woman, Mai Anh, illegally enters Poland through the green border with Ukraine. Now she only has to reach Warsaw, where she is to join her boyfriend and start her dream life.
Three 'professional' Musicians, the Bear, the Rabbit and the Wolf are practising their art in the forest, but suddenly the hunter turns up…
At the dawn of Peresrtroika, little Boris, ravaged by hormones, seduces the neighbourhood with his mother's VCR.
Our town as Terry, star of Talk Radio calls it, could be any town. To the accompaniment of breakfast radio, people go about their day. But amongst the callers, is one who will make this day tragically unlike any other.
A former military officer seeks closure by making a documentary film about a man whom he had furtively encountered in a cruising area many years ago.
Ordinary things happen to extraordinary people.
Marvin has the most boring job in the universe. But all is not as it seems.
A number is all the information that we can obtain in this documentary we will live with a family that lives among hundreds others number in the biggest dump in Nicaragua, La Chureca, where everyday work more than 2000 people.
Three perfectly true stories about lying.
Set against the mysterious, elemental landscape of a bog in the Irish midlands, Lowland Fell is a lush, erotically charged teenage drama that follows the exploits of three teenagers who uncover a bog body on a late summer's day.
Chaim (62) lives with his mother (95), a Holocaust survivor, in an elderly home. Both lively, funny characters, we follow the pain and laughter of their everyday existance. With faith and humour, they never give up hope.
Sometimes, an event connects a group of individuals.
A man performs his usual trip to work, immersed in a world where the use of people as objects is an everyday thing.
An excerpt from a flow of Internet news: a family is hiding behind a wall in a neighbourhood that turned into a war zone. The compressed video is slowed down and transformed into a psychedelic landscape: anxiety deconstructed into pixels.
Film about the building originally built as an envelope factory (located 500km from Arctic Circle), and is now a center for asylum seekers, a warehouse for humans.
In bad economical times, there's nothing like a son with football talent. If you don't have one, it takes a good mix of science, sex and a grandma to get there.
A middle-aged woman's fears and bitter disappointments fuel her anxieties towards her estranged daughter. However, one day that summons a mutual cry for help offers the possible chance for closeness.
A burning piano falls from a building in 1920s New York.
German director Werner Herzog\'s moving interpretation of Puccini\'s love duet \'O Soave Fanciulla\' from La Bohème is set among the Mursi people of south-west Ethiopia: Herzog combines powerful imagery to produce a wholly original marriage of opera and film.
A store clerk deals with a customer's over-zealous desire for the store's complimentary Chili & cheese condiment. Refusing to be taken advantage of, Desmond's enforecment of store policy leads him into some slippery territory.
How They Dance is a documentary about ordinary people who love to dance. The film is a funny and unconventional portrait of these people.
Young women in St. Pteresburg are going to school again. They want to learn how to seduce, marry and control men. The want to learn how to be a successful bitch.
A traffic jam, a theif breaks into a young woman's car trying to steal her purse; he stays in the car first because the traffic police arrive, then to improve her driving skills; till when?
Jerome\'s world turns upside down when his son disappears. This new ordeal rapidly sets aside an important business deadline he had the same morning. A race against the clock begins to find the lost child.
The man, the hill, the shack.
A film about friendship between two young men, who try to stay friends despite the conventions of their village.
Cocais is a poetic documentary film made with patients and employees of an asylum town in São Paulo state inland.
The last 5 years in the lives of an old peasant couple who, living in the country, keep fighting for their daily bread.
A man and a woman are tenderly making love in a one star hotel room. A moment later when they are both dressed up, the idyll that seamed authentic is now gone.
Urban anthropologists, Andy & Carolyn London interview some of New York City's more overlooked citizens.
Mauro is under house arrest. Tattooing helps him while away the time. Three local kids taunt him through his window. Outside, the midday sun beats down.
When Brian pays a visit to his old home he unexpectedly finds himself in the middle of a violent dispute in which he saves a womans life. Tragically, his courageous decision proves to be his ultimate undoing.
Camille is the tale of a cat that never seems to die and follows 24 hours in the life of a family in crisis, in a lonely villa over the italian shore.
Arthur lives in a little room of an old people’s home. No one ever come visit him. One day, the nurse tells him about a visitor. But who is this visitor ?
It's Maxim's birthday. He's 8 years old. He lives with his mother in a village quite far from the nearest city. For his birthday, his mother takes him to McDonald's.
After a good night out Sophie's world has changed. Or has she?
When drug courier Petia and his pregnant girlfriend got involved in a militia raid, he did not suspect that his conflict with the law was not the least serious problem of his life.
Mary, a part Maori girl, befriends a young Moari boy at her school. She becomes curious about his culture and its relevance to her, although it soon becomes clear she is not quite ready to embrace her Moari roots.
Pigeon: Impossible is the tale of Walter, a rookie secret agent faced with a problem seldom covered in basic training: what do you do when a curious pigeon gets trapped inside your multi-million dollar, government-issued nuclear briefcase.
Isabelle, an Alzheimer;s sufferer, struggles to make sense of her everyday life.
Middle-aged couple Rolf and Eva wear and tear at each other and Eva begins to feel sexually frustrated. One night she tries to seduce Rolf. He dismisses her but then something happens that will change their relationship forever.
When a single dad returns his daughter at the end of the weekend, he seizes the opportunity for one last moment of intimacy with his ex-wife, but he soon discovers his act of transgression comes with a price.
A Good Friend of Mr World is a psychosexual cock-teasing thriller in a gangster setting evolving around young Jonas and the men controlling his destiny.
A bunch of witty kids venture into the deep end of 21st century entertainment. Inspired by news images, TV shows and internet video clips they plot to behead Timmy, their pet dog. A surefire recipe for youtube fame.
8-year-old Joe has a birthday he will never forget. After friends tease him, he sneaks off to the sick bay, wishing everyone in the world would go away.
8-year-old Robin comes back to his family after 3 months in a foster home and finds himself lost, trying to cope with a very difficult family situation.
They get off the train. In the factory she finds relief, help and solidarity.
A woman searches for an alibi in a secluded forest. A single unbroken take.
A world artificially deprived of sleep, floating between dreams and reality.
Marc needs the paving stones on which he walks to move, for fear of stepping on the lines. He starts a treatment to overcome his phobia.
An intruder's attempt to burgle a house takes an unexpected turn when he meets the owners.
Encounter with a man sentenced to carry an extraordinary burden. Behind the simplest and brightest gesture, often lies the most complex and darkest motive.
A planet-like creature is drifting through space devouring asteroids and rocks, digesting them and excreting new worlds. It accomodates other beings - the Schnozzle, enjoying the peculiar noise from the hosts huge respiratory system. Suddenly bad things happen.
A classic allegory of a modern relationship. Girl meets Octopus. Girl pushes Octopus away. Girl changes her mind… but perhaps too late.
Oedipus was mythical Greek King of Thebes. He blinded himself after fulfilling a prophecy saying he would kill his Father and marry his Mother. Two thousand years later: what if the oracle completely missed the point?
Puppetboy is sweating floods of clay, preparing for a lady's visit. It gets even more nervous when she arrives.
Seen through the lens of a wildlife Documentary film, we meet the Burrowing Owl. He has lost his mate to a predator in the woods. How will he survive this dangerous wilderness alone?
A very bad man has an identity crisis of deadly proportions.
Whi if Nenette et Boni was made by a funny woman from Singapore? A love letter to the sensors, Dirty Bitch was inspired by a voilently censored VHS copy of Claire Denis' Nenette et Boni found at the Singapore library.
Shot in 1988, Dia de Pinta documents a day in the life of Mexico City street kids and the struggles they go through to make ends meet for themselves and for their families.
Through a series of interviews and enactments we learn the story of Nico and Amalio, two children who lost a friend while climbing a mountain. Documentary and fiction seamlessly merge creating a hybrid poetic film.
A hostile environment is a difficult to overcome for two misfits, a cycle of abuse and exploitation in the midst of desolation.
Anacleto is a rigid man, who decides to leave everything behind in search of forgiveness. His trip begins searching externally, but it ends up being an internal trip.
A quiet journey to a forsaken land, where hunger turns the human heart into a desert landscape, and someone's misfortune may become someone else's salvation.
Once you have tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned forever skyward.
Terrence finds that his drug dealer has an unexpected hobby.
It's Cherry's birthday and she's exctied about spending it with her family, but they're all too caught up in their own worlds to realise. The smaller Cherry feels, the smaller she gets - will she disappear altogether? A little bit of attention goes a long way when you're only 2 centimetres tall.
A short portrait of a conversation between the filmmaker and her sister speaking on skype.
A short drama about a girl's reasons for wanting to become a dancer.
A tiny cautious car becomes intrigued about the world around him, and attempts to learn to drive. Set in 1950s America.
The burden of a dependent mother.
Jacek, a polish cleaner adjust to his new life in England and falls for a girl named Anna.
Colin is waiting at Jim's house. He is waiting for an important phone call, a call that could change both their lives forever. Jim is going on 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' and Colin is his 'Phone a Friend'. All Colin needs to do is wait, get the phone and answer the question. Easy... or so he thinks!
A working class man finds his role in his community and home challenged after he loses his job and suffers anti social behaviour from the local youths.
If you are going to stay in England for a long time, you ought to spend a week or so at the seaside.
Nake and Bale are rival football fans. Their competitiveness extends to sandwich-making. Which of them will gain the upper hand?
Mane and Mary are two Latin American immigrants who live in Barcelona. They are a couple and they dance Salso around the city to make a living. Mary will give some unexpected news to Mane which will test their relationship as lovers and dancers. At the end of the day both of them will discover it takes two to salsa.
Deprived of human contact, and with only an overactive imagination to keep him company, Peter sets about his monotonous nightshift at his local supermarket.
Frank thinks he can in Maria's heart by staging a daring daylight robbery to help her out of a financial jam. But the only house he can rob is his own. And he still gets caught.
Out of Tune is a film about love in a world of exploitation. The film probes the broken music of lost love and the fragility of innocence in a world of children who want to be adults.
This five minute film depicts an elderly couple seemingly involved in a loveable relationship until a cat appears and uncovers flaws hat exist between them.
On his elderly wife's death a 70 year old shows he is the worlds greatest lover.
A story of love and jealousy.
Four characters involved in an accident end up ina hospital waiting room together. In different ways their lives will change and nothing will ever be like the day before.
A desperate man finds inspiration ina broken shopping trolley.
Rexley and Roy demonstrate the fine arts od doing judo as a dog. Three preview episodes of the series that is to launch end 2009.
Pietro, a young Neapolitan, has to confront himself with the terminal illness of his brother, victim of the ruthless Camorra. Pietro is looking for revenge and he agrees to be part of the 'Camorra system' to fight it from within.
A young man arrives over a garden fence and reawakens the fire inside a lonely suburban woman. The man is a criminal, he's violent and goes out with her daughter too. Will she give in to desire?
Girl meets boy in quirky office romance. Two like-minded souls, too shy to approach each other, find a new way to show their love for each other.
Add one part interpretation, 2 parts intent, stir and let simmer. Caution, results may vary: one woman discovers that a recipe is not necessarily the sum of its ingredients.
Thorns and Silk tells four fascinating stories from the West Bank, featuring women who work in male-dominated jobs. A wedding filmmaker, a cabbie, a cop and a mechanic all break traditional rules. Empowered? Not without challenges.
Anti is a surveyor and an obsessed hobby-cyclist. He has a dream. One day he will be able o ride 183km uphill as cyclists do at Tour de France… and, as we know, faith can move mountains.
An old man enters a restaurant in Bucharest. He takes a seat at a table where a younger man who looks like he could be a successful businessman is already eating dessert. Their conversation revolves around a job opening for the older man, who has been out of work for two years. However, if you want work these days, it’s no good coming empty handed. Even if it’s your son who is doing the employing.
A story about... inner space...
A terrible accident takes away her family in a blink of an eye. Years later, exposed to the video cameras, she tries to remember the events that would change her life to a senseless routine. The story of a day, like any other, from the life of a lonesome woman, spent within questions with no answers.
Very early morning, Marian, a 7 years old boy from a small and isolated Romanian village, wakes up his father and persuades him to go to the city, in order to fix their old TV set. A short road-movie about father-and-son relationship and about the importance of the small things in life.
At the seaside, on the beach, two people experience extreme situations. A beautiful Western mother asks a gypsy boy to look after her 4 year old boy; a husband and father fights ennui by flirting with the same beautiful foreigner while teaching her how to swim. But the story takes a different course when the beautiful mother disappears in the waves…
16 year-old Greer is just plain strange - everyone in the village thinks so.
The Owl House', is a film situated on the borderland between life and death in which an old blind lady comes to terms with her final moments and the memory of a lost love.
Alan Bissett recalls the intense experience of growing up next to one of Europe's largest petrochemical plants and the harrowing experience of an explosion that deformed his father.
I Love Luci is a comedy of missing teeth, unrequited love and one dog's potential to shape the fortune of a couple destined never to be together.
A deranged, failed screenwriter goes to LA to meet his idol - Stephen Spielberg.
Henry spends his days working in a Nursing home and his nights worrying about the girl he used to love.
Andrea nd Felice are two kids whose lives centre around the sea. One day during a fishing excursion their usual routine is disturbed when something unexpected appears from the water. Will their friendship survive the turbulent events that follow?
It's Not All Peachy follows Rosie, a teenager who lives in Newcastle. This poignant film takes place on a snowy February day when Rosie desperately tries to find emergency accomodation for the night.
A youth from the wrong side of the tracks finds an unlikely kindred spirit whilst on community service in a care home. An impromptu road trip, in a stolen van, leads to the duo to some surprising places.
What happens when the Middle-Eastern microcosms gathers for 6.5 intense and crowded minutes into a bus in Tel-Aviv?
Colette can't say the three little words Jake wants to hear. She's about to lose him when she needs him most.
A shipwrecked astronaut believes himself to be alone on an unfamiliar planet, he must either find a way home or find a way of surviving this new place.
A mobile disco promising to give you the night of your life.
When Pauline allows her imaginary friend to take her on a day out, a battle of wills ensues. When the girls lock horns, there can only be one winner!
A short animated tale about the importance of following your gut instinct.
A transient who steals from summer cottages during the brutal winter of the off-season makes a haunting discovery.
David's attempt to leave residential care is thwarted as he struggles to find acceptance and connection in the outside world.
Up in the attic, Douglas loses himself in memories; of a storm, a railway and one fateful summers day from his childhood that will live with him forever.
Simon's brother Mark suffers from Fragile X Syndrome. Simon believes his failure to lead a normal adolescent life is solely down to his brother's disability.
Jed's a lost zombie, searching for brains. The problem is he can't catch a thing. Can the pity of a recently dead/undead woman turn his luck?
A deep breath takes a young girl into a new world.
Two teenage punks unearth something that may be even more exotic than the girl next door.
A by-the-book right-wing politician takes to the campaign trail with a young hard-liner. An encounter woth an Asian woman from his past muddies the political waters…