Encounters 17 · Bristol
254 films from 41 countries are recorded in the archive for this edition, with 6 award winners.
Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi presented Desert Island Flicks at the Arnolfini, and Sam Taylor-Wood gave a BAFTA Masterclass discussing her journey from Turner Prize nominee to feature director with Nowhere Boy. The three-day Brief Exchange symposium explored the future of short film, cinema and talent progression, with Peter Carlton of Warp Films among the panellists. People Like Us performed a found-footage horror collage at the Cube Cinema. Daniel Mulloy's Baby and Pitch Black Heist by John Maclean were among the competition highlights, alongside Grant Orchard's BAFTA-winning A Morning Stroll.
Axel, a lively road marking worker has had depressive episodes for many years without obvious reasons.
The epic an spellbinding tale of Derek, an office worker, as he struggles with the true speed of planet earth.
Impatient to grow and become a man, Robert is stuck on a boating holiday with his parents in the English countryside.
When a New Yorker walks past a chicken on his morning stroll, we’re left to wonder which one is the real city slicker.
It’s a moving story about mountain climber and his inability to come to terms with old age and about desire of immortality.
Part science fiction, part thriller and part cautionary fairytale, Worlds Apart encompasses the universal themes of innocence, friendship and the possible fate of humanity.
On her 13th birthday, Emma visits her father. He's not at home, but his new boyfriend, Casper, is.
1000 Grams: Is the average quantity of fat that gets lipoed to contour the abdominals of a normal weight person.
Everyone needs time to heal and regains balance some longer than others.
Terry Finch is a frustrated pulp fiction author and eternal loner looking for brutal revenge on the mean streets of Kent.
When a New Yorker walks past a chicken on his morning stroll, we’re left to wonder which one is the real city slicker.
Unprepared for what he finds, a young soldier is left to make a life changing decision.
In a small apartment in Buenos Aires, an old woman eagerly awaits the birth of her grandchild and all the joys of becoming a grandmother.
Blinded by aged 3 and sent to work on the streets of Kano aged 9, Aisha life chances were't great. This is her story.
A comedic love triangle between a man, two women, and a cat.
The director of Tarnation takes us on a guided tour through the shattered remains of memory and identity.
A young idealistic Irishman travelling across Africa to reach his girlfriend; hitches a ride with a warring European couple. The crossfire could be deadly. \n.
The film takes as its starting point a Fun Fair in Southwark Park with its' backdrop of Canary Wharf. All of humanity is at play.
On winter night, a long distance train unexpectedly stops in the middle of nowhere. Trapped in one place, passengers' journey continues.
Angelinho is a cautious Guardian Angel... His best efforts only make the thrill-happy cyclist, for whom he is responsible, more and more adventurous.
Do antonyms belong together? Chinese speakers explore the answer.
Romania, 1986: Gregor and Vali want to get away. Both need each other, yet there is mutual distrust. In the end only hope is left.
Rachel's developing adolescent shape is a problem for tutors at a top London ballet school. Michael, a local school boy, is struggling with his exams.
A swarm of ant like aliens invade Earth. Their target: Cornwall. Luckily it has an unexpected defence.
In the middle of the night a fight between Schenker’s neighbors won’t let him rest. Half asleep his mind is playing tricks on him.
A woman travels back to her youth after she dies and unveils a secret that has hinders her from moving onto next life...
A young woman is followed home by a stranger.
Emma and Carlos are unable to get over their misunderstanding relationship, but even then, they meet to fix it.
Oscar is coming of age, against his better judgement. In doing so he must experience the necessary evil of leaving something behind.
All put-upon half bear, half panda Bertie Crisp wants is a quiet life in his seaside caravan home.
One man’s controversial new approach to handling social issues.
A Civilian science vessel discovers an organic life form on an uncharted planet and decides to investigate the mysterious creature.
Hana removes her headscarf in public but when she gets home they are severe consequences.
Sometimes things can change so much in a while....\n\n.
All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun.' Jean-Luc Godard, 16th May 1991. A satirical look at the very serious issue of teenage gun crime.
I was trapped in a car park on Christmas Eve with a car full of presents. It was a freak occurrence - the two pound coins landed equidistant in the slot and wouldn't drop.
Michel lives alone with his daughter Marie. Today, their monotonous life turns to drama.
When Jimmy leaves his First Nation's reservation for the lure of city life, he finds himself confronted by an unimaginable world.
In an ancient Chinese town a tiny parrot chick hatches in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Jinx is a man with the head of a fish. Misfortune bubbles escape from his mouth and follow people who becomes dogged by bad luck.
A guardian angel does everything in his power to get the lazy human he is guarding to wake up and embrace a new day.
The contemporary thriller tells the story of Stefan. When he senses an intruder in his home, panic quickly turns to grim determination.
Marc Foster hides a dark secret, living in exile amongst the shadows. A visitor makes a discovery that will force Marc to confront his past and to step back into the light once more.
After Dan and Natalie meet on a dating website they decide to go a step further with a video date but things go horribly wrong.
First a boy is forced to run. Then he runs on his own. Then he watches another one run.
The experiences, musings and utterings of a suffering schizophrenic, illustrated through traditional animation.
Zaria gathers daisies every day for a friend she misses; so as not to forget him, so as not to lose him.
An over-ambitious beaver goes too far when he gets the chance to realise his ultimate dream. Some dreams are just too big.
The dream of the little girl is to care for her grandmother, but the aunt and the mother do not let her do so.
The line gets lost in the drawing. The drawing gets lost in the movemnet of the animation. Until it stops.
An elegant vase inhabits the body of a young girl, and re-stages an event from her childhood using living tissue.
It’s a moving story about mountain climber and his inability to come to terms with old age and about desire of immortality.
A well-meaning Father tries to teach his young son a valuable lesson. Telling a story that spans over one thousand years of Danish history.
Two cartoon characters develop a life of their own, in the combination of pixilation and classic animation. They humiliate and mock the third unfinished figure.
While a barman is having a final drink with his best friend, the mundane conversation turns into a situation of life and death.
After a five year hiatus from dance, Destiny joins a new school. When she discovers she's just not good enough, hard choices must be made.
A penis performs a cult hit by the Sonics, swings its “hips” and gathers a group of vaginas around it.
On this particular Sunday, one of the village boys lays a coin on the train tracks…after the train had run over it, he discovers some amazing changes.
Jaime, a male prostitute for men, young and sexy, comes to the room of a hotel for a sexual service. \n.
Dirkjan, a nerdy guy turns Leader of the World. Where does his sudden hunger for power come from? And what is the Big Plan?
A Chinese man on business in the UK tries to ignore the feelings he has for his colleague, in order to get the job done.
This is the story of what happens when a heartbroken mallard and a shell-shocked duck hunter stumble across one another in the wetlands.
The surroundings of a woman are slowly revealed exposing a surreal, heightened world.
Champion roller skater, cyclist and swimmer Ralph Settle refuses to let life get the better of him. Now 88 and a widower, everyone on the streets of Cornwall knows him by sight as 'The Banjoman'.
Winter 2010. An Old Man (Celso Bugallo) who is temporarily staying at his daughter (Ana Fernández) and son-in-law’s house (Daniel Freire) thinks he's a nuisance.
A Mother dead in the kitchen. A Father with blood on his hands. Not all is what it seems!
These are the only surviving images from the 'experiments' conducted by Dr Schlaf at an institute in Berlin, 1973, after a fire claimed the lives of all participants.
Two aliens interrogate a sub-contractor who they sent to Earth to handle 'first contact', but things didn't quite go to plan.
A high school boy falls for the girl of his dreams. In his imagination, he tries different things to impress her, but something's not right...
Lucy thinks her brother Luka is broken. His obsessive, meticulous, infuriating. Lucy thinks he should be fixed, but not in the way she imagines.
The story of the only heterosexual Flamingo in his desperate attempt to find love...
A Shadow Theater Figure flies inside the Museum of Greek Civilization, and teases the night guard with the help of other exhibits.
A little girl steals all the carrots she can find on snowmen.
The happening of a new season is described as an awakening and is symbolically represented by the character Spring’s waking up.
“Ghost” is an expressionistic short film that explores atmosphere and the subconscious, as we follow a ghost on her way back home to her parents.
From an unusual perspective, we follow Philip around his neighbourhood in Hackney, East London. He is mentally unwell and misses his wife and daughter.
A young boy’s chance of escaping a self-consuming, decaying city is through music. Will he find his muse? Sometimes friendship is the unexpected answer.
Grace is an intimate look at life for a young girl on a garbage dump in the Philippines and her struggle to go to school.
Cloudless sky. Vehicles on the grid. Blas, Ivan and Hector take their places. This is about to start! Ready, steady...
If not Henry, then who?
An infant is propelled into the world and given a fleeting glimpse of the life to come.
Wannabe gangster living alone in a caravan gets a visit from a born again Christian. They have both been waiting for this moment to come.
Everybody is excited to see the arrival of spring. This film tries to depict the excitement spring brings.
In a grey kitchen Monika lives a solitary life, to the sounds of a dripping water tap and a buzzing housefly.
Small Birds Singing is besieged by plastic bottles. Where have they come from? Who is to blame? As Consommé and Delphinium play croquet, Spandisman investigates…
On the stage of an old theater, it's performed the story of Him, a normal guy with a daily routine on coffee, brandy and beer.
Hello Hulk Hogan, its been a hard time on us all but we will be ok in the end.
A sensitive observation about the nature of addiction and the inevitable sacrifice that comes with sobriety.
A retelling of the Sisyphus myth with a darkly humorous maritime twist.
An enclosed cosmos - just like a hurdy gurdy, that starts over to play its song anew.
At war with a mother who'll never understand her, Lola feels propelled to tell an intimate tale about what love is.\n.
In Stereo is an animated short introducing Tony Blackwood, a 25 year-old filmmaker narrating experiences of being stereotyped and breaking into the film industry.
A little girl from rural Pakistan with an innocent dream. Will it come true?
An exploration of memory, shared experiences and imagination, triggered by a piece of graffiti found in a drawer.
Impatient to grow and become a man, Robert is stuck on a boating holiday with his parents in the English countryside.
A family day out takes an unexpected turn when young Alex decides to share her secret.
Elderly couple John and Betty are happily married until John's un-healthy obsession with solving crimes leads him to grow dangerously suspicious of his wife.
7 year old Nirmala attempts to grapple with the demons of her granddad's dementia when he starts to forget the details of her favourite story.
KYEOTR was a tribute to Peter Gabriel's 'Sledgehammer'. Many scenes wers recreated while new ideas were used to fit Lone Wolf'a lyrics.
Leon (16) breaks into a mansion. He sneaks into the nursery where he takes a sleeping child from it‘s crib, leaving only a note behind...
An earthquake destroyed a village. In the village, there's a man trying to rest.
During the first world war, a French soldier paralyzed with fear, disconnects from reality and escapes to a world where wars are fought by toys.
It’s raining. A small village is in big trouble. The raindrops are actually a young girl’s tears...
Chloé is distracted from work at the wheat harvest by some strange creature. She follows it on a adventurous run across the landscape.
A middle-aged lady on holiday in the sun tries to make new friends and have a good time. The role is played by a one year old girl, the rest of the cast are marionette puppets.
When an accidental plane crash causes a devoted father to lose his little daughter, he follows her into death and discovers a mechanical Afterlife.
The Three Little Pigs retold as a tense, terrifying Western.
The tranquil world of an old man and his dog is ravaged by a war played with very peculiar rules.
One life condensed into 5 minutes.
Two brothers look forward to a picnic with Mum but the unexpected arrival of Mum’s new boyfriend, has unforeseen and dramatic consequences.
Two scientists in the end of the 19th century invented a machine. They are just about to test it for the first time.
Alex and his father are as distant emotionally as they are in miles. In the waning light of Christmas day Alex phones home.
Atsunset, the sand comes to lifeand takes forms of a mini eco-system of squatic life. Journey of a new born turtle to his mother.
The story is about life and death of a troubled girl. Each photograph represents moments in her life that leads up to her death.
Lost Tracks follows Tobi: a teenager disillusioned with family life, friends and her local community, exploring the final days as she prepares to run away.
In a world controlled and timed by light, an ordinary man has a plan that could change the natural order of things.
A quintessential British summers day out. Picnics, Spitfires, real ale, naps and some good old fashioned patriotism.
Little Postman set to Chopin's Revolutionary Etude is the world’s first painting animation in 3-D telling a touching story set in World War II.
A bloodied man walks into a police station wanting to be locked up. He tells the Policeman artists are trying to kill him. By accident…
Margaret is resqued from hoodies by the elderly town hero, but in his glory squashes the one thing Margaret holds most dear.
Young prostitute "Maria" decides to back to school. Things don't go smoothly when a familiar face walks in to teach her first class...
A woman looking for her lost child. She talks to strange kids, to convince herself that she is their mother.
A haunting snapshot of a young father truggling to cope with how one seemingly innocuous moment can change everything.
There's a belief in Nordic countries that witches steal cream with a Mjölkhare or Milkhare, a creature bought to life with the witch's own blood.
Economy is stranger than fiction.
Life before Psycho, this is the story of Norman's relationship to his mother.
A pseudo intellectual electronica expert and a folk loving hippy go head to head in an online battle to prove whose music taste is superior.
From a real story about the emotional and psychological impact of sex trafficking from the point of view of the victim.
This year the pressure gets to Nana as she works herself into a fever of jam making madness and inadvertently finds the winning special ingredient!
Two recovering drug addicts practice tattooing on each other and find out over time they mark each other in more ways then merely the physical.
Anne Wallace had a dream to help Glasgow’s working women. Soon after she had a double decker bus, and the Ministry of Salt and Light.
Dot is a tiny 9mm girl who wakes up in a magical, magnified world to discover her surroundings are caving in around her..
In this film you will see the following: black screen and close-ups; a young nice guy, an older man with a mustache;...
A shoemaker wrapped up in memories of his life and the demands of his job, experiences a crucial moment in his existence.
A broken room hangs a dark void, as a character looks for his fleeting possessions.
On Tender Hook is a short documentary about freak show magician Damien Lloyd-Davies who is about to do his first human suspension.
A wartime bus passenger's story, based on the audio stories on the MShed bus and made in 117 hours for the Encounters 0117 Film Challenge.
Thomas has a new house, a girlfriend and a baby. He’s hosting a party for some friends. But then his daughter brings her boyfriend home.
Escaping from the horror of her own actions, a young woman is catapulted from her airless Cumbrian home to the wildness of the fell tops.
I want to show you some stuff we made, if you've got a moment, and can be bothered to engage with a couple of thoughts I've had.'
A lone man's quest to find his true love in a busy paper metropolis. Will he find the papergirl he hopes for?
A little girl gets lost in the crowded Metro of Paris.
Fletcher the Gargoyle learns that when the world seems beyond your control, life can present unexpected opportunities to escape your problems… in one fell swoop.
The bird pecks, the ox objects. But without the pecking, life becomes very complex!
Professional safe crackers meet on a simple job, but the catch is a light activated alarm system impelling the men to embark on a pitch black heist.
Magpies are out looting - shiny bounty beware! All is going to plan until they accidentally interrupt someone's peaceful night in front of the telly.
Five year old Amy and her Mum are divided in grief for Dad, occupying very separate worlds in their struggle to cope.
About life on the strip between land and sea, when the water level constantly changes: some are in the dry, others in the wet.
When faced with the unexpected kindness of a stranger, a young boy begins to question himself. Does he have the courage to do what's right?
Radio Amina tells the story of Amina, a street hawker and her imaginary radio show.
Roaming across the frequencies of Central Asia from Bishkek to Moscow we're presented with a unique portrait of the people who inhabit these lands.
An old woman who goes to extreme lengths to keep hold of everything in her house!
In a dystopian landscape, a new breed of creature evolves.
Mike takes his son out for his birthday; But drink and the simmering violence threaten to bring out the worst in him.
After nine months in prison, Kelly struggles to adjust to life outside, back in the family home with her mother, Linda.
Salma is a film about a girl living in a land recovering from war. One day her father dies in a cluster bomb accident.
A loved-up couple head off to the countryside for a weekend of passion but their Satnav has other plans for them.
An 11 year old girl struggles to save herself as her world is suddenly torn apart by a deadly virus.
A pair of strung-out addicts pay a last visit to their seedy dealer with unsavoury consequences in this dark, atmospheric tale of dependence.
An Online Tale of Love and Betrayal, told entirely through Facebook.
The trees alongside the road, everything was blurry. There was always a faint electrical buzz from somewhere. It was damp and raw, like the Stone Age.
Faced with a possible home foreclosure, Marcy attempts to get on a national game show to win some money.
The epic an spellbinding tale of Derek, an office worker, as he struggles with the true speed of planet earth.
A contemplative walk leads to a bizarre climbing tour.
With the aid of a tool called Phonovideo, which consists of a turntable, video mixers and pressed vinyl, Kogler animates images in realtime.
Lily and Darryl, who both sleep rough on the streets of London, find themselves caught in a dangerous predicament.
Danny has a rare skin condition that prevents him from being in the sun and a desire to be a regular teenager.
Coming of the Undertaker has meant the coming of death. Until one day the God fearing townsfolk of Backwater wait for someone to die.
It seems that one man is solely responsible for the security of a city park, unfortunately.
We might all have our day on the moon, but sooner or later we will all come crashing down to earth…
Repeating the word ‘fly’ sounds like you’re saying ‘life’. This is no help to Peter. His answers lie in the brain of a beetle.
A man, a girl, a monster costume, gun toting villagers, a tragic end.
The philosophical musings of an internet filmmaker… A little bit confessional, a little bit silly.
A boy learns to play the piano.
Haunted by his past, a man searches for forgiveness. Getting it however, may come at a cost.
A lonely Fisherman catchs an unusual fish, which he decides to keep as a pet.
Using real footage and animation, this is a charming tale of a young girl’s efforts to feel good about her exceptional crowning glory.
A character creates a world that is beyond his control. Civilization and its accelerated evolution.
When a boy goes in pursuit of a mysterious golden bird, he soon finds out that in his world things are not what they seem.
Fuelled by cheap alcohol and teenage hormones two teenage girls make their way to an isolated fire-water tank, lured by the promise of cool water.
A tired cleaner finds more than she bargained for when doing a stranger a favour in this unusual launderette.
A strange creature races against time to make the most important and beautiful creation of his life.
A four minute short about an old man whose life is transformed after a falling plant pot sparks a bizarre series of paranoid reactions.
The Man With The Stolen Heart is a surreal tale about a man who wakes up one day discovering that his heart has run away.
In a world where everyone has masks. A couple always wears a smiley mask for each other. One day he lost his smiley...
‘The Neighbour' is a short rotoscoped film about a man who becomes suspicious of his neighbour’s activities and decides to follow him one night.
A confined community, a stagnant routine: when one man ventures outside, he is shocked at what he sees and comes back to try and share what he has seen of the world outside.
In a stifling pizzeria kitchen a belligerent father who doesn’t know how to be loved, battles with a son who doesn’t know how to live.
Biôrn is determined to reach Valhalla. To Gain entry he has to die honorably in battle, but the right death isn't easy to come by.
This a short, peculiar film about Ed and the things he thinks about.
Mark and Sonny are best friends who have always stuck together. The self destructive Sonny doesn't mind their pointless life, but Mark wants more.
In a plot to scam the tooth fairy, a mischievous boy gets both more and less than he bargained for.
Axel, a lively road marking worker has had depressive episodes for many years without obvious reasons.
A raw and moving film, which sees young people talking frankly about their personal experiences.
Time is a private matter.
87-year-old Lis is determined to live life to the full. She decides to hold her own wake - whilst still very much alive - so as not to miss out on the party.
Set in a decaying seaside town, Ed returns to find friends and relatives have moved on, bitter towards his success. Disappointed, he recalls his childhood.
Two friends, who are painting graffiti onto a shop window in their home village in central Finland, have ended up kissing.
Part science fiction, part thriller and part cautionary fairytale, Worlds Apart encompasses the universal themes of innocence, friendship and the possible fate of humanity.
A short film about reincarnation that brings attention to the issue that more people are returning as inanimate objects due to our current lifestyle.
Adam Bloom demonstrates how his skills in improvisation, honed of years of experience as a comedian, help when controlling a particularly boisterous London crowd.
Beirut, 7th August 2006. Children are playing inside a building in the neighborhood of Chiyah without worrying about the war that surrounds them...
A widower is facing the difficulties of being alone. Without his wife everything seems out of place.
A group of children is playing on the train tracks, challenging each other to see who stays longer on the tracks before the train comes.
The film opens on a cold winter’s day on the East Sussex coast, as a disparate group gravitate to a hotel situated close to a crumbling cliff. Gradually, the motives and intentions of each of these lost souls are revealed. The hotel building that’s seen better days appears to be creeping ever closer to the treacherous snowy white cliffs… Edge is Carol Morley’s first narrative feature, shot in the snowy months in Eastbourne on a micro budget of £100,000.
A humorous take on a failed bank robbery: in a single camera scene, over 96 people perform a meticulous choreography to recreate an actual event that took place in Stockholm in June 2006.
When 80-year-old Stanka Atanasova enters her block of flats, she discovers that the elevator is out of order. Stanka must use the stairs to get to the 9th floor…
In a small mountain train station, four strangers are waiting for a train that is stuck in snow many kilometers away. It's Christmas Eve.
A small rat tries his luck in the great game of love.
An animated light opera… A 'troubadour' will sing his song for his beloved princess.
This is a playful take on cultural myths and clichés about love that at the same time celebrates the delicious vertigo of the experience.
As the sleazy, second rate singer croons to his beloved, his face undergoes the most bizarre and beautiful transformations.
Set to the music 'Love Me Tender', the optical fibre shows a man and a woman running towards each other. When they get near the fibre, they meet, to demonstrate that it wouldn't happen with the Embratel company.
Encounter, argument, separation: reunion of a Parisian couple to a song by Piaf.
A couple watches the sunrise while on vacation.
Exclusive look on the love life of fish in these difficult times.
A man sings about a lost love, even though his wife is sleeping by his side.
Animated love song.
Animated love song.
A stop motion pop promo for Tina Turner and Barry White singing 'Never in your Wildest Dreams' featuring clay models of Barry, Tina, Wallace & Gromit and Antonio Banderas.
An animated and feline version of Nina Simone's classic song.
Commercial for AIDES.
Finding love, losing love and overcoming the obstacles life throws at us with a little help from our friends.
This is a story of a man and his arrival in the world of the dead. He quickly discovers that being dead might not be so much of a bad thing after all.
Edina is a playful story on a one night stand of a writer and his own creature. Due to their adventures the writer loses his superpower being able to change the character and the story and can't get away from his perfect woman character any more.
The film is about a student, a young family man, about a deadlock for a sick man, who tries to find some bright sides in his life.
Mirsad's father's village is evacuated due to dam construction. The village will soon be under water. Mirsad arrives from the city intending to move his father's remains from the old village cemetery to a grave in the new village's graveyard.
One bright summer night a group of young teenagers move from innocence to adulthood. The main character is a timid boy with a crush on a girl who happens to be a friend of his mate.
A documentary about ordinary people who love to dance. A funny and unconventional portrait.
A lonely xylophone player discovers a fiercely malignant tumor under his arm. In his attempts to get rid of the tumor he discovers that it has unconventional qualities.
One evening, 28-year-old Ida goes to a bar alone. There she meets Beli, an older man from the Balkans. She takes him home for more drinks. The night becomes a subtle game of sex, ethnicity and class — where Ida feels in control.
Puppetboy is sweating floods of clay, preparing for a lady's visit. He gets even more nervous when she arrives.
After a hard working day, two travelling business men who randomly bumped into each other are waiting for a bus along a deserted local road.
A group of people finds out that they are not the only inhabitants of a small planet.
A bird and its cage.
A strange musical.
Maria José has to interrupt her studies and start working at age 5. As she works, she grows, gets married, has children and ages. Her daughter will follow the same cycle.
Since age 12, Francisco has been photographing the sky. One day something different shows up in one of his pictures, changing his daily routine.
Feelings and expressions mix in conflicting harmony, in the form of an animated painting.
A beautiful young woman inspires the dream of a street kid who juggles at the stop light.
An R.S.I. is an injury caused by repetitive strain, also known as CTD–Cumulative Trauma Disorder, which is caused by work or certain sports that involve repetitive exercise.
Things begin to go strange when Marcelo D2 and Seu Jorge get to a party.
Five characters that live in compartments inside a box discover that they are not as isolated from one another as they previously thought.
Two kids in the city.
When your mother has turned into a beast, a lot of things change…