Encounters 18 · Bristol
189 films from 33 countries are recorded in the archive for this edition, with 8 award winners.
The festival moved to September for the first time and featured a Focus on Finland with shorts, animation and documentary screened throughout, including a Pop-Up Cine Sauna installation at The Parlour Showrooms. Jeremy Thomas, one of the world's leading independent producers whose credits span Nic Roeg, Bertolucci and David Cronenberg, gave an In Conversation session. Paul Bush presented a masterclass. An outdoor solar-powered cinema tour brought free screenings to Bristol's parks. The competition featured Oh Willy by Emma De Swaef, Head Over Heels by Timothy Reckart, and Regina Pessoa's Kali the Little Vampire.
Prematur' tells the story of Norwegian Martin and his Spanish girlfriend, Lucia. We follow the pair during their first 15 minutes on Norwegian soil, observing Lucia's first encounter with this new culture and her in-laws.
A family of three with a rabbit living in a cardboard box on a rooftop seeking six different men to father their unborn son. A tragicomedy.
Set in a satirical vision of Britain, ON THIS ISLAND is about a society that classifies its immigrants in absurdly restrictive categories. The lawmakers treat the legislation with a callous nonchalance that is identifiable in our society’s elite.
A surreal Trip through the subconscious of a stifled musician as he struggles to resolve his inner doubts with his younger self.
“I’m trusted with a pair of scissors and I’m in here for murder”. A snapshot of prison life in the build up to the annual hairdressing competition.
A bookmark is stuck in a forgotten book that is one day knocked over by wind. It experiences its environment by surfing the pages that turn in to ocean-waves, enjoying the ride of its life. As the book cover closes light reveals new challenges.
A child discovers life inside a dead bird and starts to play with it.
A husband and wife have grown apart over the years. He lives on the floor, she lives on the ceiling, and the marriage hangs in the balance.
I am a 66-year-cicada. There was a big earthquake. There was a big tsunami. There also was a big accident.
During 3 years (2008-2011) i have been drawing 12 drawing of animation every day, it make one second of film. And then, each of the folowing days, I took the 3 last drawing from the day before and kept on animating on the back side of used A4 paper.
20Hz observes a geo-magnetic storm occurring in the Earth's upper atmosphere. Working with data collected from the CARISMA radio array, sculptural forms emerge generated directly by the sound to create complex patterns and interference phenomena.
A visit from an alien life form results in a change of perspective in more ways than one.
A teenager and policeman are trapped together in the middle of a riot.
A man loses the most important person in his life, but as the story unfolds we see how he overcomes this loss.
A short film about dying... That's it.
Yola lives in Berlin. Yola is on the scout. Sometimes she goes to bed with Elias. Elias is a nice guy. But Yola would like be with someone a little more odd. Than she meets Anna.
Aeolian shows the life cycle of a creature as it explores the natural world around it.
Amelia is a 7 year-old dyslexic who has learned to transform her shortcomings into creativity when confronted with the unforgiving restrictions of the classroom she will use her imagination to overcome her obstacles.
As Clare moves from childhood, she strives to create a personal way of dealing with her Dad’s illness from asbestosis.
A portrait of two spirited individuals existing on the margins of society, where the mighty Ohio and Mississippi rivers meet. Theirs is a declining economy and a fragile ecology in this heartland region.
On the surface, Apnoe describes a day in the life of a family. Yet the protagonists have considerable difficulty in coping with their everyday life. confronted with no gravity, the family ensemble becomes unstable.
Life, death and an Apple.
Modern and ancient rituals collide in this macabre depiction of a high school formal. Slow motion and an extended long takes are used to make the ritualised dynamics of a high school formal increasingly sinister and disturbing.
The Olympian Gods celebrate their victory over the Titans. Atlas, leader of the Titans, must hold up the sky above the earth. But soon something unexpected develops at his feet ....
Audition is about a father and son imprisoned in a death camp. The son, a trumpet player, is auditioning for the camp’s orchestra to enlarge his chances for survival.
A family gathers in the apartment of their recently deceased grandmother, looking for money, everybody grieving in their own way. BABUSCHKA is told from the point of view of the granddaughter Sophie.
Bagong Silang is a 10 minute documentary about a cemetery community in Manila, Philippines. This film gives a glimpse into this exceptional and resilient community providing an insight in the day to day life of people born into poverty.
Sorrow is not part of my mind- its part of my head.
One man realises his dream of escape from the nightmares and wonders of a Hair Circus.
A dark and humorous tale of a Mother and daughter relationship, shadowed by alcohol, loneliness and a dislike of boys.
A crude journey by land, sea and air.
Adolescence is the only period in which we learn anything.
SPARROW is struck by a plane and lands wounded in a mysterious city inhabited by anthropomorphised birds.
Blue is a short animated film following the life of David Duncan, an invisible man, who paints himself blue in order to be seen. The story is based on a short section of Andrew Kaufman's book, 'All my Friends are Superheroes'.
An insight into a diminishing British past time and a portrait of two old friends. This documentary shares and explores community life, love and friendship, from thoughtful conversations to the most basic of human interactions.
Meet Bob. A proper Londoner who tells us exactly how it is, from the good old days to the way things are now. Immortalized here by Darren Walsh and 12Foot6 using Darren's trademark mask stop-frame animation.
Meet Bob. A proper Londoner who tells us exactly how it is, from the good old days to the way things are now. Immortalised here by Darren Walsh and 12Foot6 using Darren's trademark mask stop-frame animation.
Meet Bob. A proper Londoner who tells us exactly how it is, from the good old days to the way things are now. Immortalized here by Darren Walsh and 12Foot6 using Darren's trademark mask stop-frame animation.
Meet Bob. A proper Londoner who tells us exactly how it is, from the good old days to the way things are now. Immortalized here by Darren Walsh and 12Foot6 using Darren's trademark mask stop-frame animation.
Meet Bob. A proper Londoner who tells us exactly how it is, from the good old days to the way things are now. Immortalized here by Darren Walsh and 12Foot6 using Darren's trademark mask stop-frame animation.
There is no single place left on the truck which should bring the emigrants to a better place. The travel through the desert to the beach and then with a little boat to Europe is everything but safe. But after all, what will follow?
A border guard tries to take his own life, but not all barriers can be crossed.
A relation goes through its first big test in a crowded café in Cairo, Egypt.
When his ex girlfriend Joanna is killed at a local train station, average school boy Callum struggles to cope with feelings of guilt, grief and fear. Finding himself increasingly isolated, Callum must look for the courage to do the right thing.
After a violent storm Captain Hu is stranded with his ship in the Alps. A helpful farmer finds new uses for the deep-sea equipment. However, Captain Hu draws the line at that.
District nurse Natalie has become trapped in an existence of meaningless routine until she’s drawn into the lives of two women Elsie, an elderly lady, and Sammy, the young girl next door, who seemingly has everything to live for.
A dramatic rescue is in progress.
Meet Colosse, Yves Geleyn's sweet 30-foot child. Now, Colosse isn't your ordinary child he just happens to be a very tall, wood robot puppet who doesn’t know his own strength, much less what his strings are up to.
The first cut is the deepest.
A 10 year old boy is fascinated by his father’s spooky chemistry suitcase and decides to play with its contents. One thing leads to another and the boy’s pet rat ends up attacking the family. Curiosity kills.
“I’m trusted with a pair of scissors and I’m in here for murder”. A snapshot of prison life in the build up to the annual hairdressing competition.
One night when the teenagers Bella and Lukas are having sex, he crosses a line that perhaps creates even bigger consequences than anyone could ever have expected.
Ten days of mercy, introspection and forgiveness.
Odette tries tidying up Alphonse's souvenirs. But one day, no more left. She only just had to invite Alphonse to dance.
Should Andrew 'delete' his girlfriend after breaking up with her?
A piece of paper is divided by hand into an even number of pieces and then reassembled. A photograph of this finished composition is then printed and divided again. This feedback division process makes clear that everything is created by division.
Don't step on the crack, or the bogeyman will get you. A tale of a day in the life of the Bogeyman.
While in conversation with Lucy Izzard, Chris Shepherd recalls a trip to his childhood dentist.
Kristi, une mère célibataire, doit prouver son innocence dans une affaire de traite des blanches. Sa femme de ménage en statut illégal n’est pas celle qu’elle prétendait. Kristi se trouve confrontée à un choix difficile.
Easy Way Out ties in with the depressive elements of repetition – we see our protagonist unable to break free of his own routine. Music by Wally De Backer of Gotye.
Thomas is a white foreigner in a white land where his new job is foreign to him. There is a black foreigner outside who is at home. Thomas does not feel at home in his colorful aquarium but slowly makes connections where he least expects.
7 Year old Ernesto feels left out when he realises he's the only kid in school with a full set of milk teeth. When his efforts to fit in fail miserably, he resorts to drastic measures to get rid of them his teeth however, have other plans...
Two older people, animated as armchairs, look back on the last half century. Their discuss shopping, waste, windmills, postmen and what really matters in life and was produced for the Open University and BBC's Creative Climate Shorts project.
Every action has a reaction.
3 stories of a woman cleaning someone's mind, a little girl and her leaves, and a man following a red line.
A wild boy is found in the woods by a solitary hunter and brought back to civilization. Alienated by a strange new environment, the boy tries to adapt by using the same strategies that kept him safe in the forest.
A dark fantastical tale in which a man enters into a pact with the insects that have been plaguing him. But the peace he buys coms at a price. An intense mix of honey, flies, sex and meat that leads to a very sticky end.
In a isolated harbor tonw, an old Fisherman try to resist inactivity.
An atmospheric and vague, painterly animated short that envisions a view upon an old house cat who bids farewell to his home in his final moments.
What would happen if we stood by and did nothing.
an animated journey through the forest.
The worst employees of a supermarket have to find goal in their life.
Deep in the woods Laura gives in to temptation and sells a lock of hair for a feast of the goblin's forbidden fruit. Returning home, she grows deathly ill. Her sister Lizzie meets the goblins. Can she resist temptation and bargain for Lauras life?
Just a regular commute home...
A husband and wife have grown apart over the years. He lives on the floor, she lives on the ceiling, and the marriage hangs in the balance.
A boy and his family celebrated his first double-digit birthday. After they drove off with the tractor to the picnic, the developments are piling up.
A hitchhiking teenager determined to meet his birth mother finds solace in the strangest of places.
Charting a relationship from inception to destruction, Tom and Eve six years down the line fight to save what they have - but they can't escape the question of whether it can or will ever be as good as it was at the beginning.
If a fisherman mysteriously disappears in the depth of the Black Sea and there is nobody around to hear him, does he make a sound?
Film is inspired by Baba Yaga, character from Russian folklore. The story shows journey into imagination of the mother.
A surreal Trip through the subconscious of a stifled musician as he struggles to resolve his inner doubts with his younger self.
An encounter between two people on the fringe who hold on to each other for a moment and lose one another soon after.
Are you ok?
For people Father's Day is a celebration, but for one small bird - an ordinary working day. And concerns are the same old - to get food for his family.
Bill finds himself in a hospital struggling with memory problems, in this third and final chapter to Don Hertzfeldt's EVERYTHING WILL BE OK.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Especially on his birthday.
José is a pig, the only pig in his family. When a new neighbour moves in next door, José starts to come to terms with who he really is.
14 year old Jenny attends Secondary School in one of Oslo's suburbs. She is lonely and unhappy. With an outsider’s gaze she observes the game of boys and girls, a nearly animal-like merry-go-round that Jenny never gets to be part of.
Jo-ha-kyû - the essential concept of narrative structure in all traditional Japanese temporal arts - is loosely interpreted against the subjective experience of the filmmaker being in the contemporary space and time of Tokyo.
Justine, a.k.a. Junior, is a 13-year-old tomboy with pimples and her own brand of humor. She's just a tad misogynous. Afterbeing diagnosed with stomach flu, Junior's body undergoes a bizarre metamorphosis.
This is the story about a boy not like the others that dreams about finding his place in the world.
Kin is a social photography of Kinshasa, made with african-style toys.
In search of Jocky Wilson, former Darts world champion and hero of the small, run-down Scottish blue-collar town of Kirkcaldy. What’s left of the myth?
A short film based on a folktale from western Norway.
When the most precious commodity in society are teeth there is only one way to conquer love.
In a medieval time when Humanity mixes with Bestiality, three masked musicians lead a beggar and his sow to an absurd carnival.
Fatma, who lives in Asuerd’s refugee camp in the Hamada of the Algerian desert, will listen in television to news that will give her a great idea … to contact with a girl from another side of the Atlantic Ocean: Sasha, president Obama's daughter.
LONDONERS Is a vintage film about modern day London. Shot entirely on a 100 year old wooden hand-cranked 35mm camera, LONDONERS documents modern day London as never seen before: a snapshot of contemporary history about urban life in the UK today.
A Collector repairs a vintage cine camera unlocking the hidden terror of LOT254.
A reflection on modernity and global development. The use of human physical force to perform work in the XXI century.
Every weekend at an illegal drag show in the suburbs of Havana, Sebastián, a 17 year old Cuban, transforms into »Mila Caos«. He suffers from his mother's indifference and dreams that one day she will see him on stage.
A pyromaniac bear misses his mother.
Mr Curiosity dreams of death, dreams that may come true. He hides himself in the land of loneliness.
A bookmark is stuck in a forgotten book that is one day knocked over by wind. It experiences its environment by surfing the pages that turn in to ocean-waves, enjoying the ride of its life. As the book cover closes light reveals new challenges.
No matter how much you try to capture and hold onto life’s fleeting moments of happiness and joy, they always slip away.
Thomas has moved to a remote cabin in the countryside. Will he manage to disappear completely, even to himself? My Friend Kills Time uses poetic imagery and haunting soundscapes to create the cinematic diary of a young man's isolation.
A creative person often seems strange, clumsy, funny and a little mad, and evn friends and family do not always understand him. But sometimes he can create true miracles – just from waste.
This metaphorical surrealist tale is an allusion . Nightingales in December is a trip into the memories, and the fields of the current realities. There are no Nightingales in December...
Joe Jault has lost everything and lives on the street. One day he finds out the missing piece to build the NILUS, a useless but essential device.
Notes from Underground is a bitterly ironical view on the absurd everyday life of a paedophile and the little girl he keeps in his cellar. The story is inspired by the cases that took place in Belgium and Austria from the 90's up until recently.
Parodying the Greek myth, and throwing in a bunch of well-known NFB animated characters for good measure, director Paul Driessen offers up a backwards tragicomic version of the classic tale. Oedipus is Driessen at his absurdist best.
Forced to return to his naturist roots, Willy bungles his way into noble savagery.
OLGASTRASSE 18 tells the story of a family through the metamorphosis of its flat, but without showing its residents.
Set in a satirical vision of Britain, ON THIS ISLAND is about a society that classifies its immigrants in absurdly restrictive categories. The lawmakers treat the legislation with a callous nonchalance that is identifiable in our society’s elite.
Three immigrant window cleaners risk their lives every day rappelling down some of Chicago's tallest sky-scrapers. Paraíso reveals the beauty and danger of their job and what they see on the way down.
A dark tale of pasties.
A short animated comedy about the first phone call from Mars.
A pigeon teacher teaches a robot how to become a pigeon!
Feminine point of view on Genesis Creation narrative.
Prematur' tells the story of Norwegian Martin and his Spanish girlfriend, Lucia. We follow the pair during their first 15 minutes on Norwegian soil, observing Lucia's first encounter with this new culture and her in-laws.
Bumbling cavemen Ig and Uk awake to find a volcano on their doorstep. Could their only hope be a dinosaur who’s good at maths?
6 o'clock in the morning and Rafa finds out his mother is under arrest. He crosses the bridge and goes to a police station in downtown Lisbon to see her and wait for her release. Time goes by. But Rafa doesn't want to return home alone.
Remember me my Ghost tells the harrowing but ultimately untimely tale of one woman's life in the iconic Ballymun flats.
Good things come in large crates.
Toki’s tribe expects him to bring home the head of the biggest animal possible. In return, he will receive honor and respect. However, this rite of passage does not turn out as planned.
All know the way, but few actually walk it – Rising Hope, once the fastest horse in the world, dares to be one of the few.
Nineteen-year-old Roger Hayhurst lives on an estate in Manchester. He dresses in a spandex suit and cape and patrols the streets at night, handing out food packages to the homeless. A story of courage and self-transformation in troubled times.
Lust for money, power and sex(+violence).
An unemployed man applies for a job that he doesn’t want to have. The interviewer does not believe in him and he doesn’t believe in the interviewer.
A little girl plagued by her fears and imagination is developping techniques in order to live anyway : magical thinking, avoidance... The other could it be the solution?
A puppet film (with human eyes features). The film is about a little boy in the middle of the brutal world of the Holocaust and based on an actual event.
Jamal, 12, has grown up on a refugee camp in the West Bank, two years ago his brother was imprisoned for throwing stones at Israeli soldiers. ‘7 Stones’ tells his story and asks what kind of a childhood is possible living under war and occupation?
Paddy, a low life scavenger finds a tasty snack which is Shell, a cute looking bug whose hard shell protects him from anything with big teeth but maybe not hands. However, Shell has no intention of becoming a snack.
Shirin has dinner alone with her father in their small north London home. With her mother absent, little is said between them - until Shirin reveals she is going out for the evening.
Young boys tumble and old cowboys rock slowly on creaking chairs in the dead-end suburb of Skip. Amid the two generations stands Kit, who tries to leave town on a windy day.
Despite his valiant attempts, chaos unfolds as The Pirate Captain presents his handy hints on how to become a dashing yet sensitive terror of the high seas!
Every road trip requires a stopover. We just hope it won't in the wrong place at the wrong time!
16 year old Gabi is helping out his father in their local coffee shop in an Israeli suburb. When his father hires 18 year old Shiran, Gabi attempts, in his hesitant way, to capture her heart.
A child discovers life inside a dead bird and starts to play with it.
Based on the installation Santa Paz Domestica, Domesticada by Ana Vieira (1977).
Alone in a new town, a young man takes a job at the local slaughterhouse. As the violence of the work begins to dominate his life, he is given the chance at something better. But is it too late? Has he already been changed by the world of men?
A man with arachnophobia purchases a poisonous bird spider to set it free in his apartment.
Since the 1970's scientists are conducting experiments with bizarre amusement rides to study their effects on the human brain. Appropriating the aesthetics of a television documentary the shortfilm shows an excess of science.
Carrara:in the marble quarries men and machines dig the mountain. The chief manages, coordinates and guides quarrymen and heavy-duty machines using a language consisting solely of gestures and signs.
Ruby is obsessed with playing the claw machine. Dad is fascinated by a notorious serial killer. Mum wants to enjoy a normal family day at the beach.
The Counting Device deals with an ordinary working day for Mircea, a long time employee of the National Company of Motorways and National Roads.
When Mr. Waterman arrives to shutdown the spray park for the season, he encounters big resistance from tiny people. Kids take matters into their own hands. The End of Summer is a late night caper for the spray park goer in all of us.
On a cold, winter’s night, a wolf prowls the woods for food, but there is none to be seen. His luck changes when he stumbles upon a tree full of golden apples. There he meets a beautiful creature with feathers as bright as the sun the Firebird.
Finding himself caught in a trap, a cunning chickadee bargains with a starving fox for his life. He proposes a plan to the fox that would feed him for the winter, but there's a catch: the two will need to work together to steal the feast.
The story follows a day in the life of a goat herder and his flock of goats as they travel up and down the mountains of Spain. Andy Cabic, lead singer of the band Vetiver vetiverse.com/ kindly gave me permission to use his track for the film.
An animated film based on the classic children’s picture book by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler, tells the delightful tale of a little Gruffalo who ignores her father’s warnings and tiptoes out into the snow in search of the Big Bad Mouse.
A Road movie back to a bright and rust free time.
Three friends, Franck, Hugo and Philippe, go to a housewarming party in a Paris apartment. At the door, two younger teenage men try talking their way in. Tension mounts...
Forest animals flee by bus before the start of the hunting season.
Life on the planks, and the grit in between.
A young Russian travels to Belgium to achieve his boyhood dream of becoming a pro cyclist. His team boss pressurizes him into the use of doping products. Slowly but surely, he loses his grip on reality and is drawn into the dark side of the sport.
Sneaking out of her bedroom window at night, a young girl encounters an unearthly happening.
The little bird and the leaf live together in the big forest. One day, in early winter, it is time for the leaf to fly away.
Fourteen little kids go over an unsolved football mystery, and they end up teaching an unexpected life lesson to grown-ups.
Revisiting the original locations of my 1976 film ‘The Girl Chewing Gum’, ‘The Man Phoning Mum’ retraces its camera movements. Passers-by from the past rub shoulders with their present-day counterparts, ignoring each other’s existence.
The family stays by Agnes' deathbed, discovers Simon who returns to the family in 16 years and gives him a cold treatment.
Stop Motion animated film featuring Barney and his dog Jack and the discovery of the ominous Money Tree. Loaded with free money, Barney sets off home to indulge in a shopping spree without worrying about what consequences may follow.
life outside the box.
A day caught up in the murky slipstream of a North London pub.
A woman recalls her past sexual experiences that have brought her to this moment.
A man and a boy, traveling to an unknown destination, find respite in a motel swimming pool. On the surface all is normal, but nothing is quite what it seems to be.
There was once a man quite sure of himself.
Beautiful, truly Portuguese seascapes swept before my eyes.
A teenage gymnast watches a questionable relationship unfold between her teammate and her coach.
Things Change is an optimistic look at the idea of human impermanence. The buildings and debris created by the human exploitation of our natural environment decay and give way to the force of nature once again.
Atop a weathered mountain, rests Thora... A beautifully delicate tree. Her keeper- a lonesome beast named Solomon, provides her with the protection and life she requires.
A man axiously practices his proposal to his girlfriend, while the coin operated machine that turns the world is running low on credit.
In this sand animation film Ferenc Cakó recalls his late father, who was an artist.
As every morning, men get on the tram to go to work. But on that day, to the rhythm of the tickets inserted in the ticket-stamping machine, the vehicle gets erotic and the conductress’ desire turns the reality into a surrealistic and phallic fantasy.
a visual dialog based on timing, gesture, mark-making, and sound.
Big dreams, big explosions, big wheels and big guns. It's time to become a real tough guy. Ninja and Yo Landi like wheelchair and real bad guys.
Unravel follows the Western worlds least wanted clothes, on a journey across Northern India, from sea to industrial interior. They get sent to Panipat, a sleepy town and the only place in the world that wants them, recycling them back into yarn.
The discovery of a familiar item for sale on eBay triggers obsessive speculation about the seller’s identity.
My grandmother has almost reached the end of her life her skin became thin as tissue paper. Now it is grandma preparing her good-bye while I realize that her life and death are inseparable from mine.
A love story between a Woman and a ... Spider!
Distracted by his satnav and mobile phone, a motorist knocks down a village inhabitant and crashes into a tree. The locals decide to teach him a lesson - and provide a little sport for the residents of Leathermill.
The brain is bigger than the sky...
Two girls and the burden of a melon. A story about friendship.
A family of three with a rabbit living in a cardboard box on a rooftop seeking six different men to father their unborn son. A tragicomedy.
A simple request – Could you bring me some cheese from the store? – triggers a relationship discussion between an old couple.
5 creature living in the forest are looking for food for the wintertime.
A man obsesses about catching a fantastic animal, but during several months of hunting he discovers something of much greater value.
The main protagonist is a homeless, alcoholic living in the dregs of society. He is a tatoo enthusiast, with almost all of his body covered in ink. Each tatoo resembles a different story, of which there were many...
A short documentary about three bohemian characters in a small village Japan: A Junk Collector, an Organic Farmer, and a Circus Trainer. Through their gentle portrayal, the viewer learns more about life in rural life Japan.
The moving finger writes, and having writ... Seemingly random passages underlined in a library book drive our disaffected reader to furious distraction - discovering the identity of the defacer sends him on a twisted mission of revenge.
Day in, day out, Mr. Grimm is busy with his job as the Reaper, harvesting people's lives. One day, his monotonous existence is interrupted by the door bell. It's a little girl.