Encounters 21 · Bristol
281 films from 44 countries are recorded in the archive for this edition, with 4 award winners.
The festival featured Benjamin Cleary's Stutterer, which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film, alongside Don Hertzfeldt's World of Tomorrow and the Oscar-nominated Everything Will Be Okay by Patrick Vollrath. Peter Baynton returned with Cookie-Tin Banjo, and Nina Gantz's Edmond — later BAFTA-nominated — was a competition highlight. The programme embraced themes of displacement and identity with Waves '98 by Ely Dagher and Rate Me by Fyzal Boulifa. Andreas Hykade's Nuggets and the prolific experimental work of Paul Bush featured in a strong animation selection.
This short narrative chronicles a week in the lives of three teenage girls, from different social circles, who form a bond in the week leading up to the school dance.
Over presents a crime scene. During the course of 9 wide shots, we watch an intriguing story unfold. What has happened in this quiet neighbourhood? A murder, a hit-and-run, an accident? The reality is both profound, and deeply unexpected.
A BAFTA nominated short film depicting a dad's influence on a young boy's life. His judgmental character mixed with the boys fondness for his dad prove to be a toxic mix that tears away at a world of opportunity and experiences.
The Atom Station is a film centred upon the dramatic and volatile landscape of Iceland interfusing the cultural, political and ecological forces that shape the island. Features voiceovers from poet WH Auden & environmental activist Ómar Ragnarsson.
06:13 – Early morning. An anxious traveller. A passenger. A journey made too many times. One fixed destination, but others unknown. Half-asleep. Half-awake. Urban landscapes. Internal structures. Dreams, memories and the visual tricks of tired eyes.
Su, a kindergarten boy, must beat the language barrier and find his voice to get his favourite ball back.
In a dark and rainy Scandinavian forest, a lonely man struggles to deal with his cold and damp everyday life. One day, however, a piece of Sun suddenly falls into his garden – will this be his chance to replace the rainy days with something better?
Best friends and abattoir workers David and Wani are saving to open their own butchery, but before they can realise their dream, the arrival of a new worker, and a new reality, will test the bonds of their shared life.
When playing a mysterious vinyl single, Pia is suddenly able to travel through her life.
Wrongfully arrested, Marina is placed in the unfamiliar world of a prison cell. Spending four days on remand, Marina’s initial distress transforms as she is confronted by the bleak reality of the less privileged women inside.
The only thing worse than being the last man on earth, is being the second to last man on earth.
Aïssa is a Congolese illegal girl in France. Authorities believe she is over 18. To establish her age a doctor give her a physical examination.
Amaro and Walden ‘s Joyride is a short film about two hooligan boy racers with little man syndrome, who think they're in a music video.
In this story we are guided through the relationship of Amélia and Duarte, two people that felt out of love and are trying to cope with the feelings that come after a relationship has ended.
Three self- conscious, high-educated paedophiles give a mercilessly insight in their experiences. How do you cope with a sexual orientation that’s considered morbid by society and by yourself?
Like leaves that leave the nimble limbs on tiptoe, and timid barks of timber cut to shape.
Aria, a bovine diva, demands to be respected for more than just her dairy products. An animated musical short featuring a previously unreleased song by Howard Ashman & Alan Menken.
A black sun rises on Leman Lake. In a surrealist backlit scene, swimmers and birds witness the spectacle of the dawn, hypnotized by the music of a cellist.
The Nuns of the ‘Sisters of Mercy’ Convent, in the middle of the West Bank, have their daily routine of silence and prayer disrupted when a family of Jewish settlers come knocking at their door for help after crashing into the convent’s wall.
Judith, a 30 year-old American woman is getting married in Paris, she will have one last night to enjoy herself and do what she always wanted to do.
An animation set to the music of Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier: the design incorporates thousands of CGI lights, each one tailored to the duration of a note. The animated data was then rendered within the virtual space, each frame taking 15 minutes.
Virgil Widrich compiles film excerpts from the 1950s and 1960s and translates the resulting remix of images through multiple projections on mirror and canvas constructions into a handbuilt three-dimensionality.
Allegra a 40 something pole dancing instructor finds herself homeless, single and penniless. Ever the optimist she begins a humourous journey of house hunting and personal development.
A series of experts give advice on a variety of subjects close to their hearts. As they dispense their tips we see glimpses of their anxieties and emotions start to bubble under the surface, making physical their neurosis, personifying their fears.
A perpetual third wheel and awkward outsider, Joanna increasingly inserts herself into the relationship of her more charismatic roommate Isabel. The two women test each other’s sexual and emotional boundaries in this surreal dark comedy.
King Banaroo only treasures his crown and his beloved possessions, and when on Christmas Eve he is given an unsuitably small present he goes on an epic journey around the world to get his rightful gift.
After years in a refugee camp in Congo, Annie learns what safety and peace are in a first aid class in Finland.
A parable, set deep within the woods.
A flock of birds gets chased by a falcon.
Warning! Disaster is coming! Ready for evacuation!
This short narrative chronicles a week in the lives of three teenage girls, from different social circles, who form a bond in the week leading up to the school dance.
Animated with Ushev's own blood, Blood Manifesto is a violent poem about ideals worth shedding blood for. Or not.
A Canadian mother travels to Florida with her 4 year-old daughter to take part of a mini-miss contest. Getting ready to compete becomes a cat-and-mouse game for the duo... but no one knows for sure who the cat is!
Every weekend, groups of English men celebrate an imminent marriage by visiting Hamburg's red-light district for the local brass . The drinking begins aboard the low-cost flight. This is that.
An anthropomorphic figure with a head of an elephant stands in front of a mirror in a bathroom.
A loving couple looks back on their thrilling and fun- filled life as they get set to welcome a new arrival.
A woman signs up to drive a school bus and has to cope with a faulty clutch and a boss named “Killer.”.
What happens when a little girl decides to save the food she refused to eat.
After discovering her portrait placed in a new exhibition downtown, Nofar begins her pursuit after the elusive image of herself.
Lili is in love, but can't make love. She has no idea why. Leo is full of empathy, but Lili is frustrated, desperate, and above all scared that their relationship can't last like this. So begins her quest to take charge of her body, her destiny.
Nine-year old Ella realizes the importance of fashion, and starts revolting against her childhood.
An old man trapped in a mundane senior center living by the memory of his beloved wife as his own shadow. But as his past sets in threatening his present, Prakash finds himself before a difficult decision.
Elin tries to fit in at her new school where the classmates are preparing for a skiing trip. Soon she realizes that children are divided into richer and poorer, and she doesn’t know where she belongs. A short film based on real experiences.
A divorced father, takes his son to France for a football game. When the car breaks down, they have no choice but to accept a ride from a bus of traveling England fans, who turn out to be hooligans...
A father makes a cookie-tin banjo to give to his son, and with it the gift of music.
A sofa-bound dog is shocked to discover that a whole world waits just outside the door... The unbreakable, madness-inducing door.
A suitcase full of super 8 memories from Berlin.
Cream tease is a 2D film that is set in the 80’s during the height of a hot of summer. Innuendo abound, this isn’t for the faint of heart, but it all wraps up not as you would initially expect.
The brutal killing of a dog disturbs the evening walk of two young lovers. Their differing reactions forces them to admit they are almost strangers to each other after all.are indeed strangers.
As any pretty plant, Daphné buds, opens, fills with fragrance and loses leaves. But is never allowed pick …
Arriving on a small island, DJ Pete causes a stir among the locals with his radio show. One islander, Laura, welcomes him with open arms. But as the island's landscape shifts over time, so does Pete's relationship with Laura and his new home.
Deadly tells the story of Boney, a working stiff who doesn't care about his dead-end job. That is until, he has a run-in with a spirited old lady named Bridie...
This short is about the dynamic of a family during the ritual of sitting up for dinner at 6 o'clock.
In a moment of anger in a grocery store, a father loses patience and disciplines his disobedient child. A shocked customer intervenes to express her concern. When other customers join the conversation, the discussion gradually gets out of hand.
“Don’t Lose Your Head” – a short animation using drawing and 2D techniques. It is a visual story about how easy it is to lose one’s head.
A nocturnal education film, designed to help children develop their emotions and expressions as well as language and physical skills by enjoying singing and exercising with a big brother.
When Ingrid, the unsympathetic care worker confiscates Belinda’s treasured picture of Peggy Lee, her friend Alexander decides to smuggle them both out of the home to visit an old style jazz club.
Edmond’s impulse to love and be close to others is strong...Maybe too strong.
Two best friends wile away a skint afternoon together walking around the backstreets of Brighton, trying to avoid what’s staring them both in the face.
A boy and a girl part ways, get lost, come back together. For a moment...
A father with his son rides through the forest. The sick child thinks sees the Erlking, who charms and scares him.
the clayography of a lonely deaf parisian taxidermist whose life is turned upside down and back to front when a dead pigeon arrives on his doorstep.
An exploration of the relationship between a young girl and the forest spirit she awakens. (Children and Teen Movie).
Michael stands in front of a house. He rings the bell. He waits. Nobody opens. He rings again. But nothing happens. Then suddenly Lea, a little eight-year-old girl, exits the house. She is followed by her mom.
Following a TV News which announces the landing of aliens in Romania, Eugen (9) steals a camera from the shop where his father works, starts filming his everyday life and then suddenly disappears.
Exploring the Mind of Alexandra Mackie documents a young, blind girl’s imagination while travelling through Paris, paradoxically using a visual medium. Loss of sight gives Alex a unique voice, and this film restores a visual dimension to that voice.
In this music video we follow a kid in his retro boys bedroom. A video about loneliness, exclusion and self-injury in modern society. He mimes Does anyone wanna be my friend? in swedish.
False allegory is an abstract audio/visual landscape brought to life by the pairing of animation by Greg Doble and music of Woulg.
The 90-second film, Flight of the Stories, depicts the journey of personal stories and letters written by those who never left the fields of Northern France during the First World War.
When Mr. Fox laughs at Mr. Bunny’s tail, Mr. Fox gets what he deserves.
An abstract animation in which the theme festival . I have to express the feelings that exciting festival begins now.
Will Giovanni be able to take advantage of Kim’s support and make it to the Championships?
Three old women in the Vlach village in Eastern Serbia are performing an unusual ritual in preparing “gruesome soup”...
As soon as the light is off, the action begins. This is an animated story with no picture and no music. It is a pure action!
Revisiting a seemingly ordinary and plain childhood memory involving visits to a park with my family.
A sweet story about a chance encounter in Valletta, all seen through a SLR camera viewfinder.
A short film about unity. This is a story about boy who finds an unlikely connection with his eccentric neighbour Patricia - played by Miriam Margolyes.
A three day observation of a German military prisoncamp.
A psychedelic drama about a chimney sweeper and a burning woman.
Ted, 9 year old, is the clumsiest boy. Desperately searching for his vocation, he cannot find anything he is good at. The breakthrough arrives the day his father comes home with an old piano. Ted has the revelation: he will become the next Mozart.
Secretly a little boy sneaks into an attic. There he is free to experience joy, fear and reliev. Through the child‘s point of view, the audience is invited to relive their own childhood experiences.
I May Be Some Time… is a short animated film about an old, grumpy man, Lawrence, who is forced on a journey to confront his inner self. Throughout the journey he grows younger and in the end of the film he is just a child.
A wandering man's journey shows us that there is beauty to be appreciated in the harsh wind and rain just as there is in the warmth of the sun.
“If the cuckoo don’t crow, then you know there’s wind coming…” Brian from Melton recounts how his mother, Doris, was the woman who predicted the October 1987 hurricane and famously phoned the BBC, but was told not to be so daft.
It's calm and peaceful above the clouds. But in the distance is chaos, and night by night it advances.
Let us dive deep into the infinite water of the beautiful universe, and feel the heartbeat of life itself resonating through the city, celebrating its inhabitants.
ISLANDER'S REST is a bitter-sweet, affectionate tale of innocence lost, bottled-up desires and the comfort of recycling. The boat goes out so often it comes back drunk from the sea. Island saying.
A wedding photo captures the love for a short moment, a strange moment that might last an eternity.
On the day of Jane’s wedding, Jane bumps into an ex-girlfriend, Geraldine, and inexplicably offers her an invitation. At the reception, Jane boldly decides to act on an urge to reconnect with Geraldine.
Found a clip on old video tape 1970's? 80's?...like a Japanese version Doctor Who. Anyone?
Eighteen year old engineering student Jasper Edwards recycles old junk into motorised racing machines. This film offers an insight into the mind behind the 50mph shopping trolley.
Everything changes one night for Alex, when he is visited by a boy claiming to be his brother -- who disappeared years earlier.
A dark British comedy about a practical joke that goes horribly wrong.
happy for us to enter Katy Wix’s ‘Dear Jean-Pierre’ for this Short Film Award Festival?
A dance with the fundamental building blocks of life.
We follow the journey of a galloping horse as it travels through an ever-changing landscape that fluctuates with the pace of the song. As the song continues, the visuals become more abstract and vibrant emphasising the changing tones of the song.
On an island, at the edge of the woods, a watchman and his bird live a miserable and isolated life. One day a deceptive chance came up to escape the boredom. But great danger lurks behind it.
A foreign woman in a burqa brings her young son to a Copenhagen police station to file a complaint against her abusive husband, but the translator assigned to her seems unwilling to convey the true meaning of her words.
The mundane story of a heartbroken man, an online gambling addict, an alcoholic kleptomaniac and an anxious loner living in the same apartment building.
A stop motion action adventure about Arthur James, a man who goes in search of the treasure that his long lost father has set out to find.
Caricature for an adult audience about the journey of two lonely characters traveling by foot in the vehicle world, in a search for something (more special).
A short film exploring a fresh take on the traditional love triangle!
Drawing from 80’s perfume adverts, mass produced dreams, comics and pornography, ‘Love Soldiers’ is a journey into a crumbling fantasy world.
The story of the first nuclear power plant 100% made in Switzerland… but also the last.
Following a mysterious phone call, a woman grabs a kitchen knife and sets out on a journey to an unknown destination, leaving 'her life' behind.
A girl would like to hide in sweetheart's anus.(in other words, wanting to be together forever). If you begin to think that you might as well dedicate yourself completely to the other person, you become tempted to devour the other person whole.
Wild Love is the Sequel to Matt Berry’s maverick wildlife 'documentary' Lone Wolf.
Meanwhile follows four characters traversing a city, each lost in their own separate worlds, trapped in their memories, regrets and frustrations.
A Life-sized Animated short. Cup of tea? Come and take a seat in Lyn's cosy front room, hear her story of love during wartime Britain.
A girl falls in love with a boxer she can never hope to meet, but the letter-birds will change her destiny forever. Will the messages in the air make her dreams come true?
Raymond and Timothy are out of milk.
A woman looks into her mind. Chasing her ideals on a tightrope. Every imperfect piece of her mind completes herself.
When Laurel Fantauzzo met a young woman and her bicycle in Manila, her relationship to the city was transformed.
When Glen attends primal scream class, he releases something from deep within that knows no limits.
A playful take on the phenomenon of smartphone obsession. Mr Selfie epitomises the pre-occupied smartphone user, engrossed in nothing but his phone as he goes through his day. When he does finally look up from his phone his true character is revealed.
A BAFTA nominated short film depicting a dad's influence on a young boy's life. His judgmental character mixed with the boys fondness for his dad prove to be a toxic mix that tears away at a world of opportunity and experiences.
The story through the girl finishing a portrait that she haven't finished when her father lived to repay her father and save herself from the grief. The girl called her father by the shell, but it was silence inside until the day she finish portrait.
MYSELF tries to quit smoking.
MYSELF tries to remember the secret of the universe.
Lilly Page is an aspiring young English writer adrift in Paris. She begins to sell her dreams to a mysterious man until one day he vanishes . Months later she stumbles across an Art gallery and is most surprised !
When a husband and wife attempt to break some sad and life-changing news to their ten year old daughter, Sophie, their disclosures are far from what anyone could expect.
This short is a playful stream of crude human emotions. Hallucinatory moments of passion, cruelty, loneliness and love unfold humorously in a simple form. A dance of lines that reinvents itself with each new squiggle of the artist's pencil.
Kiwi tastes a golden nugget. It´s delicious.
Solar energy arrives to homes without electricity on a remote Bangladeshi island. Via a young solar engineer, we meet women and children, whose husbands and father continue to migrate abroad in search of jobs where industrial electricity exists.
Oh, Skinny Legs is taken from the new Looper album Offgrid:Offline with the image inspired by the Greek myth of Sisyphus.
Over presents a crime scene. During the course of 9 wide shots, we watch an intriguing story unfold. What has happened in this quiet neighbourhood? A murder, a hit-and-run, an accident? The reality is both profound, and deeply unexpected.
Everyone is unique and has their natural talent. Sometimes it really has to be discovered, because it needs you... Or she.
Painting, with Lego!
Against the backdrop of simmering racial tensions within her rural English town, the life of eleven year old Hannah changes forever when she meets a boy from a mysterious and forbidden world.
A house is visited by a clean, organized and well-mannered guest.
Music video for electronica artists Jilk and Haiku Salut.
Sore from a recent break up, a man travels to a secluded clearing in the woods and opens portals to his past in order to reflect on his relationship.
Powers' follows Trevor and his obsession for a beautiful though a little crazy girl. Shot in Brighton Beach, the film captures the atmosphere of the place on a summery afternoon when the main character is craving for a look from this girl.
Greece—2400 years ago. Spartan and Athenian warriors battle to the death, observed by a little girl. (Animation).
Two high school students. While seeking their identity, through violence, they will inevitably test each other's boundaries.
A town observed from the hill facing it is treated as an architectural model illuminated by the lights of a home interior. Places and actions appear as miniatures and are animated by the turning on and off of the lights in the room.
not ready yet.
One night. One girl. One car. No coincidence.
A portrait of teen escort, 'Coco'.
“A plucky, pioneering pre-historic fish, has a ground-breaking plan to improve his life”.
A 3D Printed, hand crafted, zoetropic short-film that asks if recalling memories can break a cycle.
On the basis of a single destiny in a dystopian future, a chain reaction is set in motion leading to the great upheaval in society and shaking of the totalitarian regime achieved.
After getting fired several times, David Boring decides to rob along with his two fellows Eurobelix and Martin Luther BB King.
Set in London, S is a raw and uncompromising docudrama about an Eastern-European sex worker and her pimp. A socially conscious account, it concentrates on two individuals and their love-hate relationship.
A film conversation using 16mm film and a projector. 'Scribbledub' explores the dependent relationship between image and sound - the 'scribble' creates the 'dub', the 'dub' informs the 'scribble'.
A cinematic devotional book. Based on interviews with an unemployable sufferer, living in the East German countryside.
Dan and Mia haven't had sex since before the birth of their son. Three months on, Dan feels forced to take extreme action to get Mia back in the mood.
Sexy Laundry, an erotic comedy made entirely through the use of modelling clay, delves into the private lives of Alice and Henry, a couple in their fifties numbed by routine.
Capitain Petersen stays the course - wherever ..
360 Eritrean refugees drown off the coast of Lampedusa. Chaos breaks loose at the harbor, whilst hundreds of coffins are being loaded onto a military ship.
When music styles collide.
Night after night sleep will not come. Grief presses in on the mind that cannot slumber. Now this wakeful world is interuppted by an unexpected visitor.
A naive young girl becomes the target of a murderous sociopath when she attempts to reinvent herself to impress the boys in her small Texas town.
There are small people wearing hats in the society.
Snowfall is the story of an anxious young man who has a moving experience at a friend’s house party. It’s a story of fleeting love, of mixed emotions, and of how we interact with each other.
Every night, Sofia falls asleep hoping to find the one she loves.
A man's life, loves and losses are shown through the exchanges he has with the passengers in his car.
A mentally ill mother kidnaps her daughter and goes in search of a 'happy family life'.
Aneta ‘rebelled to the max’ at the age of nineteen and wound up in prison for murder.
Història d'un Objecte is the story of an object, a story about subjectivity and introspection of people. The short film portrays the conflict between two friends after the disappearance of an object and their pursuit in order to find it.
A man with a cruel speech impediment must face his ultimate fear.
The word Sublime has two completely different meanings in the dictionary. This film puts them together to build a story that invites you to enjoy the present moment... and feel Sublime.
Based on a comic written by Wesley Louis at the age of 13 in his spare time, Super Turbo Atomic Ninja Rabbit is a love Letter to 80/90s style Saturday morning cartoon Openings.
A short film about film.
In a distant mansion lives a religious and apparently incomplete family: a mother and her two daughters. Until the day which an appearance disturbing comes to put things in their place.
Things of worth are often neglected in favour of that which is more immediately gratifying. Unfortunately, things that are neglected are often lost forever. The life of a misguided and intensely focused man, chronicled through his oral obsessions.
An experimental short film with an abstract structure which uses urban lights of Tehran(Capital city of Iran).
Toni is lost in a sprawling metropolis, haunted by the shadow of her onset maturity.
Stop-motion music video for The Slow Show song ‘Testing’. The themes of loneliness, depression and agoraphobic behaviour are visited through both the song and character of Jan, a man cocooned in the four walls of his flat.
The Atom Station is a film centred upon the dramatic and volatile landscape of Iceland interfusing the cultural, political and ecological forces that shape the island. Features voiceovers from poet WH Auden & environmental activist Ómar Ragnarsson.
A guy and a girl, recently split up from a long-term relationship get back together for a night of passion. But love and loathing form a precarious mix for these young lovers as they try to navigate the rough terrain of life.
Deep underground the action force is preparing for the imminent case of emergency. Surveillance cameras are tracking the descent. The head is burning. Constriction puts pressure on the chest. In the vacuum of depth delusion is pulsating.
One cold winters evening, a serious woman is forced to lighten up when her mind jumps out of her head.
„The FIVE MINUTE MUSEUM is an experimental animation in which thousands of artefacts from the collections of small museums are brought to life in an animated history of human endeavour.“.
In a dull, organised world a curious girl longs for some colour and joy — against the wishes of her rule-obeying mother.
Modern Toss presents The Lady And The Fly: an emotionally charged and lavish six-minute animation with the epic sweep of a classic romantic melodrama.
The last ten minutes of humanity.
A dog Popi and a monkey Huhuu are waiting for their Master to come home who is just one day not coming any more... From this particular day there starts their mutual life.
When her cold, lonely existence is changed forever by the arrival of a huge comet and a smouldering stranger, our heroine thinks her luck has changed.
One rope comes down to a world where peaceful and idle creatures live. At first, the rope attacks them. Then a traveler happens to be passing by . He gets pulled into the mess in an unexpected way.
A distant provincial school is waiting for an official delegation from the Ministry. They're about to bring a new school bell.
coming soon.
The road is a complete immersion in a dark perpetually evolving world. On the road we will move through a succession of black and white rather dark scenes.
A salesman faces the most difficult negotiation of his life.
Two young brothers are left to themselves in a foreign land, with a home to be built and a Hi8 camera always at hand. A tape belonging to a lost memory.
A story which follows the lives of Tomas and Alis: a retired couple in a small British coastal town dealing with the harsh realities of Dementia.
A surrealist journey through colours and shapes inspired by the poem Romance Sonámbulo by Federico García Lorca. Visual poetry in the rhythm of fantastic dreams and passionate nights.
While playing on stilts as a child, Percival Pilts declares that he'll 'never again let his feet touch the ground!' He stays true to his word and compelled ever higher, he builds his stilts so tall that he no longer fits into normal society.
A small giraffe and a tall giraffe have a chance meeting. Despite their obvious difference in stature, they discover a kinship.
A day. An hour. A basement. Olivier and Sophie, both in a relationship, decide to cheat on their partners together. They were sure they had all figured out.
Inspired by the picturesque scenery of the Lake District, 'The Walk' is a short film about the simple pleasure of putting one foot in front of the other.
Hong-Kong. A multitude of high-rise concrete buildings without personality. Inside, close studios where people live withdrawn into themselves. Until the day where Chung a bachelor, decides to hang a picture on the wall.
Hamid struggles to care for his younger brothers when their father abandons them for Pakistan. A story inspired by true events.
Watchmaker controls the time, but the mouse living in the watchmaker's workshop controls the clocks... This is a film about time and its ephemeral nature.
A young (?) filmmaker comes back to his grandparents' house to make them a video-portrait. That's what cinema is about, isn't it?
A man, in search of happiness and wealth, finds himself confronted with his own mortality and his inability to force nature's hand, for which he has to pay a great price.
The birth of the universe, and the origin of all creation - Humans invented tools, discovered fire and painted murals in dark caves.
Haru, in denial after a tsunami, discovers a magical Sea Spirit. Through it, he realizes the necessity of facing reality, and dealing with his loss.
A woman has bigger plans for the construction worker whose turtle she agrees to buy.
A mammoth is defrosted into an unrecognisable future.
I get up and have breakfast. Don't get old. Im so Unhappy Happy.
Sometimes unicorns must chase their own horns to find a good party.
Valentina, 87, gets ready for a Saturday family brunch at her grandson's house. By the time she gets there brunch is over, as one by one her family members are called to attend their own life tasks. One family. Four generations. A Life cycle.
A persons property is met with increasingly vicious, and disruptive assaults by mysterious vandals each night.
Kyogen Stage/Eye Examination Room/Sushi Bar Counter There are two people who face each other in each space. Each pair keeps a few distance between their partners and find some fearful, tender, and comfortable feelings that fascinate them.
It was a hard day for the very lonely cock. Perhaps tomorrow it’ll be better.
This is the result of my investigative exploration into everyday life. The initial intention of this film was to demonstrate clear connections in our surroundings through shape, pattern and sound.
VOL•TA A rhetorical shift or dramatic change in thought and/or emotion in poetry. A single, controversial image that tricks you into examining your assumptions about the world and encourages you to assess them.
A day in the life of Mr. Istvan and Ms. Magdi, neighbors for many years, is narrated by the building of Budapest where both live.
Disillusioned with his life in the suburbs of segregated Beirut, Omar's discovery lures him into the depth of the city. Immersed into a world that is so close yet so isolated from his reality, he loses track and struggles to keep his sense of home.
Two cosmonauts, two friends, try to do their best in their everyday training life to make their common dream a reality. But this story is not only about the dream.
An elderly blind man navigates an intensifying hurricane on his way home. Once he reaches his apartment, he finds that his trouble isn't over.
The protagonist attempts to make a hypnosis video that is supposed to teach people how not to be boring and become more fashionable, but he drifts off in thoughts about his wife, pigeons and insecurities.
Souls of a white world create light until one becomes faulty. (Drama).
One Sunday afternoon, hundreds of strange beings took off the train. City residents will experience magnificent and mysterious encounter.
There is a Portuguese expression that suggests that when one is in love, one would suck the farts from one's lover's posterior. Well, Winds Of Change explores the time when such emotion and devotion is on the wane.
An ageing couple Aniela and Konstanty lead a quiet life together. She gives herself over to knitting while he eagerly works on some invention. Although their everyday life seems extremely well-organized there is something deeply lacking.
A little girl is taken on a mind-bending tour of her distant future. (Animation).
If you fuck with Goldfish, you end up swimming with the fishes.
YUYU is based on a true story of a Chinese beekeeper who performs a rite of spring to recover the environmental balance of the Yangtze Valley in Chóngqìng, China. Throughout this journey, She Zuo Bin, enters a trance with nature.
Time ago, a winter morning, a little girl went out looking for firewood, she went away from home and came across a blood trail... she followed it.
Matt Berry adds his unique narrative to spectacular wildlife footage, exploring some of the world's most extraordinary animals, focusing on their courtship and mating rituals. (Comedy).
A man has a panic attack in the street overnight. Why? (Live Action).
A super short stop motion about the loss of childhood innocence. (Animation).
This imaginative animation explores what it takes to break the mould. (Animation).
First they're coming for your bread, then they're coming for you… (Animation).
An old man ruminates about an ominous factory's hold on the world and possibly himself. (Live Action).
Trapped in their celluloid prison, the frozen people wait to be released from their inertia. (Documentary).
A day in the life of a Moroccan maid told through her hands. (Live Action).
Irene, pet owner and Cilla Black enthusiast, takes us on a trip down memory lane as she introduces us to her nearest and dearest. (Live Action).
A poignant reflection on the role of the Ukrainian military past and present. (Documentary).
Journey to the top of Carn Brea with Max, the 9-year-old environmental conceptual artist. (Documentary).
This hand drawn animation explores the strange state between dreams and reality, which sleep paralysis causes. (Animation).
In a tiny projection room in West Cumbria, Kevan splices together the Wednesday matinee at Rosehill Theatre. (Documentary).
An intense breakdown of a family seen through the eyes of a child. (Animation).
In a photo booth, a couple tries to take a picture they can both agree on, but it proves to be easier said than done. (Drama).
A short glimpse into the life of an old sailor, and the rural Welsh landscape that he calls home. (Documentary).
A documentary exploring the world of synchronized swimming through the eyes of a teenage team as they train for top US prizes. Watch the mesmerizing combination of commanding physical strength, grace, perfection and the pageantry that makes this sport a bizarrely fascinating spectacle. (Documentary).
Set in contemporary London, this animation follows a day in the life of a young man who has obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). With a sketchy and vivid drawing style that aims to depict inner states of mind, the film shows how difficult daily life can be for someone with mental health problems. (Animation).
Oh Syria, My Syria follows the plight of four Syrian refugees living in Jordan, Zaatari camp. It exhibits their past, present and future aspirations after fleeing a war torn Syria. (Documentary).
This poetic documentary explores the century-long abandoned village of Roscigno Vecchia in the far-flung southern Italian mountains and its last and only inhabitant: Signore Giuseppe 'Libero Abusivo' Spagnolo. We explore the stories and ideas of this hermit as he discusses loneliness, aging, art, life and death. (Documentary).
'Kiki de Montparnasse' was the unwary muse of major avant-garde painters of the early twentieth century. Memorable witness of a flamboyant Montparnasse, she emancipated from her status as a simple model and became a Queen of the Night, a painter, a press cartoonist, a writer and a cabaret singer.
Anatole is always dragging his little saucepan behind him. It fell on him one day and nobody really knows why. Since then, it gets stuck everywhere and it keeps him from getting on. One day he's had more than enough and decides to hide. Luckily things are not that simple.
Mark Baker's first film made as a student at the National Film and Television School is a sign of things to come, an engaging, beautifully realised and nuanced piece of work. It won a BAFTA, was Oscar®-nominated, received the Grand Prix at the Annecy Animation Festival and the praise of the Russian animator Yuri Norstein. The story takes place over three days and focuses on three groups of people (farmers, campers and hunters) and their use and abuse of the countryside. Farmers, hunters and tourists clash in this stunning cel animation using wax pencils. The film has no dialogue, and relies on animation, sound effects and music.
A music video for The Popticians (featuring performance poet John Hegley), this lively cel animation is a riot of visual jokes and quirky juxtapositions. Stylistically, there are echoes of classic Disney animation, such as the dream sequence from Dumbo, but it remains very much a unique and original vision delivered with confidence and brio.
Captain Jolly is the cruel and grasping leader of a pirate ship who capture the booty of Estelle. She is saved by the cowardly Captain Roger who then reclaims her treasure. But Captain Jolly is a man of revenge. This memorable animation received an Oscar® nomination and won the special jury prize at Annecy. Jolly Roger marks Astley and Baker's first use of computer animation and is the first time they are co-credited as writers. It's the first time in this programme we encounter the voice talent of Morwenna Banks and John Sparks who provide many of the unforgettable characterisations in the Peppa Pig series. There are also glimpses of some of the classic Astley Baker themes—the scary fish with large teeth is an earlier incarnation of Big Bad Barry from Ben and Holly, and the redoubtable gutsy heroine provides a template for some strong and distinctive female characters to come.
On his way to a business meeting, Claudiu drops by his old man's house to snap a photograph his father kept bugging him for. What initially seemed like an easy job proves quite difficult, as the picture is of particular significance to the old man.
Aron, a 5-year-old boy, together with his worried father, sets out on a journey at the end of which he wishes, like the superheroes in the comic books, to save his mother who is suffering from a heart condition.
I am frightened, Grandpa!… Do you hear? […] The people in the house are crying, he said. They miss the one who died, that's why they are crying. — In the Coach House by A.P. Chekhov.
Mircea has a 15-year-old daughter whose boyfriend is invited to dine with the family. He arrives earlier and they go to her bedroom. While watching TV, Mircea can hear his daughter moaning from her room. The dinner starts and Mircea finds out that the boyfriend supports a different football team.
On a hot summer day, Vasile, a 50-something year old peasant, refuses to accompany his wife Lucretia to a religious ceremony and finds a good excuse: he has to finish the ditch in front of their house to avoid paying a fine. Scared by the hard work ahead of him, he tries desperately to find somebody to help him. Petre, a Gypsy young man seems to be the right person. But after changing a few words with him, Vasile notices that Petre is very upset because none of the villagers wants to be the Godfather for his kid. Really impressed, Vasile decides to baptise the child himself asking Petre in exchange to help him finish the ditch. In the evening, Lucretia learns about Vasile's decision and a new ordinary domestic fight starts between them.
George and Christina are trying very hard to break up but they just don't seem to succeed.
the beautiful thing is not the goal you achieve, it is the road that takes you there with hope!