Encounters 28 · Bristol
147 films from 42 countries are recorded in the archive for this edition, with 7 award winners.
The festival returned to Bristol's Watershed for the first time since 2019, presenting 149 films across competition, immersive and out-of-competition strands. Nora Molitor, Meltse Van Coillie, Inari Sirola and Dan Guthrie served on the international jury, while Tribeca programmer Ben Thompson joined the immersive panel. Dania Bdeir's Warsha, Marta Pajek's Impossible Figures, and Sander Joon's Sierra headlined the animation programme. The live action competition featured Yi Tang's All the Crows in the World, Mo Harawe's Will My Parents Come to See Me, and Evi Kalogiropoulou's On Xerxes' Throne. The Reflective Encounters critical writing strand continued from its 2021 debut.
A doorman dreams in front of a surveillance monitor, when images of a 19th century artist emerge, and with them all the nightmares of a country's past.
The author rediscovers love letters her dad used to write her from prison. That love seems to be gone now. She decides to write back in hope to find the connection again.
When Jude ends up unexpectedly living at home in their 30s, they must deal with a lovingly opinionated Jewish mother who doesn't quite get the whole trans thing.
A couple, Donny and Marie, awake one morning to find a baby has appeared in their apartment. Unsure what to do, and bewildered by the intrusion, they seek guidance from the eccentric Dr. Hoofenhoffer. The advice they receive is … unexpected.
An intimate glimpse into the lives of a mobile fishing community, through the eyes of an extraordinary woman who has turned her home into an unofficial fishermen's mission.
Suffering from sleep deprivation, Lynsey's day spirals out of control.
Compared to the bustling life of London's City, in the quiet, static suburb, lurk foxes. This is a glimpse into what mischief these enigmatic creatures wreak on their man-made surroundings.
A journey through a surreal landscape covered with human skin. Processes of birth and growth, death and decay show the downfall of a strange ecosystem.
Suffering from sleep deprivation, Lynsey's day spirals out of control.
Compared to the bustling life of London's City, in the quiet, static suburb, lurk foxes. This is a glimpse into what mischief these enigmatic creatures wreak on their man-made surroundings.
I created this film to reach out to those that are deemed as Other; to be the representation and celebration of what is deemed Other. I wanted to reach out to people that have shared the same experiences and have the confidence to say "me too".
It's nighttime and the stillness of suburbia is interrupted by a strange presence. A creeping being lurks in the dark and a curious young man decides to confront it.
Amitis is a teenage girl who always has an orthodontics headgear and is under the pressure of orthodontic treatment. She suddenly does a strange thing to her friend, Sarah
Oscar's late. In the surrounding skyscrapers hands are shaken and contracts are signed. That's the last thing he needs right now. Where do these damned snails come from?
A fence is built between Denmark and Germany to separate wild boars from farm pigs, to avoid the spreading of a virus. Ebba wakes up next to her girlfriend, the reminiscence of her dream about separation and longing for unity takes a toll on them.
A short film following a young teenager with mental health issues, who is passionate about karate. Shot on location, on a mixture of colour and hand processed black and white 16mm, the film sits in a space between documentary and fiction.
The itinerary of a woman and a man forced to leave their native countryside questions the capitalist and liberal economic development of Latin America and its consequences on human beings, through the environmental and societal changes it generates.
A delivery man dreams of having a motorcycle. He was told that all would be like a musical film.
Jussi, 48, is totally worn-out. A failed marriage, lost connection with his son and a professional downswing have driven him into a mental slump. Jussi's young and athletic supervisor Aleksi has taken note of this and offers to help.
In a post-apocalyptical-matriarchal community, Lina faces her trial to bring light or perish to the darkness. Mara's compassion pushes Lina to create an unprecedented light.
While leaving a voicemail to his grandma, a tennis ball ponders the passage of time and tries to find meaning and identity outside of his work.
A haunting and atmospheric story of the fractured relationship of three unreliable narrators when they are faced with a reality-destroying moment of spectral possession. Based upon the book, "Bitterhall" by Helen McClory.
An ex-saboteur gets back in the game and every trick will be exposed! A short action film about the joint adventure of indie filmmaking – with all the special effects.
Women belong in the kitchen! Women don't belong in the kitchen! Well someone has to do the dishes. And who's that someone if we're both women?
Nemo looks di erent. Nobody else wears a diving suit and such a huge helmet. But then he meets Laika, an astronaut.
Sasha fights for his classmate's girlfriend. His sister Marina works as a teacher in the daytime and dances on the raves at nights. Their existence in modern Russia seems to be a trap.
A transgender girl locks herself in her room for fear of the monsters that threaten her outside, until a new reality appears behind the mirror where these monsters do not exist and she is free to be who she is or who wants to be.
The film explores the dynamics of inhabiting the in-between space of multiple countries and temporalities through visual and sound abstraction, interlacing and recycling pre-existing film materials and fragments of otherwise anonymous orphan films.
A brother and sister's reunion picnic at a stone circle in the English countryside is disrupted by the arrival of an uninvited guest.
Needles are used to repair the damage. A short animated film made using hand embroidery on tracing paper, depicting a father-daughter relationship. Don't forget to spend more time with the people you love even though you are busy.
18-year-old Shengnan is invited to a mysterious party by her cousin. The party is filled with greasy middle aged Chinese men. Among these people, Jianguo is so different.
Haunted by a little thing, a man gets driven to the edge
A struggling cafe owner's seemingly mundane life takes a dramatic turn when a mysterious, elderly stranger stops by for tea and cake.
Every single day the same infinite struggles. We are trapped in our repetitive work pattern. A dead end street with no way out, what kind of valuable work do we do?
At age 8, Jeff Reynolds was confirmed to be the world's baldest man and spent a quiet, lonely childhood ashamed of that. Now an adult, Jeff's baldness has become the extraordinary catalyst for a burgeoning community in search of lunar wisdom.
Cockadoodledoo
When an ominous mould appears in their room, two African brothers seeking asylum are faced with a dark entity lurking within their direct provision centre.
Nazarbazi [the play of glances] is a film about love and desire in Iranian cinema where depictions of intimacy and touch between women and men are prohibited.
With a film to shoot in the near future, a director develops more than a professional bond with his actor.
There are many different types of cinemas presented in the documentary — from repurposed former industrial and historic sites to hidden gems and underground meccas. There is no limit to where cinema is found, which is certainly true of London.
There are a lot of little things and stories around us. The sound of a passing train, the color of dry autumn grass. We usually pass by without noticing. But if we recognise these moments we feel how our own life is connected to them.
A mythical deity transforms from a zoomorphic figure into an anthropomorphic one and lands in an age of scientific progress.
The film aims to revisit and clarify the issue of discrimination rooted in technological development and image production through an interdisciplinary exploration.
Two protagonists in a future smart city show how the city runs on controlling time by exploiting and selecting life cycles of organisms, including humans, and environments as a whole.
A hotel phone rings. A woman answers. It is the sea calling.
Dee is struggling to come to terms with the challenges posed by fatherhood. He decides to go fishing to relax, but things take a turn for the worse.
It's New Year's Eve. Jim and Morten are playing videogames all night long, like every day. But Morten tonight is uncomfortable.
The steak has been marinating for a few days now. The pan is heated. Franc's stomach is rumbling. But Liza's co-workers surprise her with a birthday party. Will she be home on time?
Mankind has landed on the moon and flies around in space. But under our feet there are about a million kilometers of cave systems — only one per cent of which has been explored.
This is a short comedy animation and feminist re-imagining of the Adam and Eve myth, in which Eve accidentally bumps into Lilith, Adam's first wife and equal.
On her first day at a new school, one vibrant little girl is constantly clashing with the crowd. Soon enough, all she wants is to blend in with the background. Can she learn to embrace herself? Or does she risk fading away entirely?
A crane operator in Beirut volunteers to cover a shift on one of the most dangerous cranes, where he is able to find his freedom.
An encounter between the entity Curupira, a devil who protects the forests of Brazil, and the incarnated ghost of Iracema, a 14-year-old prostitute.
A father and his son are losing the folk race. In order to win, the boy turns himself into a car tire. Loosely inspired by the director's childhood, Sierra pulls us into the surreal car racing world.
A young chef cooks up a mysterious dish…
A boy lends his companion a prosthetic arm for the day. As the moon inches closer and closer towards the sun, the boy sees something in the water...
Squish! is a meditation; filtered through both old and foreseeable technology informed by Thai animation history and contemporary culture, and a constant process of constructing and deforming new selves to simulate 'movements'.
All blocks move to the rhythm until one steps out of line. This metaphor shows how traditional masculinity affects personal development while growing up.
An audiovisual essay that advocates imagination through a travelogue of constructed and anonymous landscapes. It is a note about the future that speaks about loss, exploration, presence, vigilance, responsibility, struggle and freedom.
An ominous ticking sound triggers an explosion. Wandering deserted city streets, an elegant elderly woman recalls what was and what could have been.
Small shimmering animals are in heat. A two-legged forest dweller encounters the lustful group. He and his companions snack on the little creatures and soon a feast begins.
The author rediscovers love letters her dad used to write her from prison. That love seems to be gone now. She decides to write back in hope to find the connection again.
Attempting a backflip is not safe. You can break your neck, or land on your head, or land badly on your wrists. None of that is nice, so my avatar does the trick.
A surreal short animation about Thomas, a boy who becomes addicted to eating ants – despite the warnings of his parents. Narrated in verse, the work playfully explores themes such as childhood rebellion and addiction.
Ignored throughout her pregnancy, Lilith senses her identity is being smothered by her burgeoning motherhood. Her anxieties begin to have physical manifestations — and she starts to fall apart — literally.
Seagull is a recovering drug addict who is about to have a very strange night.
Briefly depicted fragments from the characters' lives, through summer and winter, as each of them suffers a loss.
After a few drinks, Pingan agrees to Guo's strange request and later wakes up in the hospital. What he doesn't yet know is that his life will never be the same again.
Maisha's utopia is disrupted when she is confronted with a dystopian dimension's system. One that drains the blackness from a person for societal use. Leading her to make a decision: conform to or abolish the system for the advancement of her people.
Struggling to save their relationship, a lesbian couple starts uncovering all their issues. When their ugliest truths are revealed, and their inner thoughts are laid bare, they reach a point of no return. Do they stay together?
Suzi doll is an ego-warrior. The director's online avatar, marching to the algorithms of social media. She is lit by temporary outrage. A trending indignation. A passion that is fashion. A politics of the popular. Her activism is abstract.
Detailing how it feels to suffer from bulimia.
This is an autobiographical film animated on paper frame by frame with the use of charcoal. It is conveyed in a surreal tone where the plot suddenly shifts to memory and dream sequences. The whole story flows like thoughts.
A short folk horror tale set in the heart of the Brazilian rainforest. Soundtrack by Baron Saturday and Sound Design by Sam Mason ('Censor', 'Flux Gourmet').
Hysteresis explores the lag between recording analogue drawings by Robert Seidel and projecting them onto a queer performer Tsuki to create dense feedback loops, using an AI to mediate these transformative re-presentations.
Perfect City: The Mother is the first episode of the Perfect City series, telling a story about a wooden mother tries to carve her root baby into a plastic human doll under the seduce of Perfect Spray, a illusion constructed by the mother's fear.
They call her Wizzers to remind her that she has boobs. Clare tries to ignore them but still they just won't leave her alone. Then a woman with a beard walks past. Everyone says "don't look, it's the witch" and Clare has an idea.
As time travellers we embark on an emotionally intense virtual reality journey to experience the dramatic milestones in the evolution of earth and mankind. A 24h metaphor of 4.7 billion years of evolution that reveals: We are children of galactic luck.
In an anonymous city, a person collapses, appearing to have lost consciousness. Some strangers pass by, others embrace her. In a solitary quest for intimacy, blinded by a world of indifference, her gaze, her body are staggering.
What a beautiful day today! Mister Paper is always cheerful. When he needs something, he takes his scissors and cuts it out of his paper universe. Every day he creates something new. He can solve any problem with his scissors.
Every morning, Theo the water tower cries and disturbs the village's peace. Robert and his dog try to cheer him up by singing songs. But Theo is in no mood to sing and tries to escape, which leads him out of the village and into the city.
JACOB, a resident in child detention is desperate to get back to the outside world. When he meets fellow inmate JOY, a mysteriously magnetic 10-year-old girl, he finds an unexpected sense of belonging which will sooner take a weirder turn.
Following lockdown, children from Maryhill in Glasgow express their rights to outdoor play and learning. The Children's Wood was established through ten years of community activism. Through play we learn to cope.
The world is about to end. Maya is forced to go home to the province of Zambales. There, she confronts her childhood house that terrorizes her as frogs rain outside.
A filmmaker tells about her vision of directing a neo-western about two newcomers in Finland. When violence on the imaginary frontier escalates in the form of a flying potato, the 'fictitious' figures begin to speak about their real experiences.
A lonely traveler embarks on a journey to find relief for a hidden yearning. Her restless longing spreads around and forces fellow passengers to face their own desires and disappointments.
"A bee stung me on my finger. It happened yesterday in the yard of a kindergarten, even though I am not in kindergarten anymore." Fragmented memories of childhood and adulthood blend together in a song that an unknown narrator is humming.
Popstar Oliver Sim is the main guest of a talk-show that soon slides into a surreal journey of love, shame and blood. A three-part musical short.
When a young man receives terrible news before a planned outing, he embarks on a journey both physically and mentally to understand how to process his emotions and deal with sudden grief.
When Jude ends up unexpectedly living at home in their 30s, they must deal with a lovingly opinionated Jewish mother who doesn't quite get the whole trans thing.
Tired of being talked at by men, a woman takes a sensual trip with unusual friends.
A couple, Donny and Marie, awake one morning to find a baby has appeared in their apartment. Unsure what to do, and bewildered by the intrusion, they seek guidance from the eccentric Dr. Hoofenhoffer. The advice they receive is … unexpected.
Inspired by a family history of trans-racial fostering, concepts of inherited trauma and the work of Octavia Butler, Dawta is about escaping the past through the imagining of a utopian future for Black women.
An intimate glimpse into the lives of a mobile fishing community, through the eyes of an extraordinary woman who has turned her home into an unofficial fishermen's mission.
After ten years apart, a Scottish filmmaker tries to reconnect with her closest cousin. Once so similar, their paths were separated by war. As they piece together memories of Syria, they begin to wonder – 'What happened to our family?'
How one woman's connection to the natural world became a lifeline during an intensive recovery from alcoholism.
Created in collaboration with Hamed and Hessam Amiri to honour their brother's incredible life, Ripples of Kindness invites small groups to share in the positive impact that Hussein had on everyone around him, from Afghanistan to Wales.
Echoes of a violation of the soul.
A bunch of round succulent and moist creatures smear each other contentedly with an oozy juice. They share their world with pesky little bugs, but one day, they squash them all. In response the creatures start to run dry.
After finding out that his father was admitted into hospital and refuses medical treatment in Indonesia, Budi has to convince his father to take medical treatment while trying to clean up his wild party in The Netherlands.
There was a beautiful creature in my dream. But I never see it again. Nature energy creates an energy field. We learn from nature, we want to find the truth of nature.
An 'afronaut' emerges from the wreckage of his spaceship in the crater of Mount Nyiragongo. As he descends into the city below, encountering the people of present-day Goma, he begins to understand what he must do to change the future for his people.
Lady Camden, RuPaul's Drag Race season 14 runner up, is a struggling waitress in a greasy spoon diner. She does her best to keep up with increasing demands until a catastrophe forces her to break free from the daily grind.
Plural noun: rules; noun: Rules / one of a set of explicit or understood regulations or principles governing conduct within a particular activity or sphere. "The rules of the game were understood."
As a mountainous village in Greece sinks under the lake, the memories of its inhabitants emerge from the water.
When a soul-shaking viral video shudders through town, a jobless father struggles to keep hold of his existence.
A Garrano horse is forced to pull a heavy load under a blazing sun; young boy Joel discovers a man who is about to set a forest on fire.
A dystopian workplace at the Perama shipyard: a ban on physical contact has turned human interaction into otherworldly simulations.
An atmospheric and immersive journey around the uninhabited island of Staffa which has been the source of inspiration for generations of artists, musicians and writers.
The programmer Frances develops an artificial intelligence software which she can talk to. They become friends and the A.I. learns to sing, dream and work for her. One day the A.I. develops it's own political consciousness and begins to help people.
When it shrinks, it expands. It floats and it sinks. It separates but connects. When I think I'm watching them, they're actually watching me. A charming animation rhyme that weaves together the many days of observing, recording, and experimenting.
An intimate drama following Esther and Chioma as they navigate the nuances of their relationship. They find themselves at a Ghanaian naming ceremony where they are invited to reconnect in a rhythmic celebration of diasporic Black queer joy.
During a dysfunctional family dinner, oppressed family members battle their oppressors. The battle for domination leads to a monstrous outcome.
After losing his fiancée and his good looks in a freak accident, Clyde must confront his inner demon.
On route to a London protest, a group of activists play strange mind games with each other. Meanwhile, a bizarre creature is run over by a bus.
A doorman dreams in front of a surveillance monitor, when images of a 19th century artist emerge, and with them all the nightmares of a country's past.
A troupe of clowns gather to perform a story about a Priest and a refugee but as their misguided tale unfolds, the boundaries between fiction and reality begin to fray.
A British Filipino boy struggles to assimilate with his Filipino identity, after his mother on a whim and after a heartbreak moves him back to the Philippines to start a new life together.
[Note: Synopsis as printed in source catalogue appears to duplicate that of Genesis above — likely a production error in the original programme. Transcribed as printed: "As time travelers we embark on an emotionally intense virtual reality journey to experience the dramatic milestones in the evolution of earth and mankind. A 24h metaphor of 4.7 billion years of evolution that reveals: We are children of galactic luck."]
The film highlights the beauty of craft, whilst recontextualising traditional folk narratives to show the strength and power of the often forgotten members of folk communities.
When a young Filipino couple move to England, constant unsuccessful job interviews and the building pressure of financially supporting their families abroad push the pair to desperation.
A young poet finds himself at rock bottom with nothing left to lose; he is given two choices to change his life.
Mirene and André, and Carl and Vicente, are both couples in their mid-thirties. While Mirene and André struggle with their fertility, Vicente undergoes an experimental procedure, implanting an ovary in his body in the hopes of having a child.
Tscherkassky flits through the history of the filmic avant-garde, conceiving his work as a centrifuge of quotations from the pantheon of visionary cinema. He conjures heaven and hell, embarking on a collision course bound for the apocalyptic.
In a prison in Somalia. There, decisive hours have dawned for young Farah. Organizational machinery starts up around him. Farah is examined by a doctor, instructed by the bailiff, and looked after by an imam. He is waiting for his parents to visit.
Eager to celebrate the 4th of July, a group of young black and Latino friends experience a police encounter that shatters the meaning of the holiday.
Perfectly identical girls, dressed in military uniforms, work day and night. A matriarchal family. An oligarchic society. What would happen if we replace bees with humans?
A mad clock takes the viewer on a trip to a random planet. Which happens to work in a different conception of time than we know. Made in relay process, the results are unexpected and mind tripping.
Discusses the imperialist exploits of the Disney character Scrooge McDuck, and the apparently radical yet deeply compromised promises of cryptocurrency. Between these two strands, possibilities for an alternative network of exchange are sought.
Voices from the past haunt A Human Certainty, whose entangled threads link its multifarious narratives of suffering: a recent break-up; the romantic sweep of mid-century pop music; Weegee's crime-scene photography; and images taken by the artist's grandmother, a spirit medium, on her travels in Asia and Africa. Here, Quaintance's montage becomes a codec for assembling these disparate threads, and for making sense of mortality and loss in all its forms.
Enys works the family farm with his widowed mother and grandmother. An exceptional rugby player, Enys leads his team to the final of The Cornwall Cup, all the while living with the pressures of his fathers legacy and a secret relationship.
A recently adopted 8-year-old refugee spends a day preparing for her first red carpet appearance with her new pop star mother when she is haunted by reminders of the life she left behind and awakened to the fragility of her new one.
Kipu is a luxury chauffeur in a dark city, where the streets are full of cars and black cats. After he accidentally runs over the entire family of a little cat called Suruaika, Kipu adopts her. And as his love for Suruaika grows, so does her body.
The day-to-day experiences of a police officer.
When you're lonely, you tend to look for the wrong people.
Max succumbs to the pressures of his work and spirals out of control.
A short film about how (un)connected children are in the modern world.
An animated portrait of personal thoughts and limiting beliefs.
Hong Kong's hustle and bustle inside Yau Ma Tei fruit market is animated with collage.
A child suffers the health complications of his mother's smoking habit.
She should not show her too old and ragged body. She should not choose when and where.
Beware sharks in the amusement arcade.
The removal of the natural human being and the implant of imaginary human concept.
A girl with insomnia invites over a mysterious figure into her house.
Who is the Arab woman on our screens?
The life of contemporary acrobatic artists in Taiwan.
A short film made to reflect the vast number of euphemisms for the word "period."
The film tells the story of a train that settles in the mind of a young man named Doston.
A bittersweet snapshot of leaving university and a home shared with friends.
Humans who drown in social networks, feed on each other's ruminants, but they never experience satiety.
Whilst messaging online a woman contemplates being honest about how she's been doing.