Nominees for the Best Films of 2021 Annual Edition
BEST ANIMATION
To the dusty sea
Director: Héloïse Ferlay
Country: France
Duration: 12:23
Synopsis: Left alone in the deepest of the summer, Malo and Zoe are trying their best to catch their mother’s elusive eye…
GON, THE LITTLE FOX
Director: Takeshi Yashiro
Country: Japan
Duration: 27:59
Synopsis: When Gon, a playful orphaned fox, finds that young Hyoju has lost his mother, he tries to comfort him and make amends for his own earlier mischiefs by secretly bringing small gifts to the boy every day. But Hyojudoesn’t realize who is behind the anonymous gifts, and the two are headed for a heartbreaking climax.
Leaf
Director: Aliona BARANOVA
Country: Czech Republic
Duration: 05:40
Synopsis: Huge sailor gets an autumn leaf from a small girl. It reminds him of his home. How long he has not been there? He runs to meet his old parents. What will he find there?
AT FIRST SIGHT
Director: SJAAK ROOD
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 17:00
Synopsis: A man and a woman drive straight towards one another. They hit the breaks just in time and come to a standstill, facing each other. They’re both too stubborn to give way to the other. A life story begins.
The Shadow of the Sun
Director: Ido Hartmann
Country: Israel
Duration: 08:00
Synopsis: 7 years ago Boaz has cut all ties with his parents, brother & sister, his friends, and his previous world. The film tracks the story of his disappearance and embarks in a surreal journey into the memories he left with his family.
WICKED GIRL
Director: AYCE KARTAL
Country: Turkey
Duration: 08:00
Synopsis: S., 8 years old, is a little Turkish girl with an overflowing imagination. She is keen on nature and animals. As she is in hospital, she is looking back on happy holidays in her granparents’ village, but dark and terrifying memories emerged and, little by little, begin to make sense.
Opinci
Director: Anton Groves, Damian Groves
Country: Romania
Duration: 17:53
Synopsis: A film based on a true story about a record breaking globetrotter and widowed father, who uses his extraordinary past to teach his young daughter lessons about life.
Jean
Director: Marion Auvin
Country: France
Duration: 13:30
Synopsis: Jean, a well-known but casual actor, arrives on set freshly shaved while his director had asked him to come with a four-day beard. This innocuous gesture is a disaster for the filming and, for Jean, an opportunity to finally pay attention to the world that surrounds him.
Sad Beauty
Director: Arjan Brentjes
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 09:50
Synopsis: In a heavily polluted world, a young woman mourns the disappearance of animal species. When she falls ill due to a bacterial infection, nature appears to send her a message in her hallucinations.
Just For The Record
Director: Vojin Vasovic
Country: Serbia
Duration: 07:01
Synopsis: In an abandoned attic, dictaphone robot REC desperately tries to connect to тхе bird that stops on its window. Using his play button to say something, he finds himself shocked by the content and scares the bird away. He rushes to make her come back, to record over his “own voice” before his battery leaks.
Sheep, Wolf and a Cup of Tea…
Director: Marion Lacourt
Country: France
Duration: 12:11
Synopsis: At night, while family members indulge in curious rituals before sleeping, a child invokes a wolf from the bottom of a box hidden under his bed. Disturbing sheep then besiege the door of his bedroom….
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Bully
Director: Adhip Iyer
Country: India
Duration: 23:57
Synopsis: A 12 year old boy struggles with bullying at school.
Young Lady in the Pantry
Director: Tian Shi
Country: China
Duration: 28:48
Synopsis: Many years later,In order to forget the hunted nightmare, Anna goes to a hospital where she bumps into a journalist, a nurse and a doctor who respectively knows her legendary yet unfortunate stories in different stages.However no one knows the truth of her nightmare but herself.
THE UNKNOWN RACER
Director: Danya Razuvaev
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 08:35
Synopsis: Short movie about the amateur racer, who is going to be the first racer from russia who took part in one of the toughest race in the world.
THE GIFT
Director: Radik Kudoyarov
Country: United Kingdom
Duration: 12:57
Synopsis: Father gives his son an unusual gift for his 10th birthday. It will change the boy’s life forever.
Then comes the evening
Director: Maja Novaković
Cinematographer: Jasna Prolić
Country: Serbia
Duration: 27:30
Synopsis: The documentary depicts the bittersweet life of two grannies living isolated on the hills of Eastern Bosnia. Nature is the entity with which grannies speak, listen to, and respect. The film emphasizes the intangible cultural heritage, through the presentation of chants and rituals for taming the adverse weather, hail, and storm. It reflects the simplicity and purity of their way of life, as well as their painstaking work. The action of the film is the everyday life in the countryside, which shows the caring and intimacy of the grannies, both in their mutual relations and in the relationship with nature. The poetic tone of the frames relies on references from genre scenes of realism paintings.
TIME IS GOD
Director: Pepo Alfaro , Elena Gutierrez, Pablo Garrido
Country: Spain
Duration: 04:00
Synopsis: “TIME is not real – it is a human construct to help us differentiate between now and our perception of the past, The concept of time is simply an illusion made up of human memories, everything that has ever been and ever will be is happening RIGHT NOW.
Cuckoo!
Director: Jörgen Scholtens
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 07:00
Synopsis: Absurd comedy about a lonely man (Frank Lammers) who lives inside a cuckoo clock. Every hour he straps himself into his ejection seat and shoots through the doors of the clock. “Cuckoo!” He yells, “Cuckoo!” His work is of vital importance. The old lady who sits under the clock needs to take her medication exactly at the top of every hour. One day the man has the opportunity to win a substantial sum of money in a radio quiz. He loves gadgets and wants to buy a new computer. The only problem is that he can only dial in at the exact time he’s supposed to sit in his seat.
CHARON
Director: Yannick Karcher
Country: France
Duration: 15:42
Synopsis: Freshly retired, a man doesn’t know how to occupy his days. For fear of being killed by boredom, he gets involved in the crazy project of building a boat in the cellar of his suburban house.
You Promise?
Director: Lin Laurin
Country: Sweden
Duration: 14:58
Synopsis: “You Promise?” takes place in Malmö, Sweden in 1988. The story follows Vida, 5, and her brother Alex, 3, when they get a new father figure in the family. It’s an aesthetic, poetic, and heartwarming short film about family love, divorce, and fear of change – from a five-year-old’s perspective.
Garage Romantic
Director: Daniel Sadgrove
Country: New Zealand
Duration: 12:35
Synopsis: A big dreamer from the small town of Togliatti, Russia ponders life while building a rocket powered sled made from discarded trash.
Second Seed
Director: Baye & Asa
Cinematography: Alan Jensen
Country: United States
Duration: 15:24
Synopsis: Second Seed is a dance horror film responding to D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation. Griffith’s film is a veneration of the KKK, painting the Klan as saviors of a white race in danger as American culture and politics begin to shift after the American Civil War. It highlights a fundamental White supremacist delusion that continues to plague this country: that White people are inherently superior, and that they are politically and culturally under attack. Second Seed grapples with this White delusion.
BEST DIRECTOR
Bully
Director: Adhip Iyer
Country: India
Duration: 23:57
Synopsis: A 12 year old boy struggles with bullying at school.
Young Lady in the Pantry
Director: Tian Shi
Country: China
Duration: 28:48
Synopsis: Many years later,In order to forget the hunted nightmare, Anna goes to a hospital where she bumps into a journalist, a nurse and a doctor who respectively knows her legendary yet unfortunate stories in different stages.However no one knows the truth of her nightmare but herself.
The Audition
Director: Guy Lichtenstein
Country: Austria
Duration: 22:25
Synopsis: Even though she is exceptionally talented, Sarah is still stuck performing at small events. Today she is performing at the wedding of her ex, Jurgen. The former couple tries to stay out of each other’s way but old memories and sacrifices emerge anyway. bravely Sarah strokes her bow over the strings, maybe she can finally find closure to the story, while around her a wedding is being celebrated.
The Next Stop
Director: Dominik György
Country: Czech Republic
Duration: 13:00
Synopsis: Mentally disabled driver and tired stewardess traveling with bus on the road of life. How far can they drive? “Dear passengers, fasten your seatbelts.” The affection of a loving mother to fulfill her disabled son’s dream by playing a game that gives him the opportunity to live in the world of fantasy in where he is so happy, also fulfills the goal of surviving and preserving peace in the family. The son has grown but not mentally, so the mother’s play for herself has become a daily struggle and suffering. How long she can keep this long-lasting treatment under control is questionable. Will be The Next Stop their final destination?
Sunburned
Director: Nadia Ayala Tabachnik
Country: Mexico
Duration: 13:16
Synopsis: Two neighbors and a rough Sunday. Elena, a woman with a well-structured life, the “perfect” boyfriend and perfectly ironed clothes. Irene, a free woman who hates being tied down and pre-established relationships. They are accidentally forced to spend a whole day together and interact, discovering they’re not so different and that sometimes there’s no better conversation partner than a stranger.
Christy
Director: Brendan Canty
Country: Ireland
Duration: 14:55
Synopsis: A 16-year-old school-dropout interviews for a job, but when he’s let down by his brother he lashes back and looks to his friend for support.
Cuckoo!
Director: Jörgen Scholtens
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 07:00
Synopsis: Absurd comedy about a lonely man (Frank Lammers) who lives inside a cuckoo clock. Every hour he straps himself into his ejection seat and shoots through the doors of the clock. “Cuckoo!” He yells, “Cuckoo!” His work is of vital importance. The old lady who sits under the clock needs to take her medication exactly at the top of every hour. One day the man has the opportunity to win a substantial sum of money in a radio quiz. He loves gadgets and wants to buy a new computer. The only problem is that he can only dial in at the exact time he’s supposed to sit in his seat.
The Saverini Widow
Director: Loïc Gaillard
Country: France
Duration: 19:00
Synopsis: Bonifacio 1883, extreme south of Corsica. The widow of the late Saverini lives in an isolated house near the cliffs, with her only son Antoine, and her dog. During the day, she assists women giving birth in town. One night her son is killed in a clash. The murderer flees to Sardinia. Her world falls to pieces…
Rebel
Director: Pier-Philippe Chevigny
Country: Canada
Duration: 15:00
Synopsis: Alex, a six-year-old boy from Quebec, is much too young to understand why thousands of refugees have been entering Canada illegally. Yet when his father takes him along to a vigilante patrol in the woods to hunt out trespassing migrants, something inside him tells him to rebel.
SMOKE AND OCHER
Director: Grésillon Romain
Country: France
Duration: 20:00
Synopsis: 19,000 years ago. Deemed responsible for a hunting accident that risked the life of a child, a man is cast out from his tribe and finds shelter in a cave near the campsite.
DA YIE
Director: Anthony Nti
Country: Ghana
Duration: 20:00
Synopsis: A foreigner in Ghana gets an assignment from his gang to find kids for a risky job that will take place later that evening. While spending the day with two energetic children, Prince and Matilda, he starts to question his decision and how it will affect their lives.
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Mothers Of
Director: Ross Lai
Country: Canada
Duration: 21:03
Synopsis: El Salvador has some of the most extreme anti-abortion laws in the world. It is one of a handful of countries in the world where abortion is banned under all circumstances, including cases of rape and when a pregnancy poses a clinically verifiable risk to a woman’s health. As an extreme consequence of the law, women who have naturally occurring obstetric emergencies are routinely imprisoned on homicide charges. When they seek emergency care after miscarriages or stillbirths, doctors report them to the police on the suspicion of having an abortion. Between 2000 and 2011, 129 women in El Salvador were prosecuted for abortion or homicide when the fetal deaths occurred in the last months of pregnancy. ‘Mothers of’ explores the hyper-strict abortion regulations in El Salvador through the story of Teodora del Carmen Vásquez, a woman forced to serve over 10 years in jail after suffering a stillbirth in her 9th month of pregnancy. Through Teodora’s perspective, we begin to understand how loss and motherhood are felt in the face of bitter social injustice.
Naked Woman
Director: Ross Casswell
Country: United Kingdom
Duration: 12:30
Synopsis: A short film that documents three women’s views and treatment of nudity. Body image is the common thread throughout the series, but the individuals approach to nudity exposes much more, as each woman attempts to liberate the representation of the female body, not through a campaign, or as part of a topical conversation, but in the manner with which they define themselves and go about their profession.
Waiting for the Sea
Director: George Itzhak
Country: United States
Duration: 25:10
Synopsis: Can an electronic music festival inspire a creative renaissance in Uzbekistan – and shine an international spotlight on a little-known environmental disaster?
Fata Morgana
Director: Daniella Bokor, Leanna Berkovitch
Country: Israel
Duration: 11:04
Synopsis: Three women living life as nomads. Christina travels the world, Anna takes her daughter wherever she goes, and Rachel has made her home under a branch roof, in a tent and in a cave . What does each woman pack in her knapsack before she sets out on her own? The movie confronts the conflict between the stability of motherhood and life at home, and the yearning to wander.
Robin Food
Director: Pavel Maximov
Country: Italy
Duration: 20:00
Synopsis: Robin Food is a non-profit and pay-as-you-feel restaurant with a mission: rescue, cook and serve food that otherwise would go to waste. The restaurant is saving fruit and vegetables from markets and farms to raise public awareness on issues of food waste, sustainability and climate change in the most tangible and delicious way possible: a tasty meal. Robin Food location: Sirkin St 24, Haifa, Israel
Consuming Contemporary
Director: Ana Aleksovska
Country: Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of
Duration: 25:00
Synopsis: A bunch of seniors enjoys Skopje’s cultural events on a daily basis, as well as the food offered there. When societal judgment is about to stop their way of having fun – they realize how much more this habit means to them.
Year of the robot
Director: Yves Gellie
Country: France
Duration: 30:00
Synopsis: At the intersection of art and science, L’année du robot (Year of the robot) depicts the human being and the robot as its artificial counterpart. As a series of archival documents detailing the first contacts and dialogue between a robot gifted with an artificially created autonomy and human beings, it studies cognitive dissonance, a minute, mysterious relational space sitting between the two actors. It involves elderly people sometimes afflicted with Alzheimer’s or dementia, or young adults with autism or neurological problems. Once past the surprise phase and aware of the artificial nature of the robot’s functioning, the residents try, despite everything, to forge bonds with it.
BY THE RIVER
Director: DANIEL
Country: Australia
Duration: 25:00
Synopsis: Stretching along the river Ganges rests Varanasi, the holiest of India’s seven sacred cities, and a place where devout Hindus go to die in hopes of achieving moksha – becoming liberated from the cycle of rebirth. Several so-called ‘death hotels’ exist to accommodate believers who abandon their lives and come here in wait for death – some for as long as 40 years.
The Little Moon
Director: Elena Kairyte
Country: Lithuania
Duration: 26:00
Synopsis: “Where the last house faded away in the wheat, there lived a little girl, who walked at night out in the fields, with a bucket of water to mirror the moon.” It’s a true story, based on Tonino Guerra’s poem, about a girl who lives in a remote Lithuanian village. This single farm holds her entire world: family, beloved animals and the whole seeing moon.
Garage Romantic
Director: Daniel Sadgrove
Country: New Zealand
Duration: 12:35
Synopsis: A big dreamer from the small town of Togliatti, Russia ponders life while building a rocket powered sled made from discarded trash.
The Toymaker Hidden Heirloom
Director: Yağmur Kartal
Country: Turkey
Duration: 23:51
Synopsis: Sabahattin Parlar, an electrical master in his 90s in Istanbul, in the 1930s, has old Ottoman figures made of electrical cables in his house on the island of Avşa. These figures, which can be played as toys, are embarked on a joyful adventure by making time in their small workshop at home and traveling to the memories of childhood days. The life of his teacher, who discovered his interest in painting at a young age, was working in the electrical business for a long time due to the difficulties of his life in the primary school and the difficulties of his life that led him to art. However, his love of art and child-minded naivety, which have remained for years, start him.
BEST EXPERIMENTAL
Advocate Is Not Needed
Director: Artem Minakov
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 25:00
Synopsis: Vasiliy Chertkov is accused of murder and is questioned by high-class lawyer from a big company who is sent to verify qualification. The lawyer convinces Chertkov that there will be no ‘case’ at all if he goes to one very profitable deal. What price should Chertkov pay to clear all the charges? And what secret is hidden behind the lawyer’s expensive suit?
UNTIMED: a Lockdown Tale
Director: Fabio Reitano
Country: Italy
Duration: 03:28
Synopsis: After a lifetime spent travelling the world, a man finds himself stuck in his old family house, during the pandemic. He realizes growing up is not just about experiences and progress, about leaving everything behind. It is also about facing a buried past made of difficult memories, old Game Boys, sweet melancholy, and VHS. “UNTIMED: a Lockdown Tale” is a short film shot in April 2020, in Italy, alone, at home. While the planet focuses on how empty the “outside” was, it was a privilege to notice the richness of the “inside”.
ELLE/ÉL
Director: ELLIOT HUESCAR
Country: Spain
Duration: 09:00
Synopsis: At the wheel of his red Alpha-Romeo of the 60’s, Él, a Spanish male, sexist and married, picks up Elle, a young French hitchhiker, not as innocent as she seems…
Face Me
Director: Cándida Massielle Asencio
Country: Spain
Duration: 02:31
Synopsis: Our movie is about fighting our demons being on lockdown. How we can find ourselves and try to get out of quarantine refreshed and healthy.
Stoners / Slices of Infinity
Director: Fred Miranda
Country: Portugal
Duration: 07:14
Synopsis: Conceptual Thriller homaging the Portuguese Marble.
Outopia
Director: Helen Rollins
Country: United Kingdom
Duration: 08:09
Synopsis: In this experimental film by unknown Slovene director Franc Kranjc, an actor – during a rehearsal for a bleak play about puritans – becomes strangely compelled by then stuck in the floor, finding beneath it a world of kitsch and colour that ultimately traps him too.
DREAM/LIFE
Director: DAVID AUFDEMBRINKE
Country: Germany
Duration: 22:00
Synopsis: A young man escapes his routine to find out what he truly wants in life. His friends refuse to participate in his endeavor, so he goes alone and arrives further than he ever would have dared to dream.
Kilter
Director: Rob Stanton-Cook
Country: Australia
Duration: 11:36
Synopsis: Kilter explores the wreckage left in the wake of generational toxic masculinity. Following a violent crime of passion, a gentle young man descends into a tormented reality as he struggles to reconcile who he is and what he has become.
ПUZZLE
Director: Anastasiya Sovashchenko
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 19:00
Synopsis: This film is about the moment when a person creates something unique and creative. We will consider what the process consists of, what hinders it and what helps. It’s like traveling from room to room, where dance parts that symbolize details of puzzle that called “Creativity” We use a novel narrative structure And single-frame shooting. Hidden cuts will help us to match parts together adds continuity to the movie.
The Secret Walls
Director: Anne Charrin, Lise Charrin, Aude Charrin, Jean-Marie Gatin
Country: France
Duration: 14:25
Synopsis: (freely inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy) A theatre in the rain, people outside crowding to get in. A tired man comes through the stage door where a child -the master of the place- has been waiting for him. Engulfed in that theatrical machinery and caught up in the beguiling cogs of time, guided by some unknown force, the man plunges deep into a maelstrom of many faces…
BEST FILM
Silence (Ciúnas)
Director: Tristan Heanue
Country: Ireland
Duration: 12:35
Synopsis: A couple embark on a journey in the midst of a family crisis.
Young Lady in the Pantry
Director: Tian Shi
Country: China
Duration: 28:48
Synopsis: Many years later,In order to forget the hunted nightmare, Anna goes to a hospital where she bumps into a journalist, a nurse and a doctor who respectively knows her legendary yet unfortunate stories in different stages.However no one knows the truth of her nightmare but herself.
The Audition
Director: Guy Lichtenstein
Country: Austria
Duration: 22:25
Synopsis: Even though she is exceptionally talented, Sarah is still stuck performing at small events. Today she is performing at the wedding of her ex, Jurgen. The former couple tries to stay out of each other’s way but old memories and sacrifices emerge anyway. bravely Sarah strokes her bow over the strings, maybe she can finally find closure to the story, while around her a wedding is being celebrated.
ARCHIBALD´S SYNDROME
Director: DANIEL PEREZ
Country: France
Duration: 20:00
Synopsis: Archibald was born with some curious curse: he can’t make a move without everyone around doing the same.Now, grown man, he robs by despair a bank and, there, meets Indiana, a young woman who always escaped every form of control.
THE CAMEL BOY
Director: CHABNAME ZARIÂB
Country: France
Duration: 15:00
Synopsis: Somewhere in the desert, a little boy is plunged by force into an intimidating and completely foreign new world: the world of camel racing. Will the distant hope of seeing his mother again give him the strength to overcome his fears and find his place in this hostile environment?
GAME
Director: JEANNIE DONOHOE
Country: United States
Duration: 15:00
Synopsis: A new kid in town shows up at the high school boys basketball tryouts and instantly makes an impression. Will talent and drive be enough to make the team?
Bumper
Director: Ralantoaritsimba Nirina
Country: France
Duration: 18:00
Synopsis: For many years, Max, a young man full of ambition, has been dreaming of being accepted in a prestigious school of political sciences. The day before the interview, he plans to spend the night at his grandmother’s house which is near where the oral exam will be taking place the next morning, thus hoping to be in the best mindset to succeed. But once he gets there, Max finds out his Grandma has decided to take her driver’s license again…
CHARON
Director: Yannick Karcher
Country: France
Duration: 15:42
Synopsis: Freshly retired, a man doesn’t know how to occupy his days. For fear of being killed by boredom, he gets involved in the crazy project of building a boat in the cellar of his suburban house.
NUKRYŽIAVIMAS / CRUCIFIXION
Director: Danielius Minkevičius
Country: Lithuania
Duration: 25:00
Synopsis: A secretive man’s inner thoughts confront against the reality.
Garage Romantic
Director: Daniel Sadgrove
Country: New Zealand
Duration: 12:35
Synopsis: A big dreamer from the small town of Togliatti, Russia ponders life while building a rocket powered sled made from discarded trash.
DA YIE
Director: Anthony Nti
Country: Ghana
Duration: 20:00
Synopsis: A foreigner in Ghana gets an assignment from his gang to find kids for a risky job that will take place later that evening. While spending the day with two energetic children, Prince and Matilda, he starts to question his decision and how it will affect their lives.
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
Sounds
Director: Leonid Kolosovskyi
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 12:07
Synopsis: Couple in love capture sounds surrounding them. These sounds become the symbol of their feelings and one day they are reborn to the songs. Eventually, feelings change, sounds change and songs change too, till they’re gone forever. This film shows the parallel between couple relationship transformation and surrounding them sounds.
DREZDEN “DAVIDA OLEN”
Director: Vladimir Nefedov
Country: Belarus
Duration: 04:01
TSOY IS DEAD!
Director: Alexander Solovyov
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 05:19
Synopsis: Nine-year old Kim lives in North Korea. Surrounded by a totalitarian regime every day is the same – until the moment when Viktor Tsoy’s rock concert interferes with the usual TV Signal. Kim is shocked by what he sees and becomes obsessed by the rock star, trying to move and dance like him. Kim is not the same person anymore, but will his new personality be accepted by his surroundings?
In Front
Director: Oswaldo Colon Ortiz
Country: Puerto Rico
Duration: 04:39
Synopsis: ‘In Front’ – ‘Al Frente’ – is a music/short documentary of a day in the life of Jorge Perez Bras (Father), who fights with a neurological disorder called Autoinmune Encephalitis, and his son, Jorge E. Perez Torres, who is one of his family caretakers. Visually you experience one day with both of them, all that which the father goes through and the daily routines of the son while taking care of him. Sonically we experience the song made by Las Abejas, lyrics written by Jorge E., which point of view is from a fully conscious father who observes as he reflects and experiences the effects of his condition on his mind and body.
Said No Lover
Director: Miguel Rodrick
Country: United States
Duration: 04:00
Synopsis: Music Video for the song Said No Lover by Aaron Gibson & Nahuel Bronzini. A song about leaving everything you love, and the demons that follow you.
TIME IS GOD
Director: Pepo Alfaro , Elena Gutierrez, Pablo Garrido
Country: Spain
Duration: 04:00
Synopsis: “TIME is not real – it is a human construct to help us differentiate between now and our perception of the past, The concept of time is simply an illusion made up of human memories, everything that has ever been and ever will be is happening RIGHT NOW.
MADBEN – GRIEF, DANCE TO DEATH
Director: CHARLES KERAMOAL, NICOLAS PASQUET, SYLVAIN LEFEBVRE
Country: France
Duration: 04:00
Synopsis: A soldier wakes up in a desertic landscape. Completly lost, he walks for days and weeks before encountering a mysterious object.
Ekaterina Yashnikova – Recover
Director: Yulia Uzkikh
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 05:13
Synopsis: Touching musical road movie about best friends who don’t want to grow up. Three boys go on the road in an old orange car. Where will they go?
2 Down (Official Music Video)
Director: Sam Farage
Country: Finland
Duration: 06:55
Synopsis: The 2 Down music video depicts a journey of a lonely backpacker in a vast, dreamlike landscape of a never-ending mountain range. The traveller seems to be completely lost in thought. Painful memories start to arise from the past and she is forced to dive into them. She must fight the demons of guilt, blame and sorrow within in order to break free from this mental dissonance and find forgiveness, acceptance and gratitude to replace them. The story is about overcoming the worst of sufferings and clearing one’s mind from agony. It’s about facing one’s deepest fears and painful emotions head on, and growing from them as a person. No one is perfect and sometimes one needs to accept what is in order to move forward in life and strive to do one’s best. Life is short, and we should be spending it loving each other instead of fighting. Ultimately, 2 Down is about gratitude towards life.
Bi-2 — God of the Jilted
Director: Vladimir Besedin
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 03:43
Synopsis: A person deprived of love can become a monster is the main idea of the video. This is the story of the ugly duckling. But unlike Andersen’s fairy tale, where the hero’s suffering is rewarded and he becomes a beautiful swan, there is no happy ending here – revenge follows the insults.
Cornwall
Director: Lasse Linder
Country: Switzerland
Duration: 06:06
BEST NARRATIVE
AMERICAN MARRIAGE
Director: Giorgio Arcelli Fontana
Country: Italy
Duration: 14:45
Synopsis: Leonardo, an Italian immigrant who lives in New York, marries a Latina woman, Nikki, to obtain the American greencard. Through the comedy of it all Nikki and Leo fall in love “for real” but it looks like “Uncle Sam” will be the one to have the last laugh.
Where is the wolf?
Director: Jonathan Norberg
Country: Sweden
Duration: 26:05
Synopsis: Maj causes a devastating accident which turns her life into a living nightmare.
Cover
Director: Vahid Alvandifar
Country: Iran, Islamic Republic of
Duration: 15:00
Synopsis: Everyone has a reason
ONE
Director: JAVIER MARCO RICO
Screenwriter: Arnaud Gabriel
Country: Spain
Duration: 10:00
Synopsis: Far out at sea, a cell phone floating inside an air-tight bag starts to ring.
Good Ol’ Bernie
Director: Olivier Ducray, Wilfried Méance
Country: France
Duration: 11:03
Synopsis: Just retired, Bernie has only one goal left: Win the next regional game of race walking!
LOST FACE
Director: SEAN MEEHAN
Country: Canada
Duration: 14:00
Synopsis: Adapted from the Jack London story: A fur thief must think fast to escape the terrible, protracted death that awaits him at the hands of the native tribe he had helped enslave.
Happy Birthday
Director: Boris Dobrovolskiy
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 07:00
Synopsis: She invited guests to her birthday party, but nobody came…
GETTING FAT IN A HEALTHY WAY
Director: KEVORK ASLANYAN
Country: Bulgaria
Duration: 22:00
Synopsis: In a world where gravity is weak and skinny people fly into the sky, Constantine has never left the apartment he shares with his father Atanas. But one day the beautiful stewardess who moves into the building will change Constantine’s life forever.
IN BETWEEN
Director: Ana Pasti
Country: Romania
Duration: 20:05
Synopsis: It’s a late December night. Amalia is a career driven woman in her mid thirties and a mistress in a complicated love affair with a complicated man. While waiting to hear from her lover, Amalia encounters a 12 year old boy selling used books in the parking lot of a fast food drive through. She decides to “save” him from the long hours of waiting in the cold winter’s night for his bus to arrive in the morning, by giving him a ride home. The more they drive into the night the less certain it is who is saving who…
Leaving for Holiday
Director: Ariel Goldenberg
Country: Turkey
Duration: 05:00
Synopsis: “Tatile Gidiyoruz” project; is a short film based on the theme of “Changing climates – Changing lives”. The family that owns Yeşilova Farm has been struggling with drought, disease and soil inefficiency due to global warming in recent years. This struggle is now over and the farm has to be abandoned. The film, which witnesses this family’s abandonment day, is narrated through the eyes of the house until you see the family for real in the road sequences, and this narration is accompanied by the voice of the little girl carrying the movie. The family tries to protect the little girl from this sad abandonment with the cover “leaving for holiday”. “Tatile Gidiyoruz” is the story of Yeşilova Farm family’s being ripped from their roots and abandoning their past.
DAVID
Director: Zachary Woods
Country: United States
Duration: 11:40
Synopsis: David needs help. So does David. A severely depressed man reaches out for an emergency therapy session. He’s not the only one who needs help.
BEST RUSSIAN FILM
Advocate Is Not Needed
Director: Artem Minakov
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 25:00
Synopsis: Vasiliy Chertkov is accused of murder and is questioned by high-class lawyer from a big company who is sent to verify qualification. The lawyer convinces Chertkov that there will be no ‘case’ at all if he goes to one very profitable deal. What price should Chertkov pay to clear all the charges? And what secret is hidden behind the lawyer’s expensive suit?
Sounds
Director: Leonid Kolosovskyi
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 12:07
Synopsis: Couple in love capture sounds surrounding them. These sounds become the symbol of their feelings and one day they are reborn to the songs. Eventually, feelings change, sounds change and songs change too, till they’re gone forever. This film shows the parallel between couple relationship transformation and surrounding them sounds.
THE UNKNOWN RACER
Director: Danya Razuvaev
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 08:35
Synopsis: Short movie about the amateur racer, who is going to be the first racer from russia who took part in one of the toughest race in the world.
TSOY IS DEAD!
Director: Alexander Solovyov
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 05:19
Synopsis: Nine-year old Kim lives in North Korea. Surrounded by a totalitarian regime every day is the same – until the moment when Viktor Tsoy’s rock concert interferes with the usual TV Signal. Kim is shocked by what he sees and becomes obsessed by the rock star, trying to move and dance like him. Kim is not the same person anymore, but will his new personality be accepted by his surroundings?
My own sky
Director: Pavel Palekhin
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 29:55
Synopsis: The story takes place in the nearest future. The main character, Georgiy, spends every night at the lake looking up at flying spacecrafts. One day he decides to spend all the family money and buys a spacecraft. When he finds out that the rocket is out of order and may cost him his life, Georgiy takes a chance and organizes a space journey for his children.
I love Eve
Director: Кристина Манжула
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 16:36
Synopsis: Nastya has only one friend called Eve. A dark creature living in a tunnel at an abandoned hydroelectric station. One day, the girl decides to escape from her mother and her new lover, but Eve comes to their house.
Quarantine
Director: Aleksandr Khant
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 14:20
Synopsis: Irina works as an accountant. In the middle of a coronavirus pandemic she decides to go to the office to transfer salaries to the company’s employees. However, her plan falls apart when she meets Boris, the paranoid security guard who protects the office not only from robbers but also from the virus itself.
Happy Birthday
Director: Boris Dobrovolskiy
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 07:00
Synopsis: She invited guests to her birthday party, but nobody came…
Ekaterina Yashnikova – Recover
Director: Yulia Uzkikh
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 05:13
Synopsis: Touching musical road movie about best friends who don’t want to grow up. Three boys go on the road in an old orange car. Where will they go?
ПUZZLE
Director: Anastasiya Sovashchenko
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 19:00
Synopsis: This film is about the moment when a person creates something unique and creative. We will consider what the process consists of, what hinders it and what helps. It’s like traveling from room to room, where dance parts that symbolize details of puzzle that called “Creativity” We use a novel narrative structure And single-frame shooting. Hidden cuts will help us to match parts together adds continuity to the movie.
Bi-2 — God of the Jilted
Director: Vladimir Besedin
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 03:43
Synopsis: A person deprived of love can become a monster is the main idea of the video. This is the story of the ugly duckling. But unlike Andersen’s fairy tale, where the hero’s suffering is rewarded and he becomes a beautiful swan, there is no happy ending here – revenge follows the insults.
BEST SCREENPLAY
The Favor
Director: HENRY Bruno
Country: France
Duration: 14:24
Synopsis: CHRISTELLE works with PASCAL. They appreciate each other, are courteous to each other and are inclined to render each other mutually. But Christelle becomes strange, absent and bothered. One Sunday while Pascal is at home with his family, Christelle calls him and asks him to come because she has a problem. Worried, Pascal immediately goes home. There, she asks him to make him a child. Pascal, a good family man, is shocked and tries to bring her back to reason but the more he opposes, the more Christelle tries to convince and charm him.
Wings of the Spirit
Director: Albert Meisl
Country: Austria
Duration: 29:02
Synopsis: The failed Viennese musicologist Szabo works as an animal carer and house sitter for wealthy people. But when visited by his successful, younger ex-colleague Fitzthum, a rare parrot, which he should guard, escapes him. Szabo sees his already precarious life in shambles, but Fitzthum has a brilliant idea and together they go out in search of a doppelganger of the precious animal.
Shutdown
Director: Cindy Lartigue, Victoria Durand, Amandine Bouétard, Chloé Gomez
Country: France
Duration: 06:58
Synopsis: At the very heart of a funfair stuck in time, a man goes in search of his loved one. This painful journey between joy caught under the stone and the deafening silence of solitude, will make him face the truth.
My own sky
Director: Pavel Palekhin
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 29:55
Synopsis: The story takes place in the nearest future. The main character, Georgiy, spends every night at the lake looking up at flying spacecrafts. One day he decides to spend all the family money and buys a spacecraft. When he finds out that the rocket is out of order and may cost him his life, Georgiy takes a chance and organizes a space journey for his children.
Sunburned
Director: Nadia Ayala Tabachnik
Country: Mexico
Duration: 13:16
Synopsis: Two neighbors and a rough Sunday. Elena, a woman with a well-structured life, the “perfect” boyfriend and perfectly ironed clothes. Irene, a free woman who hates being tied down and pre-established relationships. They are accidentally forced to spend a whole day together and interact, discovering they’re not so different and that sometimes there’s no better conversation partner than a stranger.
GAME
Director: JEANNIE DONOHOE
Country: United States
Duration: 15:00
Synopsis: A new kid in town shows up at the high school boys basketball tryouts and instantly makes an impression. Will talent and drive be enough to make the team?
Quarantine
Director: Aleksandr Khant
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 14:20
Synopsis: Irina works as an accountant. In the middle of a coronavirus pandemic she decides to go to the office to transfer salaries to the company’s employees. However, her plan falls apart when she meets Boris, the paranoid security guard who protects the office not only from robbers but also from the virus itself.
GETTING FAT IN A HEALTHY WAY
Director: KEVORK ASLANYAN
Writer: KEVORK ASLANYAN
Country: Bulgaria
Duration: 22:00
Synopsis: In a world where gravity is weak and skinny people fly into the sky, Constantine has never left the apartment he shares with his father Atanas. But one day the beautiful stewardess who moves into the building will change Constantine’s life forever.
The apple of my eyes
Director: François SZABOWSKI
Country: France
Duration: 19:12
Synopsis: An eye surgeon has to operate the man who provoked his daughter’s death.
Leaving for Holiday
Director: Ariel Goldenberg
Country: Turkey
Duration: 05:00
Synopsis: “Tatile Gidiyoruz” project; is a short film based on the theme of “Changing climates – Changing lives”. The family that owns Yeşilova Farm has been struggling with drought, disease and soil inefficiency due to global warming in recent years. This struggle is now over and the farm has to be abandoned. The film, which witnesses this family’s abandonment day, is narrated through the eyes of the house until you see the family for real in the road sequences, and this narration is accompanied by the voice of the little girl carrying the movie. The family tries to protect the little girl from this sad abandonment with the cover “leaving for holiday”. “Tatile Gidiyoruz” is the story of Yeşilova Farm family’s being ripped from their roots and abandoning their past.
DAVID
Director: Zachary Woods
Writers: Zachary Woods, Brandon Gardner
Country: United States
Duration: 11:40
Synopsis: David needs help. So does David. A severely depressed man reaches out for an emergency therapy session. He’s not the only one who needs help.
BEST STUDENT
All Good
Director: Luisa Ricar
Country: Switzerland
Duration: 18:58
Synopsis: All good. Party a little, some drugs, together suppress the seriousness of the world. All good. From weekend to another, open relationship, the occasional sex between friends. All good. Not being able to say no. Not being able to talk about. Not wanting to over react. Still, everything all good? – All Good is a drama about a young women who couldn’t say no but realizes that nothing is all good anymore.
The Eyelashes Of Giraffe
Director: YUZHENGDA
Country: China
Duration: 14:37
Synopsis: The story between a man who was released from prison and a girl who was looking for her father. Written and Directced By YuZhengda.
Heart Issues
Director: Guy Lichtenstein
Country: Austria
Duration: 08:25
Synopsis: Sganarell’s tobacco shop makes its business over the disappearance of Doni, a don juan who left so many broken hearts behind. Now Sganarell has to deal with the Drama, as two of these ladies appear in his shop unexpectedly at the same time.
The Next One
Director: Dominik György
Country: Czech Republic
Duration: 15:00
Synopsis: About men without men.
I love Eve
Director: Кристина Манжула
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 16:36
Synopsis: Nastya has only one friend called Eve. A dark creature living in a tunnel at an abandoned hydroelectric station. One day, the girl decides to escape from her mother and her new lover, but Eve comes to their house.
The Amazing World of Emma
Director: Laurence Roberts
Country: United Kingdom
Duration: 10:00
Synopsis: A University student’s life is turned upside down when she discovers the existence of a website dedicated to her.
Outsiders
Director: Gleb Osatinski
Country: United States
Duration: 11:52
Synopsis: Dmitry and Zhenya are Russians living in New York on expired visas, with their 7-month old daughter Dasha. Dasha was born in the US and is a citizen. When the baby has an accident one night, Zhenya wants to take her to the hospital, but Dmitry is reluctant, fearing they will be separated from her and deported.
Road
Director: Kirill Khaletsky
Country: Belarus
Duration: 08:23
Synopsis: The most important thing in life is people and the relationship between them. This film is about that. It doesn’t matter when this story took place and where, only people are important and what everyone in the audience will discover for himself.
Psychophonic
Director: Aline Romero
Country: Spain
Duration: 05:42
Synopsis: During a full moon night, a cat is trapped inside a spooky house where a gramophone is playing, the cat will discover a secret while trying to escape and run for his life.
EINE SCHOKOLADEN LAMPE
Director: Andrius Bartkus
Country: Lithuania
Duration: 23:00
Synopsis: A risk-averse man invests not his money in a profitable business
Painting Class
Director: Yifei Song
Country: China
Duration: 10:56
Synopsis: Feifei, the ten-year-old-girl who wants to enroll for a painting class but is refused by the parents, steals the money from her brother.