❗ Trigger/content warning: blood, shooting, explosions
Additional screening: 16 September / 18:20 / Kinoman hall
The International Competition presents a diverse range of short films from various locations and genres. This category embodies our festival's desire to explore new and innovative approaches to filmmaking.
THAT'S ALL FROM ME
Director: Eva Könnemann
Country: Germany
Duration: 24
A fictitious video correspondence between two women of different generations. A director is planning a film about her struggles with being a mother and remaining a filmmaker. But she is failing to make any real progress with the project. She turns for help to a writer who has reflected on her motherhood in a novel. The author replies with a simple suggestion: instead of writing about the film that doesn’t seem to be working out, why not just write about her own situation? She could describe what she likes about life with her daughter, what she misses and what mattered in her previous life. The author would also like to know what a video correspondence might look like. The filmmaker now adds images to her words. The letter becomes a film, and this film still has room for a completely different narrative.
OPENING NIGHT
Director: Sara Szymanska
Country: Poland
Duration: 12
The reunion of a young couple, recently split, stirs up intense emotion as they relive their relationship's troubled past during a theatre afterparty. The deeper they delve into their past, the harder it becomes to resurface back into reality.
Sonido: Ivans & Tobis
Director: Diogo Baldaia
Country: Portugal
Duration: 21
Several children are subject to an exhaustive sound experiment. Tested through a long and insensitive survey, they are victims and witnesses of different forms of violence. Ivan, one of the children, overcomes it all by mysteriously transcending himself. Tobi dares him and they transport themselves into an idyllic world where it is possible to live in harmony.
LEFT-HANDED PEN
Director: Adas Burksaitis
Country: Lithuania
Duration: 18
Sunny summer day at a suburban school. A schoolteacher finds out that her son’s poorly written exam may jeopardise his dream of attending a prestigious university abroad. The film explores sacrifices a mother is willing to make to secure her child's success, raising questions about ethics and the pressures of education.