World Cup
Dir. Maryam Khodabakhsh | Iran
17.42min
On the night of a couple’s migration, the child of their friend who has been entrusted to them gets lost, and then, secret gets revealed.
Périphérie
Dir. Thibault Bru | France
16.00min
Eva and Soraya are expecting a happy event. While she has just passed her term, Eva refuses to be triggered. Driving her car, the couple wanders on the Parisian road until Eva opens up about the situation she is going through.
Domar
Dir. Alcibiade Cohen | France
14.26min
Maria, a young Argentinian woman evolves in a men’s world: rodeo. The day before qualifying for the famous “Jesus Maria” tournament, for the first time open to women, she must make a choice: speak or let fate decide for her…
The Passing of Time
Dir. Nathan Le Graciet | France
11.00min
Alan is 10, and he is celebrating Christmas with his family. Time passes… And then, it is holiday time again. However, this time, Alan is turning 20 years old the next day…
Ogre
Dir. Herminio Cardiel | Spain
12.33min
Ogre is the nickname the kids use to insult the high school janitor. He just wants to go as unnoticed as possible, but sometimes there are kids who tease him too much.
Datsun
Dir. Mark Albiston | New Zealand
15.00min
A fourteen-year-old boy, whose Mum plans on selling his deceased Dad’s Datsun, decides to take his best friend and little brother on one last joyride.
North Pole
Dir. Marija Apcevska | Macedonia, the former Yugoslavia
15.00min
Misty field, crowded locker room. Margo belongs to neither. Maybe if she loves her virginity, she will find her place.
Khadiga
Dir. Morad Mostafa | Egypt
20.00min
Khadiga, a young, 18 years old mother lives alone with her baby after her husband leaves to work to another city. On an ordinary day she makes her way through the hustle of Cairo streets to do some visits where she feels uncomfortable with her surroundings.
Safe
Dir. Ian Barling | United States
15.00min
On a winter night in Atlantic City, the manager of defunct casino must reckon with his parental failures when his unruly son needs help out of an illicit bind.
4AM
Dir. Mehdi Fikri | France
11.00min
France, November 2015. After the Paris terror attacks, the state of emergency is proclaimed to facilitate the work of police forces. 4 AM. A policewoman helps colleagues to conduct a search, but soon finds out that things aren’t going the way they are supposed to.
Branka
Dir. Ákos K. Kovács | Hungary
20.00min
Yugoslavia, 1991. Far away from the war zones Branka gets a job at a maternity ward of a state hospital. The woman is alone, but it turns out loneliness is not the hardest burden Branka has to carry. Newborns are disappearing from the hospital.
Techno, Mama
Dir. Saulius Baradinskas | Lithuania
18.00min
Nikita loves to listen techno music and dreams to get to Berlin and visit the famous club “Berghain”. His mother Irena doesn’t know about his son’s dreams and soon enough their mutual expectations will clash.
Sound of the Night
Dir. ChanradoSok and Kongkea Vann | Cambodia
20.00min
Vibol and his brother Kea sell noodles on a motorized cart every night on the streets of Phnom Penh. They often face troublesome threats from gangsters and thieves, even if these very people are their only customers. As the city grows around them, they consider their unstable income and imagine a different future.
Memoir of a Veering Storm
Dir. Sofia Georgovassili | Greece
14.00min
It is a morning in September. A storm is about to break. A mother drives a girl to school in the morning and picks up a woman at the end of the school day. Anna, a fifteen-year-old girl sneaks out of school, and with the help of her boyfriend, they visit a hospital. There, she has to face an operation that will jolt her into adulthood.
André Marques
Writer & Director
Anastasia Raykova
Film Director & Producer
Arturs Sulbergs
Director of Photography & Camera Operator
Elena Vertegel
Dancer, Performer & Choreographer
Gonçalo Ribeiro
Writer, Director & Video Producer
25 April 2023, Tuesday
19.45 – North Pole
20.00 – Ogre
20.13 – Branka
20.33 – The Passing of Time
20.45 – 10 Min. Break
20.55 – Safe
21.10 – Sound of the Night
21.30 – Datsun
26 April 2023, Wednesday
19.45 – Domar
20.00 – World Cup
20.18 – Techno, Mama
20.32 – Peripherie
20.50 – 10 Min. Break
21.00 – Khadiga
21.20 – 4AM
21.31 – Memoir of a Veering Storm
21.45 – 23.00 – Closing Party
BEST FILM
Lone Wolf
Dir. Javier Beltramino | Argentina
17.32min
An immigrant has promised his young son that he will talk to his teacher about an unfair scolding, but his limited French prevents him from doing so. After dropping his son at school and leaving him disappointed, he begins his daily job searching routine when he realises he has lost his son’s favourite book…
BEST
SCREENPLAY
Game-Über
Dir. Fokke Baarssen | Netherlands
14.59min
Happy-go-lucky Daisy starts her first day working as a taxi driver for an online taxi service. Her first customer is Esther a cool introvert and newly fired woman. Will Daisy succeed in changing Esther’s final destination?
BEST
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Shuttlecock
Dir. Tommy Gillard | United Kingdom
13.20min
Carl is forced to confront his idea of masculinity when an obsession with a mysterious member of his badminton club spirals out of control.
BEST EMERGING
FILMMAKER
Bhetki
Dir. Dona Roy | India
12.51min
Emotionally troubled Bhetki, adopted by a trans woman moonlighting as a prostitute barely sustains herself until one day Bhetki witnesses a circumstance that is alien to her, she copes with the new found mysterious reality in her own unique way.
JURY SPECIAL
MENTION
The Child of the Subway
Dir. Nathan Le Graciet | France
13.11min
Lost among the crowd of Paris is a young man. He’s a pickpocket. Above all he is alone. In this crowd he is no one and nobody pays attention to him. However, if you were to follow him from dawn till dark, you’d find amidst his wandering small adventures, troubles and dreams…
Virginia Cromie
Producer & Production Manager
Gonçalo Castelo Soares
Filmmaker
Greg Yu
Film Composer
Zhana Kalinova
Film Festival Organizer & Producer
Ricardo Guerreiro
Filmmaker, Videographer & Writer
25 April, Monday
19.30 – 21001 Days
19.50 – Made In China
19.57 – Sweetheart
20.13 – Bhetki
20.26 – Stranger
20.45 – What Happened To Us?
21.03 – Let Me Go
21.17 – Lone Wolf
21.35 – Probability
21.52 – The Call
26 April, Tuesday
19.30 – Oblivion
19.50 – Losing by Degree
20.03 – Brave
20.17 – Shuttlecock
20.30 – Cannibal
20.50 – Like Any Other
21.08 – Shifter
21.12 – Mute Water
21.28 – What Will Happen To Us
In Fifty Thousand Years?
21.44 – VI
21.55 – Pipo and Blind Love
27 April, Wednesday
19.30 – Nora
19.50 – Child of Subway
20.03 – Fickle
20.20 – Game Uber
20.35 – Gateway
20.50 – Accident
21.04 – Minus Five
21.12 – In the Fishbowl
21.22 – Gazing
21.32 – Ella
21.46 – North Woods
21.58 – Rocks and Crows
Nora
Dir. Oleh Sokolovsky Sergeevich | Ukraine
19.55min
Alice receives a message from her older sister, who urgently needs help. The girl rushes to look for her sister, and finds herself in a strange nightclub “Nora”. Under the bright appearance of the club hides a hangout, where the owner of “Nora” – the Red Queen, kidnaps the girls. Captive girls are forced to cry.
Bhetki
Dir. Dona Roy | India
12.51min
Emotionally troubled Bhetki, adopted by a trans woman moonlighting as a prostitute barely sustains herself until one day Bhetki witnesses a circumstance that is alien to her, she copes with the new found mysterious reality in her own unique way.
Ella
Dir. Viviano Romero | Panama
14.00min
Ella is an abused woman by her own husband, one day of pure rage she takes revenge, she starts to discover herself until police catch her, but someone very powerful let her free and she will take vengeance as a form of life.
21001 Days
Dir. Endi Hoxha | Albania
19.44min
Gjon, a 14-years-old boy with big dreams about his life and future, returning from school; at the entrance of his village a gunshot twists his way of leaving until now. Denying him from what we fight the most: Freedom.
Brave
Dir. Gonçalo Ribeiro | Portugal
14.16min
A slow burner about a couple on their way home who is harassed by three strangers who won’t let them leave the isolated parking lot where they left their car.
Rocks and Crows
Dir. Anne Thorens | Switzerland
4.10min
Lucas is playing in the yard of his building with his plastic pistol. But his game takes another twist when he starts playing with crows.
Fickle
Dir. Ms. Latika Kaushik | India
17.38min
A simple Indian Maid ends up doing something insane, when a very renowned Priest tells her that her rich employer is the cause of her son’s sudden illness.
Game-Über
Dir. Fokke Baarssen | Netherlands
14.59min
Happy-go-lucky Daisy starts her first day working as a taxi driver for an online taxi service. Her first customer is Esther a cool introvert and newly fired woman. Will Daisy succeed in changing Esther’s final destination?
Gazing
Dir. Namira Hafizi | Iran
9.45min
Siavash is a man around his 30s who lost both of his parents during a traumatic childhood event. In early life, this trauma brought him a lack of perspective in the reality of his day to day life…
The Get Away
Dir. Jake Sadd, Zia Carter, Zoe Herman, Joseph Nuttall, Chloe Spiteri | United Kingdom
5.43min
A woman goes on holiday to find everything isn’t as it seems.
Cannibal
Dir. Ramin Samani | Iran
9.00min
While an unknown virus is spreading in Iran, a tow man whose main task is to help others commits a horrible crime to meet the needs of his family.
In The Fishbowl
Dir. Christina Katsiadakis | Canada
10.45min
Eve is a young, hip single woman. She is focused on work and relishes being around people. Due to the pandemic, she is forced to quarantine in her flat. Her only companion is her pet fish. In its fishbowl. Or hers?
The Child of the Subway
Dir. Nathan Le Graciet | France
13.11min
Lost among the crowd of Paris is a young man. He’s a pickpocket. Above all he is alone. In this crowd he is no one and nobody pays attention to him. However, if you were to follow him from dawn till dark, you’d find amidst his wandering small adventures, troubles and dreams…
Let Me Go
Dir. Chalana Perera | Sri Lanka
14.33min
Teena and Shane go to the bungalow after a long trip with their two best friends.
The story of a single day is centred around one woman and three men.
Like Any Other
Dir. Sergi González Fernández | Spain
18.00min
Esteban has lost his wife and is about to lose his daughter. Letting her go, however, may be the only way to get her back …
Lone Wolf
Dir. Javier Beltramino | Argentina
17.32min
An immigrant has promised his young son that he will talk to his teacher about an unfair scolding, but his limited French prevents him from doing so. After dropping his son at school and leaving him disappointed, he begins his daily job searching routine when he realises he has lost his son’s favourite book…
Losing by Degree
Dir. Irina Lepsheeva | Russia
12.52min
A father of two is seeking salvation with alcohol, whilst trying to numb the pain of the divorce from his wife. But the sudden disappearance of his younger child compels the father to reconsid- er his priorities.
Made in China
Dir. Ale Damiani | Uruguay
7.00min
After matching on Tinder a young couple wakes up the morning after to find out that a strange pandemic will have them in lockdown together.
Minus Five
Dir. Rustem Dastanuly | Kazakhstan
8.08min
Two brothers decide to play a game, but the younger one is constantly losing, and the older one does not think to give in, which one of them needs the victory more?
Mute Water
Dir. Sahidul Haque | India
16.20min
The time is rude. Joblessness suffers the down- trodden people. One father of a motherless kid also lost his usual job. So, for livelihood he had to indulge himself in some extra work to which he was not accustomed to…
North Woods
Dir. James Orr | United States
12.23min
When two brothers go on a hunt in the woods at dawn, the lines between predator and prey sway as much as the trees.
Oblivion
Dir. Kiana Tajammol | Italy
19.51min
Ida, a film director in crisis, is spending a few days in her hometown in southern Italy. The pressure of work, the use of drugs, and an attractive young girl make her reality begin to waver.
Pipo and Blind Love
Dir. Hugo Le Gourrierec | France
12.00min
In a dehumanised world where emotions are ra- tioned and measured by a gauge, Pipo, a factory worker falls in love with a woman sitting on a bench. He will try anything to attract her atten- tion and seduce her with his own « language ».
Probability
Dir. Alireza Nesaei | Iran
16.43min
An actress returning from filming town crashes into a woman. The actor takes the woman to the hospital, but the woman is hospitalised not because of an accident but because of coronary heart disease. The actress is forced to quarantine herself because of her physical contact with the injured woman.
Shifter
Dir. Robin Stjernberg, Joel Eklund | Sweden
4.33min
Someone is standing outside her door, saying he is her boyfriend. The only issue – she is already talking with him on the phone.
Sweetheart
Dir. Vitalii Lysohor | Ukraine
15.50min
The story is about mental pain that can be not less painful and destroying than physical one.
The Call
Dir. Deniz Arora | Germany
8.14min
A woman is taking an old elevator up to her new apartment that she has just recently moved into. The oddly old and ringing phone inside the cabin is freaking her out.
VI
Dir. Deyan Tsvyatkov | Bulgaria
10.41min
Vi is a computer system that enables people to work while asleep. Victor, its creator, is entirely dedicated to it, until one day he accidentally meets Laura in an artificial nightmare.
What Will You Remember in Fifty Thousand Years
Dir. Benjamin Kramme, Jennifer Sabel | Germany
15.59min
Can spends a final weekend in his hometown before starting his new life studying in Vienna. He celebrates with his friends and says goodbye to his young mother and Fedora – the girl he doesn’t want to take up a long distance relationship with. Yet things don’t go as planned.
What Happened to Us
Dir. Christine Stronegger | Norway
18.00min
A complicated love story seen in reverse order, where we follow Nina and Leo’s relationship through one year. From end to beginning.
Stranger
Dir. Arrigo Reuss | Germany
9.06min
A traveler returns to his nest in search for peace and quiet only to have reality eventually come knocking at his door.
Shuttlecock
Dir. Tommy Gillard | United Kingdom
13.20min
Carl is forced to confront his idea of masculinity when an obsession with a mysterious member of his badminton club spirals out of control.
The Accident
Dir. Bohdan Herkaliuk | Hungary
14.07min
István becomes the only witness of a deadly road accident, but an influential person wants him to forget what he saw. Is it possible to remain a good man and protect his own family at the same time?