2023 OFFICIAL SELECTION
BEWARE OF DOG
Alienated in politically-ambiguous Moscow, a young woman deals with severe OCD, while her cousin in Berlin tries to build a romantic relationship ignoring her own condition. In a parallel New York City realm, a heartbroken boxer struggles with addiction, self worth and online anxiety.
Narrative Feature
Country: United States
Runtime: 01:25:00
Director and writer: Nadia Bedzhanova
Producers: Lilit Abgarian, Olga Korovkina
Key cast: Buddy Duress, Kevin Iso, Paula Knüpling
HAYSEED
Set in a small Midwest town, “Hayseed” follows the investigation of a church congregation after their reverend is found dead.
Narrative Feature
Country: United States
Runtime: 01:45:00
Director and writer: Travis Burgess
Producers: Travis Burgess, Michael Vincent Brown, Victor Lord
Key cast: Kathryn Morris, Amy Hargreaves, Jack Falahee, Caitlin Carver, Nolan North, Bill Sage
DAYS AND NIGHTS OF DEMETRA K.
Dimitra is a sex worker and enjoys her job. She used to own one of the oldest brothels in Athens. While observing her for twelve years, the camera chronicles the way Athens is affected by the recent financial crisis. Getting to know Dimitra, we are confronted with stereotypes about sex and personal choice.
Documentary Feature
Country: Greece
Runtime: 01:12:00
Director: Eva Stefani
Producer: Amanda Livanou, Faliro House Productions, ERT
Key cast: Demetra K.
THIS MUCH WE KNOW
In Las Vegas, teenager Levi Presley suddenly jumps to his death from the roof of a casino. A filmmaker’s investigation into the story evolves into a film about a city with the highest suicide rate and a nation scrambling to bury decades worth of its nuclear excess in a nearby mountain.
Documentary Feature
Country: United States
Runtime: 01:42:00
Director: Lily Frances Henderson
Producers: Keith Miller, Joey Carey
MOULDED
Short Narrative
Country: United States
Runtime: 00:12:06
Director and writer: Ahmad Bakrin
Producers: Kate Costanza, Siân Lathrop
Key cast: Emily Everhard
AUGUST
Prussia, summer 1790: Two young men, August and Karl, flee the rules and laws of their noble homes and live in their personal freedom for one day, finding out what it means for them to take responsibility and stand up for themselves. Until they reach a point where the apparent utopia becomes real, knowing that it is finite…
Short Narrative
Country: Germany
Runtime: 00:19:59
Director and writer: Jonathan Berlin
Produce: Jonathan Berlin
Key cast: Taddeo Kufus, Louie Betton, Attila Borlan
THE PROSPECT
Danila works as a realtor in a real-estate firm. She has arranged a meeting with Luis, a potential buyer for a historic house in the city’s center. The rigid walls, the labyrinthian space, and the echoing silence altogether with Luis’ visit awaken a state of alert in Danila, turning her job into a potential trap.
Short Narrative
Country: Argentina
Runtime: 00:10:00
Director and writer: Carmela Sandberg
Producer: Javier De Pietro, Eliana Murgia, Carmela Sandberg, Ramiro Velasco
Key cast: Eliana Murgia, Luciano Suardi
THE ELECTRICITY IN ME
Years after giving up her newborn son for adoption, a woman confronts her trauma and memories of the man she calls ‘my monster’.
Short Narrative
Country: United Kingdom
Runtime: 00:10:25
Director and writer: Mat Sheldon
Producer: Mat Sheldon, Nileema Yesmin
Key cast: Ellora Torchia
NOT THE 80S
Two people, one restaurant, some preconceptions and a bit of fish.
Short Narrative
Country: Germany
Runtime: 00:17:00
Director: Marleen Valien
Writer: M. Valien, Max Rauer, Christine Duttlinger
Producer: C. Duttlinger, Markus Krojer, Ludwig Meck, Lotta Schmelzer
Key cast: Deniz Orta, Merlin Rose, Joshua Jaco Seelenbinder
JULIE LAST NAME
Two old friends encounter a server over dinner who won’t disclose her last name while discussing life, love, The Berenstein Bears, and how the universe may have shifted the night the Cubs won the World Series.
Short Narrative
Country: United States
Runtime: 00:16:30
Director: Alex Beh
Writers: Alex Beh, Tomas Pais
Producer: Lawrence Inglee, Randy Luddy
Key cast: Joséphine de La Baume, Greg Vrotsos
EXIT
A dangerous elevator ride tests a couple’s bond.
Short Narrative
Country: France
Runtime: 00:04:59
Director and writer: Oriana Ng
Producers: Oriana Ng, Lana Bolycheva
Key cast: Federico Rodriguez, Soraya Broukhim, David Gelles, Mackian Bauman
YOUR KID
El Niño left his conservative community and loses himself to the underworld of a decaying society. A visual poem set to the rhythm of his “taconeo” that explores the individualism and alienation that comes when one leaves home.
Short Narrative
Country: United States
Runtime: 00:15:00
Director and writer: Sergi Castella
Producer: Cristina Trenas
Key cast: Yiyo
BURROW
Believing himself to be one of the last survivors left in the wake of human extinction, an ex-war soldier finds unexpected comfort with the arrival of a weary traveler, forcing him to reckon with his long oppressed sexuality.
Short Narrative
Country: United States
Runtime: 00:16:40
Director and writer: Leaf Lieber
Producer: Roya Alidjani, L. Lieber, Caroline Day, Gabi Novogratz
Key cast: Christian Coulson, Marc Crousillat
TOMMIES
In Regency-era London five women waiting for a carriage descend into a frenzy of vicious gossip about a notorious scandal – with devastating results.
Short Narrative
Country: United Kingdom
Runtime: 00:14:51
Directors and writers: Brian Fairbairn, Karl Eccleston
Producer: Ioanna Karavela, Erik Pack
Key cast: Marion Bailey, Sarah Winter, Claudia Jolly, Elizabeth Roberts, Susie Trayling
OF MONSTERS AND MEN – TÍU
It follows the band Of Monsters and Men as they commemorate the 10th anniversary of their groundbreaking debut album My Head Is An Animal.
Short Documentary
Country: Iceland
Runtime: 00:48:00
Director: Dean DeBlois
Producer: Heather Kolker
SAVITREE
Savitree traces Richie’s journey to radical self-acceptance through the lens of her families—her biological one, which fractured and frayed after the death of her mother, and her chosen one (including Julia Fox), who empowered her to explore her identity and make peace with all the past versions of herself.
Short Documentary
Country: United States
Runtime: 00:08:58
Director: Richie Shazam
Writers: Ben Draghi, Richie Shazam
Producer: Cara Braglia
AL DIAZ: LIKE A BOMB
High School friends Al Diaz and Jean Michel Basquiat created SAMO©, the street tag that would change the course of their lives forever. Artist and graffiti legend, Al Diaz recounts this gritty coming of age story and lands us in the here and now with his poignant messages and hard won wisdom.
Short Documentary
Country: United States
Runtime: 00:08:00
Director: Jane Brill
Producer: Jane Brill
Key cast: Al Diaz
HEARTBREAK COUNTRY
Non-profit organization Operation Identification and the South Texas Human Rights Center attempt to locate, exhume, and identify the remains of thousands of undocumented immigrants lying undiscovered in the remote and inhospitable landscape of Brooks County, TX.
Short Documentary
Country: United States
Runtime: 00:25:30
Director and producer: Edward Tyndall
TRUE BELIEVERS AT THE INSURRECTION: ROAD TO THE CAPITOL
First hand account of the two months after Trump lost the 2020 election, covering rallies leading up to the January 6th Capitol insurrection, and the events of that day.
Short Documentary
Country: United States
Runtime: 00:18:00
Director and producer: Sandi Bachom
THE ONE WHO WENT SOUTH
A young man returns to his childhood home to improve his relationship with his father. However, when he arrives, everything seems different.
Experimental
Country: Iceland
Runtime: 00:08:00
Director and writer: Steiní Kristinsson
Producer: Steiní Kristinsson
Key cast: Stefán Benedikt Vilhelmsson, Pétur Eggerz
FIRE IN THE LAKE
Α performance for the camera by Eleni Mylonas. The title comes from the oracle of Hexagram #49 of the I Ching.
Fire in the lake: The image of Revolution.
Necessary action: Transformation.
Experimental
Country: United States
Runtime: 00:13:19
Director: Eleni Mylonas
Producer: Eleni Mylonas, Stefanos Bertakis
Key cast: Eleni Mylonas
K2 TOG
Two girls sit in two separate chairs deep in the woods. They knit. They make mistakes. One sneezes a few times. Anxiety grows stronger. Will they make it out unscathed?
Experimental
Country: United States
Runtime: 00:13:18
Director: Ari Veach
Writers and producers: Siena D’Addario, Cooper Gordon
Key cast: Siena D’Addario, Annie Hoeg
MARIPOSA APARTMENT
Real-life documentary soundtracks are combined with fictional images performed by actors in a domestic environment. Dance is used to explore the reality and consequences of an abusive relationship.
Experimental
Country: China
Runtime: 00:14:28
Director, writer, producer: Jinglu Ji
Key cast: Huaiyu Niu, Yiyi Liu, Jingjing Han, Wei Wu
PETE
“Pete” is an animated short film based on a true story about gender identity, Little League Baseball, the people who inspire change by trying to be themselves, and the superheros who allow that change to happen.
Animation
Country: United States
Runtime: 00:06:20
Director: Bret Parker
Writer: Bret Parker, Pete Barma
Producer: Jake Kaplan
Key cast: Denise Barma, Pete Barma, Kemma Filby
AUTUMN LEAVES
A short story about intimacy and loss is synchronized with music of the same name by Joe Pass.
Animation
Country: Poland
Runtime: 00:02:35
Director: Wojciech Ostrycharz
Producer: Wojciech Ostrycharz
US
“Us” is a short film of animation which mixes several Stop Motion techniques, proposing a journey through the conflicted human condition. War, loneliness, nature, crossings, fallen dreams are some of the recurring aspects in this animated poem on paper.
Animation
Country: Portugal
Runtime: 00:05:00
Director: Nelson Fernandes
Producer: Nelson Fernandes, Daniel Pereira
LA PASSANTE
The Passenger is locked up and will free herself. And following in the footsteps of a being that everything opposes her, she will set out to discover the unbelievable that will shape her.
Animation
Country: France
Runtime: 00:18:00
Director and writer: Hannah Letaif
THE EGRET RIVER
Among the tall buildings of the city, the lonely guard hides a beautiful field that no one knows, and meets an egret there; but the expansion of the city never stops, one day the field is destroyed, the egret escapes without a trace, he begin to see mysterious illusions…
Animation
Country: Taiwan
Runtime: 00:19:56
Director: Wan-Ling Liu
Writers: Wan-Ling Liu, Jett Chang
Producer: Care Chiu
CHASE
The prey and the predator change their form in order to defeat one another.
Animation
Country: Finland
Runtime: 00:03:47
Director, writer, producer: Pauliina Linjama
DO SPERM GET KILLED BY COFFEE?
In the context of the Covid pandemic, a large number of rumours have been created, and they are all widely circulated. Rumours, big or small, are affecting people’s lives.
Animation
Country: United Kingdom
Runtime: 00:02:31
Director, writer, producer: Mojiao Zhou