Program: Competitive
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Sergei Kask
Country: 
Estonia
Film title (in English): One
Duration: 07:03
Film synopsis (in English): A guy from a dysfunctional family leaves home. On the street, he also does not feel that belongs.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Mariam Sakhokia
Country: 
Georgia
Film title (in English): You and Me
Duration: 11:11
Film synopsis (in English): Short film about successful and powerful woman who is a couples therapist and the author of the book “Healthy Relationships.” On an ordinary yet profoundly meaningful day, compassionate and insightful Anna discovers the stark contradictions between her life and her values.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Elena Chirila, Ana Gurdiș
Country: 
Romania
Film title (in English): Tell me a poem
Duration: 11:36
Film synopsis (in English): The sequences of a personal diary, highlighting the child-adult evolution, accompany the viewer on a journey marked by uncertainty, helplessness and self-doubt, which eventually lead to escape. The video-poem oscillates between poetry and documentary, emphasizing a woman’s struggle to free herself from repression and regain her voice and strength. Director Biography – Elena Chirila, Ana Gurdiș Elena Chirila (b. 1999, Chisinau) is a visual artist, having a context-based practice. Her works deal with issues such as the dematerialization of the work of art or the personal perception, in relation to the collective one, of the materiality of places.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Sahan Khalaj
Country: 
Iran
Film title (in English): Another day
Film title (in the Native language): Rozeh Digar
Duration: 13:42
Film synopsis (in English): Mohsen is a 28-year-old boy who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair.He is a photographer and has been photographing people in a complex for more than 10 years.The rhythm of his life is slow compared to society and people.Most people know Mohsen’s collection and greet him.Mohsen has a crush on a girl named Mehsa who works in a cafe, and he frames a photo of her that he secretly took and presents it to Mehsa and informs her of this interest.Mehsa is shocked to hear this and leaves Mohsen.Mohsen also leaves the group.The camera stays in the set and watches the life of the people that night and the next morning without Mohsen’s presence, and at the end (the next morning) we see Mohsen moving around the set.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Saeed Bojnoordi
Country: Iran
Film title (in English): Cocoon
Duration: 15:00
Film synopsis (in English): Musa suffered a nervous shock in the aerial bombardments of the war and has woven a mental cocoon for himself and avoids others. This loneliness has turned him into an artist painter, but the void of love in his life is evident.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Ali Riahee
Country: Iran
Film title (in English): Disgrace
Film synopsis (in English): Nessa is a young girl who has a suitor for her, but her brother is trying to prevent her from marrying. His brother knows that if Nessa gets married, the secret between them will be revealed. Nessa has lost her virginity due to her brother’s rape and because of this she is afraid of getting married.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Irakli Lomsadze
Country: Georgia
Film title (in English): Golden fish Georgia
Film synopsis (in English): The film shows the developments in Georgia after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Diek Grobler
Country: 
South Africa
Film title (in English): Last Word
Film synopsis (in English): Every fourteen days a language dies. A woman searches the city for somebody who speaks her language. A Linguist notices her voice and follows her through the city.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Ali Khalidi
Country: Iran
Film title (in English): Pitajh
Film synopsis (in English): In the prison barber shop A prisoner’s final request before his execution is to have his hair cut so that he will look good when he meets his family for the last time. He comes face to face with a prison guard who is willing to carry out the death sentence for leave taking.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Majid Halavaei
Country: Iran
Film title (in English): The Dream I’ve Never Had
Film synopsis (in English): An old man needs someone to tell him stories to fall asleep. So he hires a girl as a roommate and they make a contract, as long as she tells him stories at nights, she can live in the extra room that he has in his apartment. tonight, the girl is invited to her friend’s birthday party and she is looking for an excuse to leave…
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Negah Sohrabi
Country: Iran
Film title (in English): The Other
Genre: Experimental
Film synopsis (in English): Farhad is a young historian who is hired by a widow to organize her deceased husband’s diaries.During the process, he meets the old woman’s niece and falls in love with her.Their romance takes an unexpected turn when Farhad realizes that he is, in fact, the old man born into a new body (EXPERIMENTAL Movie)
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Michal Zolnowski
Country: 
Poland
Film title (in English): Unknown
Film synopsis (in English): Alice, a college student, receives mysterious chat messages from an unknown person which reveal intimate details about her life. The story explores split personality issues.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Aida Tebianian
Country: Iran
Film title (in English): Witness
Film synopsis (in English): Shermin is a young girl who is in a dilemma to save her father’s life, and finally she makes a difficult decision
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Mohammad Reza Yarikia
Country: Iran
Film title (in English): The Creature
Film synopsis (in English): A couple go to the forest to sacrifice an animal to the goblins in order for their child to be born healthy, but they are not alone in this forest.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Mohammadreza Farzad
Country: Poland, Iran
Film title (in English): Subtotal
Film synopsis (in English): Do you keep an account of your gray hairs? Of the number of passes you made at women? Of the number of houses, you have owned or rented? Of the number of kisses, you have exchanged? Of the number of times, you’ve flown in dreams? You may have not. Makes no real difference in a life lived beyond numbers. Subtotals (Majmouan) is an essay film about an accounting never being applied to one’s life products. Inspired by a short story of the same title by Gregory Burnham and Autoportrait by Édouard Levé, wholly composed of 8mm home movies of Ukraineian people, Subtotals is a meditation on the uncertainties of a life that doesn’t hand you any bills.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Юрій Леута
Country: 
Ukraine, Poland
Film title (in English): Mother
Film synopsis (in English): Somewhere in the present-day Ukraine, torn by the military aggression, two journalists are trying to cover the scale of destruction and suffering – and stay alive. They accidently meet a confused woman whose story is emblematic of the nationwide drama that is happening at this very moment.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Barbara Peikert
Country: 
Switzerland
Film title (in English): WavesWaterWall
Genre: Experimental
Film synopsis (in English): The idea of the mystery and secrets of the oceans could be that the unknown is still amazing and terrifying origins. Large letters over more than 50 verses and lines emphasize the harsh forces or heroic fantasy of the mysterious episodes punctuated by the roaring, rocking waves and orchestral waterfalls; inspired by the poem of ” The Castaway from WavesWaterWall” An exciting origin story and a poem I wrote a few years ago motivated me to present a kind of storytelling performance in this film project. It shows a struggle of the forces of nature and how the danger of the wilderness can be without glorification, but encourages the castaway to act when and where the real danger is to face this situation. Unfortunately, the castaway could not handle the ocean currents and provoked an accident. Repeated trauma and overuse shows physically with the whole torsion of a squeezed body.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Jon Lewis
Country: 
Brazil
Film title (in English): Tempus Transit
Genre: Experimental
Film synopsis (in English): Tempus Transit looks at a human impulse that does not necessarily correspond with its projected image. This impulse creates an energy that stays with us and diffuses what we envisage as sound; an energy that has unique ways of emerging via the sweep of colour and timbre, the intensity of the gesture, the tempo of the spoken word. It also pays homage to the spirit of dance, exposing our senses to the inherent fragility of the human condition and the latent possibilities of encountering ourselves. Who are we and what are we?
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Harry Afrikyan
Country: 
Armenia
Film title (in English): Invisible Bridges
Genre: Video art
Film synopsis (in English): The film represents a reflection on the “bridge of the soul” from the “mundane” to the “eternal”. Here, the big megapolis personifies “the world”, India is the “cradle of eternity”. “Inner bridge” It reminds of the experience of assimilated people in India. What is India in their eyes?
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Serhii Rakhmanin
Country: Ukraine
Film title (in English): Why the square
Film synopsis (in English): Why did Kazimir Malevich refuse any colorful images and place “Black Square” at that very famous exhibition? Thus, he set completely new tasks for art. For us, the square is a symbol of the pristine darkness of the Universe before the emergence of the world. Anxious and tragic today. New York, a huge metropolis, and Bilopillya, a small town in Ukraine. Life interrupted by a senseless and merciless war. Disturbing music (composer Anton Baibakov) emphasizes the tragedy of what is happening. The image and music merge together and go into the “Black Square”. A new stage of life is inevitable. Life after the victory of good over evil.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Mehdi Golmoradi
Country: Iran
Film title (in English): Lost Focus
Film synopsis (in English): A man taking photos in the park becomes captivated by a beautiful girl. As he tries to capture a clear portrait of her, he realizes that she too is a photographer. They keep running into each other in the park, and the man tries to take a sneaky photo of the girl without her noticing. However, as the story unfolds, their true intentions are revealed to each other in a surprising way.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Henrik Dahlbring
Country: 
Sweden
Film title (in English): Shards
Film synopsis (in English): After their father’s suicide attempt, siblings Maja and Maximilian meet up to clean their father’s house before his discharge from the hospital. Director Statement Shards developed from my own experiences growing up with a suicidal and an alcoholic parent. Those feelings of guilt, shame and sadness often led me to a state of total helplessness which I wanted to depict in the film. Having a sibling through all of this also made me interested in how we handled it so differently and how doing so lead us down separate paths, ultimately dividing our relationship.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Ihor Shukatka
Country: Ukraine
Film title (in English): don’t tell anyone
Film synopsis (in English): A father who works overtime is not in an close relationship with his son. Despite this, he wants to find out why his son suddenly returned home with bruises on his face. The resolution of the unknown conflict turned out to be unexpected for everyone.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Ramon Catà Figuls
Country: 
Spain
Film title (in English): Jump
Film synopsis (in English): Sabrina is an official who works in the Jump! program, financed by the Ministry of Health. This program is designed to help anyone commit suicide, regardless of whether they have a pathology or not. Pablo goes to Jump! as a patient, but his doubts grow as the moment to jump into the void approaches, and he puts Sabrina in a difficult situation.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Cristina Mediero
Country: Spain
Film title (in English): Night Show
Film synopsis (in English): Actress Enma Santana (Cristina Mediero) attends the Late Night presented by actor Ken Appledorn’s ‘Night Show’. She is invited to promote her new film “This is me”, and during the program an uncomfortable secret will be uncovered that will put the presenter of the program in check.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Jaime Lozano
Country: 
Colombia
Film title (in English): Wandering
Film synopsis (in English): A woman always walks the same streets that bring her the memory of the fateful day she received the tragic news of the death of her fiancé while she was waiting at the altar. Over the years this road becomes his route of madness and over time this route is also his salvation.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): David Fernández – Trovador
Country: Spain
Film title (in English): The Journey
Film synopsis (in English): A journey to London. A couple in love. They get to the city as shadows: the baggage packed hurriedly, the angered shouts. The wound between them growing deeper. However, the hope of forgiveness still remains. A short film narrated by the three times Spanish Academy Award winner Raúl Arévalo, and featuring the special collaboration of Spanish Academy Award Nomenee Aura Garrido, leading role in series like “The innocent” (Netflix) or “A private affair”.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Aleksandre Tvalavadze, Datuna Kapanadze
Country: Georgia
Film title (in English): One hundred and eighty degrees
Film synopsis (in English): The main hero of the film is a young boy, who is full of social and civic responsibility. Even while walking on the street, he cleans up other people’s garbage, fixes messy road signs, and caresses homeless animals. The young man shows a special warmth towards his acquaintances and neighbors, which is also felt when talking to them. Everything changes when the character goes home and sits on the laptop. He turns from a loving, responsible citizen into a social network person, that is, he expresses aggression for no reason towards people who have a different opinion. He refers to such issues as sports; politics; religion; and culture. After the ego boost, he gets a sense of peace and contentment.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Aleksei Borovikov
Country: 
United States
Film title (in English): Brother
Film synopsis (in English): With his wedding to Carlos approaching, Tony, a young immigrant to the US, invites his conservative elder sister to the ceremony — a fateful decision that forces Tony to choose between his family and his happiness.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Aleksandra Zhukova
Country: Georgia
Film title (in English): Marta
Film synopsis (in English): Marta really needs money. She decides to earn them in a non-standard way.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Tammy Mamistvalov
Country: 
Israel
Film title (in English): Mamis Tvalebi
Film synopsis (in English): Amit, a young woman in her twenties, is living with her traditional Jewish parents. One ordinary Saturday afternoon, her mother urgently wakes her up, and asks her to go to the synagogue, since her father didn’t come back from the Morning Prayer, and she is worried. Amit obeys her mother’s call and enters the sacred male sanctuary, only to find her father there, drunk. In the synagogue she also meets another significant figure in her life, she is forced to confront her father, and must break the rules in order to bring him back home.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Hamidreza Arjomandi
Country: Iran
Film title (in English): The Borders Never Die
Film synopsis (in English): A couple (Kurds of Iraqi Kurdistan) have decided to cross the border because of the war in their land. The woman is pregnant. They have difficult and impassable roads ahead of them.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Daniel Sousa
Country: 
Portugal
Film title (in English): Missing Footsteps
Film synopsis (in English): Portuguese Cobblestone is one of the biggest symbols of Portugal culture: is an icon of engineering, pride and a stone in the shoe of urban mobility.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Adil Frank
Country: 
Kazakhstan
Film title (in English): Snow is falling
Film synopsis (in English): A single lonely man is spending all the time in a virtual reality, where there is a program copy of his ex-wife. Every time after they have an argument he restarts the program, until a failure occures…
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Meri Dishnica
Country: 
Italy
Film title (in English): Bubbles
Film synopsis (in English): A forty-year-old woman named SOL, floats in a long-distance relationship bubble, along with her longtime boyfriend FRED. She starts the day waiting for the wake-up call to accurately perform her morning ritual— which seems to be a video call with Fred. He is so far away that the sunrise at Sol’s window marks the sunset at his’. They both look weary and on the verge of frustration as they wait to see each other at Christmas— so the story goes, and for some bizarre reason, their meeting never occurs.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Nadiia Khatymlianska
Country: 
Germany
Film title (in English): Rudi
Film synopsis (in English): RUDI tells the story of retired loner Rudi, who falls in love with a perfect illusion of a beautiful woman, in fact his new neighbor Kim. In doing so, he leaves his long-established, conservative comfort zone unnoticed until he finally collides with reality.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgPjIYDynBc
Hidden remark: HAMBURG MEDIA SCHOOL
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Masha Mollenhauer
Country: Germany
Film title (in English): Pool Party
Film synopsis (in English): 15-year-old Maya only sees the flaws of her body, especially when it’s squeezed into a bikini. But then a coincidental encounter at the pool forces her to challenge her insecurities and ultimately question the relationship to her body.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq_VRvp-Cq8
Hidden remark: HAMBURG MEDIA SCHOOL
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Janina Hüttenrauch
Country: Germany
Film title (in English): Home
Film synopsis (in English): She had prepared herself for his release from prison. However, when the day comes, she is unsure how to deal with the man who had meant everything to her. While she struggles with herself, time is running out because the neighborhood has gathered outside.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II4AwbXApMQ
Hidden remark: HAMBURG MEDIA SCHOOL
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Katharina Sporrer
Country: Germany
Film title (in English): Hardflip
Film synopsis (in English): The decision has been made: A popular skate park is to be demolished and the site is to make way for a modern housing complex. The 16-year-old skater Lucy does not let this get her down and tries to prevent the construction project. But even the foreman Ralf, does not let the rebellion of the young people sit on his hands, until both face each other in a final protest action.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP0QZeF2EFI
Hidden remark: HAMBURG MEDIA SCHOOL
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Lukas Treudler
Country: Germany
Film title (in English): Overlooked
Film synopsis (in English): Her best friend’s birthday party turns out to be a bitter disappointment for Julia. Everyone seems to overlook her. Resigned, she leaves the party, but on her way home makes an encounter that gives her a new perspective.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7IlS3R6qRU
Hidden remark: HAMBURG MEDIA SCHOOL
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Reza Sam Mosadegh
Country: Germany
Film title (in English): Chokehold
Film synopsis (in English): Senna, a supermarket cashier, feels like an outsider. She is often ridiculed by her colleagues and customers, who make fun of her quirky interests and unconventional style. Despite her loneliness, Senna remains friendly and hardworking. She does her best to make ends meet. In an underground wrestling club she finds refuge and can escape her everyday life, there she finds a community that accepts her as she is. But then Senna makes a terrible mistake that threatens to destroy her found happiness and acceptance. She has to face the consequences of her actions. On this journey, Senna learns valuable lessons about self-acceptance, the importance of community and the power of forgiveness.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m3_LAK7T-0
Hidden remark: HAMBURG MEDIA SCHOOL
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Alejandro Valenzuela Pérez
Country: 
Chile
Film title (in English): Pure House
Film title (in the Native language): Casa pura
Film synopsis (in English): This is a fashion film made for the Argentine store “Casa Pura”, whose products denote simplicity and delicacy. A brand that is closely linked to the feminine and the natural. With this premise, we have created a montage that transmits these principles based on reconnecting with the origin, with our essence and nature. An audiovisual presentation that mixes textile garments with their fine and simple designs, in a beach environment where walking barefoot is a sign of freedom and connection with the earth, in a story that invites us to close our eyes and be aware that life is today.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Nadav Lapid
Country: 
France
Film title (in English): The Premiere
Film title (in the Native language): La Première
Film synopsis (in English): Somewhere in the future, a star wakes up on the day of her party, her premiere at the famous festival. All that remains of the grandeur of the screen is the little phone. So we can have a goodbye kiss.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Serkan Aktaş
Country: 
Turkey
Film title (in English): Mirrorty
Film synopsis (in English): “Mirrorty” is about the mysterious disappearance of a man who lives alone in a city where people are vanished mysteriously, who is alienated from society and ignorant to social tragedies.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Vitaly Androsyuk, Daniil Zhyugzhda, Yana Aristova-Galinovskaya, Julia Pintsak
Country: 
Belarus
Film title (in English): New Year’s Kaleidoscope
Film synopsis (in English): New Year’s almanac of directors debuts.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): James Carman
Country: United States
Film title (in English): Bitter Brownies
Film synopsis (in English): In this dark comedy, a devious thief pilfers lunches from the company refrigerator. Staff employees are out for blood. Where will the food bandit strike next?!!!
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Martinet Stéphane
Country: France
Film title (in English): Whites Pages
Film synopsis (in English): Jean, 70, is offered by an antique dealer a book whose pages are completely filled with blank pages. He returns home and discovers that the last page of the book is printed, recounting the last moments that have just unfolded. Does he hallucinate due to his alcohol consumption, that is in any case what his best friend Emmanuel thinks.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Joe Chang
Country: 
Canada
Film title (in English): Pray
Film synopsis (in English): The film is about an artist’s real life and pious prayers. The film expresses the artist’s desire for peace and a better life, but also shows the artist’s exploration, helplessness and confusion. This contradictory state of mind will stay with the artist for the rest of his life.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Kateryna Finkel
Country: Ukraine
Film title (in English): Pharmaceutist’s hobby or family psychologist
Film synopsis (in English): Due to rumors, the information that a drugstore can buy poison, which can not be found in the human body, is rapidly spreading. A certain layer of people with impious intentions, actively became interested in this store. The pharmacist, in turn, instead of meeting the needs of clients, with blackmail but with humane intentions, forces visitors to sign papers guaranteeing the safety of the future victims chosen by them, in parallel conducts a psychological conversation with the guests.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Anna Mamaiashvili
Country: Georgia
Film title (in English): Samgori girls
Film synopsis (in English): After the collapse of the oil market, Nato, Manana and Iveta were forced to start trading outside in the evenings. Despite hard physical work, they try not to lose their zest for life.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Archil Tsivilashvili
Country: Georgia
Film title (in English): About me and others
Film synopsis (in English): The short film tells the story of Giorgi Chkonia, a veteran of the Abkhaz war, who provided us with unique footage of the war, Abkhazia and the heroes fighting there. The short film tells us the story of George Chkonia, a veteran of the Abkhazian war, who provided us with unique footage of the war, about Abkhazia and the heroes fighting there.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Javid Samadov
Country: Germany, 
Azerbaijan
Film title (in English): Half Steel
Film synopsis (in English): When Polad was a young child, his father did not return from the war. His father’s decision to save civilians instead of returning home to his young Polad shattered Polad’s childhood. Thus, the child Polad died, and a soldier was born within him. For several years, Polad studied military tactics to win the war that his father could not. In the final battle, Polad lost both of his feet, but it was only then that he realized he had regained his lost freedom. Paying the price of his health and both feet, the soldier Polad died, and the free Polad was born. Almost half of Polad’s body is made of steel, and it brings a smile to his face when he thinks about it: How would his father react if he knew that Polad (Steel in Azerbaijani) would one day be half made of steel?
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Chiara Sulis
Country: Italy, Spain
Film title (in English): The Hedgehog Tree
Film synopsis (in English): Little Antonio and his friend Sebastiano, hidden behind a bush, curiously observe how a family of hedgehogs picks apples from the trees, stabbing them with their quills. Fascinated by the little animals, the two children decide to take them to Antonio’s house. But while they are playing with their new friends, a snake approaches the little hedgehogs and tries to eat them. Suddenly a fox jumps the fence and scares Antonio who, running, falls into a dark den. Snails magically light up and illuminate the den and the characters who live there: the man of science, the man of god, the man in a jacket and tie and the artist. Each of them gives Antonio advice on how to get out of the den. Once outside, Antonio sees a farmer chasing the fox and decides to let the little hedgehogs go free.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Kim Culetto
Country: Germany, Switzerland
Film title (in English): Helianthus Annuus
Duration: 10:47
Film synopsis (in English): During the dress rehearsal of their joint children’s play, director Christina tries to get the best out of her actors Robert and Emil to ensure that the play will be a success the next day. After everything seems to be sitting perfectly, she suddenly receives a phone call that throws the rest of the rehearsal into disarray and calls into question the work she has done so far. Will the premiere take place the following day?
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Kathrin Wüscher
Country: Germany, Switzerland
Film title (in English): Roman
Duration: 07:19
Film synopsis (in English): During a boozy Christmas dinner Tim runs into his boss. Fearing for his job he desperately tries to downplay the situation and to convince his boss of his abilities. That actually seems to work – albeit differently than Tim would have expected. When the CEO of the company appears on the scene as well, the tone suddenly shifts and Tim discovers unexpected potential.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Ilja Baumeier , Kim Culetto
Country: Germany, Switzerland
Film title (in English): Justus
Duration: 10:37
Film synopsis (in English): Finally, Randolf feels the wind of driving again together with Merlin: After 17 months of imprisonment, he lets his friend drive him through the country roads in Justus, their old Opel Kadett, just like before. When Randolf opens his drug stash in the car, of which Merlin knows nothing, the friendship is put to the test and Justus witnesses their questions of guilt and the growing rift.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Roberto Galante
Country: Italy
Film title (in English): The Lixera
Film title (in the Native language): La Lixera
Duration: 12:05
Film synopsis (in English): Maputo, the capital city of Mozabimque, has one or may be two million inhabitants. A few neighborhoods have houses or more precisely brick shacks, some paved roads, mostly a wide range of huts without basic sanitation services, where day by day men, women and children scrape food together in slow and quiet despair-the only chance they have to survive. In Maputo there is an area called the dump district, La Lixeira. The dump is a metaphysical scenario, metaphor of our world, so aseptically modern, a kind of reversed utopia of our fate. About 700 families dig their way through these new mines of modernism. La lixeira is the place where the tangible and the intangible waste, the human waste, combine together in a visual short circuit. Man himself is reduced to being rubbish. It is a paradigm of the economical, social and existential topographies of our Earth. A sort of peaceful camouflage of despair, a cruel inhumane condition lived by its protagonists with the levity, fatality and irony which are the features of these almost unworldly people.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Björn Kohler
Country: Germany
Film title (in English): Dawn
Film title (in the Native language): Morgengrau
Duration: 07:13
Film synopsis (in English): Lucie and Walle meet at a department store and fall in love with each other. A few years later: Lucies alcohol problem burdens the marriage. But there’s always a tomorrow to make things better and rescue what you love. Or maybe not?
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Jerzy Czachowski
Country: Poland
Film title (in English): Burial
Film title (in the Native language): Pogrzebanie
Duration: 14:25
Film synopsis (in English): Poland today – after the publication of the near total abortion ban regulations. A man and a woman bury a chest on the random field. Meanwhile, the owner of the plot calls the police. The couple is being accused of commiting a crime. As it turns out the chest hides a different secret than the one the police and the plot’s owner suspected. Will the painful confrontation with the emotions and the loss, in addition to the life-changing news be the end or the beginning of a new relationship between the couple?
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Andrey Vasilyev
Country: Georgia
Film title (in English): It will be 6500 rubles
Duration: 05:00
Film synopsis (in English): Ksenia and Denis are married. There has been a crisis in their relationship for a long time. They join sessions of psychotherapy, but it doesn’t give a result. One day the doctor invites them to try his own very special and original method of solving the problem.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Dr. Lisa Spencer & her Middle School Students
Country: United States
Film title (in English): LoveDontBully
Duration: 09:30
Film synopsis (in English): A teacher and her middle school students talk about, interview, act out and research bullying, both at school and as a society.
Program: Competitive
Film author(s): Martin Gerigk
Country: Germany
Film title (in English): Night Ride from LA
Duration: 05:00
Film synopsis (in English): His experimental films won several international prizes and were screened at noted festivals like Asolo Film Festival, International Digital Arts Festival Videoformes, Girona Film Festival, Salento International Film Festival, Columbus International Film & Animation Festival, USA Film Festival, New Jersey Film Festival, Sidney International Film Festival, Fargo Film Festival, Sherman Oaks Film Festival, Canberra Short Film Festival, Film and Video Poetry Symposium Los Angeles, Syracuse Film Festival or ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival.
