Pain is what brings us into this world, and a range of physical and mental pains accompanies us throughout our lives. In this painful short film program, marked by longing, hope, and at times (dark) humor, the boundaries between reality and fantasy, life and death, past and present, affection and violence, insects and humans, historical facts and a speculative future become blurred. (Anna Bell)
A young man returns to Vietnam after years abroad, carrying a suitcase of gifts as he moves between family visits across the city. As conversations drift toward leaving and uncertain futures, a quiet fever spreads, and reports of disappearances begin to surface. Gradually, the boundary between presence and absence begins to dissolve.… >>>
Death and life, life and death; two seemingly mutually exclusive poles of existence – an eternal cycle as old as time itself. When a rat acolyte’s newborn dies, her priest sends her on a pilgrimage to the All-Mother, the deity who oversees the cycle of life and death, to beg for the child’s life. The thematic exploration occurs also on a material level within the tension between production and decay, like the physical substances of the puppets and sets, the documentary nature footage, and the 16mm film itself.… >>>
CN: Depression
A queer first-person narrative about longing in three acts. The film begins in a club, followed by quiet days. Substance use and withdrawal cloud one’s perception. Urban night scenes, moving images of dune landscapes, and self-portraits bridge the gap between the past and the present. What begins as fragmentary poetry gradually transitions into prose. A reunion with an old acquaintance brings both hope and disappointment.
Do all good things come in threes, or is three one too many? A colorful and fun, yet also bloody and painful animated film about striving for belonging against all odds.… >>>
“Every month there are three days when I have to take painkillers. On those days, my body feels limp, but my blood feels stiff.“ A diverse mix of animated watercolor drawings with voice-overs and performances.… >>>
A tale of the matriarchy.… >>>
In the Museum of Humanity, archaeological finds from past days of humankind can be found. Once ordinary everyday objects, now occult artifacts. Iconic relics, objects associated with a lasting sense of evil. Five insect-like, humanoid beings are convinced they know exactly what they are looking at. They interpret, discuss, argue, and admire — but their assumptions are completely wrong, landing them in quite a mess.… >>>
This experimental film utilizes historical sources of time witnesses of the Little Ice Age, which brought a climatic drop of vaguely 4 degrees between the 14th and 19th century, to find imaginations and narrations for a progressed climate change. With 17th century monk diaries or the speculative evolution of photosynthetic moths, the film investigates the interdependencies and adaption strategies in abnormal climatic conditions to understand the many abstractions in which climate is networked and filtered into ecosystems and societies.… >>>