Mahdi Barqzadegan
2 min | 2020 | Iran | US Premiere
An unfortunate situation, but we all seem to be abused today, lulled to sleep with our most basic needs met. However, this mindset does not allow for any significant change.
Official Selections: Asian Cinematography Awards (Hong Kong China), Animart Festival (Athens Greece, 7th Siding Festival of Films (British Columbia Canada), Lima WebFest (Lima Peru).
Miguel Muñoz
2 min | 2020 | Spain | East Coast Premiere
What if you had never seen it rain?
Awards: Festival Int’l de Curtas-Metragens de Fargo (Portugal), Concurso de Cortos RNE (Spain)
Official Selections: Festival de Cine de Madrid (Spain, Portobello FF (UK), Star Fest (Croatia), Festival de Cine Hispanofono de Athenas (Greece), Cluji Shorts Int’l Short FF (Romania, Anilogue Int’l Animation Festival (Hungary), Cleveland Int’l FF (USA), among many others.
Udo Prinsen
8 min | 2021 | Netherlands | US Premiere
Five short animation chapters, touch, sight, sound, scent, and taste are represented in this colorful poetic music film, a visual poem portraying the senses. The musical heritage of Paul Crucq inspired this project. With Paul’s passing, he left a beautiful collection of songs, compositions, and experimental sound archive that were used as a base for this short, celebrating the immense creativity, integrity, and love Paul represented. The film was created in close collaboration with Nina Linde Jaspers, the Crucq family, and animation designer Anna Koppen. Support came from Foundation Frank van der Wal. "The film was created in close collaboration with Nina Linde Jaspers and the Crucq family and animation designer Anna Koppen."
Official Selection: Buzz IFF – Romania.
Mahdi Barqzadegan
3 min | 2019 | Iran | US Premiere
The challenges that we all have with our minds. The story is about a man who wants to sleep but can’t because his brain continues to produce ideas.
Awards: Asian Cinematography Awards (Hong Kong China); Official Selections: Flatness Film Awards, Animart Festival (Athens Greece, 7th Siding Festival of Films (British Columbia Canada), Lima WebFest (Lima Peru), Veracruz World FF, New Generation FF, Constantine’s Gold Coin FF, Neum Animation FF, 3rd National Festival of Digital Arts, among others.
Sofia Gutman
2 min | 2019 | France | East Coast Premiere
Its Autumn, birds are migrating to warmer climate. On the gray streets of Paris, illegal immigrants are selling shoes. Winter is near.
Official Selections: Arouca FF Portugal, San Francisco Frozen FF US, Copenhagen Short FF Denmark, London Migration FF UK.
Mary Apick
13 min | 2020 | US | East Coast Premiere
The story of a happy little girl who is selling flowers on the street…. until the idyllic world she knows is enveloped by an oozing, malevolent darkness that destroys everything in its path. She is forced to run for her life as the darkness consumes anything that it can’t control – art, education, religion, society, and even the people themselves. The darkness and oppression are so relentless that the exhausted girl gives up. But she can’t go quit; she continues to fight whatever the cost. Her strength and determination bring light back to her life and repel the darkness. She is free once again and the world is beautiful once again. The filmmaker was born in Iran and has created a parable about life – especially for women – in Iran since the Revolution and what we hope the future will bring.
Official Selections: Cinema St. Louis, Prague Int’l FF, Moscow Int’l FF, among others.
Fang-Yi Hsueh
5 min | 2019 | Taiwan | Massachusetts Premiere
Rape victims sometimes experience what is referred to as “freezing behavior”, allowing them to emotionally detach, compensating for their inability to control their body and resist. The director hopes to convey this inability to resist where we, the audience can better understand the mental state of victims and hopefully remove the blaming of victims.
Official Selections: World Festival of Animated Film Varna Bulgaria, Porto Femme Int’l FF Portugal, Chaniartoon Int’l Comic & Animation F Greece, Int’l Short FF The Unprecedented Cinema Estonia, Anima F Int’l de Animacion de Cordoba Argentina, San Francisco Frozen FF, Linz Int’l Short FF Austria, Copenhagen Short FF Denmark, Constantine’s Gold Coin Serbia, Int’l FF of Animation Cinema & Comics Italy, Lanterna Magica F Int’l de Animacao Brazil, Health for All FF US, Tres Court Int’l FF France, Festival Int’l de Cine de Lanzarote Spain, Hiroshima Int’l Animation F Japan, Womanimation-US, Zabut Int’l Animated Short FF Italy, AnimaFest World F of Animated Films in Zagreb Croatia.
Issam Taachit
7 min | 2020 | Algeria | US Premiere
The event takes place at the top of the high Aures Mountains and precisely in one of the tall Atlantic cedar trees. In those mountains, in the cold winter, when snow covers all the place, with light winds, the snow masses accumulate, to roll down the mountain reaching the bottom. In front of a warm house, it divides into three balls forming a snowman and there is a beautiful happening that takes place.
Awards: Best Short Animation - Karnataka Youth Int’l Short FF (New Delhi India)
Official Selections: Int’l Xposure FF (Sharjah UAE), Int’l Quarantine FF (Kenya Africa), CONA 2020 Animation Festival (Athens Greece), Vues D'afrique Int’l FF (Quebec Canada), Cinetudantil Guaiba (Brazilia Brazil), China Int’l Green FF (Peking China), Box Short FF (London UK), Buenos Aires Int’l FF (Argentina), Alexandria Short FF (Egypt).
Stepan Koval
14 min | 2019 | Ukraine | US Premiere
Based on a real-life story, a woman is walking a long way from one village to another, where everyone has died of famine. All she can think about is how to rescue her son from starvation. The only way to do it is to put the child on a train heading out of the countryside to any town with possibilities.
Official Screenings: Mubi Int’l FF, Animator FF, among others.
Michi Marosszeky
6 min | 2020 | Australia | East Coast Premiere
Woven Threads is a series of documentaries reminding us of our shared humanity and the frailty of life. OLIVE addresses teen depression. At the age of nine, Olive began to have negative thoughts but she managed to hide them from everyone until she was eleven and a half, the first year of high school. After much school refusal, multiple psychologists, and several schools Olive had to be admitted to a youth mental health unit for six weeks. She is now sixteen, she lives with Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD), Major Depressive Disorder, ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Anxiety.
Watch her as she tells her story, her challenges and how she grows from her experiences, not always smoothly but always forwards, learning new techniques for coping with her extremely challenging life.
Awards: Winner of the Impact Docs Award; Official Selections:Chicago Int’l Children’s FF.
Arjan Brentjes
10 min | 2020 | Netherlands | Massachusetts Premiere
In a heavily polluted world, a young woman mourns the disappearance of animal species. When she falls ill due to a bacterial infection, nature appears to send her a message via hallucinations.
Awards: Golden Calf Award – Dutch FF Netherlands, Best Animation - Rome Int’l FF GA US, 2nd place Best Animation – Pixel Vienna Austria, Best Eco Film Award - IAFF Golden Kuker Bulgaria, Save the Earth! Minister’s Award - Short FF & Asia Japan. Official Selections: World Premiere - Fantoche Int’l Animation FF Switzerland, Oldenburg Int’l FF Germany, Encounters FF UK, Videomedeja Serbia, Aesthetica Short FF UK, Patagonia Environmental FF Argentina, Balkanima Serbia, TAF, Thessaloniki Animation Festival Greece, Raindance London, Miami Short FF US, Croatia, NFMLA Annual Awards US, Florida Animation Festival US, Euganea FF Italy, among many others.
Veronica L. Montaño, Manuela Leuenberger, Joel Hofmann
6 min | 2020 | Switzerland | US Premiere
A satire addressing the meaning of manhood in a world of fully emancipated women. Attributes/role identities generally assigned to women are reassigned to men – and vice versa. The film begins with the males showing off their manhood and virility. At the beginning of the film, the male characters are showing-off of their manhood and virility. Their testosterone-driven eagerness is made redundant when they fail to inseminate the egg. Instead, their fatherly instinct emerges, as soon as the children are born – how the babies are made however is left to the viewers to decide. The women on the other hand are loving and affectionate at the start but in the course of the film they give in to a fertility dance, celebrating their lust and femininity – only to disappear after the procreation has taken place.
Awards: Best Swiss Newcomer Award/World Premiere – Locarno FF Switzerland, Best Swiss Short - Gässli FF Basel, Swiss Competition - Fantoche Switzerland.
Fanny Brondel, Kelvin Schejbal, Olivia Spadaro, Julie Gournier, Andrei Toroplean, Anyu Rouaux
5 min | 2019 | France
A squirrel and a crow are fighting for the forest’s plants.
Katarina Lundquist
8 min | 2019 | Denmark
When a lifelong friend departs, a stubborn old man has to face his inner fears in order to restore peace to his mind.
Antoine Bonnet & Mathilde Loubes
6 min | 2019 | France
A group of children witnesses a crime and are forced to remain silent. Auguste, the youngest, finds the burden too heavy and decides to reveal this secret. To punish this treason, the rest of the kids plan to get rid of him.
Aurélien Douay, Aaron Kubczak, Elodie Naneix, Loona Van-Poucke
6 min | 2019 | France
A young man finds his lost twin sister through a Torii gate, the frontier between the living and the sacred worlds.
Ami Lindholm
10 min | 2019 | Finland | US Premiere
What happens when a baby is born? Mother and Milk describes the mental process of becoming a parent - imagined as a catastrophe film. When the baby is born the new mother has to give up the life she knew. A flood of breast milk covers everything - her home, work, friends, relationship and a good night’s sleep. Only after realizing she is a part of the eternal chain of generations, Mother is able to accept the situation and start living her new life in the family. The film’s humor is sharp but warm, and the disaster turns into a newly found acceptance of the change.
Arthur Allender, Mathieu Antoine, Léna Belmonte, Cyrielle Guillermin, Victor Kirsch, Elliot Thomasson
5 min | 2019 | France
In a dense and icy forest, Piotr, a young hunter, finds himself violently paralyzed by a bear trap. While he is slowly freezing to death, the prey he was hunting approaches...
Fahim Arif and Pracheta Ahana
2 min | 2020 | Bangladesh
The connection of food to a time, a person, perhaps a server…nostalgic moments stung together creating our past.
Arthur Nollet, Maxime Faraud, Mégane Hirth, Emma Versini, Julien Chen, Pauline Charpentier
8 min | 2019 | France
In the Nordic Islands, Maïja, a little girl, waits for the return of her father, away at sea. But the weather is worsening and her father is not coming back.