Author: Anton
TAFF Pro Keynotes & Panel
Films in this screening:
Keynote speech:
Jaakko Kemppainen: Forest of Forking Paths – Possible Futures of Digital Games
11:00, TAFF Pro Keynotes.
Digital games are a constantly evolving ooze of opportunities and potentials. New technologies and business models emerge every now and then, affecting the imagination of game developers. Sometimes evolution of games is cyclic, sometimes disrupting. This lecture tries to predict potential ways the digital games will evolve in the near and distant future. The emphasis is on the artistic side and gameplay, but the technology, business and society can’t be ignored either.
Based on over 40 years as a gamer and 20 years as professional game developer, regional artist of games, Jaakko Kemppainen derives, extrapolates and exaggerates the futures of games, based on where they are now and how they ended up here.
Keynote speech:
Jussi Kemppainen: Echoes of Art: Exploring AI tools for game production
14:00, TAFF Pro Keynotes.
Echoes Of Art: Exploring AI tools for game production
What does AI mean for professionals?
A detailed research project into how current generative AI tools could slot into traditional game production pipeline and the compromises that need to be done in order to accommodate these tools.
The prototype project in this research is a 2.5D point and click adventure game, with AI generated locations and AI designed 3D characters.
Panel:
TAFF Pro Panel Discussion
16:00, TAFF Pro Keynotes.
Along with the two keynote speakers, participating in the panel as a lifelong lover of games, Sonja brings a unique interest in the enigmatic blend of art and games.
Sonja Yrjölä, a 32-year-old animation artist, currently residing in the capital region. She graduated as an animation director from Turku University of Applied Sciences’ Academy of Fine Arts in 2018, and since then, she has been engaged in various animation projects within the industry. Whenever time permits, she is working on her own hand-drawn animated art game project.
TAFF Pro Forum
TAFF Pro Forum is all about networking, learning and sharing.
Join our networking event and meet other professionals and local professional network operators. Inspire from our selection of professional talks covering both the animation and the games industries!
Films in this screening:
Interview:
Antti Laakso: ‘Dreams in the Witch House’ How to make an indie game?
TAFF Pro Forum, 13:15.
Animator and filmmaker Antti Laakso talks about developing his first released computer game, horror adventure Dreams in the Witch House. How did the transition go from animation and film to games, and what kind of surprises there were on the long way to the finished product? Curated by Tatu Pohjavirta.
Talk:
Tiina Räsänen: ‘Perspectives on Films and Games’
TAFF Pro Forum, 14:30.
Tiina Räsänen is an animator who employs storytelling as a versatile tool, not only in crafting visual content but also in UI/UX design and manual testing. Her engagement with the realm of games extends beyond mere playing, as she has also participated in Game Jams and contributed to the development of serious games.
In her presentation “Perspectives on Films and Games,” she delves into the use of animation in video games from the vantage point of the animation industry, exploring its connection with the motion observed in animated films.
Talk:
Ville Korpela: ’Game animation is problem solving’
TAFF Pro Forum, 15:15.
“Game animation is problem solving” is Ville’s take on what it is like to be a professional game animator centering on and detailing what a 3D character animators work is like and the
different stages of the process. The presentation goes into how ones work crosses and interacts with other facets of game development such as game design, code and modeling to produce a game that is interesting and engaging. Discussed will also be “the why” game animation is so important to the game experience, storytelling and narrative of the game.
The audience will also hear about the realities of working in game industry – the challenges and triumphs along the way – and Ville’s thoughts on the future of game animation.
Presentation:
Liisa Vähäkylä introducing the book: ‘Nordic Animation - Balancing the East and the West’
TAFF Pro Forum, 16:15.
‘Nordic Animation – Balancing the East and the West’ is the first-ever book showcasing Nordic animation. The book was published in April 2023 as part of CRC Press’s Focus on Animation series. The book delves into the history of animation creation and the evolution of the animation industry across all five Nordic countries. While covering a broad spectrum of animation work and industry, the book particularly emphasizes known brands and emerging talents in the field.
The Best of TAFF 2023
Films in this screening:
Heta Jäälinoja:
Nun or Never!
Finland, 2023. 11 minutes.
The nuns living in the convent are happily melted together. When one nun finds a man in the garden, the harmony breaks and she loses the shared rhytm.
Milly Yencken:
The Eastern Rain
Estonia, 2023. 9 minutes.
If the rain were to fall indoors, but never out doors …where do we begin to look for shelter?
Levi STOOPS:
Drijf
Belgium, 2023. 15 minutes.
Jeremy and Aurora are lost at sea. In the vast openness of the ocean they are cooped up together on a small tree bark. As they fail to understand each other’s desires and boundaries, the fight for their survival and the survival of their relationship becomes a bloody mess. Will our castaways be able to grow while trying to make it back to shore, or will they lose a piece of themselves along the way?
Joachim Hérissé:
Skinned
(Écorchée)
France, 2022. 15 minutes.
In an old building, lost in the middle of the swamp, live two strange women, Siamese twins by one leg. At night, the Flayed has terrifying nightmares in which she sees her sister’s flesh covering her own body…
Flóra Anna BUDA:
27
France, 2023. 11 minutes.
Alice is 27 years old today. Even though she is suffocating a bit, she still lives with her parents and tends to live in her dreams to escape her dreary everyday life. After a psychedelic party on a factory roof, she has a serious drunken bike accident. Will this give her the courage to become an adult?
The Audience Choice
Films in this screening:
João Gonzalez:
Ice Merchants
Portugal, 2022. 14 minutes.
Every day, a father and his son jump with a parachute from their vertiginous cold house, attached to a cliff, to go to the village on the ground, far away where they sell the ice they produce daily.
Tom Prezman and Tzor Edery:
Maurice’s Bar
France, 2023. 15 minutes.
In 1942, on a train to nowhere, a former drag queen remembers a night from her past in one of Paris’ first queer bars. Remnants of customer gossip recall this mythic bar and its mysterious Jewish-Algerian owner.
Heta Jäälinoja:
Nun or Never!
Finland, 2023. 11 minutes.
The nuns living in the convent are happily melted together. When one nun finds a man in the garden, the harmony breaks and she loses the shared rhytm.
Iiti Yli-Harja:
Blush - An Extraordinary Voyage
Finland, 2022. 15 minutes.
For 18-year-old Finnish–Kosovan Fatu, a simple visit to the grocery store feels as nerve-racking as a lunar expedition: for the first time in his life, he’s wearing makeup in public. Luckily his best friend Rai, a young woman on the spectrum of autism, is there to ferociously support him through the voyage.
Award Ceremony 2023
Games x Animation
Content warnings for this screening
Scene warning: animal abuse, gun violence
Films in this screening:
Michael Frei:
Kids
Switzerland, 2019. 9 minutes.
An animated short exploring group dynamics. How do we define ourselves when we are all equal?
Total Refusal:
Hardly Working
Austria, 2022. 20 minutes.
Hardly Working sheds a limelight on the very characters that normally remain in the background of video games: NPCs. They are non-player characters that populate the digital world as extras to create the appearance of normality. A laundress, a stable boy, a street sweeper and a carpenter are observed with ethnographic precision. They are Sisyphus machines, whose labour routines, activity patterns as well as bugs and malfunctions paint a vivid analogy for work under capitalism.
Nikita Diakur:
Ugly
Germany, 2022. 21 minutes.
An ugly cat struggles to make friends in an evil neighbourhood, but finds a soulmate in a Native American chief who helps it on its journey to restore balance within the world.
Atsushi Wada:
My Exercise
Japan, 2020. 3 minutes.
A boy is doing exercises with his dog.
Pablo Ballarín:
In My Chest of Fire There Is Still Place to Temple Your Dagger
Spain, 2021. 24 minutes.
This is the story of a fighter and a trainer, and the strange relationship that they have.
Content warnings for this screening
Scene warning: animal abuse, gun violence
TAFF Junior 3
Content warnings for this screening
Theme warning: death of a pet
Films in this screening:
Joao Rodrigues:
Ana Morphose
Portugal, 2023. 10 minutes.
A little girl reads herself to sleep. As she dozes off, the physical world starts melting into an alternate reality where the contents of a book rule over the laws of physics. Ana has to escape being swallowed by the overwhelming accumulation of printed knowledge and find her own space in a world where nothing is what it seems.
Philippe Kastner:
Dede is dead
Czech Republic, 2023. 8 minutes.
Death of a beloved pet is a difficult thing to deal with, and even though we try to prepare for it, it always seems to come too soon. This is a story of a boy and his dog Dede, who passes away suddenly and the boy is left alone with his grief. In the end, he finds out that just because Dede is dead does not mean that she is completely gone.
Katya Mikheeva:
In the dance
France, 2022. 5 minutes.
Four friends get together for a freestyle dance session.
Rich Farris:
FROM THE TOP
United Kingdom, 2023. 9 minutes.
Ever since she was a child, Robin loved playing the drums. As she grew up she continued to improve, eventually making it to the big stage. Now, a few years later, the drumming dream has turned sour and Robin is blaming the drum kit that she once loved. She decides getting rid of the drums is the only way she can move on with her life. On a journey of self-discovery and unexpected obstacles, Robin will question whether she is really ready to give up her passion.
Marion JAMAULT:
Naissance des oasis
France, 2022. 9 minutes.
A cold-blooded snake and a hot-blooded camel become close friends.
Jenny Wright:
Wait
United Kingdom, 2023. 2 minutes.
Come over and eat fondu. The world is looking beautiful.
Ainslie HENDERSON:
Shackle
United Kingdom, 2022. 10 minutes.
Three archetypal woodland spirits explore the conflicting human drives of creativity, possessiveness and our desire for status.
Emily Hanning:
Beanboy
Denmark, 2022. 6 minutes.
Summer is a time of endless potential, but when a rabbit’s fears start getting in the way of having fun with his friends, Beanboy pops in and does his thing.
Content warnings for this screening
Theme warning: death of a pet
TAFF Junior 2
Films in this screening:
Júlia Ventura Bruguera:
The Line
Italy, 2022. 2 minutes.
This short-film wants to highlight the selfishness and lack of empathy that is rampant within modern society, and how the authorities use homeland security as a pretext to gather personal information and restrict our freedom.
Anastasiya Lisovets:
Jackdaw
Russian Federation, 2022. 4 minutes.
A small girl and a small bird discover together the surrounded world and open the lyrics of prose.
Ida Lepparu, Andrei Bljahhin, Sameliina Paurson:
Trashball
Estonia, 2022. 7 minutes.
A tiny bug is picking up trash in the grass and encounters giant hooves playing with a ball made out of garbage. Despite the fact that the unexpected characters are interfering with her cleaning work, the insect emerges victorious by calling the naughty hooved creatures to order.
Helen Louise Woolston, John Francis Quirk:
Fiadh à Fireach (The Hind)
United Kingdom, 2023. 4 minutes.
Taking inspiration from Gaelic folklore and our changing relationship and attitudes to the landscape, this film was made for the Scottish Rewilding organisation Trees for Life. Designed using natural materials and inks made from plants and fungi native to the Scottish Highlands, it plays with the traditional Gaelic characters of the Fianna warriors, and what happens when a young girl from our world stumbles into theirs – the Otherworld – via a sìthean, a faerie hill.
Célia Tisserant, Arnaud Demuynck:
Go Away, Alfred!
(Va-t'en, Alfred !)
France, 2023. 11 minutes.
Alfred had to flee his country because of the war. Without housing, he wanders, from rejection to rejection. One day he meets Sonia, who offers him a coffee…
Nika Zinoveva:
Whatman
Czech Republic, 2023. 8 minutes.
Resignation to any kind of civic engagement. Whatman is a guy, who doesn’t want to read, doesn’t want to see and preferably doesn’t want to bother with anything anymore. He just wants to live inside of his safe house.
Alla Vartanyan:
Birds, by the way
Russian Federation, 2022. 10 minutes.
Times and circumstances change, but the duo of a Worm and a Bird stands the same!
TAFF Junior 1
Films in this screening:
Rika Nakayama:
Under A Shooting Contrail
(飛行機雲の流れ星の下)
United States, 2022. 6 minutes.
A little stop-motion puppet leaves his studio and explores the outside world. He experiences the vast, dynamic, and unpredictable world of nature through a lens of a stop-motion puppet.
Dasha Vyatkina:
The Witch's lullaby
Netherlands, 2022. 4 minutes.
Grandma Yaga is torn between the need to be close to her son and the desire to dance the night away with her witch friends. Will she have to make a choice, or will she be able to combine both of these roles with a little help from her friends?
Anne-Sophie Gousset, Clément Céard:
To Be Sisters
(Entre deux soeurs)
France, 2022. 7 minutes.
To be sisters is about sharing a special bond and laughing together. To be sisters is to be propelled by love. But these particular sisters share an extra something a bit different, and that’s absolutely fine.
Julia Ocker:
T-Rex
Germany, 2022. 4 minutes.
Sadly, the T-Rex is very bad at playing basketball.
Maing Caochong:
Kids In Winter
(冬天的孩子们)
China, 2022. 3 minutes.
In the cold winter, the unexpected snowstorm is an inescapable challenge. Faced with the icy cave mouth, the rabbits need to make a concerted effort to return home.
David Mathews:
Foxwood
Austria, 2023. 3 minutes.
A day in the life of a fox.
Sonja Rohleder:
Somni
Germany, 2021. 3 minutes.
The sun sets and the eyes are closing. Rocking from one green leaf to the next, the little monkey glides gently to sleep. But what happens next? Suddenly the world of dreams gets darker, more colorful and wild. Mysterious plants, creatures and shapes line the trajectory through the night. Somni is a cinematic lullaby.
Daniela Hýbnerová:
The Hedgehog
Czech Republic, 2023. 2 minutes.
Can hedgehog swim?
Seungbae JEON:
BATTERY MOMMY
Republic of Korea, 2023. 9 minutes.
Battery Mommy works at various stuffs such as soap bubble guns, cameras, and thermometers in the nursery. During the children’s nap time of one winter day, Battery Mommy finds out the Christmas tree in the nursery is on fire. At the moment, she urgently runs to the fire alarm to safely rescue sleeping children…
Thomas Renoldner
Thomas Renoldner Special Screening
Thomas Renoldner is an Austrian artist with a focus on experimental film. Music, drawing, painting, installation and performance have been his artistic interests from his youth and many of these artistic approaches can also be found in his films. His career started with self-taught Super-8 films, and has continued through animation studies to numerous cinematic explorations.
Thomas Renoldner is a jury member of TAFF 2023.
Films in this screening in four chapters:
1. 1980’s: THE NAIVE, BUT ‘CINEMA-ANALYTIC’ PERIOD
1. How to do a Trickfilm
Super-8, 1982, (edited 2023), 06:15
2. Warten Sie auf etwas Besonderes ? (Are you waiting for somethings special ?)
Super-8, 1983, 04:22
3. Die Begrenzungslinien der Projektionsfäche (The borderlines of the projection screen)
Super-8, 1983, 03:13
2. 1990’s – PART 1: THE ACADEMY YEARS: ANIMATION STUDIES
4. Bunt (Colorful)
16mm, 1990, 04:05
5. Würfel (Cubes)
16mm, 1990, 02:00
6. Lonely Cowboy in 1992
16mm, 1992, 02:33
7. Rhythmus 94 (Rhythm 94)
16mm, 1994, 04:10
2a. commissioned film in between:
8. MTV- Station ID „Cubes“
35mm, 1998, 00:10
3. 1990’s – PART 2: THE SPLIT SCREEN YEARS: EXPERIMENTS WITH TIME AND SPACE
9. Hiroshima.August.92
16mm, 1997, 05:56
10. Picnic in the green
16mm, 1996, 03:05
11. Sophia’s Year
12 times Super-8 split screen on 35mm, 1998, 10:53
3a. commissioned film in between:
12. Mozart Party ’06
35mm, 2006, 00:10
4. AFTER 2010: RESTART, REMIX & RENEWAL
13. Fuck the Cancer ! (short version)
2K digital video, 2016/20, 05:00
14. Dont know what
4K digital video, 2019, 08:07
4a. commissioned film, for reasons of actuality
No more war („Kinospot gegen Gewalt“)
35mm, 1995, 00:15
Jury Screening
NOTICE! The starting time has been delayed to 14:30
TAFF Jury 2023 are Aline Höchli (CH), Kaisa Penttilä (FIN) and Thomas Renoldner (AU). In this screening we offer our jury members’ best of the best: experimental, artistic, funny and touching films.
Films in this screening:
Kaisa Penttilä, Leena Jääskeläinen:
Boris the Råt Gets Fit
(Råtta Booris kuntoilee)
Finland, 2012. 5 minutes.
Boris. A Rat with issues. He decides to mend his ways which soon attracts the attention of the police. Anneli the Baltic Herring, Boris´s best friend is deeply embarrassed. Boris is soon to learn the lesson of his life.
Kaisa Penttilä:
The Egg Race
(Munaralli)
Finland, 2009. 9 minutes.
A young pigeon couple get their first egg for which they have been waiting for a long time. When the egg is laid, the pigeons start a vigorous education project. Instead of hatching the egg, the pigeons start whisking it around in a rally car…
Playlist
Films in this screening:
Rufus Dye-Montefiore, Luke Dye-Montefiore:
Babe of the Moon
United Kingdom, 2023. 3 minutes.
A sunflower falls in love with the moon. They share one night together.
Chihiro Sato, Takaaki Numa, E:
Glitter Electron
Japan, 2022. 6 minutes.
A music video for composer E’s song “Glitter electron”, an animation work created by Chihiro Sato, Takaaki Numa and E. This film is a glitter storm of pleasant and strange visual images and electronic sounds on the theme of electricity, which is the driving force of modern civilization. Based on the music produced by E, Chihiro and Takaaki individually created fragmentary short episodes with various electronic motifs.
Aga Jarząb, Maciek Bączyk:
Zen for TV
Poland, 2022. 6 minutes.
Ambient piece ZEN for TV is a nostalgic reminiscence of the times when a TV broadcast could end for the day before our eyes. TV used to finish the transmission a few minutes after midnight. Then the screen turned black and white, filled with noise. With a little bit of imagination, in that noise one could see stone zen gardens, patiently raked by a silent monk. Gazing at the end of the TV programme was some sort of electronic meditation of the late 80s. The animated music video helps to grasp the concept of it.
Guido Devadder, Kaitlin McSweeney:
Hungry Ghost
Belgium, 2022. 7 minutes.
The feelings of both loss and desire are among the first and strongest emotions we experience as human beings. Desire is what keeps us alive, propagates us, but also destroys us. ‘Hungry Ghost’ is a poetic journey into the hazy netherworld of human craving, visualised through looping zoetrope animations.
Chiara Mazzoni, Daniel Damm:
A humble lying song
Sweden, 2023. 3 minutes.
The film tells a story of a lying spider, a deceiving and mysterious musician who meets a fly and decides to seduce her, only to have her killed by the end of their passionate night together.
Piotr Kaźmierczak:
Water Lullaby
Poland, 2022. 4 minutes.
Stop motion, animated with sand, official video clip to “Water Lullaby” song from the “Waterduction” album by a famous Polish folk music band “Warsaw Village Band”. The production of the film took 6 months.
Sijia Luo:
Be Gone
China, 2022. 4 minutes.
Music animation for the song “Be Gone” by electronicore band KNIVESRAIN. By exploring the possibilities of combining AI-generated content with hand-drawn 2D animation, it tells a story of a mobile phone that experiences the plight of modern people in a serendipitous epiphany, learning what it means to be human between life and death.
Soetkin Verstegen:
Beautiful Figures
Belgium, 2022. 4 minutes.
Thoughts ripple over the pages of a personal notebook, kept during a stay at different science labs in Zürich. They float from one to another, like a mind map of unfinished ideas on memory, medical imaging, cells, and aging.
marco Imov:
The Chats - 6L GTR
Denmark, 2022. 2 minutes.
Official music for the Chats’s song “6L GTR”. The boys are driving their old van recklessly, but all they really want is to drive a 6L GTR.
Polina Chuykova:
Ocean
(Океан)
Russian Federation, 2022. 4 minutes.
An ocean of events and emotions, reconsideration of the past, acceptance, anger, confusion and gratitude… «Ocean» is the official music video of the band «Mind Cry», created for a minor composition. The abstract visual content shows a number of plots on a common theme and opens a gallery of symbolic images. In the clip there is an implication to the feelings and emotions of a person who is tormented by suffering and emotional upheaval. The character hides them under a mask of stillness, but then explodes like a raging ocean.
Iulia Voitova:
Monsters
France, 2022. 4 minutes.
Coline Rio – Monsters (official video). The heroine and her alter ego travel through her emotions.
Karina Torres:
Do Good And Bad Will Come To You
Costa Rica, 2022. 2 minutes.
This is the official music video for Gab Albertozzi’s “Do Good And Bad Will Come To You” from the album “Odious Melodious” out now, on all streaming platforms.
Irina Rubina:
Miles Davis - What’s Love Got to Do With It
United States, 2022. 4 minutes.
Star People strolling through the night. Each of them alone, in their own dance, accompanied by shiny flowing waves. Those small sparkling dashes can lead them out of the darkness into surrealistic, mysterious and cheerful scenery, if everything goes right…
Juho Maurinen, Santeri Laasanen:
MUSCLE HEARTS
Finland, 2022. 5 minutes.
Planet Muscleion and it’s beefcake inhabitants are in danger because of a threat from outer space, but the real threat is much closer: low self-esteem of a beloved friend.
Documentaries
Content warnings for this screening
Theme warning: child abuse and neglect, institutionalization
Films in this screening:
Mia Ludvigsen Henriksen, Konrad Hjemli:
The Harbourmaster
Norway, 2022. 7 minutes.
“The Harbourmaster” tells the story of its titular swan, and of how he went from a beloved small town icon to a wanted criminal.
Mike Plitt, Falk Schuster:
Make or Break
Germany, 2022. 8 minutes.
Alex grows up in the GDR era with his single mother in the Vogtland region; the two of them take a lot of liberties because they can count on each other. When his mother publicly criticises the state, the youth welfare authorities decide to send Alex to a children’s home. Once there, the eleven-year-old no longer understands the world.
Elodie Dermange:
Armat
(Armat - Արմատ)
Switzerland, 2022. 12 minutes.
Elodie tries to find out more about her family’s Armenian origins. She interviews her father, her uncle, her great aunt, and discovers a harsh history where violence and the inability to express love are passed down from generation to generation.
Jessica Poon:
Sunset Singers
Germany, 2022. 11 minutes.
The retired Hong Kong couple, Long and Sophie, as amateur singers, attend their singing performance separately. Despite social unrest, their performance sets off as usual. While Sophie arrives early at the venue and gets herself prepared, Long is caught up in the subway by an unexpected circumstance.
Petra Stipetić, Maren Wiese:
The scent of beetroot and the people who live forever
(Vom Duft der Roten Beete und den Menschen, die ewig leben)
Germany, 2023. 13 minutes.
A scientist discovers the key to immortality: the scent of beetroot. Through its excessive use, an impenetrable magenta atmosphere soon envelops the entire planet. Immortality spreads like a virus: death is not only avoidable, but impossible. In real interviews, the inhabitants talk about their lives in this dystopian utopia.
Nina Bisyarina:
The Best Grandfather in the World
(Лучший дедушка на свете)
Russian Federation, 2022. 7 minutes.
Animated documentary about the childhood memories of the protagonist Felix, about his very close relationship with his grandfather and how everything changes when the grandson decides to come out as gay.
Total Refusal:
Hardly Working
Austria, 2022. 20 minutes.
Hardly Working sheds a limelight on the very characters that normally remain in the background of video games: NPCs. They are non-player characters that populate the digital world as extras to create the appearance of normality. A laundress, a stable boy, a street sweeper and a carpenter are observed with ethnographic precision. They are Sisyphus machines, whose labour routines, activity patterns as well as bugs and malfunctions paint a vivid analogy for work under capitalism.
Panorama
Content warnings for this screening
Theme warning: death
Scene warning: death, traffic accident
Films in this screening:
Todd Allan Stewart:
The Wind and the Trees
Canada, 2022. 8 minutes.
Deep in the boreal forest, a mature pine tree and a seedling begin a conversation. As the years pass, they observe the ever-present wind and the many ways it affects them. A quiet story about the circle of life. Adapted from the Governor General’s Award nominated children’s book of the same name.
Sofia El Khyari:
Shadow of the Butterflies
(L’Ombre des papillons)
France, 2022. 9 minutes.
In a mysterious forest, a woman is slowly lured into a nostalgic daydream as she observes butterflies.
Leonor Pacheco:
Deep breath
(Alento)
Portugal, 2022. 4 minutes.
During the late hours of the night a form tries to fall asleep. Struggling to maintain control, it gets trapped into vicious cycles of abstract madness, visually and audibly growing into a visceral and bizarre conflict between compression and decompression.
Olivér Hegyi:
The Garden of Heart
(A szív kertje)
Hungary, 2022. 11 minutes.
Dániel Juhász, a young aspiring painter with low self-esteem, is in his last round of interviews at the painting department of the Academy of Fine Arts. While waiting for his interview, his demons appear to him in the form of garden pests.
Keila Cepeda:
Chimborazo
Spain, 2022. 7 minutes.
Chimborazo’s ice pickers have long been subjected for years to the inclemency of the volcano, located in the Ecuadorian Andes. In exchange, they crush some of its ice to provide for their people. Nowadays, it would be an occupation on the verge of extinction if it wasn’t for Baltazar Ushca, who despite of his age, walks to the Chimborazo glacier every day for hours to get large blocks of ice which he later sells in the nearest city.
Asparuh Petrov:
Trace
(Sleda)
Bulgaria, 2022. 7 minutes.
А young writer dedicates his nights to hunting entangled phrases with his pen. The moment he is confronted with the pregnancy of his wife his world collapses. Lingering fears and painful memories overwhelm him and he needs to trace the missing piece.
David Fidalgo:
Sandwich Cat
Spain, 2022. 11 minutes.
David lives alone with his kitty, Sandwich Cat. It seemed like an ordinary day, but an unexpected visit will lead him to a crucial reflection to humanity.
Aspasia Kazeli:
My Mother the Sea
Estonia, 2022. 6 minutes.
My mother’s journey to eternity through my path of grief.
Balázs Turai:
Amok
Hungary, 2022. 14 minutes.
After losing his fiancée and his good looks in a freak accident, Clyde must confront his inner demon.
Content warnings for this screening
Theme warning: death
Scene warning: death, traffic accident
International Competition 5
Content warnings for this screenings
Theme warning: domestic violence, animal cruelty
Films in this screening:
Richard Roger Reeves:
Intersextion
Canada, 2022. 4 minutes.
two abstract energies fall in love, unite as one then disappear into a vanishing point.
Both sound and picture handmade onto 35mm film,
This film expresses a symbiotic interplay between two cosmic energies contrasting the intersection of reality and self expression.
A film without words.
no musical instruments or camera used.
Abstract visual music film.
Vasco Sá, David Doutel:
Garrano
Portugal, 2022. 14 minutes.
A Garrano horse is forced to pull a heavy load under a blazing sun. Young boy Joel discovers a man who is about to set a forest on fire.
XU YUAN:
Sewing Love
Japan, 2023. 8 minutes.
The expression of emotional desire called love. Everyone is an individual whose spirit and soul cannot be bound. The emotion between people leads to good and bad results, happiness or misery. In the river of natural life, it is the stream injected halfway and the water vapor evaporated halfway. Two very strong individuals, whether they are right or not, whether they need to be morally criticized, whether they need to be examined by us, in the end, death, rebirth, corruption are all part of the river.
Nienke Deutz:
The Miracle
Belgium, 2022. 15 minutes.
40-year old Irma goes on a vacation to an all-inclusive resort. Soon after her arrival she realizes the place is meant for young families. Irma has to find her own place in this holiday paradise
Matías Bárquez:
Mask
(Máscara)
Chile, 2023. 3 minutes.
We observed and copied in order to go unnoticed. The difficulty of being ourselves made us create a mask, but the weight of it caused us enormous wear and tear. It is not fair to live masked. Being autistic means accepting and knowing your needs. To not live apart, anymore. Mask is a visual representation of my own experience of growing up and feeling different and my attempt to go unnoticed.
Lucie Grannec:
FURRIE
France, 2022. 8 minutes.
A dolphin in free relationship with fifteen inflatable animals, a fox crazy in love with a cereal mascot, a band of animals adept at firearms… Different portraits, existing, of members of the Furry community, lovers and enthusiasts of anthropomorphic animals.
Dániel Bárány:
Supper
(Vacsora)
Hungary, 2022. 15 minutes.
During a dysfunctional family dinner, oppressed family members battle their oppressors. The battle for domination leads to a monstrous outcome.
Honor Price:
ZUMAN
United Kingdom, 2022. 10 minutes.
Star attraction of a human zoo, Steve is caged and kept away from his own humankind. Longing for more in life, Steve dreams of finding a companion.
Content warnings for this screenings
Theme warning: domestic violence, animal cruelty
International Competition 4
Content warnings for this screening
Theme warning: domestic violence
Scene warning: violence, murder, self mutilation, graphic sex
Films in this screening:
Joachim Hérissé:
Skinned
(Écorchée)
France, 2022. 15 minutes.
In an old building, lost in the middle of the swamp, live two strange women, Siamese twins by one leg. At night, the Flayed has terrifying nightmares in which she sees her sister’s flesh covering her own body…
Milly Yencken:
The Eastern Rain
Estonia, 2023. 9 minutes.
If the rain were to fall indoors, but never out doors …where do we begin to look for shelter?
Ita Romero:
Carlos Montaña
Argentina, 2022. 8 minutes.
Years of dictatorship in Argentina. Carlos Montaña is detected by the repressive forces while working in a sugar mill in Tucuman. To survive he must escape and get lost in the woods, on the way he will go through difficult decisions.
Vitor Hugo Rocha:
Troada
Portugal, 2022. 3 minutes.
The cycle of Springtime, Summer, Autumn and Winter is suddenly interrupted by the storm and psycadelia.
Katarzyna KIJEK, Przemysław ADAMSKI:
Slow Light
Poland, 2022. 11 minutes.
A boy who was born blind, suddenly at the age of seven sees a light. A medical examination reveals that his eyes are so dense that it takes seven years for the light to reach the retina and hence for the image to reach his consciousness.
The consequence of the eye defect translates into the mental immaturity of the man, lack of understanding of the present and belated reflections on long-gone facts. The man is never mature enough for his age and constantly lingers on the past.
Film made in original technique representing the tactile reality of the present and 2D animation showing the past.
Júlia Lantos:
Oliver the Giant
(Olivér, az óriás)
Hungary, 2023. 8 minutes.
Oliver, the giant lives on a little planet. In his perception, the whole world is his playground, where he can do what he wants. While he is living his trivial life, the little humans become preoccupied with another matter of greatest importance: building a sun clock so they can connect with the universe. This fully disturbs Oliver’s life. Starting with the growling sound of the universe, the appearance of a big shadow, he recognize his own pettiness, feels doomed, and throws himself into space.
Maria Zilli, Sara Priorelli:
Sweet Dreams
Hungary, 2023. 5 minutes.
Sweet dreams is a black comedy set in a remote motel, where a housekeeper is stuck in her monotonous work life. Sick of the repetitive humiliations by the employees and the motel guests, the woman eventually loses control and the feeling of revenge overcomes her.
Matea Kovač:
Y
Croatia, 2023. 6 minutes.
An empty paper depicts a struggle between artistic composition and decomposition as the voice of the narrator-protagonist reminisces about her tumultuous relationship with a former girlfriend.
Flóra Anna BUDA:
27
France, 2023. 11 minutes.
Alice is 27 years old today. Even though she is suffocating a bit, she still lives with her parents and tends to live in her dreams to escape her dreary everyday life. After a psychedelic party on a factory roof, she has a serious drunken bike accident. Will this give her the courage to become an adult?
Content warnings for this screening
Theme warning: domestic violence
Scene warning: violence, murder, self mutilation, graphic sex
International Competition 3
Content warnings for this screening
Theme warning: death
Films in this screening:
Christoph Büttner:
In his Mercy
(In seiner Gnade)
Germany, 2022. 12 minutes.
One evening a prison director announces to a convict being executed next day. As by a miracle later at night the cell door opens. Being exhausted by endless interrogations the convict drags on through dark prison corridors. On his odyssey to gain freedom he is tossed back and forth by various mental states: his fear of being discovered, his hope for salvation and moments of sheer madness.
Isabel Santos:
SWIM!
United States, 2022. 5 minutes.
In a typical day at swim practice our protagonist is bombarded by the whistling of her eccentric coach, the burden of God’s watchful eye, the majesty of the older swimmers, and naughty recordings on her teammate’s cellphone. Not to mention the horror of getting her period. Crushes, tampons, and granola bars are the only things getting her through. All the while, our protagonist comes to understand herself and her body.
Armelle Mercat-Junot:
Wild Housemates
(Colocation sauvage)
France, 2023. 15 minutes.
A joyful goat decides to build a cabin in the jungle. But the construction process results in sharing it with dangerous roommates. Luckily she succeeds in building a friendship. However, it comes at a heavy price.
Adela Križovenská:
Doubt
Czech Republic, 2023. 6 minutes.
Doubt is a short animated essay, which through voices of four different authors from various fields of art, the film describes all stages of creative process. The combination of every animation technique imaginable, from 3D to animation on a carpet tufting, can only be matched with an equally important rich soundscape and original music.
Camila Dron:
Next time I'll join you
(La próxima te acompaño)
Argentina, 2023. 1 minutes.
Next time I’ll join you is the result of the combination of various animation techniques and supports, both physical and digital. The process begins by converting computerized images of a person’s interior into blueprints. This work seeks to play and expand the notion of the representations that technology offers us about the interior of our own body.
Aline Quertain:
Wild Tale
(Conte sauvage)
Belgium, 2023. 16 minutes.
In the middle of a boreal forest, a lonely feline meets a small bird. These two beings that nature opposes surprise and attract each other. A relationship of friendship tinged with suspicion arises between them.
Songkai Zhou:
Unnamed Road
United Kingdom, 2022. 8 minutes.
The film Unnamed Road takes the road and fate as its theme, and divides the chapters with earth, water, fire and wind. The road is the road under each person’s feet. The road is always in the process of becoming, changing and unfolding. The road has not yet reached the end, so it is called unnamed. In the film, the four elements of earth, water, fire and wind express the various encounters of individual life in the world. At the same time, these four things are also in the context of the contemporary digital age, forcing human beings to search for the connection between themselves and nature.
João Gonzalez:
Ice Merchants
Portugal, 2022. 14 minutes.
Every day, a father and his son jump with a parachute from their vertiginous cold house, attached to a cliff, to go to the village on the ground, far away where they sell the ice they produce daily.
Content warnings for this screening
Theme warning: death
National Competition
Content warnings for this screening:
Theme warning: child abuse, domestic violence
Scene warning: violence (not graphic)
Films in this screening:
Anni Sairio, Joonatan Turkki:
Other People
(Muut ihmiset)
Finland, 2023. 8 minutes.
The main characters want to be alone, but random events force them to face each other.
Tapani Tolonen:
Castle Blue
(Sininen linna)
Finland, 2023. 3 minutes.
A Knight. A Princess. A Dragon. And a triangle that turns out to be an interval.
Niina Suominen:
Golden Headacher
(Kultainen Päänsärkijä)
Finland, 2022. 17 minutes.
An experimental animation documentary about women’s hate and aggression and the culturally sanctioned ways to express or suppress these uneasy feelings. The film was created by animating textile and décor waste and beautiful glossy pictures of children that were popular in Scandinavia in the last century. The work brings to the fore the irritation and exhaustion felt by women and the thoughts often left unsaid outside the walls of home, as well as reflecting on the remorse and the shame felt after the bursts of anger.
Heta Okkonen:
Gravitating
(Gravitaationi)
Finland, 2023. 8 minutes.
Two worlds collide in gravity altering love. The darkness of the mind enters.
Antti Tanttu:
Noli Timere
Finland, 2022. 6 minutes.
Noli Timere is a work about the experience and emotion of fear or anxiety. What is common or private in those feeling and what connects those. The work contemplates is there a collective fear and what focuses it on.
Jenny Jokela:
Sweet Like Lemons
United Kingdom, 2023. 6 minutes.
Sweet Like Lemons is a visual reflection on getting out of a harmful relationship and moving on. The title is a play on the saying “when life gives you lemons make lemonade”, only in this case there is no lemonade to be made but the lemons still taste sweeter than what you left behind.
Lauri Ketonen:
Hound
Finland, 2023. 11 minutes.
Hound tells the story of a young child who is desperately trying to survive in a dark, abandoned city. Huge dog as her only comfort the duo not only need to find food but also have to escape the monster that is trailing on them. Series of events leaves our main character completely alone, which has horrible repercussions. In the finale the child needs to make a decision to either stay in the darkness or attempt to escape the tight grip of it.
Tomi Malkki:
Hiukset kuin vesiputous
Finland, 2023. 5 minutes.
Hair is an extension of the nervous system. They can rightly be seen as external nerves, a kind of well-developed sense horns or antennae, which transmit a huge amount of important information to the brainstem, limbic system and neocortex.
Heta Jäälinoja:
Nun or Never!
Finland, 2023. 11 minutes.
The nuns living in the convent are happily melted together. When one nun finds a man in the garden, the harmony breaks and she loses the shared rhytm.
Iiti Yli-Harja:
Blush - An Extraordinary Voyage
Finland, 2022. 15 minutes.
For 18-year-old Finnish–Kosovan Fatu, a simple visit to the grocery store feels as nerve-racking as a lunar expedition: for the first time in his life, he’s wearing makeup in public. Luckily his best friend Rai, a young woman on the spectrum of autism, is there to ferociously support him through the voyage.
Content warnings for this screening:
Theme warning: child abuse, domestic violence
Scene warning: violence (not graphic)
