Shorts: Block B

1.  VEXOH I A MEMORY CAPSULE I (France, 0:42) I Director: Cyrill Durigon I Art & Experimental

Sometimes dreams feel like memories and memories feel like dreams…. Cyrill Durigon is a French visual artist living in Toronto, Canada. He is passionate about 3D, animation, graphic design, music, and cinema, which combine to influence his unique creative approach.

2. WHIRL IN A BOTTLE I (UK, 3:36) I Director: Pinheiro-Rogers I Fantasy

When a littering yuppie ends up on the bed of the River Thames to look for his phone, he quickly discovers something sinister is waiting for him.

3. NOT AN IRRELEVANT TRIFLE I (Sweden, 14:04) I Director: Debora Elgeholm I Art & Experimental I TRAILER

The expectations for the technical development during the 1950s had an existential dimension. The religious movement of Scientology was started around this time, comparing man to a computer and our memory to a hard drive where everything is saved in complete colour and sound at 25 frames per second. This film mixes quotes from Sigmund Freud, C. G. Jung, and L. Ron Hubbard to form a conversation around technology and identity, as well as ideas of memory and the unconscious. In her documentary and essayistic films Debora Elgeholm often investigate the connection between different societies and different religious persuasions, as well as the relationship between individuals and social, political, and religious groups. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums such as Bonniers konsthall (Stockholm, SWE), and at film festivals such as Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen and IFFR Rotterdam.

4. … LUCID DREAMS I (USA, 13:34) I Writer-Director: Kostiantyn Mishchenko I Art & Experimental

Lucid dreaming is an altered state of consciousness in which a person is aware that he is dreaming, and can control its content to some extent. This is a kind of borderline state between REM sleep and wakefulness. Kostiantyn Mishchenko was born and raised in the Ukraine. A theater director by profession, he has also worked as a producer on the Enter-Film TV channel in Kiev. In 2016 Kostiantyn moved to the USA where he acts in plays, films and TV shows.

5. STARGAZER I (UK, 15:07) I Writer-Director: Arvind Jay I Sci-Fi I WEBSITE

An estranged, disconnected family embarks on a journey through the stars when they come together after a recent loss. A Bournemouth Film School production.

6. THE TICK I (UK, 07:17) I Directors: Rebekah Louisa Smith and Massimo Poli I Art & Experimental I TRAILER

An eponymous recluse, whose isolated and obsessive existence is thrown into anxiety and repulsion upon the discovery a mysterious parasite in the basin of his sink. This is a black and white short film which explores fear and the manifestation of dreams. Massimo Poli is a film Producer and Director, a graduate of the London Film Academy, and the co-founder of Lupo Bianco Pictures Ltd. Giacomo Poli is a film Writer Director, and co-founder of Lupo Bianco Pictures Ltd. Having written short stories and novellas for several years, he soon turned to screenplays, taking his love for literature and writing into the realm of his passion, cinema. Co-director Rebekah Louisa Smith is the director of The Film Festival Doctor consultancy.

7. PSYCHONAUT I (UK, 03:44) I Director: Liam Rooney I Sci-Fi

Some time into the future, an advanced ‘blackbox’ technology enables mankind to convert an individual’s dreams into a viewable cinematic reality. But the labs at Psychenautix are disturbed by anomalous frequencies from an unknown collective source… Director Liam Rooney is an independent filmmaker based in the UK, whose projects aim to empower the connection between people and nature.

8. ESCAPE VELOCITY I (Hungary, 07:43) I Writer-Director: Tamás Rebák I Sci-Fi I INSTAGRAM

An astronaut awakens in an abandoned cave on a strange planet and must find a way back to his spaceship to escape the alien creature pursuing him. Tamás Rebák is a hungarian visual storyteller based in Budapest. His graduation short “Escape Velocity” is award-winning and has been selected by many international film festivals.

9. NUIT BLEUE (NIGHT IN BLUE) I (France, 15:00) I Writer-Director: Nicolas Lincy I Spiritual & Philosophical

Tristan wakes up in a deserted Paris. After strolling through the streets, he comes across a blue-lit shop. and a mysterious young woman inside. Both suffer from amnesia and try to get their memory back. Nicolas Lincy studied cinema at Sorbonne Nouvelle, Université Paris 8 and La Femis, screenwriting department. He has directed several short student films, and co-directed a 52 minutes documentary about UFO investigators in France, called “Empire of the lights” with Mil Sabords Production.

10. SYMPOIETIC BODIES I (Austria, 11:12) I Director: Flavia Mazzanti I Spiritual & Philosophical I WEBSITE

This is the story of “C”, an inhabitant of a hybrid urban formation. “C” narrates in the first person her life in the city and how hybrids live in symbiosis with other human/nonhuman beings. Borders and boundaries dissolve. Alongside the main narration, a second one, made out of fragmentary images of “C” and her interaction with a second mysterious hybrid body (“unknown”), provides the story with a second layer of depth and understanding. Flavia Mazzanti is an Italian Brazilian artist and experimental filmmaker based in Vienna, Austria. She was recently awarded the Artist-in-Residence Program “Pixel, Bytes + Film” for new audiovisual formats for her hybrid short film “Sympoietic Bodies.,” which explores the disruption of the boundaries between the human body and its social and physical surroundings.

11. HELFER I (Hungary, 09:45) I Writer-Director: Anna Szöllősi I Spiritual & Philosophical I FACEBOOK

A young woman struggles with anxiety and recurring nightmares that she wants to end. She seeks out a helper, who offers an alternative solution, but in the process she must confront her greatest fears. The film details their relationship in a surreal world through symbolic events. Anna Szöllősi was born in Budapest (Hungary) but spent her childhood in Tehran (Iran) in an artist community, where she got to know Art in its various forms and expressions. In 2019 completed an MA in Animation and HELFER is her graduation film.

12. LE BEAU MONDE I (UK, 4:26) I Director: Eleonora Cristin I Fantasy

A young woman attends classes in etiquette. Her teacher is unusual, and the outcome breaks with convention. Eleonora Cristin is an Italian director and editor based in London. She studied photography at the Istituto Italiano di Fotografia in Milan and moved to London in 2014 to finish her studies at Central Saint Martins. In filmmaking she found the right medium to express her creativity, which allowed her to draw from her previous experiences in commercial art direction and photography. She is currently working as video lead for Elle UK and Harper’s Bazaar UK.

Total Streaming Time: 01.48. Foreign language films will have English subtitles. Please note, some content may be unsuitable for children under 15 years of age. VIMEO links will go live from 12am ET (Eastern Time) on the 19th November 2021.