Hamze Bytyçi // Germany // 2019 // 06:10 min
Animation, Documentary
“They only take away the criminals," said Zilli Reichmann's father when the National Socialists arrested the first Sinti and Roma people. Because he was fatally mistaken, 95-year-old Sinti woman tells her story: of the murder of her daughter, her parents, sister, their children and many relatives in the gas chambers of Auschwitz, her own struggle for survival and the meaning of life.
[CW: genocide, racism, death]
Flóra Anna Buda // Hungary, France // 2023 // 10:38 min
Animation, Live Action
Living with her mom again, 27-year-old Alice is preoccupied by the fact that she can't express her sexuality fully, and brings the issue up with her friends too. An unusual event awakens a sexual fantasy within her.
Paul Driessen // Netherlands // 1998 // 10:13 min
Animation
Three women in distress. Regardless of whether they happen to be in the city, the Wild West or a fairytale, eager rescuers are at their side in an instant. But their mission isn't at all easy.
Mirza Odabaşı // Germany // 2013 // 33:24 min
Documentary
A journey through time between 1993 and 2013, from the attack in Solingen to the NSU's self-disclosure. With a personal analysis by the director in conversation with people he met on his journey, such as Michel Friedman (author, philosopher), Fatih Çevikkollu (cabaret artist), Cem Özdemir (politician), Mevlüde Genç (survivor of Solingen), Afrob (rapper) and many others.
[CW: racism, racist murders]
Ben Brand // Netherlands // 2013 // 08:00 min
Live Action
When you try to find love with a phone app, the search quickly turns into a hunt.
Nicole Goethem // Netherlands // 1985 // 07:00 min
Animation
A whimiscal look at the difficulty in holding together a Greek temple, when one of the holders is different.
Richard Misek // Norway, England // 2022 // 18:20 min
Documentary
Apollo 11, the fall of the wall, 9/11 – the world was there. Thanks to Getty, one of the biggest picture agencies. How much power do images have? How much do they shape our views?
Stephen Vuillemin // France // 2023 // 16:00 min
Animation
A website with your name exists, you click on it. There you find animated sequences, created using your profile photos, transformed into new stories. Things with personal significance to you appear in the videos. Creepy?
Roger Gariépy // Quebec // 2022 // 07:32 min
Live Action
Léon, an old dog, has hardly any energy left. Alas, he can still dream: of cyclists he once chased, of great liberation perched on the passenger seat, of sausages and of love.
Job Roggeveen / Joris Oprins / Marieke Blaauw // Netherlands // 2014 // 02:30 min
Animation
When playing a mysterious vinyl single, Pia is suddenly able to travel through her life.
Olivér Hegyi // Hungary, Slovakia // 2022 // 10:32 min
Animation
Shortly before his entrance exam at the art academy, the insecure young painter Dániel Juhász tries to calm down by meditating: "My heart is a huuuge flower garden..."
David Crisp // Hungary // 2023 // 09:46 min
Animation
A discursive solar system: issues of our age are discussed by crocodiles, (dwarf)planets or elephants. The Sun gives the Earth advice on how to deal with worldly conflicts: "You need to be organized. You need to planet."
TV Store / Daniel Brandt // France, Germany, England // 2023 // 04:02 min
Experimental
Climate protests, patriarchy, sex – everything comes together in an associative whole on this psychedelic trip.
Rossella Schillaci // Portugal, Italy // 2022 // 20:37 min
Animation, Documentary, Experimental
A 360 immersive fairy tale, set amongst mothers and children who live in prison. A journey in their everyday life, with animations of their surreal memories of the past and dreams of the future.
Soda Jerk // Australia // 2009 // 06:28 min
Experimental
"After the Rainbow" is the second work in Soda Jerk’s ongoing series of Séance Fictions. Through a re-imagining of the opening sequence of the "The Wizard of Oz" (1939), the fantasy world of cinema and the reality of Judy Garland’s complex life collide.
Vladimir Todorovic // Australia // 2023 // 10:52 min
Animation, Experimental
From plot to images to voice: this year we are showing a short film generated entirely by AI. You knew it had to happen eventually! The resulting prognoses for future life on Earth are more than grim.
Charlotte Muller / Théo Degen // Belgium, Switzerland // 2022 // 24:54 min
Live Action
Teenaged Alice is bored to tears camping with her mom on Lake Geneva. When she meets Zack – in the midst of a sunflower field straight out of a fairy tale – a tender crush begins.
Hien Nguyen // Germany // 2022 // 12:59 min
Documentary
A very personal portrait of Yen Nguyen, who sets off from Oslo to return to her hometown of Neustrelitz. Vulnerably she examines memories from her childhood and youth, as well as her self-acceptance, identity and family.
Aude N'GUESSAN FORGET // France // 2022 // 20:08 min
Live Action
The young hairdresser Eden suffers from endometriosis. Though many doctors fail to take her (and her condition) seriously, she fights to regain physical health.
Borge Ring // Netherlands // 1985 // 08:00 min
Animation
Anna and Bella wallow in their memories. As they thumb through a photo album, they conjure up images both sweet and sour of their past lives and loves.
Darragh Amelia / Gertrude Malizana / Jesse Gerard Mpango / Cece Mlay // Tanzania // 2023 // 16:00 min
Documentary
Three characters from the Tanzanian film scene show what really matters in cinema: passion. Frank sells films, Dj Black translates them and Rehema shows them. Between homemade film prints and temporary cinemas, a colorful picture of a lively film landscape emerges.
Elias León Siminiani // Spain // 2022 // 30:00 min
Live Action
Andrea and Sebastián meet in spring 1958 at the university in Madrid. The reconstruction of a love story that reveals – and transcends – class differences.
Anastasiia Solonevych / Damian Kocur // Poland, Ukraine // 2023 // 15:29 min
Live Action
After a year in Berlin, Lera heads back to her hometown Kyiv for Christmas. There, she experiences first-hand the new everyday life during wartime with old friends and family. "As It Was" is a moving bit of cinema.
[CW: war]
Lisa Sallustio // Belgium, France // 2023 // 11:34 min
Live Action
Spot-on critique of capitalism: teams red and blue vie for a turn at the water cooler, though there's enough to go around. Exponential escalation, generating wealth for another in the end.
[CW: war]
Soda Jerk // Australia // 2010 // 06:10 min
Music Video
In Soda Jerk’s revision of the iconic scene in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977), Kraftwerk play sequences from their own music and the mothership responds with tracks that have sampled Kraftwerk.
Thorsten Fleisch // Germany // 2023 // 06:23 min
Animation, Experimental
Inventors Nikola Tesla and Alan Turing accidentally send demons into our dimension. Oops! What to do? Bring along flowers for a certain renowned female scientist. Her name: Robo-Marie Curie.
Neil Young // Austria, Poland // 2023 // 00:58 min
Experimental
Horror at the ATM. A nightmare in a few dozen seconds that pays tribute to Robert Bresson's "L'argent".
Yann Nguema // France // 2022 // 08:03 min
Animation
Abstract forms and cryptic signs accompany the viewers on this immersive journey, conceived for projection in the dome and in the cinema alike.
Bernhard Wenger // Austria, Germany // 2023 // 18:28 min
Live Action
The picturesque Austrian Alps: a ski-area weather camera captures the majestic mountainscape – and interpersonal conversations on the side. Is there is no refuge from male intrusiveness, even on the remotest of peaks?
[CW: Sexism and sexual violence]
Ian Killick // United Kingdom // 2021 // 10:55 min
Animation
Grim humour with a retro aesthetic: a couple wakes to infant screams. What is this racket and how do you turn it off? Parenthood from another (less flattering) angle, with Beethoven drowning out the cries of a new-born.
Khozy Rizal // Indonesia // 2023 // 15:00 min
Live Action
With grandma nearby, an uncle mimes at the dinner table: coming inside his wife. An odong-odong at the fair, and the fireworks of coitus. Basri and Salma don't meet their family's expectations, but they still have loads of fun.
[CW: physical violence]
Popo Fan // Germany // 2019 // 17:00 min
Live Action
BEER! BEER! is an anti-romantic comedy set in the early morning after a wild party in Berlin. While Tao, a Chinese, and Sebastian, a white German, get closer and closer, Tao realizes that Sebastian is very superficial and he loses interest. At least he still lets him carry home a mattress he finds on the street.
Ayla Çekin Satijn // Netherlands // 2021 // 07:00 min
Live Action
It's always awesome at family events when the first thing anyone asks you – early 20s, not hetero – is whether you have a boyfriend. Asli shuts down fast, until she realises she might need to examine her own prejudices.
Mike Plitt / Falk Schuster // Germany // 2022 // 08:06 min
Animation, Documentary, Experimental
Alex tells of his childhood in the GDR: how he was taken from his mother after she criticised the regime, his attempts to escape from children's homes and subsequent efforts to break him in a reformatory, using violence.
[CW: violence, sexual violence]
Isaac Martinez // Germany // 2023 // 04:03 min
Documentary, Experimental, Commercial Work
The poetic, subjective narrative in "Black Youth" treats the discriminating hurdles that Black men must overcome in becoming adults. Surrounded by oppressive whiteness, as far as the eye can see, yet not without power.
Alexander Rönnberg // Sweden // 2016 // 03:00 min
Live Action
Light some candles and lock yourself in a bathroom. We all know the legend … but do we dare say her name three times?
Pavel Andonov // Finland, United Kingdom // 2022 // 21:00 min
Live Action
Leena is faced with a heartbreaking commitment after spending a beautiful day with her terminally ill husband Boris in their summer cottage.
[CW: suicide]
Deniz Eroğlu // Germany // 2019 // 10:03 min
Documentary, Experimental
The title of the film refers to the nationalist slogan "blood and soil," a racist ideal of a national body linked to a territory of settlement. In this work, it takes on a new meaning, referring to the narrator's birthplace and the blood that is spilled in the story.
[CW: racism, physical violence]
Anna Fernandez De Paco // Bosnia and Herzegovina, Spain, England // 2022 // 15:00 min
Documentary, Live Action
In the mountains overlooking Sarajevo, Boja toils away amid houses destroyed by the war. Her brother gives her orders. Smoking a pipe, the goat herder enjoys the stolen moments her life affords.
Anna Ring // Germany // 2022 // 08:13 min
Animation, Documentary
Anna Ring interviews her mom, who came to Germany from the former USSR in 1991 as a "Jewish quota refugee". She speaks about this rarely explored aspect of migration, bigoted treatment and her wishes for the future.
Grímur Hákonarson // Iceland // 2007 // 20:00 min
Live Action
A love story about two homosexual wrestlers living in rural Iceland. They have to keep their relationship secret, and meet while practising wrestling, the national sport of Iceland.
Zsófia Paczolay // Hungary, Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium // 0 // 24:00 min
Documentary
Aesthetic shots from a grain silo in Budapest, as the camera follows labourer József in his everyday routine.
Douwe Dijkstra // Netherlands // 2022 // 29:00 min
Documentary, Experimental
How can you overcome a violent past? Somali-born Abdi reenacts his life, marked by war and criminality, with the help of his neighbour and filmmaker Douwe. Through playful reconstructions in a special effects studio, they embark on a candid and investigative journey through a painful history.
[CW: war, flight, violence, blood]
Jamie O'Rourke // Ireland // 2023 // 15:00 min
Live Action
This one is intense! A typical morning on a (somewhat creepy) farm. A cow is about to calve. If only the farmer's super bloody accident didn't intervene. And then there's his daughter's worrying behaviour –
[CW: physical and psychological violence, death]
Tom C J BROWN // France, England, United States // 2022 // 20:00 min
Animation
Christopher embarks on a transatlantic voyage as a passenger on a cargo ship. His hopes of finding out what lures so many men to sea sets him on a journey into solitude, fantasy and obsession.
Julie GROUX / Romain SEISSON / Taye CIMON / Sandra LEYDIER / Pierre COËZ / Manuarii MOREL // France // 2022 // 05:08 min
Animation
Somewhere out on the open sea, a flamingo alights on an aircraft carrier – blocking the landing strip and grounding the waiting fighter jets. A soldier shoos it away, but it'll be back – next time with reinforcements.
Abdul Hamid Mandgar // Afghanistan // 2020 // 06:55 min
Live Action
Narges is a girl with a passion for dancing. Whenever she dances, her brother beats her, until he realizes that she is dancing for their mother.
[CW: Gewalt, Sexismus]
Henriette Rietz // Germany // 2023 // 04:39 min
Documentary, Experimental
Stock footage of "happy" families conjures canned warmth, while the inner monologues of overworked mothers intone off-screen. Tremendous meme fodder – if it weren't so serious.
[CW: self harm, depression]
Victoria Aleksanyan // Netherlands, Armenia, United States // 2022 // 12:09 min
Animation
Anoush fled Armenia and her violent husband years ago – now, facing deportation, she has to return. A compelling film about the inhumanity of forced repatriation.
[CW: physical and psychological violence]
Thomas Baerten / Wim Geudens // Netherlands, United Kingdom // 2014 // 15:00 min
Live Action
The brothers ‘De Smet’ are helping each other to make their lives as singles as enjoyable as possible. When a new woman moves into a house in their street, their synergy turns out to be a house of cards.
Mohammad Nasir // Afghanistan // 2018 // 03:50 min
Animation
A Portrait into the complexities of war and its effects on Afghanistan's ethnic groups and its civilisation.
Rolf Hellat // Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Switzerland // 2023 // 14:16 min
Experimental
This powerful psychedelic montage about nature, life, death and spirituality is the result of cultural exchange between people from Senegal, Guinea, Switzerland and Côte d'Ivoire.
Sean Wainsteim // Canada // 2023 // 14:00 min
Documentary, Live Action
From off-screen, Sean Wainsteim comments on his own film, a tale of the trauma his grandfather and countless others endured during the Holocaust, reflecting on his personal creative process. Extraordinary storytelling.
[CW: Holocaust]
Antonia Lindner // Germany // 2023 // 09:00 min
Live Action
When bureaucracy becomes madness: B. enters the immigration office and runs from room to room, floor to floor, only to start over again from the beginning. Kafkaesque, no? For some the situation is even more desperate.
Duncan Cowles // Scotland // 2022 // 07:55 min
Documentary
Drawing a connection between "desire lines" and climate crisis. A clever idea wrapped in gallows humour. How much responsibility lies with the individual?
Oliver Schmid // Germany // 2022 // 06:27 min
Animation
Megalomania in the jungle. Two monkeys want more. Lust for the largest coconut drives them higher and higher up into the tree.
Levi Stoops // Belgium // 2023 // 14:59 min
Animation
Jeremy and Aurora are drifting aimlessly at sea and fighting to survive amid a fair amount of blood and gore. Both are gravely impacted by the experience – though in different ways.
Leandro Goddinho / Paulo Menezes // Germany, Brazil // 2023 // 17:00 min
Live Action
While thousands take to the streets against high rents in Berlin, the young Brazilian Edu is kicked out of his apartment. Between a lack of health insurance, racism and homophobia, he tries desperately to hold his life together.
[CW: blood]
Natalia Sara Skorupa // Poland // 2021 // 14:00 min
Documentary
Christmas in Poland with the family. Among other people, the filmmaker asks her aunt, her dad and her grandma how they feel about queer folk.
[CW: Queerphobia]
Said Mohsen Hossaini // Afghanistan // 2022 // 05:10 min
Animation
Her mother died the day she was born. Her father was always at war. She was eleven years old when her father forced her to marry an old man.
Laura Stewart // Canada // 2022 // 03:11 min
Animation
Is eating carrots really that good for your vision? When a girl eats the orange veggies, an eye grows from her arm, bursting with energy. And it has even more in store for her…
Brett Marty / Josh Izenberg // United States // 2022 // 16:36 min
Documentary
To save the Mojave desert tortoise, biologist Tim Shields wages a clever battle against predatory ravens with innovative ideas and sneaky technical devices.
Lucija Mrzljak / Morten Tšinakov // Croatia, Estonia // 2022 // 15:58 min
Animation
A burial takes place in the rain. People cry. A woman has too much wine, fries up some goldfish – and then the whole flat catches fire. A dark, quirky animated film about a headstrong woman thrown for a loop by a death.
[CW: Death]
Lu Hu // China // 2022 // 16:15 min
Experimental, Live Action
A close-up view of a rooster. Hens in the yard. A cock posing before a waterfall. Eggs on conveyor belts. Hens in paintings. The poetry of egg-laying, in 16 transfixing minutes.
Jan Koester / Lisa Violetta Gaß // Germany // 2022 // 07:30 min
Animation, Documentary, Experimental
"My mother started drinking when I was eight." This is a story of lost trust, toxic relationships and the seeming impossibility of interpersonal connection to others.
[CW: psychological violence, abuse in the family]
Hoda Taheri // Germany // 2023 // 19:00 min
Live Action
Desperate in their attempts to gain asylum in Germany, an Iranian couple sets off down a drastic path: maybe they will be able to stay if the wife has a child with a white German man. Is the price they pay for this too high?
Benjamin Kramme // Germany // 2023 // 12:24 min
Live Action
What to do when your daughter has bad pneumonia? Stay true to the nationalist ideology of your community and keep singing songs – or take little Sieglinde to the hospital? Freyja makes a far-reaching decision.
[CW: physical and psychological violence, blood]
Federico Turani // Poland, Saudi Arabia // 2023 // 05:58 min
Animation
Frank Dommy is a superman. Smart, rich, spoiled by success. Yep, Frank leads the perfect life. Or not, after all? The answer awaits in Bubble Tea Land.
Jeremy Oury // France // 2023 // 05:00 min
Animation, Experimental
"Exo-Cortex 2.0" is an invitation to feel free, guided by a voice that plunges us into a dreamlike and hypnotic introspection. This immersive work proposes a dreamlike journey to the spectators through a poetic and enchanting composition of space.
Lilian Maximillian Nabaggala // Uganda // 2022 // 07:26 min
Experimental
A mirror in the landscape. Light skin as an ideal beauty standard. The psychological consequences. "Who am I?" A question whose answer fades.
[CW: skin-tone trauma]
Leonardo Martinelli // Brazil // 2021 // 20:00 min
Live Action
In a Brazilian megacity, João delivers things 24/7, from food to medicine to shoes. Singing and dancing with other cyclists, he voices criticism towards his job.
[CW: racism]
Michael Dudok de Wit / Arjan Wilschut // Netherlands // 2000 // 09:00 min
Animation
A father bids his daughter farewell and leaves. But as time passes the deep-seated vacuum left by his departure only grows inside her.
Vivien Hárshegyi // Hungary // 2022 // 13:32 min
Animation
For fear of getting hurt, a girl rebuffs the love of her youth. Inside, she gazes into the future: What will first love be like? Between rejection and butterflies in her stomach, her emotions are going haywire.
Amir Masoud Soheili // Afghanistan, Iran // 2018 // 15:00 min
Live Action
The last wish of an old Afghan man is to give his "elephant-bird" (turkey) to his grandchild.
[CW: violence, death]
Jorge Cadena // Colombia, Switzerland // 2022 // 15:20 min
Live Action
A portrait of queer activists in Northern Colombia: in extravagant performative actions, they call out the disastrous exploitation practiced by the country's largest coalmine. The outfits rate a solid 10/10.
[CW: queerphobia, physical violence]
Adriaan Lokman // Netherlands, France // 2019 // 15:30 min
Animation, Experimental
Floating like leaves in the air, we experience the most important element that surrounds us. Brushstrokes of air in all its subtle, gentle and powerful manifestations paint our fragile existence in the most unpredictable, stormy way.
Wilfredo Casas // Germany // 2023 // 07:03 min
Live Action
On his way home from a grinding day at the office, a stranger on a train platform warns Thomas in sign language that someone will soon try to trick him into handing over sensitive work-related data. Conspiracy or truth?
Zénó Mira // Hungary // 2023 // 07:48 min
Animation
An aristocratic garden party, a baroque castle in an idyllic setting, fine dining, an exuberant atmosphere. But steel cages are arrayed here too, containing animals brought for a specific purpose: so-called fox tossing.
[CW: violence against animals]
Sejad Ademaj // Germany // 2022 // 13:05 min
Live Action
Jasmina wants to go on the class trip but her immigration status won't allow it. The doorbell rings: her boyfriend, she thinks, but it's the cops instead, declaring she and her family have to leave Germany in 15 minutes.
[CW: police violence, suicide]
Zhen Li // United States // 2022 // 06:36 min
Animation, Experimental
A girl in a classroom. Thoughts wander. Bodies fly through the air. Crazy.
Lucie Grannec // France // 2022 // 08:36 min
Animation
Furries are lovers of anthropomorphic animals. Full-body costumes are as much a part of the community's practices as fanart and conventions... This essayistic provides insight.
Vasco Sá / David Doutel // Portugal // 2022 // 14:08 min
Animation
A Garrano horse is forced to pull a heavy load under a blazing sun. Young boy Joel helps his father gather junk in the woods, for recycling. He discovers a man who is about to set a forest on fire.
Jorge TERESO / Fernando MALDONADO // France // 2020 // 16:00 min
Animation
Narrated by Colin Farrell, Gloomy Eyes tells the story of the sun who got tired of the humans and decided to hide and never rise again.
Ovsanna Shekoyan // Armenia // 2021 // 15:12 min
Live Action
A child collapses during gym class, then subsequently loses consciousness. Everything has to go quickly: to the hospital as fast as possible. As the ambulance races, there's no time for a breather. What happened?
[CW: death]
Lan Zhou / Chiayu Liu / Denise Cirone / Andrey Kolesov / Zhen Tian / Sebastian Doringer // France // 2022 // 06:22 min
Animation
A respected chef takes his son along to the fish market and shows him his craft, but the boy doesn't seem interested. The child acts increasingly weirder, as their relationship plunges the father into a crisis of faith.
Joshua Neubert // Germany // 2022 // 19:45 min
Live Action
Oliwia tries to help refugees in the highly militarised area between Poland and Belarus by placing food at the edge of the forest. When injured Hamid appears, she finds herself confronted with an inhumane system.
[CW: physical violence]
Tamara Shogaolo // Netherlands, Egypt // 2017 // 12:00 min
Animation, Documentary
After a traumatic encounter, a young, gay Egyptian joins the LGBT rights movement. When his safety is jeopardized, he must choose whether to stay in the country he loves or seek asylum elsewhere as a refugee. HALF A LIFE is a timely story of activism and hope, set in the increasingly dangerous, oppressive, and unstable social climate of Egypt today.
Total Refusal // Austria // 2022 // 20:00 min
Documentary, Experimental
Putting the spotlight on the very characters that usually remain in the background in video games: NPCs. Here, non-player characters and their routines become a metaphor for capitalist work culture.
Kim Allamand // Switzerland // 2022 // 20:00 min
Live Action
Does true love really exist? And what makes for a good relationship? Over a single summer night, the protagonists flirt, go on dates or to couples therapy, dance or practice kissing with apricots. And everything flows.
Soda Jerk // Australia // 2022 // 68:58 min
Experimental
Hello Dankness satirizes the psychotropic spectacle of American politics from 2016 to 2021 in hundreds of film samples. The film follows a neighborhood through these years in the guise of a suburban stoner musical. Consensus reality dissolves into conspiracies and other contagions. Hotdogs debate the culture wars, dumpsters preach QAnon, zombies gather for revolution and real-life events are recast as Broadway smash hits from Cats, Les Miserables, Annie and The Phantom of the Opera. There is singing and dancing, moments of menace and melancholy, shitposting and deep sincerity.
Lenth: 69 min
Babetida Sadjo // Belgium, Guinea-Bissau // 2022 // 18:10 min
Live Action
A young woman learns that her father, who raped both her and her sister, has received a shockingly mild sentence for his crimes. She goes to him, seeking confrontation. An impressive, intense film that rouses anger.
[CW: physical, psychological, and sexual violence, death]
Gazelle Samizay // United States // 2019 // 08:00 min
Experimental, Live Action
An Afghan American girl navigates the demands of her cultures as she wanders a surreal world, only to find herself ensnared by strange, masked figures who demand her conformity.
Yann Gonzalez // England // 2022 // 22:18 min
Live Action
Pop star Oliver Sim is the main guest on a talk show that soon descends into a surreal journey of love, shame and blood. A three-part musical short film. All in 80s retro aesthetics. And a top-class cast!
Salar Pashtoonyar // Afghanistan // 2022 // 08:00 min
Documentary, Live Action
An Afghan woman delves deep into her experiences that forced her to the edge of her society.
Simone Fiorentino // Italy // 2023 // 08:51 min
Animation, Documentary
Since the bombs fell, nothing has been the same. And yet life goes on, the stores are open and people cling to every bit of normality. A young man reports from a nameless city.
[CW: post-war trauma]
Marta Gómez / Paula Iglesias // Spain // 2022 // 15:22 min
Documentary
Women speak of systematic exploitation: while the men go out to sea, the women stay home and repair fishing nets. A maid raises the children of others and finds herself with no time for her own.
Shari Mwanika // Uganda // 2023 // 14:37 min
Live Action
Can mother and daughter both really express their sexuality when they live under one roof? It's not easy to maintain the "perfect" image – but maybe it's not even necessary at all?
Jan-Dirk Bouw // Netherlands // 2013 // 12:27 min
Animation, Documentary
A soccer hooligan loves his club unconditionally. But when you’re gay, you’ll probably better off keeping quiet in world that’s dear to you.
Julian Glander // United States // 2021 // 01:13 min
Non-Narrative
A dreaming figure rides a bicycle through the woods. It's an eerie autumn day – and the moon is full. Then a hungry wolf enters the scenery.
Lukas Kacinauskas // Lithuania // 2021 // 21:00 min
Live Action
Max goes on a date with another guy Tadas whom he met online. Max feels uncomfortable and timid so Tadas decides to act on his own initiative. He tries to get to know Max as they embark on a night ride around the city but Max is evasive to talk about himself. Max feels torn between his emotions and Tadas’ pressure. Eventually he breaks down and reveals his true identity.
Gabriel Bihina Arrahnio // Germany // 2022 // 22:51 min
Live Action
Summery and light, a tragic love story begins between two young men from Ghana. Sam has lived a while in Germany with his mom, Kwesi and his mom are waiting for residency permits. Together they can escape for a moment.
Mona Okulla Obua // Germany // 2022 // 16:55 min
Experimental, Live Action
This Afro-surrealist tale of two Black German women whose paths meet through hair-braiding fuses storytelling and cineastic poetry. In the intimacy of the situation, themes like identity and spirituality find expression.
Robert-Jonathan Koeyers // Netherlands // 2022 // 15:00 min
Animation
The fragmented portrait of a moment that would significantly change the lives of everyone present; told from the memories of the young girl Imani and the police officer David.
Thùy Trang Nguyễn // Germany // 2021 // 34:09 min
Live Action
JACKFRUIT tells the story of Mít, a gender-fluid person who is part of the Vietnamese diaspora and queer Berlin. Before Mít has the courage to move out, Grandma Roan is diagnosed with Alzheimer's. When Roan starts to forget things, memories of her distant homeland Vietnam fade as well... Mít sets out to find the connection between their two identities they thought were incompatible.
Patience Nitumwesiga // Uganda // 2022 // 15:00 min
Live Action
Ever just wanted to go home from the bar but gotten robbed and thrown into a parallel world instead? What happens to these two sisters… well, you'll just have to see for yourself.
Ananda Safo // France // 2021 // 11:50 min
Animation, Documentary
Masturbation as self-empowerment: In "Jouir (en solitaire)" different women give an intimate testimony about how much power can lie in playing with one's own desire and one's own body.
Boris Gavrilović // Germany // 2023 // 18:35 min
Live Action
Vacationing Martina just wants to join German tourists and be inconspicuous. She’s annoyed when confident, non-conformist Dunja reminds her of her Yugoslav roots. At first painful, this turns out to be quite liberating.
Gülce Besen Dilek // Germany // 2023 // 08:35 min
Animation
The way in which we learn to perceive and interpret people and their facial features is also part of our adolescence. Which experiences leave traces on the face and soul? Which experiences are behind our own expressions?
Marta Magnuska // Latvia, Poland // 2022 // 07:00 min
Animation
A couple, drawn in charcoal, hangs in the living room, as a gecko looks on. She does yoga, he plays with his phone. Things get even tinier in the tiny room, then really big and vaguely cosmic, before one of them leaves.
Collectif Faire-part // Belgium, Congo, Germany // 2022 // 14:30 min
Documentary, Experimental
Filmmakers Paul Shemisi and Nizar Saleh recall a trip to Germany, where they were meant to present their new film, before a layover in Angola devolved into a truly hellish ordeal.
[CW: unjust incarceration]
Tomas Cali // France // 2023 // 09:20 min
Animation, Documentary
Life as a transgender immigrant in Paris. A new language. And drawing lessons – featuring Linda, a transgender nude model. The realisation hits: When I draw you, I'm also drawing myself.
Manon Tacconi // France // 2023 // 04:40 min
Animation
At a party, Jess witnesses one of her friends getting sexually harassed. The next day at the beach, she carefully tries to talk to Alana about the incident.
[CW: sexualised violence]
David Valero // Spain // 2023 // 13:50 min
Live Action
How exciting can everyday life actually be? Amid family relations and generational conflict, "La historia interminable" depicts a congenial working-class family from Spain.
Carlos Velandia // Colombia // 2022 // 07:20 min
Animation, Experimental
Women in cinema history: in bed, in the shower or at the vanity, staged and montaged by male directors. A collage of the male gaze.
[CW: for epilepsy]
Cyrus Neshvad // Luxembourg // 2022 // 17:38 min
Live Action
A 16-year-old arrives in Luxemburg – alone – for an arranged marriage. She shows great bravery, refusing to exit the airport's security zone. For, beyond its boundaries, her forced "fiancée" awaits.
[CW: psychological violence]
Aria Azizi // Germany, Afghanistan // 2018 // 14:55 min
Live Action
On the run. The contractions of pregnant Darya are getting stronger and stronger. The only one who could help her is the doctor Rahman. But Darya's husband won't allow a man to touch his wife.
[CW: birth, migration trauma]
Stenzin Tankong // France, India // 2022 // 14:00 min
Live Action
A shepherd wearing unmistakably chic glasses hears a mysterious sound coming from the Himalayan peaks. The villagers aren't convinced the spooky hum is worth investigating, but that doesn't dampen his curiosity.
Alice Brygo // France // 2022 // 16:13 min
Animation, Documentary
A digitized crowd of stunned onlookers stands frozen: Paris is being burned to the ground, before their very eyes. A nebulous fear spreads, more significant than one's own self.
[CW: Rascism]
Lewie Kloster / Noah Kloster // United States // 2019 // 03:26 min
Animation
A little bike-shop wisdom: cycling pants alone won't make you an Olympic champion. And: the best bike is one that's ridden.
Mandana Ferdos // France // 2023 // 16:06 min
Documentary
In memories, we stroll through Paris, through Iran, over beaches, through the night. A highly personal journey treating female servitude in one's homeland, isolation during the pandemic, and the disappearance of cinema.
[CW: suicide, self harm, femicide and misogyny]
Florian Dilloo / Sacha Calame / Sacha Calame // France, Reunion // 2021 // 07:06 min
Animation
The orchids in a young woman's garden trigger memories of a traumatic experience she suffered when a barkeeper slipped roofies into her drink in order to rape her.
[CW: knockout drops, sexual violence]
Rodger Werkhoven / Arno Coenen // Netherlands // 2023 // 05:26 min
Animation, Experimental
Creepy clown-like AI figures address the viewer directly – painting a grim portrait of the future. Could actors soon be replaced by artificial intelligence?
ATSUHIKO KOMEDA // Japan // 2022 // 06:16 min
Animation
Maki, Yari and El don't just plant cabbage on their farm. They sing about it too – in the local heavy-metal band. Here, one profession inspires the other.
Ann Afrie Nassanga // Uganda // 2021 // 20:00 min
Documentary
Dr. Faith Nangiro disrupted the tradition of child marriage at the age of five – today she practices medicine and is a role model for young women in Uganda. Who is this heroine?
Ellinor Hallin / Ellen Fiske // Sweden // 2022 // 19:59 min
Documentary
When children in Sweden call BRIS, it means they're experiencing an emergency – whether it is a dead pet or violent parents. Sara, Niclas and Louisa help them the best they can.
[CW: Physical and sexual violence toward children]
Andrés Mossos // Colombia // 2022 // 15:09 min
Live Action
How do you go about fulfilling your dreams when the future seems hopeless? Pollo gets a gun and wants to pose with it – who can blame him? Should he have known that it's supposed to bring bad luck?
[CW: physical violence, death]
Eugenia Bakurin // Germany // 2022 // 03:34 min
Music Video
The footage here is drawn from the archive of Odesa Film Studio: today, like many other cultural monuments in Ukraine, it is in danger of being destroyed by the Russian army.
JI-SIAN WANG // Taiwan // 2022 // 06:10 min
Animation, Experimental
This film is about life and death, pain and suffering cows from being stunned by electric shock before slaughter. Mass eating Of meat of these animals is breaking the law of the universe and becoming a weird black hole-like of reincarnation.
Andrés Bartos Amory / Lucija Stojevic // Spain, England // 2023 // 04:59 min
Animation
On a fishing boat loaded with people fleeing for their lives, a Rohingya remembers a song from his childhood. In his memories, he searches for the reasons for his flight and for the place of his future.
Grégory Carnoli / Thibaut Wohlfahrt // Belgium // 2022 // 20:00 min
Live Action
Stéphane returns to his hometown in Wallonia to watch a football match with his mates. They talk him into partying, but he's turned away at the Flemish night club.
[CW: police violence, racism]
Emma Branderhorst // Netherlands // 2023 // 19:00 min
Live Action
Kees has big plans: she wants to move to France for her university studies. Alas, on the trip there she realises that her mother is not quite ready to say goodbye yet.
Samira Karimi // Iran // 2023 // 10:00 min
Live Action
When two lesbian students are caught by a CCTV camera, consequences suddenly loom as their parents are to be summoned to the school. Undaunted, the two come up with a novel idea.
Malin Ingrid Johansson // Sweden // 2023 // 12:51 min
Live Action
Young Madden lives on a farm, where she has to help out a lot. Heading out in secret to attend a party, she makes an unexpected decision.
Timmi Kwaku Davis // Germany // 2023 // 18:22 min
Live Action
Manuel grew up in socially disadvantaged circumstances with his single mother. On his biological father's 51st birthday, Manuel breaks into his penthouse apartment. He is to atone for the harm he has done to him and his mother. A heated argument breaks out, but eventually a door opens up: Blackness and masculinity play as much a role as overcoming intergenerational trauma.
[CW: Physical Violence]
Mohammad Valizadegan // Czech Republic, Germany // 2023 // 20:33 min
Live Action
Saba has a passion: she wants to dance. However, dancing is forbidden in the strictly religious country where she lives. Her conflict becomes a portrait of daily oppression.
Michele Tozzi // Italy // 2023 // 03:25 min
Animation, Documentary
The world in big hands: "Manimondo" is a playful metaphor for the impact that decisions made by individuals can have on the planet.
Lucas Malbrun // France // 2023 // 18:00 min
Animation
Leipzig 1989, shortly before the collapse of the Eastern Bloc: Margarethe rebels against the East German regime and ends up in a psychiatric clinic. Though revolution is in the air, the secret police are more present than ever.
[CW: psychological violence]
Asarela Orchidia Dewi // Germany // 2022 // 18:55 min
Live Action
Triggered by an old family photo, Azka begins to retrace their childhood in Indonesia. As they revisit long-forgotten memories, Azka discovers unresolved pains they never knew existed. Parents were at times awkward, at times ignorant in accepting Azka's trans*/non-binary gender. This experience marks the beginning of a journey that leads to profound self-acceptance.
[CW: Misgendering]
Mathias Krebser // Germany // 2023 // 01:49 min
Non-Narrative
A narrator with a grudge against mountain-bikers goes walking in the woods. But he has a plan: a trap made of branches and tree limbs!
David Robinson-Smith // Australia // 2022 // 12:25 min
Live Action
Two characters cross paths, one has to endure abuse in the process. How responsible is the other? How do they deal with guilt? How to get off the hamster wheel, or process trauma? And how is it all connected in the end?
[CW: physical violence, suicide]
Maisha Maene // Congo // 2022 // 14:00 min
Live Action
An afronaut climbs from the wreckage of a spaceship in the volcano crater of the Congolese mountain Nyiragongo. His visit to the nearby town causes a stir. How would you react?
Jack Turits // Hungary, United States // 2023 // 09:36 min
Live Action
Three government officials let two refugees decide who gets a shot at citizenship, via duel. Both are given a weapon and told to commence shooting on the count of three. Whoever survives gets to sing the national anthem.
[CW: racism, death]
Isabella Margara // Greece // 2022 // 17:02 min
Live Action
Trouble in a seafood restaurant: the catch has been poor, and everyone is praying for a miracle. When the whole team puts together a performance of a fisherman's yarn, fate smiles and a dolphin finds its way into their net!
Mikko Makela // Finland, England // 2023 // 14:00 min
Live Action
During a one-night stand it becomes apparent that the ideas of cinematographic representations of love of a filmmaker and a cineaste go further apart than expected.
Nikolett Fábián // Hungary // 2022 // 05:14 min
Animation, Experimental
Fog slowly drifts through the almost empty halls of a swimming pool. The few guests gather at the large windows and watch the last light of the day. Slowly, the world begins to change.
Aylin Gökmen // Switzerland // 2023 // 18:30 min
Documentary
Vakıf, a Kurdish man who grew up in a nomadic tribe in the mountains of southeast Turkey, recalls moments from his youth that have shaped his life – memories that include his mother, first love, and mistreatment by the police.
[CW: torture]
Spartak Yordanov // Bulgaria // 2022 // 07:07 min
Animation, Experimental
Coincidence, all just pure coincidence. This grim animation treats personality loss. To what extent are we caught on the hamster wheel, or is it a form of collective consciousness instead? Food for thought.
Pauline Picard // France // 2023 // 05:32 min
Live Action
A creepy earworm is haunting Edith, in the form of a rabbit-eared man wearing a pink shirt. Whether she's in the shower or at her desk, at the bus stop, in the cinema or in bed with a lover – he just won't leave her alone.
[CW: Suicide]
Klaus Hoefs // Germany // 2023 // 04:56 min
Animation
No tootling with the poodle. No waggling with the wiener dog. Enough! It's off to the Baltic Sea – sorry: Baltic Shea.
Morgane Frund // Switzerland // 2022 // 19:06 min
Documentary
Editing footage for a project, a female director discovers that bears were not the only protagonists the amateur cameraman has recorded. A discussion about the power of the male gaze ensues.
[CW: sexism, sexualized violence, and voyeurism]
Eli Jean Tahchi // Quebec, Germany // 2023 // 20:00 min
Documentary
Back on Jamaica, his queer identity was something to be concealed. But in the company of a very special rugby team in Munich, Desmond finds the courage to be himself.
Camille Lugan // France // 2022 // 13:00 min
Live Action
Bike messenger Julie's running late. She's got to make up 11 minutes to get paid her bonus. Night after night, she rushes through Paris, while her relationship to Tom suffers.
Florian Felix Koch // Germany // 2020 // 13:32 min
Documentary
Pro BMX rider Markus tells his story in an attempt to process a physical assault that nearly cost him his life. Alas, it also taught him what makes him happy: riding BMX bikes.
[CW: childhood trauma, suicide]
Jenni Pystynen / Perttu Inkilä // Finland // 2023 // 12:00 min
Documentary, Experimental
A firefly has a scant few weeks to mate during its lifetime. Better be quick then – if only it weren't for humans and their infernal light pollution! Insane close-up shots from the insect kingdom.
Kilian Feusi / Jessica Meier / Sujanth Ravichandran // Switzerland // 2022 // 04:03 min
Animation
Bob is a plumber and is called out on a job. The surprise is big when he finds himself in a gay fetish club.
Daniel Soares // Portugal, Switzerland // 2022 // 14:00 min
Experimental, Live Action
The idyllic Swiss setting contrasts sharply with the stressful routine of a Portuguese cleaning woman: her boss, a property renter, is a jerk, the guests too, and her daughter is moody. And she's just expected to deal…
Carolin Glomp // Germany // 2022 // 05:00 min
Live Action
Nature calls the shy intern and the determined CEO. Simultaneously. "Big business", if you know what we mean. Who will dare to go first?
Laen Sanches // France // 2022 // 01:37 min
Documentary, Experimental
Compelling images of sea creatures, mutilated or entangled in plastic, edited dynamically and set to classical music. Anyone who still litters after watching this should stub their little toe every night before bed.
Samir Arabzadeh // Sweden, Philippines // 2022 // 14:30 min
Documentary
Who hasn't dreamt of taking a powernap at work? In the Philippines it's no problem at all. Whether sales people, fast food workers or seamsters and seamstresses – everyone dozes off here briefly.
Ewan Macbeth // Netherlands // 2022 // 13:00 min
Documentary, Experimental
An unseen narrator recounts his experience of wrongful imprisonment in an unnamed country, and his sudden release. Based on a nightmarish letter sent to Amnesty International, and a surreal interview with its writer on freedom and coincidence.
[CW: incarceration, torture]
Isaac Wenzek / Trinidad Plass Caussade / Titouan Tillier // France // 2023 // 03:30 min
Animation
Seriously, who came up with the brilliant idea for "human resources"? At least it's smart to give 21st-century workers titles that reflect their real treatment under capitalism. This French film takes the term literally.
Anna Ilin // Germany // 2022 // 14:40 min
Live Action, Commercial Work
Freedom, fetish … love? Bea has a special relationship to her Golf Cabrio. When a couple teens spray-paint penises on her car, she has to get out of the city. The open road brings peace of mind and unexpected encounters.
Maxime MICHEL // France // 2021 // 03:17 min
Experimental
Super 8 footage and expressive dance: nature vs. city, nature in the city. In the midst of everything: an encounter between two individuals. Magic happens. And even more dancing.
Benon Mugumbya / Julius Kwazze // Uganda // 2021 // 14:19 min
Live Action
Greed, friendship and a typical street-food dish in Uganda: "Rolex" is a bloody and brief stick-'em-up romp that features an almost fairly-tale-like message.
[CW: murder and blood]
David Fidalgo // Spain // 2022 // 11:00 min
Animation
David leads a happy life with his Sandwich Cat until an alien posesses its body and he is plummeted into a fast-paced, hilarious vortex involving the very existence of humanity.
Naseeba Bagalaaliwo // Uganda // 2021 // 06:41 min
Animation
How much identity does one's own hair harbour? What role does hair play in how we define ourselves? A young African woman's conflict regarding femininity and personal identity.
Maija Blåfield // Finland // 2023 // 16:00 min
Documentary, Experimental
Staged scene or reality? Is a bear really just coincidentally sitting here in the primeval Finnish forest eating berries? "Scenic View" destroys the illusion of the wildlife film.
Cana Bilir-Meier // Germany // 2013 // 07:20 min
Documentary, Experimental
In her essayistic documentary, Cana Bilir-Meier assembles fragments of poems, television reports and sound recordings into a cinematic memory of her aunt Semra Ertan: She came to Germany in 1972 as a migrant worker, worked as a technical draftswoman and interpreter, and wrote over 350 poems. She died in Hamburg in 1982 at the age of 25, burning herself to death in protest against racism in Germany.
[CW: racism, suicide]
Lia Campbell // Kenya, Northern Ireland // 2023 // 09:59 min
Live Action
A queer couple is faced with a choice, when Shee's girlfriend gets pregnant. Do they really want to have a family together? A discussion ensues.
Christian Zetterberg // Sweden // 2021 // 09:11 min
Live Action
After a heated training match with the team, twelve-year-old Viggo and Noel go home to challenge each other's limits and masculinity. A sudden stop to an innocent game questions what a male friendship is allowed to be.
Aziz Zoromba // Quebec // 2022 // 24:00 min
Live Action
Brothers Simo and Emad are rivals. When Simo secretly goes live on Emad's online-gaming channel and indulges in an ill-advised joke, the game becomes dead serious.
Samad Alizadeh // Iran // 2023 // 10:00 min
Live Action
Iranian protagonist Helia has turned 13 – for her parents, that means she is not allowed to ride a bike anymore. When her father plans to sell her cycle to the neighbour boy, the girl rebels against rigid gender roles.
Jessica Laurén // Sweden // 2023 // 09:00 min
Animation
Storms that rage for days, flooded cellars, forest fires on holiday: Even in this darkly humorous animation, climate change has long been a reality, but the only one who seems to be paying any attention is a young girl.
George Stamos // Canada // 2022 // 06:44 min
Documentary
Archie Burnett, the "grandfather" of the New York ballroom "House of Ninja", speaks candidly about his career,with all its ups and downs.
Sarnt Utamachote // Germany // 2021 // 21:44 min
Documentary
What does it mean to listen while being vulnerable? Following the concept "music as a gift", four Berlin-based migrant queer musicians surprised their close friends or relatives with a special song, which then triggered a moment of deep appreciation between them. This film documents that process of them opening up and letting go.
Antonio Donato // Italy, England // 2023 // 19:56 min
Live Action
Sardinia in pastels, rigid camera angles and the occasional zoom: a certain aesthetic influence on Antonio Donato's creative process is unmistakeable. But the idol could learn a thing or two about depth from the admirer.
Collectif Faire-part // Belgium, Congo // 2022 // 10:00 min
Documentary, Experimental
Demolition of a monument. The poet Marie Paule Mugeni has prepared a speech, for the day on which a statue of the colonial ruler Leopold II is to be removed in Brussels.
Âni Võ // Germany // 2022 // 29:33 min
Live Action
In her mother's nail salon, 11-year-old Linh begins a tender friendship with young Vietnamese employee Mai, who will soon need her help to hide from human traffickers that are exploiting her. Linh shows solidarity with Mai and rebels against her mother, who knows what’s going on but cannot revolt against it due to her own entanglement in the system.
[CW: Physical Violence]
Gijs Kast // Netherlands // 2022 // 02:20 min
Animation, Experimental
Electrifying in black and white: the collaboration between dancer and musician is palpable. If only we were able to experience the film on the cinema screen, with proper sound…
[CW: strobe light]
Juliette Van Ardenne // Netherlands // 2023 // 10:39 min
Live Action
A mother who lost touch with herself after the birth of a child struggles to regain some semblance of mental health. A thriller about a young woman whose pregnancy pushes her to the edge of psychosis.
Noah Sheldon // China // 2018 // 04:12 min
Documentary
50 to 60 polystyrene boxes fit on her bike without tipping – a shaky affair. A look at the life of an itinerant labourer in Shanghai, who ekes out a living selling styrofoam boxes.
Jeroen Annokkée // Netherlands // 2010 // 07:30 min
Live Action
Bert's scantily dressed neighbour comes by to borrow a cup of sugar. When she lets the cup slip and they both try to catch it, destiny strikes.
Nils Balleydier // France // 2022 // 04:26 min
Animation
Playful sibling rivalry and a flock of watchful birds in the snow. Who is copying who?
Jens Rosemann // Germany // 2021 // 03:33 min
Animation
Today is the day: Sven is going to jump off the high dive at the outdoor pool. Although… maybe tomorrow would be better? Or next week? Does look pretty high. Better go get some French fries first.
Máté Boegi // Denmark // 2023 // 17:00 min
Live Action
Audio engineer Willem came to Denmark's west coast with his girlfriend to record typical beach sounds. But then he hears a man and woman having sex – and one of the voices sounds oddly familiar…
/ Nieto // France // 2021 // 12:00 min
Animation
The grandiloquent blood-and-thunder saga of a young child lost in Manchuria’s deep jungles. His sudden presence creates complete anarchy in the fauna’s world, which was until-then perfectly organized.
sara priorelli / Maria Zilli // Italy // 2022 // 04:52 min
Animation
Revenge in the "Sweet Dreams" motel: things get bloody in the pool when a hotel employee is no longer able to bear the constant humiliation.
[CW: murder, blood, sexual violence]
Victor Lindgren // Sweden // 2013 // 14:30 min
Live Action
Mikaela has undergone a gender-affirmation procedure. One night at a bar she meets a guy who goes home with her. In "Undress Me" sexual objectification becomes a 'playing doctors' situation, each person wanting the other to take the first step towards sex. A film about our notions of masculinity and femininity, and how we come into existence through the way others see us.
Gustavo Vokos // Brazil, Peru // 2022 // 18:25 min
Live Action
Deep in the Peruvian Andes, thousands of individuals come together to solve their problems in violent one-on-one show-downs. This is meant to restore social equilibrium. What twists of fate have brought a father here?
[CW: animal cruelty, physical violence, homophobia]
Elizabeth Sargent // United States // 2023 // 15:45 min
Live Action
During a video call, Emily sees her mentally challenged sister Anna alone with her dead mother and is unable to grasp the situation. She comes back home from New York – and must relearn to engage with Anna's perspective.
Kantarama Gahigiri // Rwanda, Switzerland // 2023 // 09:51 min
Live Action
Cobalt, cassiterite or silicon? Mining minerals has become essential in many areas – as they become indispensable in our smartphones or laptops. An artful production about the dark sides of globalization.
Soda Jerk // Australia // 2018 // 54:00 min
Experimental
Part political satire, eco-horror and road movie, Terror Nullius is a 54-minute political revenge fable. It hitches a ride into the dark heart of Australia, to apocalyptic desert camps and where bicentenary celebrations of the colony are ravaged by carnivorous sheep. Working against official nationalist mythologies, the feature film remix has been called "one of the best Australian films of the decade" by The Guardian, a "dizzying, ambitiously satirical work".
Lea Vidakovic // Croatia, France, Serbia // 2023 // 14:35 min
Animation
What could a quiet afternoon in an aristocratic villa have looked like just prior to the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire? In this take, a brother pays a visit with extended family, disturbing domestic tranquillity.
Christen Bach // Denmark, Germany, Netherlands // 2023 // 04:55 min
Animation
Under water, there is no consensus among the mythical creatures whether the weird, enormous technological snake on the sea floor is a good omen or not. They debate the matter in song.
Chihying Musquiqui // Germany, Taiwan, Togo // 2021 // 22:00 min
Documentary, Promotional Work
Togolese photographers are testing devices that can compensate for insufficient exposure when shooting dark skin tones. A newly developed face camera algorithm is very popular on the African continent. And in addition: the production of a kung fu movie with a computer-generated voice of Bruce Lee.
[CW: discrimination, racism]
Morten Arnfred // Denmark, Norway // 2022 // 06:52 min
Experimental
What image does the phrase "lump of meat" evoke? A uniform mass of flesh or several pieces joined to form a lump? Is the human body a lump? What about many bodies, taken together?
[CW: blood]
Nienke Deutz // Belgium, France, Netherlands // 2023 // 14:54 min
Animation
Irma, whose desire to have a kid has gone unfulfilled, would love to finally relax at this 5-star hotel. Alas, she's surrounded by pregnant women. Is her plan for regeneration ruined? A sensitive animation with depth.
Simone Smith // Scotland // 2023 // 17:00 min
Experimental, Live Action
This one is trippy: stuck in a car with the dysfunctional family on the way to a wedding – bloody hell! Mother, father, daughter, son – in a quirky psycho-horror trip chock full of mutual bashing.
[CW: Drugs, Strobe Lights]
Junha Kim // South Korea, United States // 2023 // 06:54 min
Animation, Experimental
In this experiment, inspired by Donna Haraway's "Cyborg Manifesto", the boundary between human bodies and technical devices is fluid.
Fazila Amiri // Canada, Afghanistan // 2020 // 12:30 min
Live Action
Set in contemporary Afghanistan, a red bicycle opens two windows into the world of two Afghan women.
[CW: violence , sexism, war]
Lajaward Haqiqi // Afghanistan // 2013 // 03:34 min
Animation
How listening to music is a legitimate need of all human beings, and for the people of Afghanistan.
[CW: war]
Natalie Cubides-brady // England // 2023 // 12:54 min
Documentary, Experimental
"Dear Ida, yesterday I got lost in the smog. It envelops everything. The suffocation is everywhere." "The Veiled City" poetically links industrialisation with a post-apocalyptic future.
Volker Schlecht // Germany // 2023 // 15:35 min
Animation, Documentary
This work features gripping voice-over narration by biologist Karen Lips, who spent years in Costa Rica, among other places, where she witnessed the disappearance of entire frog species. One dark side of globalisation.
Cosima Frei // Germany, Switzerland // 2023 // 17:34 min
Live Action
What to do after a separation, before moving to a new city? Mena strolls around her Berlin hood one last time. Phone shop clerks and florists become conversation partners, offering relationship tips and worldly wisdom.
Claudius Gentinetta // Switzerland // 2022 // 06:00 min
Animation, Experimental
Strapped to the dentist's chair, a patient dreams himself into a fantastic story of the sea and of fishing. Will he be able to escape the pain this way?
Valia Phyllis Zwart // Norway // 2022 // 06:15 min
Experimental, Live Action
It's rarely a great idea to argue in a car, but sometimes you have no choice. Even worse when you end up missing the beautiful landscape – or leaving family members behind.
[CW: violence]
Junyi Xiao // China // 2022 // 08:42 min
Animation
An animated horror-veggie thriller! An accident introduces Lee to the concept of "tomato trafficking", forcing him to confront his own role. Sounds weird? It is! But tragic and super cool too. Really something special!
Jean-Baptiste Leonetti // France // 2023 // 28:00 min
Live Action
Veteran Sylvain steals Nathalie's car – complete with her toddler in a car seat. He decides to drive back, enabling the wealthy, stressed-out CEO mom and raging small-time criminal to enter into conversation.
Nasos Gatzoulis // Denmark, Greece, United States // 2022 // 10:00 min
Documentary
What is it like to grow up with a manipulative, gaslighting, brutal father? Magnus Alexander, a life coach from Copenhagen, speaks openly about the effects of toxic masculinity.
[CW: psychological violence]
Bruno Conti Wuilloud // Switzerland // 2023 // 06:00 min
Live Action
Adman Harry wants to lose weight – so he takes up yoga. Alas, he grossly underestimated the effects his new hobby would have: sadly, his newly gained universal human consciousness has downsides as well.
Nora Mandray // France, United States // 2015 // 08:48 min
Documentary
The female/trans/queer bicycle repair collective "Fender Bender" creates Detroit's first bike-sharing program. Their empowering community grows steadily, two wheels at a time.
[CW: racism, intersectional discrimination]
Benjamin Mwesigwa // Uganda // 2022 // 06:20 min
Animation
How can such big topics as "loss" or "being lost", which involve mental anguish, be depicted appropriately in just under six minutes? "Ttula" is a brief but moving journey.
[CW: suicide]
Jon Dunleavy // England // 2023 // 03:00 min
Animation
Artist vs. artificial intelligence – who will win and who will lose? An abstract battle.
Melanie Jilg // Germany // 2023 // 15:18 min
Animation, Experimental
Fear paralyses, fear unsettles, fear wrenches, fear intimidates, fear isolates, since no one notices it. And still, fear can move, it can give way and transform itself. Or, as we know too well, it can remain.
[CW: Suizidgedanken]
Jela Hasler // Switzerland // 2021 // 12:15 min
Live Action
A summer day in Zürich. Bathing in the river, at work, on the bus, on the street: everywhere she goes, Eli encounters men who treat her inappropriately.
[CW: sexism, intersectional discrimination]
Ali Loukman // Uganda // 2023 // 05:40 min
Live Action
Ubuntu and uppercuts: opposites attract. A man thrashes anything that gets in his way, with a single hand. His ex-wife is an Afro-samurai. Tarantino would be pleased.
Raphael Stalder / Leo Graf / Tanja Nuijten // Switzerland // 2022 // 02:42 min
Animation
A blue whale gone astray: first it leaps from a mountain lake, then it flies away with a hot-air balloon. And then?
Can Tanyol // Germany // 2023 // 18:35 min
Live Action
9-year-old Kenan is to be circumcised according to Muslim tradition. During the circumcision ceremony in Berlin-Kreuzberg, which his father Ibrahim organizes more for his own father than for Kenan, both are confronted with the question: What does it actually mean to be a man? Kenan's grandfather urges him to shoot a gun in the air. While Ibrahim argues with his father, Kenan runs away.
[CW: gun]
Petra Stipetić / Maren Wiese // Germany // 2023 // 12:30 min
Animation, Documentary
Red beets as the key to immortality? Centuries later the discoverer of this secret has morphed into a giant moustachioed heart and immortality is spreading like a virus: death is now not only avoidable, it's impossible.
Masego Lynia / Alfie Barker // England // 2022 // 12:28 min
Live Action
A mother and her kids flee and take refuge in a swimming pool, where they find a sense of freedom after hours. But that can only work for so long, and soon the family is forced to trust a stranger. Based on a true story.
Ming-Wei Chiang // Poland // 2023 // 17:30 min
Live Action
Selling ice-cream in the morning, working delivery in the evening, playing lover in between: in bustling Łódź, a man loses himself in the gig economy. It's tough to escape the daily grind of rough words and raw streets.
Popo Fan // Germany // 2022 // 14:19 min
Live Action
Hegel spoils a hook-up. Philosophy student Ping moved to Germany in the middle of the Covid-19 lockdown. He meets someone online and pays them a visit. An epiphany and an unknown liquid add up to a special evening.
Moritz Siebert // Germany, Ghana // 2023 // 17:41 min
Documentary
How are past events portrayed? Two buildings on two continents, built almost in the same year by the same family, a palace in Berlin and a fortress in Ghana. This film sheds light on two sides of colonial historiography.
[CW: torture, slavery]
Parwana Haydar // Germany // 2023 // 05:35 min
Experimental
A mother is lost in memories of the past, of a life once lived and a daughter that is left to catch up with a world she was never a part of.
Thi Dang An Tran // Germany // 2022 // 12:40 min
Animation, Documentary
Duy Em and her father Ba talk about an incident in which he was racially discriminated against. Duy Em asks why he didn't fight back and refuses to accept his resigned attitude. When Ba tells the story of his journey to Germany as a boat people, it becomes clear that his experiences over the last 40 years have had a huge impact on his perception of injustice.
Matea Kovač // Croatia // 2023 // 06:33 min
Animation
The International Competition program takes an explicit turn with this entry: Matea Kovač's animations draw from her memories – of sex with an ex-girlfriend.
Mahnas Sarwari // Germany // 2019 // 26:47 min
Live Action
Elaha wants to move out. During the day the young Afghan-German woman argues with her mother about her untidy room, at night she works in a club. Elaha is very quick-witted when it comes to dealing with people who annoy her, especially when she is constantly and everywhere confronted with her heritage Eventually she realizes that growing up involves responsibility, too.
Elham Ehsas // Afghanistan, England // 2023 // 12:49 min
Live Action
In Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, Laili enters a Kabul boutique to buy her first chadari. It quickly becomes evident that her "decision" to don the veil is the result of coercion.
Hao Zhao // France, China // 2023 // 11:30 min
Live Action
Chen Wenhui wants to be a goalie. But why actually? A vibrant reflection on a fateful decision early in life.
Ana Moreno Hernández // Mexico // 2023 // 16:35 min
Live Action
When Carmen has to open up to her partner Lucía, she has a panic attack. Two soccer commentators begin to analyze the situation...
[CW: childhood trauma]
Sebastian Valencia Muñoz // Colombia // 2022 // 18:00 min
Live Action
It's 1990 and gang-affiliated William takes his young son Jacobo out for a drive and they enjoy a lovely sunny day together. On the way home the day takes a dark turn and Jacobo’s life is changed forever.
[CW: physical violence, death]
Martin Weiss // Austria // 2023 // 11:33 min
Live Action
The reserved Julia has traveled to Vienna especially to surprise her sister Johanna at her vernissage. However at the feminist performance nothing seems to work as planned.
Arkadii Nepytaliuk // Ukraine // 2022 // 20:00 min
Live Action
Summer of '91 in the USSR. Time seems to pass more slowly at a summer camp. Young girls dream of golden leggings, while history is written in Moscow. Alas, the wind of change is blowing strong – towards the camp too.
Mel Sangyi Zhao // China, United States // 2022 // 17:20 min
Live Action
When cosmetic institute staff intrusively suggest that 50-year-old ex-dancer Bing consider vaginal rejuvenation surgery, she pushes back. Sharing a smoke with a teenage stranger, she grasps what truly keeps one young.
Chia-ying TSAI // Taiwan // 2022 // 18:27 min
Live Action
A relationship between master and pupil, mother and daughter, becomes entangled in mutual obsession. Genuine fear commingles with true horror.
[CW: breaking bones, blood]
Lei Lei // China // 2022 // 06:45 min
Animation, Experimental
People in the city, people on buses. They crowd around, they walk through the streets. Insects, silhouettes, sweat: an intimate portrait of a civilization under systematic observation.