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Short Films

Shorts I: FAMILY MATTERS

27 Nov @ Theatro Polis – NiMAC

 

Service

Mikko Mäkelä, 15', 2022, Finland

On furlough from his military service, Niko pays his estranged father a visit. Can old wounds heal?

 

Borekas

Saleh Saadi, 15', 2020, Palestine

A breakdown on the way to the airport provides a father and son with an opportunity to reconnect.

 

Too Rough

Sean Lìonadh, 15', 2022, UK

After a night of intoxication, a hungover and hysterical Nick wakes up next to his boyfriend Charlie and must conceal him from his own homophobic and dysfunctional family.

 

Will You Look at Me

Shuli Huang, 20', 2022, China

As a young Chinese filmmaker returns to his hometown in search for himself, a long due conversation with his mother dives the two of them into a quest for acceptance and love.

 

Let's Not Let Go Anymore

Alkisti Efthymiou, 13', 2021, Chile

In the midst of the social uprising and pandemic that is sweeping Chile, Alkisti (32), a Greek woman living in Santiago, and Mara (4), her flatmate’s daughter, are forced into progressive confinement. During this critical period, Alkisti decides to film the relational space she shares with Mara, revealing games, dialogues, and mutual concerns that will lead to a tale about femininity, survival, and collective care.

 

M(other)hood

Bea Goddard, 17', 2021, UK

A trans-masculine parent begins hormone treatment at 43. A film that deftly explores the shifting perceptions of their four children.

 

Tank Fairy

Erich Rettstadt, 10', 2021, Taiwan, USA

Once upon a time, the magical Tank Fairy delivered tanks of gas (with plenty of sass) to the home of young Jojo, a lonely dreamer in need of a glittery godmother…

Shorts II: DIFFICULT DREAMS

28 Nov @ Theatro Polis – NiMAC

 

Insieme Insieme

Bernardo Zanotta, 37', 2021, Italy

During their permanent vacation in the Italian lake region, a mysterious trio takes captive an innocent tourist.

 

Chaperone

Sam Max, 16', 2021, USA

An unnamed figure picks up a young man in his car. As the two drive together, and settle into an austere rental house in the country, the details of their arrangement become guttingly clear.

 

Exalted Mars

Jean-Sébastien Chauvin, 18', 2022, France

A man is dreaming of a city. Unless the city is dreaming of him.

 

Das Ding

Cade Moga, 12', 2021, Brazil

Das Ding takes the viewer on a poetic and visually striking 12-minute voyage, organized in 3 chapters: A stop-motion animated opening brings up philosophical questions like “Why do hollows matter, when hollows aren’t matter?” In the second chapter illustrations eerily morph into live action, building up to a fantastic final chapter where a vulnerable and violent personal story is enacted.

 

Erma

Angelos Charalambous, 13', 2021, Greece

Erma, neutral: Principles or motives which guide one’s behaviour or actions. A movie about gender, the body; and all of the interweaving moments found in their midst. The perpetual process and struggle of forming a gendered subjectivity against the repressive notions of heteronormativity is explored through an abstract narrative viewpoint and techniques found in stop-motion animation and body horror genre. From birth till death, the glitch in the code of patriarchy submits and resists, emerges through but is also confined by the "ghosts" of social discourse. With the use of heavy religious symbolism and an ironic and challenging attitude; "ERMA" highlights the contradictions of gender construction, both in the fields of solitary subjectivity as well as in relation to the dominant heteronormative narrative. Gender identity is a war taking place in the trenches of one’s body.

Shorts III: BOYS WILL BE BOYS

29 Nov @ Theatro Polis – NiMAC

 

Cosmopolitan

Moran Nakar, 8', 2020, Israel

Jacob goes out, for the first time in his life, to a gay party, but discovers that his skin color prevents him from being accepted into the community.

 

Naughty Spot

Jean Costa, 20', 2021, France

It’s Tonio’s first time in Corsica. He wanders across the island and on dating apps until stumbling upon the Oracle, a user who tells him about gay life in Corsica. Their conversation is reenacted with an actor who seems to connect deeply with the Oracle’s story.

 

Idiot Fish

Hakim Mao, 24', 2022, France

On the road to holidays, Jimmy and Guillaume replay their first meeting. Jimmy becomes a lost hitchhiker, Guillaume a lonely driver. They will pretend they don't know each other anymore, in order to play to meet and seduce each other again. Until a third player joins the game…

 

Beautiful Stranger

Benjamin Belloir, 26', 2021, France

One night, in a hotel room, Romain, an overworked thirty-something, has just been dumped by his long-term boyfriend. Seeking solace, he logs onto a dating app and is confronted by a devil-may-care operator and an obstinate Don Juan.

 

In Beauty It Is Unfinished

Greko Sklavounos, 16', 2021, USA

In suburban Miami, a Cuban immigrant longs for a lost memory. A voice creates a meditative portrait of two tropical landscapes-separated by 100 miles of ocean-and two men dancing at twilight; the distance of their bodies both measured and infinite.

 

Walls

Semeli Vogazianou, 5', 2022, Cyprus

The WALLS that have been imposed on us. The filth that sticks to us.

Shorts IV: PUNCH LIKE A GIRL

30 Nov @ Theatro Polis – NiMAC

 

A Big Life

Anna Brownfield, 15', 2022, Australia

A Big Life is told through the tales of Bobbie Nugent it is a story of butches and femmes, gangsters, sex workers, travelling side shows and early Australian transgender history.

 

The Spark

Elvire Muñoz, 23', 2020, France

Maya likes her boss a little too much. As things come to a head she has a choice: to stay quiet or take matters into her own hands.

 

Burial of Life as a young girl

Maïté Sonnet, 33', 2022, France

Axelle is having the worst day of her life: while she is recovering badly from a break-up, she has to go to her sister's bachelorette party in a ghostly spa in the mountains. Fortunately, among the guests, there is Marguerite. Through one gaze, love is awaken again.

 

This is Katharine

Ida H. Eldøen, 15', 2021, Norway

Katharine grew up trying to find her sexual identity by watching films and TV-series, and ended up having trouble finding herself.

 

A Summer Place

Alexandra Matheou, 20', 2021, Cyprus

Tina lives in a once quiet seaside town, now transformed into the oligarch paradise of the Mediterranean. As her isolation grows more intense, her decision to end her life on the day of her birthday feels like her only choice, until an unforeseen encounter with another woman will prove to be a life changing moment for both.

Shorts V: PORTRAITS

01 Dec @ Theatro Polis – NiMAC

 

#LOVESPEECH

Adele Tulli, 2', 2021, Italy

 

You Will Live

Mehdi Sahed, 24', 2020, France

Olivier is 25 years old. Five years ago, he discovered his HIV status. Through this portrait, he shares with me his wounds, his view of the disease, and the struggle he carries out on a daily basis to fight against the stigmatizing gaze of society.

 

Herman@s (SiblinX)

Hélène Alix Mourrier, 28', 2021, France

One night in October 2011 in Mexico, a mysterious bird dream gives birth to Cuco, a transgender latex pirate.

 

Poison

Louve Dubuc Babinet, 19', 2020, Belgium

In a world where the working system is falling appart, Poison is a porn performer and actress. Away from the monetary and working sytem, she uses the stage to express her fears, her doubts, her anger, and to empower herself.

 

Que Sera Sera

Alexandros Pissourios, 24', 2020, UK

“Que Sera Sera” is a comedic film inspired by my close friendship with drag performer A Man To Pet (Thanasis). It loosely belongs to a documentary tradition – planned on the spot and inspired by the subject and surroundings.

Shorts VI: MICHAEL BRYNNTRUP: A SUPER-8 QUEER PIONEER

02 Dec 19:00 @ Goethe-Institut Cyprus

 

Testamento Memori

Michael Brynntrup, 7', 1986, Germany

Sooner or later everyone is confronted with this problem: what to do with the body. – A problem film. Psychosomatic birth preparation with practical exercises for euthanasia.

 

The Hieronymus – Death Dance 6

Michael Brynntrup, 7', 1989, Germany

Gravediggers: species of beatles, black, live off cadavers of small animals, which they roll into balls.

 

Narcissus and Echo

Michael Brynntrup, 14', 1989, Germany

A film in the form of a riddle is a special kind of entertainment film whereby the film's content

 

The Statics – Engineering Memory Bridges

Michael Brynntrup, 21', 1990, Germany

Rests and tests from the inquiry into prototypes. Formal proofs through pregnant experiments on one's own body.

 

Love, Jealousy and Revenge

Michael Brynntrup, 7', 1991, Germany

You know very well, that nowadays many countries produce films in their own language … (original with subtitles). German for foreigners, asylum seekers and other outsiders. Survival course with subtitles and undertones.

 

All You Can Eat

Michael Brynntrup, 6', 1993, Germany

Safe sex in the 70ies. Bigger than life in 35mm. All you can eat in 5 minutes.

 

Tabu V (About Which One Cannot Speak)

Michael Brynntrup, 13', 1998, Germany

About which one cannot speak, one must make films.

 

NY 'NY 'N Why Not

Michael Brynntrup, 4', 1999, Germany

WALK / DON’T WALK / WALK. The rhythm of the nineties. A music stroll along Christopher Street.

Shorts VII: PROMISED LAND

03 Dec @ Shakespeare House

 

Baba

Sam Arbor, Adam Ali, 16', 2021, UK, Libya

Living in the tunnels beneath Tripoli a queer Libyan teenager, Britannia, dreams of escape to a better life, but an unexpected discovery forces him to question whether to stay or flee from his homeland and his friends.

 

Egungun

Olive Nwosu , 15', 2021, UK, Nigeria

In this captivating drama, a woman returns to her hometown of Lagos in search of healing. What she discovers instead is a path that takes her into her past and toward a new understanding of the people and experiences that shaped her.

 

Prayers for Sweet Waters

Elijah Ndoumbe, 16', 2021, UK, South Africa

A submergence into the vivid realities of three transgender sex workers living in Cape Town, South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

My Mother's Girlfriend

Arun Fulara, 15', 2021, India

Renuka and Sadiya, two working-class women in love with each other, enjoy their day out celebrating Renuka's birthday. After a fun-filled day, they head home to spend the night together. But unknown to them, Renuka's son, Mangesh, is around.

 

Man & Wife

Rahul Roye, 9', 2021, India

In an arranged marriage, on their wedding day, just prior to the ceremony, the groom, comes out to their would-be bride that they are secretly a non-binary person.

 

Heads Above Water

Afra Nuarey, 8', 2022, Bangladesh

“Heads Above Water” uncovers the hidden truths of the Hijra community struggling to navigate through a society that has all but rejected them. We follow the intrinsic lives of three trans women who forge different relationships within society.

 

Nidhal

Bassem Ben Brahim, 11', 2022, Tunisia

Between reality and animation, the story of Nidhal is told, a young homosexual Tunisian who defended individual freedoms in Tunisia through his work in radio. He found himself under a lot of pressure which forced him to leave the country and seek asylum in the Netherlands.

Shorts VIII: PORN & PREJUDICE

04 Dec @ Sessions

 

Yes, Goddess

Randa Jarrar, 12', 2022, USA

A group of queer femmes and their lovers gather at a kink party for the first time since 2019.

 

Burn

Maitén Del Valle, 15', 2021, Argentina

Niki and Maco get together for dinner. During the course of the night they have a sexual encounter that leads them to experience different stimuli until they culminate in orgasm.

 

The Beauty of Stigma

Helias Doulis, 2', 2021, Greece

A retired porn star becomes the narrator for the end of erotic innocence. Two boys who have long anticipated the love their bodies have felt for one another, are now trapped among a stall of walls. Their desire floats above the garbage of the city and finds refuge in death.

 

Fudliaks! Tear The Sexes Apart!

Jasmin Hagendorfer, 13', 2021, Austira

This hyper-intersectional film is an amalgam of sci-fi creature-flick, campy music video, grotesque comedy, agitprop flick against heterocentric research as well as (soft-)pornographic subversive statement. "FUDLIAKS! Tear the sexes apart!" is set in an undefined present, in a mysterious laboratory: the Institute for Gender Normalization. The research subject of this neo-conservative think tank: the scientific underpinnings of conventional heteronormative bodies and biologically binary genders. But a new research series turns all that on its head!

 

Achtung

Michael Brynntrup, 14', 2001, Germany

There can be no doubt that all our knowledge begins with experience. (Immanuel Kant, Introduction to the Critique of Pure Reason, opening sentence) Born in the body (…and in time…)

 

Motta

Nish Gera, 16', 2020, Netherlands, UK

Bound in flowers, a tattooed hand strokes a face. Ropes unwind on the floor. Tremors of pain, tremors of release. What do you desire?

FIRST TIME [THE TIME FOR ALL BUT SUNSET – VIOLET]

04 Dec @ Sesions

 

Nicolaas Schmidt, 49', 2021, –

We listen to music and are on the way. In doing so, we see things and the world differently than before. So that things don‘t always go on like this, but may become better: Two boys meet on a train ride. Something is born – not much and yet everything. Enjoy a Golden Hour Carousel Ride. A Common Sensations Music Movie.

SCREENING WITH FEATURES

 

Dildo Riot

Maria Katsikadakou, Nikos Chantzis, 9', 2021, Greece

26 Nov 15:00 @ Theatro Polis – NiMAC

A Marky Ramone gig, a murder, a riot, and a big dildo.

 

At Night We Fly

Gert-Jan Verdeyen, 17', 2021, Belgium

26 Nov 19:00 @ Theatro Polis – NiMAC

“Neither man nor woman. “You can call us strangers, but do we look like danger?” Three non-binary friends create a safe space in the streets of the city. Out of reality for one night. To be themselves at last, with their head held high and shining bright. Will there be a big black sky that is waiting for them to rise in their midnight ride?

 

The Wonderful Years

Svitlana Shymko, Galina Yarmanova, 9', 2018, Ukraine

29 Nov 19:00 @ Theatro Polis – NiMAC

This research film explores the lives of queer women in Ukraine in the late Soviet Union. It is based on the archive video materials and interviews excerpts from the research projects on LGBT history.

 

Warsha

Dania Bdeir, 15', 2022, France, Lebanon

30 Nov 19:00 @ Theatro Polis – NiMAC

Mohammad is a crane operator working in Beirut. One morning he volunteers to take on one of the tallest and notoriously most dangerous cranes in Lebanon. Away from everyone’s eyes, he is able to live out his secret passion and find freedom.

 

Aban and Khorshid

Darwin Serink, 13', 2014, United States

03 Dec 19:00 @ Shakespeare House

Inspired by true events, Aban and Khorshid is an intimate portrait of two lovers, glimpsing into the world in which they meet and fall in love, leading to the tragic moments when they face the ultimate punishment for being gay.