Short Shorts

How about 30 films in 90 minutes? This high spirited programme contains this year’s best ultra short films of three minutes or less, and has more inventive ideas per minute than you could ask for. It is a filmic rollercoaster ride that promises everything from laughs lasting longer than the film to high speed action, but also leaves room for some lovely pieces of quiet introspection.

Curator: Christoffer Ode

Screened:
FRI 25/10, 21:00 FYRIS
SAT 26/10, 19:00 FYRIS

MY BELOVED, GREY-HAIRED

Read her hair as if it was a book and look into her experience fleeing the war in Ukraine.

Ukraine 2023 / 1:17 / Director: Anastasiia Kirii

IT'S OK TO FEEL SAD

Sometimes it’s not your fault, even if you try as hard as you can. And it’s ok to feel sad.

Italy 2023 / 1:34 / Director: Alessia Puli

CONTAGION

Oscar is about to go on stage to perform Hamlet when he is suddenly overcome by a strange affliction…

France 2024 / 3:00 / Director: Quentin Ogier

GUESTS OF HONOR

In this speechless video, a dinner is laid on the table. The arriving guests are creatures that are typically found on the plate. The work aims to present the farm animals as an equal to humans, even though the situation, and the perspective, is human-centred.

Finland 2024 / 3:00 / Director: Paula Lehtonen

BOLD

A surreal night shift of a female prison guard turns into a juggling fiesta, celebrating diversity and solidarity of women.

United States 2023 / 3:00 / Director: Alla Kovgan, Miko Malkhasyan

PEEL THE DIMENSIONS

Moments where multiple dimensions overlap, connect, and expand are collected.

South Korea 2024 / 2:50 / Director: Jaehyeon Kim

FINAL WHISTLE

Grand gestures, determined expressions and tight legs. Roughly collaged footballers don‘t owe each other anything and a referee loses the overview.

Switzerland 2024 / 3:09 / Director: Lotti Bauer

THE RAVEN ALWAYS REMEMBERS

One winter night, a man immerses himself in memories.

Poland 2024 / 3:11 / Director: Kinga Anna Garncarz

BINGE!

A man watching TV stumbles upon his new favourite channel: himself.

United States 2024 / 3:00 / Director: Rohit Relan, Sam David Zhang

NIGHT OVER R32

At night, R32 is like a kaleidoscope. The colourful lights are as manifold as the occupants are diverse, living close together and yet worlds apart.

Germany 2023 / 2:57 / Director: Felix Dierich

THERE IS FIRE

While a building catches fire, only one resident tries to alert his neighbours of the situation.

France 2024 / 2:40 / Director: Simon Leclercq, Thibault Leclercq

US, THE SEA AND THE SAD END

When you finally arrive at your favourite snorkelling spot but then suddenly everything gets out of control – that’s what happens in this very short story in three chapters.

Poland 2023 / 2:00 / Director: Malgorzata Rybak

AZADI

Azar takes Mahsa to a nightclub. But inside, the traumas of Iran pursue Mahsa and isolate her from the party.

France 2024 / 2:20 / Director: Yohann Benedetti, Marine Sarfati

JUNIPER

A surreal bathing experience.

Germany 2024 / 2:55 / Director: Andreas Hubertus Drescher

TEKHENU

The autumn spectrum colours the leaves above the graves. The leaf clings to the tree until it finally falls to the ground like the diminishing years of a person’s life. What remains of the tree is a vascular system formed by empty branches, ready to be compressed by frostbite. The numbers and letters on the tombstones flash like symbols on a one-handed screen. Nobody knows where and who the jackpot is waiting for.

Finland 2024 / 3:03 / Director: Tomi Niko Krister Malkki

THRONEBOSIS

It is May 6th, 2023, the day of the Coronation of King Charles III in London, and a young man calls Emergency Medical Services claiming the whole thing is making him feel unwell. “Thronebosis” imagines this scenario, making use of manipulated news footage of the day’s events mixed with animation to illustrate the man’s concerns in a punk-infused poetic form.

Portugal 2024 / 1:51 / Director: Marco Espirito Santo

SECLUSION

In a psychiatric ward, we meet Hanne, a patient who is secluded in her room. Two members of the staff rotate outside as guards, each with different approaches to how she should be treated. One is focused on maintaining the rules and doing as little as possible, while the other aims to show more humanity and empathy. The film explores the dynamics between Hanne and the staff, and how their actions may impact her condition. Towards the end of the film, an alarm goes off, leaving the question of why it happened hanging in the air.

Norway 2024 / 2:00 / Director: Alf Floa

HEADREST

A girl tries to escape the noise of her mind, thoughts and memories that fill the spaces. Is it possible to find peace from yourself?

Finland 2024 / 2:53 / Director: Heta Okkonen

MOVING PARTS

In a surreal, industrial dystopia, a travelling salesman encounters a singing behemoth. This towering, two-headed monstrosity tempts him with a terrifying (but lucrative) proposition.

United Kingdom 2024 / 3:07 / Director: Hugo Docking

STAY STRONG AND BE QUIET

Parents try to prepare their 6-year-old daughter for her future.

France 2024 / 2:18 / Director: Anne Loriot

TULIP OPERA

A gardener orchestrates the flowering of his garden. In his momentum, he triggers an unfortunate incident. His kind flowers try to warn him.

France 2023 / 3:23 / Director: Marie-Sarah Piron

HUMANMACHINE

In the modern world we are surrounded by machines. Caring for the machines we forget the most complex one: our human body.

Germany 2023 / 2:34 / Director: Louis Brückner, Laura Baalmann

PROMISE ME I'LL LEAVE

In a world where the Olympian realm of gods is just another corporation among many, Prometheus has not managed to escape his punishment. Exchanging chains and eagle for a suit and a computer, he waits desperately to be released. The clock strikes, and his monitor goes dark; the workday is over. Could tonight be the night when Prometheus finally manages to break free?

France 2024 / 2:23 / Director: Aymeric Haefflinger, Clement Arlotti

LONG DISTANCE

A fly takes flight to meet a close friend.  

Switzerland 2024 / 2:00 / Director: Michael Frei

THALASSOPHOBIA

“Thalassophobia” presents a moment in the life of an individual who obsessively draws circles. In a timeless world, the man celebrates the creation of the perfect circle.

Romania 2023 / 3:22 / Director: Ana Runa Postelnicu

HISTORY, SUMMARIZED. (FOR KIDS)

This short film is entirely made of paper and aims to summarise the history of humanity in a deliberately provocative, cynical, and dystopian manner. Like a game, though, it makes us think about the atrocities of wars, children wanting to act like adults, but especially adults behaving like children. In games, one wins without killing, in war one kills without winning.

Italy 2024 / 2:40 / Director: Stefano Bertelli

SIE PUPPT MIT PUPPEN

The video work “Sie puppt mit Puppen” was created as a visual interpretation of the poetry of the famous German MERZ/DADA artist Kurt Schwitters. Two artists have transformed his poems into contemporary electronic sounds, from poetry readings to unconventional melodies and experimental sound-poetry eruptions. The visual execution avoids illustrating the text and attempts a composition using individual images, stop-motion, and various forms of collage created under the camera.

Austria 2024 / 2:44 / Director: Karin Fisslthaler

TRIAL & ERROR

A man tries his best to help some Swedish tourists in the metro in Copenhagen but fails miserably.

Denmark 2024 / 2:03 / Director: Peter Harton

PISTOLERAS

What do female shooters, holsters and love handles have in common? In the Spanish language, they can all be referred to as “pistoleras”. This debut short is a feminist reimagining of the classic standoff –although eventually, the shooter’s biggest opponent may just be herself.

Austria 2023 / 2:00 / Director: Natalia del Mar Kasik

THE MALE GAZE RECIPE

The director dreams of making a 16mm masturbation film guided by her grandmother – according to an old recipe. With great displeasure she has to realise that her subconscious makes use of the male gaze and old gender roles.

Germany 2024 / 3:00 / Director: Alma Weber, Joey Arand

Contributors, sponsors and partners