Official Selection of Short Films
FIRST EVENING – 6 June, Monday, 21.00, Cinematheque (122′)
SIDERAL by Carlos Segundo (BR/FR, 15', 2021)
BRANKA by Ákos K. Kovács (HU, 20’, 2021)
WILD WILD VESLØS by Esben Persson (DK, 15', 2021)
NACHTBESUCH by Joana Vogdt (DE, 14’, 2020)
WITNESS by Ali Asgari (FR/IR, 15’, 2020)
THROUGH THE HAZE by Diogo Salgado (PT, 14’ , 2020)
A QUIET MAN by Nyima Cartier (FR, 14’, 2021)
NORTH POLE by Marija Apchevska (MK/RS, 15’ , 2021)
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SIDERAL by Carlos Segundo (BR/FR, 15', 2021)
6th June (Monday), 21:00, Open-air cinema "A Quiet Summer"
In Natal, on the north coast of Brazil, the country is preparing to launch its first manned space mission. A married couple lives with their two children near the space center; the mother Marcella is a cleaner at the center and the father is a mechanic. Everyone in the city is excited before the unusual event, and the euphoric atmosphere breaks the weight of the socially scanty, lethargic, stagnant reality feeding the imagination with new hope. Tired of the role she is given, immersed in the nausea of a colorless everyday life, Marcella looks up at the sky with longing. She has also right to dream of other horizons.
The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival as part of the Official Selection in 2021. -
BRANKA by Ákos K. Kovács (HU, 20’, 2021)
6th June (Monday), 21:00, Open-air cinema "A Quiet Summer"
Yugoslavia, 1991. Somewhere near the Hungarian border, far from the war zones, Branka, a nurse from Sarajevo, is employed in the gynecology department at a state hospital. As she tries to adjust to her new work environment and overcome feelings of loneliness, she meets a young Hungarian woman, the pregnant Angela, who is expecting her first child on her own, and, in a short time, their vulnerability brings them closer. But soon it becomes clear that loneliness is not the biggest burden Branka has to face. The newborns disappear from the hospital, and this shocking discovery puts Branka in the face of a serious moral dilemma. -
WILD WILD VESLØS by Esben Persson (DK, 15', 2021)
6th June (Monday), 21:00, Summer cinema "A Quiet Summer"
After the death of his father, the son cleans his father's house in North Jutland, on the outskirts of Vesløs, Denmark. Everything should be packed and taken away. Memories also need to be sorted. Breaking through the rooms with boxes, he gradually loses himself in the memories of the common past, summer weekends and perfect love far away in the province. Traveling through intensified sensory and emotional contrasts, the intimate and lyrical flow of consciousness captures something recognizable of grief and loss, of the complicated but unbreakable bond between father and son.
The film premiered at the Copenhagen Short Film Festival in 2021, where it received special mention in the Best Danish Short Film category. -
NACHTBESUCH by Joana Vogdt (DE, 14’, 2020)
6th June (Monday), 21:00, Summer cinema "A Quiet Summer"
After the missed flight, Lena, a German-Swiss student, stays overnight at the apartment of her old friend and his roommate. The pleasant, relaxed evening atmosphere, with its slow pace, soft tones, and unobtrusive narrative style, spontaneously rises to a slightly exciting euphoria that leads to an unexpected twis deep into the night. Why is Lena not immediately noticing what is happening? The film reexamines the normatively established notions of what rape is, how it is committed, and how one "will" behave, in the face of circumstances that are often much more subtle and diffuse.
The film had its world premiere at the 2020 International Short Film Festival in Palm Springs. -
WITNESS by Ali Asgari (FR/IR, 15’, 2020)
6th June (Monday), 21:00, Open-air cinema "A Quiet Summer"
After a brief family discussion, the mother returns to the shopping mall to change her dress, leaving her little daughter waiting in the car. Along the way, she stops to help an older woman climb on the escalator. Her intervention, quite surprisingly, will trigger a series of unfortunate events that brutally confront her with the consequences of her actions. Her emotional resonance requires an instant resolution. Will she be able to morally justify her confusing reaction in the eyes of the unwanted witness?
The film has been screened at many important festivals such as Stockholm, Helsinki, London, Warsaw, and many others. -
THROUGH THE HAZE by Diogo Salgado (PT, 14’ , 2020)
6th June (Monday), 21:00, Open-ait cinema "A Quiet Summer"
Two children are playing in the forest around the lake. At dusk, one of them will run away. As one wanders through the dark forest in search of one's lost friend, the whole atmosphere becomes tactile, dark and hypersensorial, and the night silhouettes, textures, and sounds, with their mysterious grip, slowly envelop the child's soul hypnotic journey. Hypnotic journey "through the fog" of opaque memory; poetic reminiscence of some fragmentary experiences and memories unique to every childhood: small, seemingly trivial conflicts that were reflected in the child's soul as horrific incidents and as their own mysteries remain glowing in us forever.
The film premiered at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. -
A QUIET MAN by Nyima Cartier (FR, 14’, 2021)
6th June (Monday) 21:00 Open-ait cinema "A Quiet Summer"
In the Paris financial district of La Défense, from the 17th floor of an office building, Pierre looks out the window: downstairs, his fired colleague, Vincent Blanche, sits on a bench for hours alone in the cold. Why doesn't he go home? From the heights of his office, Pierre wonders what to do. Inspired by the story of the American writer Herman Melville: "Bartleby the Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street", "the quiet man" Vincent of the French director Nyima Cartier intrigues, irritates and disturbs the socially autistic conscience. -
NORTH POLE by Marija Apchevska (MK/RS, 15’ , 2021)
6th June (Monday), 21:00, Open-air cinema "A Quiet Summer"
Amidst the suburban grey and the fog-covered fields, Margo experiences a subtle inner change; she feels like it is maturing in her, it is coming as a new sensuality. This new self-awareness completely overwhelms her temperament and determines the dynamics of her mood: from complete distancing to radical defiance. The intimate drama which Margo fails to articulate clearly and to mold it within the framework of social expectations, spontaneously gets resolved through a child's play. Adulthood can still wait.
The film has participated in more than 40 international festivals, including the Cannes Film Festival, as part of the Official Selection, and won several awards, as well as nominations for the European Film Awards (EFA) and Oscar qualification. The film had its American premiere on April 25, 2022, at the 51st edition of the New Directors/New Films Festival at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.
SECOND EVENING – 7 June, Tuesday, 21.00, Cinematheque (122′)
TRUMPETS IN THE SKY by Rakan Mayasi (LB, 15’, 2021)
Dummy by Laurynas Bareisa (LT, 12’, 2020)
TRAMWAY by Bartosz Reetz (PL, 22’, 2021)
JONI (25, MALE), 3KM AWAY, LIKES TO SWIM by Luis Schubert (DE, 12’, 2021)
WARSHA by Dania Bdeir (FR/LB, 16’, 2020)
THE LAST DAY OF PATRIARCHY by Olmo Omerzu (CZ, 16’, 2021)
I DON'T LIKE 5 PM by Francisco Dias (PT, 9’, 2020)
HADRIEN & NATHALIE by Philibert Gau (FR, 20’, 2021)
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TRUMPETS IN THE SKY by Rakan Mayasi (LB, 15’, 2021)
7th June (Tuesday), 21:00, Open-air cinema "A Quiet Summer"
Bushra, a 14-year-old Syrian girl, spends the days picking potatoes in the fields of the picturesque Bekaa Valley in northern Lebanon. After a long day at work, she returns to her mother in the camp and learns that her childhood will end that night. Visually contemplative and metaphorical, "Trumpets in the Sky" is a bleak socio-social drama about the complexity of traditional cultural relations, patriarchy, the aftermath of war, and the myth of sacrifice.
The film was selected for the official competition program of the prestigious Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in France in 2022. It has a rich festival promotion around the world. -
Dummy by Laurynas Bareisa (LT, 12’, 2020)
7th June (Tuesday) 21:00 Summer cinema "Quiet Summer"
A group of Lithuanian investigators quietly made their way through the forest, leading the accused Thomas to the crime scene to reconstruct the crime. The detailed display of brutality, presented with cold intonation and perverse cold-bloodedness, does not seem to bother anyone. Surprisingly calm and even a little bored, the rest of the group is listenint to the tedious description, even when his demonstration with the dummy doll becomes disgusting. Instead of contempt and condemnation, Thomas gets something more like solidarity and tolerance from the group. Inspector Migle, who is leading the investigation, feels this bizarre dynamic of the group, with rather clearly outlined gender roles, as a subtle game of power that oppresses, underestimates, and belittles.
The film premiered at the 2020 Berlin Film Festival, followed by a rich festival promotion. -
TRAMWAY by Bartosz Reetz (PL, 22’, 2021)
7th June (Tuesday), 21:00, Open-air cinema "A Quiet Summer"
Every morning, the tram leaves the depot and, according to a pre-determined timetable, goes on to its regular tour of the city. It also features Martha, a primary school geography teacher in her mid-30s. The tram is a visible metaphor of her life: one-lane, framed by two rails, repetitive. One day, an unexpected encounter will upset her daily routine and awaken a long forgotten joy of life. Will Martha have the courage to leave the "timetable", to indulge in her instincts and live a deep, meaningful, fulfilling life? -
JONI (25, MALE), 3KM AWAY, LIKES TO SWIM by Luis Schubert (DE, 12’, 2021)
7th June (Tuesday), 21:00 Open-air cinema "A Quiet Summer"
Joni runs away from the dynamics of the big urban center, the city, without getting away from it. With a feeling of existential void and the absence of a real connection with someone or something, he wanders around the park, near the monument and the regular tourist groups by the lake, trying to reconnect with the city, to find new intimacy with others, and what he misses the most: love. -
WARSHA by Dania Bdeir (FR/LB, 16’, 2020)
7th June (Tuesday), 21:00, Open-air cinema "A Quiet Summer"
The short film "Warsha" by Lebanese-Canadian director Dania Bdeir tells the story of Mohammad, an undocumented Syrian migrant who works a hard and poorly paid job at a construction site in Beirut. One morning, he volunteers to work as the operator of one of Lebanon's tallest and most dangerous cranes, a job avoided due to frequent tragic incidents. In his small cabin, up in the heights of the city, and in a small private bubble of freedom, Mohammad finds enough space to relax from the physical and emotional strain, pressure, and marginalization, and the opportunity to spectacularly manifest his deepest essence. The film made its US debut at the Sundance Film Festival where it won the Jury Prize for Best Short Film. -
THE LAST DAY OF PATRIARCHY by Olmo Omerzu (CZ, 16’, 2021)
7th June (Tuesday), 21:00, Open-air cinema "A Quiet Summer"
This night will probably be the last one for Ivo, and he knows this. His family and friends are waiting behind the doors of the hospital room. His nephew Jakub comes with his new, young, pregnant girlfriend, Nina. When she meets the old man, Nina faces a surprisingly indecent reaction from a dying relative. The family is shocked. After the initial embarrassment, the family tribunal initiates a public and bizarre debate in the hispital hallway, to which Nina happens to be not invited. How to solve such a delicate situation? Should the last wish of the head of the family be fulfilled on the dying bed? -
I DON'T LIKE 5 PM by Francisco Dias (PT, 9’, 2020)
7th June (Tuesday), 21:00, Open-air cinema "A Quiet Summer"
The experimental film "I don't like 5 PM" by the young Portuguese director Francisco Dias is an intimate, poetic portrayal of first love. The story is built as a documentaristic-aesthetic collage composed of personal photos and videos taken in the nature of Norway, Portugal, and Poland. Divided into four chapters, the film depicts the quest for love, the love, the separation, and the memories. The inability to bridge the distances calms down the first intense emotional experiences, and in the forest covered with moss, stays laying a young Polish woman who sings about impossible love. -
HADRIEN & NATHALIE by Philibert Gau (FR, 20’, 2021)
7th June (Tuesday), 21:00, Open-air cinema "A Quiet Summer"
It is Spring, and Hadrien is home again, in his hometown, together with his childhood friends. Nathalie is there too, his love from his youth, and the happy friendship awakens again the forgotten sensations. The play of split-screen images shares a melancholy, longing nostalgia that gradually overwhelms their faces. Metaphysical sorrow caused by something so close to here and, yet, long gone.