Official Selection of Short Films 2021
FIRST NIGHT (147′)
TU (2020)
THE SWING (Selkinchek, 2019)
THE DEVIL'S THROAT (2020)
NIGHTFALL (Retour À La Nuit, 2020)
THAW (2020)
DUST FLOWERS (2021)
IN MEDIAS RUSH (2020)
THE BODY AND THE NAME (2020)
SUDDEN LIGHT (2019)
BULL (Bik, 2019)
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TU (2020)
Summer Cinema “A Quiet Summer”
30.05 (Sunday), 21:00 h.
Suzanne Friesen (CA), 10’
Here we are, in a film about the quest for one’s own ‘here’ (‘tu’ in Polish) after a long absence from the life of the loved ones, the memory of the intergenerational family traumas, and the need to keep the coherence of one’s own identity which sometimes gives rise to anxiety and confusion.
Through a subtle film narration, several voices culminate and create unrest, while at the same time, one unshakeable and foundational truth remains and meditatively gives respite: ‘I am here'. -
THE SWING (Selkinchek, 2019)
Summer Cinema “A Quiet Summer”
30.05 (Sunday), 21:00 h.
Samara Sagynbaeva (KG), 20’
A warm, family story set in the harsh winter landscapes of Kyrgyzstan. An elderly and honest Bolot works as a heating man at a village school and tries to keep the school children warm, besides the shortage of wood supply.
But, it is cold in his home too. The small stone house cannot get heated and the daughter of the honest janitor is sick. When the coal in his house finishes, the good-hearted old man is facing a dilemma: can he keep his dignity and at the same time not let his family suffer? -
THE DEVIL'S THROAT (2020)
Summer Cinema “A Quiet Summer”
31.05 (Monday), 21:00 h.
Gabriela García Rivas (MX), 13'
Melendez is a vertical cave in Guerrero in Mexico. The local people believe that the crack reaches the gates of hell and is the way Devil escapes to Earth to spread his evil, protected by darkness. One day, at school, Daniel is challenged by his classmates to visit the cave. Armed with holy water, at twilight, he arrives to meet the Devil.
A social drama depicting the consequences of the 'cartel wars', the violence, and the organized crime in Mexico, seen through the eyes of a child. -
NIGHTFALL (Retour À La Nuit, 2020)
Summer Cinema “A Quiet Summer”
30.05 (Sunday), 21:00 h.
Philibert Gau, Anaïs Le Berre (FR), 13'
Night falls upon the fields. Esther and Leonard no longer know whether they are stronger together or if it would be better to carry on alone. -
THAW (2020)
Summer Cinema “A Quiet Summer”
30.05 (Sunday), 21:00 h.
Sigge Widmark (SE), 19'
Дејвид, полициски шериф во мало, провинциско гратче, ја сретнува Софи – млада и бунтовна тинејџерка којашто оди сама покрај патот. Она што на прв поглед му изгледа како едноставен случај на тинејџерски пркос, по „мала истрага“ се разоткрива како нешто длабоко вознемирувачко. Дали Дејвид ќе успее да ја придобие нејзината доверба пред притисокот на срамот, вината и семејната лојалност? -
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DUST FLOWERS (2021)
Summer Cinema “A Quiet Summer”
30.05 (Sunday), 21:00 h.
Miroslav Ilikj (MK), 17'
Lea is a sentimental young woman who is forced to stop taking her antidepressant therapy in order to become pregnant. Although she desperately wants to become a mother, her husband, Joseph, cannot see himself in the role of a parent. The absence of honest understanding creates a quiet confrontation with one's own ideal projections which starts slowly to exhaust them...
The debut short film of the young Macedonian director Miroslav Ilikj, subtly portrays the psychological motives of the main characters which grow the distance between their worlds and cause unrest and agony. -
IN MEDIAS RUSH (2020)
Summer Cinema “A Quiet Summer”
30.05 (Sunday), 21:00 h.
Esben Persson (DK), 15'
Во надреален, ретро-футуристичен амбиент, еден млад човек го прославува својот роденден заедно со својата девојка. Динамиката на настаните прогресира во халуциногено патување во длабочините на манијакалниот ум, отсликувајќи ги двосмислените чувства и постојаниот конфликт помеѓу физичката и психолошката реалност на главниот лик.
Експериментален филмско-поетски есеј чија фокусна точка се табуизираните проблеми со менталното здравје, анксиозноста, психотичните нарушувања и биполарното растројство кај младите. -
THE BODY AND THE NAME (2020)
Summer Cinema “A Quiet Summer”
30.05 (Sunday), 21:00 ч.
Christina Ruloff (UK), 13'
Mary lies in a morgue. Although dead, she is still conscious, vividly contemplating her past, the relationship with her lover and her body. While the warden Doyle gazes at her body and explores the connection between the body, the soul, and the name, Christina allows Mary to affirm her subjectivity, one last time.
Christina Ruloff realizes „The Body and the Name“ in collaboration with the British playwright and screenwriter Howard Barker as a visual articulation of the essential themes of his „Theater of Catastrophe“: life and death, violence, sexuality, as well as the body and its meaning. -
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SUDDEN LIGHT (2019)
Summer Cinema “A Quiet Summer”
30.05 (Monday), 21:00 h.
Sophie Littman (UK), 15''
One gloomy, cloudy afternoon, Mia (16) takes her sister Squeeze (12) to walk their dog in the fields near their home. Their father is very sick and he is in the hospital. While the two sisters are wаlking, the familiar landscape begins to morph, tricking them and introducing Mia to a strange man lurking at the edge of a dark wood.
„Sudan light“ by Sophie Littman is a powerful and suggestive social-psychological family drama about the internal struggle of the two sisters plunged into a powerless limbo in the face of oncoming grief. The film premiered at the 2020 Cannes Film Festival as part of the Official Selection. -
BULL (Bik, 2019)
Summer Cinema “A Quiet Summer”
30.05 (Sunday), 21:00 h.
Bojan Labovic (SI), 12'
Milan Veber, a 40-year-old unemployed art teacher, has been without a job and also chronically broke for quite a while. He lives in a cheap small studio apartment that he rents, feeling too young to grow old and too old to start over. After a night of drinking, he is trying to open a can of beef stew when, through the window, he sees a bull on the street. A bull who has just escaped from the slaughterhouse.
In a sympathetic way, „Bik“ by Bojan Labović inspires the empathic conscience to redefine our attitude towards animals in an industrialized and increasingly dehumanized society.
SECOND NIGHT (137′)
THE SILENCE OF THE RIVER (El Silencio del Río, 2020)
POLA (2020)
URSULA (2020)
FISH (Fisk, 2020)
PIPO AND BLIND LOVE (2020)
THE TRAP (Fakh, 2019)
FIVE-SEVEN-FIVE (5-7-5, 2020)
LAST LIGHT (2021)
SONA (2020)
THE AFFECTED (De Berørte, 2020)
KAVAL (Кавал, 2020)
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THE SILENCE OF THE RIVER (El Silencio del Río, 2020)
Summer Cinema “A Quiet Summer”
31.05 (Monday), 21:00 h.
Francesca Canepa (PE), 14'
Juan, a 9-year-old Peruvian boy, lives with his silent dad in a floating house on the Amazon River. While his dad is sleeping during the day and „living“ at night, the days for little Juan all look alike, they are long and quiet, and the nights tend to be lonely. One night, Juan will dare to sail into the darkness of the Amazonian rainforest on an allegorical initiation journey in search of the truth about his father. An oneiric story is interwoven with elements of magical realism, exploring the paths leading to maturity in the mythological layers of the ancient Amazonian cosmovision.
The film premiered at the 2020 Berlin Film Festival, followed by a rich festival life throughout the whole world. -
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POLA (2020)
Summer Cinema “A Quiet Summer”
31.05 (Monday), 21:00 h.
dir. Natalia Lampropoulou (GR), 10’
Pola is a middle-aged woman without stable and constant job, forced to work on sex-hotline in order to pay the bills and care for her paralyzed daughter. One day, an unexpected phone call will shake up the daily routine. A cruel drama dedicated to the ethical consequences of the stratification of archetypal social constructs. -
URSULA (2020)
Summer Cinema “A Quiet Summer”
31.05 (Monday), 21:00 h.
Eduardo Brito (PT), 6'
At he age of 89, Mr. Edwin F. for the first time in his life dreams of being a woman, an oneiric experience which allows him to be at two opposite places at the same time. Between the northernmost city in the world, on a long polar night, and a foggy summer morning in the south, a dream takes place, an enigmatic metaphorical play of the image and the word, which with a refined visual poetics penetrates the topography of the soul and raises doubts. -
FISH (Fisk, 2020)
Summer Cinema “A Quiet Summer”
31.05 (Monday), 21:00 h.
Ingrid Liavaag (NO), 14’
Sarah is a young girl suffering from severe eczema. The skin on her arm is starting to look more like fish scales. The reunion with her father, whom she hardly knows, is quite cold, and the superficial communication shows a permanently lost intimacy. Desperate and lonely, during a short sailing trip, Sara dives into the sea. Maybe she can feel more "at home" here. -
PIPO AND BLIND LOVE (2020)
Summer Cinema “A Quiet Summer”
31.05 (Monday), 21:00 h.
Hugo Le Gourrierec (FR), 12'
In a surreal, retro-futuristic ambient, a young man celebrates his birthday with his girlfriend. The dynamic of the events progress in a hallucinogenic journey into the depths of the manic mind, depicting the ambiguous feelings and the constant conflict between the physical and the psychological reality of the main character.
An experimental cinematic journey with a poetic touch whose focal point is the taboos around mental health, anxiety, psychotic disorders, and bipolar disorder in young people. -
THE TRAP (Fakh, 2019)
Summer Cinema “A Quiet Summer”
31.05 (Monday), 21:00 h.
Nada Riyadh (EG/DE), 20'
Isolated and ruined, the once exclusive seaside resort becomes an intimate romantic haven for young Aya and her boyfriend Islam. The dynamics of power and control in their relationships permeate thoughts, emotions and bodies, increasing tension. Troubled hugs can no longer offer reasonable solutions and Aya will try to find a way out.
A story of pain and despair through which the young Egyptian director Nada Riyadh explores the depth and complexity of the human psyche through the socially and gender-taboo topics of modern Egyptian society. The film premiered at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. -
FIVE-SEVEN-FIVE (5-7-5, 2020)
Summer Cinema “A Quiet Summer”
31.05 (Monday), 21:00 h.
Amitai Hayun (IL), 14'
Deep in the night, in unknown territory, two young Israeli soldiers try to reach the agreed location. But the desolate and monotonous landscape closes them in a circle and they finally realize that they are lost. Forced to spend the night together, between uncertainty and fear of self, and the sounds of "joy of life" coming from a nearby Arab village, they enter into a poetic-philosophical duel that cheers; a metaphorical etude that obscures important existential issues. -
LAST LIGHT (2021)
Summer Cinema “A Quiet Summer”
31.05 (Monday), 21:00 h.
Jovan Sarkanjac (MK), 5'
Pavel must write his farewell letter before the candle goes out. The dark, abstract and surreal space reflects the soul atmosphere of the prisoner in Pandora's box filled with the voices of evil. But as long as the light lasts, there may be hope that Paul will succeed in his attempt to escape. -
SONA (2020)
Summer Cinema “A Quiet Summer”
31.05 (Monday), 21:00 h.
Maryam Mahdiyeh (IR), 15'
Shirin has not heard from her husband, Masood, the father of her two children, for a long time. Together with them she comes to visit the equestrian club where he used to work, but it seems that he has not appeared here at all for a long time. While looking for him in the stables and riding grounds, the fear of an unfavorable outcome reveals the conflict between the young woman and her mother. The sudden encounter with the beautiful, gentle force of Sona will remind her of something big and significant. -
THE AFFECTED (De Berørte, 2020)
Summer Cinema “A Quiet Summer”
31.05 (Monday), 21:00 h.
Rikke Gregersen (NO), 13'
Minutes before the plane took off, a passenger refused to sit in her seat in an attempt to prevent the deportation of a man to Afghanistan. The passengers and crew are surprised and confused by the unexpected moral dilemma. The pilot will try to resolve the situation without taking a political stance, but his intervention does not go as planned. A socially engaged Scandinavian comedy that carefully balances comic and dramatic and subtle nuances issues of human rights, social justice and individual responsibility. -
KAVAL (Кавал, 2020)
Summer Cinema “A Quiet Summer”
31.05 (Monday), 21:00 h.
Sasha Stanishik (MK), 10'
In a small mountain village, every summer the grandchild comes to grandparents, where they spend carefree days filled with joyful play on the wide flower meadows. His grandfather sits in a chair in the yard and plays the flute, and the magic of his sound arouses the child's curiosity. What does that magical opening in the long pipe hide? Maybe the music? One night, after many years, tired of the daily routine, alienated and oppressed by the grayness of the wild urbanism, he will be reminded of the forgotten smell of summer and the mysterious source of music.
