Quarter-Finalists
    Lisbon 2023
    Best Short Film (Main Category Competition)
    Suit Casing
    USA
    Synopsis:
    A prison comedy short based on a true story.

    Directed by:
    Jorge Yanes
    Bonding
    USA
    Synopsis:
    A solitary figure at an empty bar, CIA clinical and forensic psychologist, Dr. John Flemington, is planning to visit his girlfriend in Mexico when he is pressured by mysterious underground operatives to join them on a secret mission. He really doesn't have a choice.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Luke Rex
    The Cow
    Ireland
    Synopsis:
    A short film about domestic disharmony leading to the onset of domestic abuse.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Justin John Carroll
    Lessor
    Republic of Korea
    Synopsis:
    A broker who runs an ordinary-looking real estate office brokers surrogate mothers for infertile couples. One day, a client who has no need for a child from a surrogate mother due to divorce receives a message that the surrogate mother has disappeared.
    <The problem of a world where the value of money exceeds the value of life>

    Directed by:
    Il Sik Jang
    Three boys
    Italy
    Synopsis:
    Bertinoro, 1972. Thirteen-year-old friends Carmelo, Michele and Salvatore, run away from home towards Ravenna, with the hope of boarding a ship that will take them to America.
    The whole village mobilized to search for the three young boys. Now far away, after a long walk in the surrounding woods, they boarded the train that took them to Ravenna. At the port, however, they found something bigger than themselves: the side of the huge, inaccessible ship saw them forced to change their plans. Lost in the city, they will come up against their inexperience and a seemingly hostile world.
    Three boys, the possibilities of life and escape as a choice or as a search for freedom.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Gianfranco Boattini
    The Master of Sento
    Japan
    Synopsis:
    Shitamachi (traditional commercial district) Tokyo. Asakusa, Taito-ku. At an old public bath, there is an old fashioned, stubborn master who doesn't speak much and his beautiful wife. The couple runs the business well, but the wife leaves home due to the husband's bad drinking habit. Instead of learning from his wife's leaving, his drinking habit gets worse. Losing patience, his nosy neighbors visit him and persuade him into getting back together with his wife... Set in the public bath "Arimayu", which was built in 1930 and is still open, the story depicts the relationship of a married couple and humanity.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Yusuke Ishide
    Tell Me You Love Me
    United Kingdom
    Synopsis:
    Based on a true story - A rooftop party for two, a brother & sister celebrate their love. She has escaped from a violent husband but her scars run deep. She makes the ultimate choice.

    IMDb Page
    Directed by:
     Paulette Randall MBE
    Shoes and Signpost
    Japan
    Synopsis:
    A man who is shoemaker live near the sea. His name is Tosuke. He broke up with his wife and daughter a few years ago.
    One day, Tosuke is looking at the sea, a mysterious girl stands on the water’s edge. The girl is injured in her leg. Tosuke takes her to his home and tries to treat her knees. When he flushes her leg with water in the bathroom, the

    wound has curiously blocked. He finds a scale on the floor of the bathroom. He thinks of his daughter who is as old as the girl. The next day, Tosuke sees that the girl looks at the postmarks outside of the window. He decides to take her to a zoo. He notices another scale on the way and thinks it is hers. Tosuke thinks that she won’t have much time to stay in this place. Tosuke spends the left of time with her.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Takahiro Yamaguchi
    Best Feature Film (Main Category Competition)
    Silent Partners
    United States
    Synopsis:
    A Mob based drama set in Miami during the 1980’s. A mild mannered insurance salesman by day, Valentine doubles as Chicago mob soldier hell bent on creating is on good fortune and exit from the family.
    Directed by:
    Jorge “Jokes” Yanes

    Sospeso
    Italy
    Synopsis:
    Martino is a professional photographer who is working with a colleague on a nocturnal animals’ documentary about the tawny owl, a bird of prey very widespread in the forests of Piedmont.
    Martino leaves with his equipment and a tent for a research in the woods around the area of Turin but, after his arrival, he discovers a tombstone. From this moment on, disturbing and hard to understand events begins to take place. Seeking shelter in his tent, on the verge of insanity, he will wait for a dawn that will never show up.
    Hunger, exhaustion and even his own escape attempt, after three days of darkness, will drag him into his past, that is going to interlace with the drama of Nadia, a drug addict in her 50s who lives a miserable life in the outskirts of Turin.

    IMDb Page
    Directed by:
    Mauro Loverre

    Out of State-A Gothic Romance
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Elsa, 18, is sent to live with her strange step-relatives Aunt Marcia and her two twenty something sons, Tab and Emery. Tab is a pianist and Marcia's favorite while Emery is the Cinderella of the family and they never leave their house. Both brothers fall madly in love with Elsa shattering Marcia's control. Who will leave with Elsa? Stay tuned and find out.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Victoria Bugbee

    Dog’s Walk in circle
    Argentina
    Synopsis:
    Ricardo Darring is a moderately successful theatre director/actor. He staged some memorable plays a long time ago. Lack of the ideas for his writings and debts lead Ricardo to accept a proposal from a childhood friend, now mayor of his hometown Jorge Salcedo. On the occasion of the reopening of the Municipal Theater, Ricardo revives with the original cast the play that 30 years ago boosted his fame but forced him to leave his fellow cast member behind. Ricardo begins his journey back to his hometown full of doubts. He looks for the original cast and tries to convince them to participate in the play once again. He invites first Marcelo, his good friend from the past, and Clara, his youth love. Marcelo has a relationship of intense enmity with Salcedo. Ricardo decides to hide from them the real reason to participate in the play again and lies to convince him. Clara is torn between a relationship with Marcelo and the curiosity of discovering her first passion again. Ricardo has to recover the rest of the cast: marginals, alcoholics or simply lost in everyday life. The rehearsals go on and the play seems to have more and more things in common with real life. When it is revealed that Salcedo is sponsoring the event, Marcelo discovers Ricardo as a liar and a traitor. Ricardo faces the greatest dilemma, to repeat the betrayal of the past or to redeem himself in anonymity.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Nicolas Di Cocco

    Abyss in
    Greece
    Synopsis:
    A 60 years old man with memory loss trying to get away of his abyss ,at his last days.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Yannis Aivazis

    Oliver and the Pool
    Mexico
    Synopsis:
    Oliver –a 13 years old single son from a fractured family—arrives home from the crematory and sits in the chaise long next to the pool, holding his father ashes. In that chaise long Oliver will learn to forgive himself and other, recover his will for pursuing happiness and maybe even fall in love.

    Directed by:
    Arcadi Palerm Artis

    The Home
    Spain
    Synopsis:
    A humble family with three children live in the forest. One day they pass by a house they believe to be empty and occupy it, spending the best seven days of their lives there.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    JULIO DE LA FUENTE SANTOS
    This couch is too big for my trunk
    Brazil
    Synopsis:
    After agreeing to share an apartment, friends Alexandre and Gustavo put themselves in the hard task of carrying a couch, on foot, between one house and another. Along the way, their small differences added to their developing masculinities end up revealing huge divergencies in the perspective of sharing a home.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Victor Toth
    Full Circle
    Ireland
    Synopsis:
    The lives of two men, an Irish war journalist and an American living in Ireland intertwine in an unusual tale of enlightenment and redemption.
    Documentary Film-Maker and war journalist, Malcolm Walker (Michael Bates) returns to Ireland after his last production in Gaza went horribly wrong. A tragic accident occurred while filming his documentary about underground tunnels used by ‘Hamas’. This accident caused the death of Malcolm’s wife and producer Linda Walker (Susan Bracken).
    Two years on and Malcolm barely recognizes himself or the man he has become. Poor life-choices leave Malcolm facing a night in the local police cell following an unfortunate altercation… But he’s not alone in the cell.
    Enter Travis Sear (Mark Schrier), an American that met Malcolm some three years earlier and his cellmate for the night. Malcolm had interviewed Travis and his wife at the ancient site of Newgrange Co.Meath for another TV show at that time. Following the interview Travis and his wife Rose (Annette Kelly) were in a car accident. Travis survived, but his wife Rose was left in a catatonic state.
    Travis now believes this car accident to be the result of the curse of the ‘Órach Stone’. An ancient stone that Rose found at Newgrange that day. And her taking it from the ancient site caused this curse and the subsequent accident. Travis believes that the ‘Órach Stone’ has to be returned to Newgrange and an ancient ritual performed with the chosen ones. Only this ritual can lift the curse that plagues Rose.
    Having met Malcolm once again after all these years, Travis believes that Malcolm is a sign, and a chosen one. And he and only he can help perform this ancient ritual and bring Rose back. Seeing the opportunity of a story, Malcolm reluctantly agrees to help Travis on his journey. This journey will take Malcolm to places other than Newgrange as he struggles to face his own demons and deal with his own loss and the nightmarish memories of Gaza.


    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Noel Brady
    Best Director (Main Category Competition)
    Three boys
    Italy
    Synopsis:
    Bertinoro, 1972. Thirteen-year-old friends Carmelo, Michele and Salvatore, run away from home towards Ravenna, with the hope of boarding a ship that will take them to America.
    The whole village mobilized to search for the three young boys. Now far away, after a long walk in the surrounding woods, they boarded the train that took them to Ravenna. At the port, however, they found something bigger than themselves: the side of the huge, inaccessible ship saw them forced to change their plans. Lost in the city, they will come up against their inexperience and a seemingly hostile world.
    Three boys, the possibilities of life and escape as a choice or as a search for freedom.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Gianfranco Boattini
    Bonding
    USA
    Synopsis:
    A solitary figure at an empty bar, CIA clinical and forensic psychologist, Dr. John Flemington, is planning to visit his girlfriend in Mexico when he is pressured by mysterious underground operatives to join them on a secret mission. He really doesn't have a choice.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Luke Rex
    Little Fantasies
    United Kingdom
    Synopsis:
    Fiona spurs on her neighbour Niall‘s fantasies by letting him watch her when she has sex with her lover.
    It‘s a distance-based affair – from her window to his. And that‘s exactly how Fiona wants to keep it.
    But when she runs into Niall‘s pregnant wife Siobhan, she develops a liking to her and starts to question how far she and Niall have let their voyeuristic games go.

    IMDb Page
    Directed by:
    Alissa Autschbach

    The Divorcees Of Casablanca
    Morocco
    Synopsis:
    Five women from the great city of CASABLANCA, a source of economic, social, and civilizational progress. There are five divorced women from different social strata, and are professionally active in various fields. These women try to rebuild their lives, in an unequal society, dominated by prejudices against divorced women, and ignorance of the rules of law governing the status of women.

    Official Facebook
    Directed by:
    BENSOUDA MOHAMMED AHED

    Out of State-A Gothic Romance
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Elsa, 18, is sent to live with her strange step-relatives Aunt Marcia and her two twenty something sons, Tab and Emery. Tab is a pianist and Marcia's favorite while Emery is the Cinderella of the family and they never leave their house. Both brothers fall madly in love with Elsa shattering Marcia's control. Who will leave with Elsa? Stay tuned and find out.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Victoria Bugbee

    Abyss in
    Greece
    Synopsis:
    A 60 years old man with memory loss trying to get away of his abyss ,at his last days.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Yannis Aivazis

    SINIOLCHU , the peak a man fell in love with
    India
    Synopsis:
    The story revolves around fifty-year old Dawa who lives in his own world. His village is situated in the lap of the Himalaya. His infatuation is Siniolchu, the slender peak. If it shines he feels happy; if it is clouded he feels gloom. He considers his chickens as his near and dear ones. He talks with them and shares with Siniolchu. Villagers think he is imbecile. His only friend is a five-year old girl Maya and her puppy Bro. Their world is free from violation of anything on earth; it is bonded by compassion and love. Suddenly Bird Flu breaks out. Mere touch may cause death to a person drives the entire village panicked. Instructed by the village headman ravage goes on to throw them out of the village, virtually leading to death. Only Maya and Dawa try hard to save them. This leads to further catastrophe.

    Directed by:
    Indranil Ghosh
    One for the other
    France
    Synopsis:
    Two women wounded by life, with diametrically opposed characters, meet by chance at the table of a brewery. An exclusive and singular relationship forms between the two women.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Philippe Michel
    Best Actor (Main Category Competition)
    Silent Partners
    United States
    Synopsis:
    A Mob based drama set in Miami during the 1980’s. A mild mannered insurance salesman by day, Valentine doubles as Chicago mob soldier hell bent on creating is on good fortune and exit from the family.
    Directed by:
    Jorge “Jokes” Yanes


    Best Actor Nominee - Ciro Dapagio
    Sospeso
    Italy
    Synopsis:
    Martino is a professional photographer who is working with a colleague on a nocturnal animals’ documentary about the tawny owl, a bird of prey very widespread in the forests of Piedmont.
    Martino leaves with his equipment and a tent for a research in the woods around the area of Turin but, after his arrival, he discovers a tombstone. From this moment on, disturbing and hard to understand events begins to take place. Seeking shelter in his tent, on the verge of insanity, he will wait for a dawn that will never show up.
    Hunger, exhaustion and even his own escape attempt, after three days of darkness, will drag him into his past, that is going to interlace with the drama of Nadia, a drug addict in her 50s who lives a miserable life in the outskirts of Turin.

    IMDb Page
    Directed by:
    Mauro Loverre


    Best Actor Nominee - Rocco Marazzita
    Life After
    USA
    Synopsis:
    A priest unable to escape the shame. A pastor haunted by her memories. Neither knows how the trauma of their past will affect their future.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Autumn Libengood

    Best Actor Nominee - Jordan Mullins
    Suit Casing
    USA
    Synopsis:
    A prison comedy short based on a true story.

    Directed by:
    Jorge Yanes

    Best Actor Nominee - Ciro Dapagio
    Bonding
    USA
    Synopsis:
    A solitary figure at an empty bar, CIA clinical and forensic psychologist, Dr. John Flemington, is planning to visit his girlfriend in Mexico when he is pressured by mysterious underground operatives to join them on a secret mission. He really doesn't have a choice.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Luke Rex

    Best Actor Nominee - Luke Rex
    The New Age
    Germany
    Synopsis:


    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Paul Schilling

    Best Actor Nominee - Adriaan van Veen
    Abyss in
    Greece
    Synopsis:
    A 60 years old man with memory loss trying to get away of his abyss ,at his last days.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Yannis Aivazis

    Best Actor Nominee - Stavros Parcharidis

    Best Actress (Main Category Competition)
    Life After
    USA
    Synopsis:
    A priest unable to escape the shame. A pastor haunted by her memories. Neither knows how the trauma of their past will affect their future.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Autumn Libengood

    Best Actress Nominee - Abigail Mullins
    Bonding
    USA
    Synopsis:
    A solitary figure at an empty bar, CIA clinical and forensic psychologist, Dr. John Flemington, is planning to visit his girlfriend in Mexico when he is pressured by mysterious underground operatives to join them on a secret mission. He really doesn't have a choice.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Luke Rex

    Best Actress Nominee - Jannica Olin
    Five Questions
    United States
    Synopsis:
    In Five Questions, Jill, a young woman played by Amber Paul, comes to terms with an early trauma in her life. In each of the film's five scenes, a question is asked that propels Jill forward and toward an answer that opens a path to resolution.
    Written and directed by David Arrow, the film stars Amber Paul as Jill and features a diverse supporting cast that includes Donna Lynne Champlin, Kiera Allen, Joyia D. Bradley and Elijah Guo. The film was produced by Leon Derriey.

    IMDb Page
    Directed by:
    David Arrow

    Best Actress Nominee - Amber Paul
    Little Fantasies
    United Kingdom
    Synopsis:
    Fiona spurs on her neighbour Niall‘s fantasies by letting him watch her when she has sex with her lover.
    It‘s a distance-based affair – from her window to his. And that‘s exactly how Fiona wants to keep it.
    But when she runs into Niall‘s pregnant wife Siobhan, she develops a liking to her and starts to question how far she and Niall have let their voyeuristic games go.

    IMDb Page
    Directed by:
    Alissa Autschbach

    Best Actress Nominee - Kelsey Cooke
    The Divorcees Of Casablanca
    Morocco
    Synopsis:
    Five women from the great city of CASABLANCA, a source of economic, social, and civilizational progress. There are five divorced women from different social strata, and are professionally active in various fields. These women try to rebuild their lives, in an unequal society, dominated by prejudices against divorced women, and ignorance of the rules of law governing the status of women.

    Official Facebook
    Directed by:
    BENSOUDA MOHAMMED AHED


    Best Actress Nominee - OKACHA SONIA
    Out of State-A Gothic Romance
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Elsa, 18, is sent to live with her strange step-relatives Aunt Marcia and her two twenty something sons, Tab and Emery. Tab is a pianist and Marcia's favorite while Emery is the Cinderella of the family and they never leave their house. Both brothers fall madly in love with Elsa shattering Marcia's control. Who will leave with Elsa? Stay tuned and find out.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Victoria Bugbee

    Best Actress Nominee - Sarah Moliski
    Eleanor Slaughter
    United States
    Synopsis:
    An ambitious musician uses the wrong hashtag and accidentally makes someone else famous. The result is a series of dueling documentaries that has the viewer questioning which story they can trust.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Chris Chan Roberson

    "Best Actress" Nominee - Rebecca Quinn Robertson
    Desire Untamed
    United States
    Synopsis:
    A successful writer risks her life and career after accepting a proposition to seduce her client's husband in exchange for a kidney to save her dying mother.

    IMDb Page
    Directed by:
    Jonathan Daniel Williams & Qituwra Anderson

    "Best Actress" Nominee - Qituwra Anderson
    Tell Me You Love Me
    United Kingdom
    Synopsis:
    Based on a true story - A rooftop party for two, a brother & sister celebrate their love. She has escaped from a violent husband but her scars run deep. She makes the ultimate choice.

    IMDb Page
    Directed by:
     Paulette Randall MBE

    "Best Actress" Nominee - Tamzin Outhwaite
    Who's Annie?
    United States
    Synopsis:
    After jail-time, 12-step programs and five marriages, Annie begins her acting career in her mid-fifties with the help of a young director she met at a Burger King. In this show within a show, Annie tackles both her gigs as an actor and the role of herself in her own life story.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Sophia Peer

    Best Actress Nominee - Annie Pisapia
    LANA & TONI
    Slovenia
    Synopsis:
    Lana and Toni are a couple in a long-term relationship. Lana wants children and a large family, but Toni lives in his own world and shows no signs of wanting to take a step forward in their relationship.
    One day, Lana and her best friend Maja head to a castle where Toni's birthday party is supposed to be happening, but to their surprise, there is no one there. The situation gets even more complicated when they bump into Alex, Toni's best friend.
    As they are about to walk out of the castle, they come across a box with a very special surprise in it.

    Official Facebook
    Directed by:
     Predrag Peter Rajčič

    Best Actress Nominee - Inja Zalta
    Best Cinematography (Main Category Competition)
    Bonding
    USA
    Synopsis:
    A solitary figure at an empty bar, CIA clinical and forensic psychologist, Dr. John Flemington, is planning to visit his girlfriend in Mexico when he is pressured by mysterious underground operatives to join them on a secret mission. He really doesn't have a choice.

    Official Website
    Cinematography by:
    Laura Jansen
    Turn Off My Heart - Music Video
    Norway
    Synopsis:
    The Artists emotions and loneliness is overwhelming. But does he run away from the emotions, or does he dive into them? The forces of nature, the ocean, the waves, the wind - the video shows you all this. Beautiful, dangerous, mighty! As metaphores of his feelings and his struggles, but maybe also his savior, his redemption? This music video takes you into the world and thoughts of the Artist, you experience the forces of nature first hand - but also the calm of it all. We all need to dive into our emotions sometimes, face what comes our way - and then hopefully, be able to move on. Emotions are part of life for all of us.

    This Music Video was made from a love of music and nature, for the song Turn Off My Heart. This was Bjørn Olav Edvardsens debut as a solo artist in the norwegian selection for Eurovision 2023.


    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Bjørn Olav Edvardsen & Jostein Vedvik
    Abyss in
    Greece
    Synopsis:
    A 60 years old man with memory loss trying to get away of his abyss ,at his last days.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Yannis Aivazis

    The Master of Sento
    Japan
    Synopsis:
    Shitamachi (traditional commercial district) Tokyo. Asakusa, Taito-ku. At an old public bath, there is an old fashioned, stubborn master who doesn't speak much and his beautiful wife. The couple runs the business well, but the wife leaves home due to the husband's bad drinking habit. Instead of learning from his wife's leaving, his drinking habit gets worse. Losing patience, his nosy neighbors visit him and persuade him into getting back together with his wife... Set in the public bath "Arimayu", which was built in 1930 and is still open, the story depicts the relationship of a married couple and humanity.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Yusuke Ishide
    Track in Time
    United States
    Synopsis:
    A stoner skydiver bump attempts to fix his life by messing with the time and space continuum.


    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Ruben Rodas
    Existere
    Mexico
    Synopsis:
    Brief-Horacio, a lonely young man, cornered between his routine and disturbing dreams, stops and isolates, revealing a vital message.
    Long- Horacio is a lonely young man trapped between a repetitive routine and his allegorical dreams that do not let him rest. In these circumstances, he makes the decision not to continue with his routine. But through this act his observation of common things reveal a profound message of vitality.


    Directed by:
    Héctor Calvillo Hernández
    Fight or Flight
    Netherlands
    Synopsis:
    MMA-Fighter number 362 is just steps away from the ring, when his social anxiety disorder takes over. The society he lives in is divided in rankings, the higher the ranking, the more freedom you have as a civilian. In order to climb up in ranking, 362 has to win a personalized trial; a streetfight. During his path to the ring his perception of the reality starts to twist, panic attacks increase and his inner demons project into the real world. He is captivated by his own reality, his own blurry mind and it seems like the world that he lives in, is turning against him. The only way 362 knows how to deal with his fears is to either fight or flight but this only takes him further away from winning the game. After trying to escape multiple times, his anger and despair take over which brings him to the point of madness. Whilst being in the middle of his anxiety, the audience tells a visual story through hiphop dance to confront him and make sure he can not run away. He stands across his biggest fear, who is manipulative, a bully, a fighter, a demon and only wants to bring 362 down. Neither fighting or flighting will get him to win the fight. In order to win and go up in ranking in the hierarchy of his society he has to stay calm, overcome his anxiety and let go of the insane.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Jody Geijsendorpher
    See
    Netherlands
    Synopsis:
    SEE is about a boy who doesn’t feel well in the dirty and poluted world around him. He decides to jump on his bike. His journey ends up in France, just like Vincent van Gogh. Where he starts seeing the true colors of Earth and starts painting on his iPad.
    The goal of the film is to inspire people to take action for our planet and also to rediscover the true colors of Earth.


    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Johan Oudshoorn
    Shoes and Signpost
    Japan
    Synopsis:
    A man who is shoemaker live near the sea. His name is Tosuke. He broke up with his wife and daughter a few years ago.
    One day, Tosuke is looking at the sea, a mysterious girl stands on the water’s edge. The girl is injured in her leg. Tosuke takes her to his home and tries to treat her knees. When he flushes her leg with water in the bathroom, the

    wound has curiously blocked. He finds a scale on the floor of the bathroom. He thinks of his daughter who is as old as the girl. The next day, Tosuke sees that the girl looks at the postmarks outside of the window. He decides to take her to a zoo. He notices another scale on the way and thinks it is hers. Tosuke thinks that she won’t have much time to stay in this place. Tosuke spends the left of time with her.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Takahiro Yamaguchi
    Somebody's Baby
    Ireland
    Synopsis:
    A homeless woman who, driven by grief, snatches a baby.

    IMDb page
    Directed by:
    Mervyn McCracken
    Mirona
    United States
    Synopsis:
    A thriller about two roommates who battle guilt and paranoia after stumbling upon a tragedy next door.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Paula Blanco Pérez
    Best Editing  (Main Category Competition)
    Sospeso
    Italy
    Synopsis:
    Martino is a professional photographer who is working with a colleague on a nocturnal animals’ documentary about the tawny owl, a bird of prey very widespread in the forests of Piedmont.
    Martino leaves with his equipment and a tent for a research in the woods around the area of Turin but, after his arrival, he discovers a tombstone. From this moment on, disturbing and hard to understand events begins to take place. Seeking shelter in his tent, on the verge of insanity, he will wait for a dawn that will never show up.
    Hunger, exhaustion and even his own escape attempt, after three days of darkness, will drag him into his past, that is going to interlace with the drama of Nadia, a drug addict in her 50s who lives a miserable life in the outskirts of Turin.

    IMDb Page
    Directed by:
    Mauro Loverre

    Dojo
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Shane Lucas, an ex-Yakuza member and 4th degree black belt in Judo, is hunted down at his local dojo in Los Angeles 1985 by his long-time rival, Elias Da Rosa and his crew members from the same crime family. Shane is threatened to come back to the Yakuza or would suffer the consequence of not.

    Official Website
    Directed by:

    Armin Alic

    Fight or Flight
    Netherlands
    Synopsis:
    MMA-Fighter number 362 is just steps away from the ring, when his social anxiety disorder takes over. The society he lives in is divided in rankings, the higher the ranking, the more freedom you have as a civilian. In order to climb up in ranking, 362 has to win a personalized trial; a streetfight. During his path to the ring his perception of the reality starts to twist, panic attacks increase and his inner demons project into the real world. He is captivated by his own reality, his own blurry mind and it seems like the world that he lives in, is turning against him. The only way 362 knows how to deal with his fears is to either fight or flight but this only takes him further away from winning the game. After trying to escape multiple times, his anger and despair take over which brings him to the point of madness. Whilst being in the middle of his anxiety, the audience tells a visual story through hiphop dance to confront him and make sure he can not run away. He stands across his biggest fear, who is manipulative, a bully, a fighter, a demon and only wants to bring 362 down. Neither fighting or flighting will get him to win the fight. In order to win and go up in ranking in the hierarchy of his society he has to stay calm, overcome his anxiety and let go of the insane.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Jody Geijsendorpher
    Teyuna - Lost City
    United Kingdom
    Synopsis:
    A journey to seek out the lost city of Teyuna in the jungle of Sierra Nevada Colombia.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Stuart Fortune
    Best Animation (Main Category Competition)
    Ethel
    Switzerland
    Synopsis:
    Ethel discovers boxes with glittering clothes of her late mother, who was a figure skater. In the snowy forest she searches for the idyllic pond where her mother once taught her to skate. She wants to relive those memories, attempts to understand her mother’s passion. On the frozen pond Ethel, however, encounters the Bone Ice Princess, who challenges her to a dangerous dance on thin ice. Will Ethel survive this contest in one piece? A tale of letting go and growing up.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Beatrice Jäggi
    GREED
    China
    Synopsis:
    The story tells of a shepherd boy who lost his last sheep, accidentally met a succuba, begged the succuba to save his sheep, and was eventually killed by his own greed.

    Directed by:
    紫曦 詹
    Yūjō (friendship)
    Italy
    Synopsis:
    Your face was hidden
    But I know that sooner or later
    Will return
    I do not see you
    But I know that you are watching me
    Day after day
    Night after night
    My ears no longer hear your voice
    But my heart hears everything
    A thousand years from now
    In 1 day, 1 year, 100 thousand years, your face I will see again
    In 1 day, 1 year, 100 thousand years, I don't know where, but you will find me again
    In 1 day, 1 year, 100 thousand years, I know your face next to mine I will see again
    I will be the cloud and you will be the moon.
    I will cover you with both hands
    And our roof will be the sky

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Carlo Chiarotti
    Swing to the Moon
    France
    Synopsis:
    Living in the forest, little spider Temi dreams of catching the Moon. For that, she will do anything.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Marie BORDESSOULE, Adriana BOUISSIE, Nadine DE BOER, Elisa DRIQUE, Chloé LAUZU, Vincent LEVRERO, Solenne MOREAU
    Luke and Oscar
    France
    Synopsis:
    A fox is preparing to meet an opponent for a boxing match. But he will have a surprise.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Antoine Priou
    The Path of the Knight
    China
    Synopsis:
    The Path of The Knight is a 5 minutes 3D animated short film set in the 15th century. Society is suffering from wars, poverty, and diseases. Wanting to hold on to power, the church announces that the disasters are not due to God’s will, but blames an easy target: witches. The audience follows a knight where he abandons his duties for self-recognition during this time of persecution.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Yexin Chai, Yuan Cao & Yifei Jin
    Dr. Yes
    United States
    Synopsis:
    A mad scientist attempts to revive the greatest musicians of all time to create the ultimate rock band.

    Directed by:
    Jervey L Staley
    ULTRAVIOLET
    Canada
    Synopsis:
    In an attempt to navigate the darkness, Adam will find himself lost in hollow ultraviolet light.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Isaiah Dunk
    Meet Cute
    Canada
    Synopsis:
    Inspired by the silent films of the 1920s, Meet Cute tells the story of a fateful day between two people waiting for the bus.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Shawn Patrick Tilling
    Dixon Mason - The Scent of The Woman
    United Kingdom
    Synopsis:
    On a stormy night in Sun Down City, legendary detective Dixon Mason chases the stalker of famed actress Rita Munroe. The mysterious being know as Shadow Grin may be his most deadly adversary yet.

    IMDb page
    Directed by:
    Rey Janjua
    Seaper Powers Mystery of the Blue Pearls Film
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Emma works for NOAA as a diver and researcher. She is put on a mission to find mysterious blue pearls in the deep Caribbean seas, but first, she needs to call upon her octopus and starfish (played by Vanilla Ice) friends, from the past, to help. During her dive, dangerous pirates plague her way to uncover a secret that only a few know about. She must find a way to protect the secret or risk destroying an underwater world which is vital to our oceans.
    Seaper Powers: Mystery of the Blue Pearls is the second in the Seaper Powers movie series and features an all-new, original soundtrack by John DePatie and Kim Cameron, the Billboard-charted duo behind hits such as "Not Into You." Inspired by Cameron's award-winning bok series (Purple Dragonfly Book Award, 2018), this film brings beloved characters to life through memorable songs and a captivating adventure.
    Popular among educators and the homeschool community, Kim Cameron's five-book Seaper Powers series is accompanied by an official Lesson Plan Guide. Likewise, Seaper Powers: Mystery of the Blue Pearls is the perfect introduction for young audiences to engage in fun learning activities about the ocean environment.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Kim Cameron
    Once means forever
    Poland
    Synopsis:
    "Once means forever" is short animated film, which shows us, without delusion, story of young women. Girl who could be any other women. Looking by her's eyes, we will be troubled by her one day. The day which will change her life forever.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Katarzyna Bińko
    That's The Shape I'm In
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Are you ready for an amazing jazzy tune about our shapes? Then join Reba to the Rescue as well as "Kalunda" (Christian) McBride! Take a trip with Reba as she celebrates our shapes!

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Cicely C. Mitchell, Miles Johnson, Leslie Braginsky
    Best Original Score (Main Category Competition)
    Life After
    USA
    Synopsis:
    A priest unable to escape the shame. A pastor haunted by her memories. Neither knows how the trauma of their past will affect their future.

    Official Instagram
    Composed by:
    Brooke Danielle Way
    Bonding
    USA
    Synopsis:
    A solitary figure at an empty bar, CIA clinical and forensic psychologist, Dr. John Flemington, is planning to visit his girlfriend in Mexico when he is pressured by mysterious underground operatives to join them on a secret mission. He really doesn't have a choice.

    Official Website
    Composed by:
    Daniel Teo, Greg Beaton & Luke Rex
    The Cow
    Ireland
    Synopsis:
    A short film about domestic disharmony leading to the onset of domestic abuse.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Justin John Carroll
    A Way on Another Avenue
    Portugal
    Synopsis:
    An ambitious young actor with doubts about his future, at the end of the last show of the season, takes a strong introspective, emotional and musical journey home, where he reflects on the various paths ahead of him and which one he has to give up, in favor of his great opportunity.


    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Luis Eduardo Graça & Renan Tcholakian
    Yūjō (friendship)
    Italy
    Synopsis:
    Your face was hidden
    But I know that sooner or later
    Will return
    I do not see you
    But I know that you are watching me
    Day after day
    Night after night
    My ears no longer hear your voice
    But my heart hears everything
    A thousand years from now
    In 1 day, 1 year, 100 thousand years, your face I will see again
    In 1 day, 1 year, 100 thousand years, I don't know where, but you will find me again
    In 1 day, 1 year, 100 thousand years, I know your face next to mine I will see again
    I will be the cloud and you will be the moon.
    I will cover you with both hands
    And our roof will be the sky

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Carlo Chiarotti
    Abyss in
    Greece
    Synopsis:
    A 60 years old man with memory loss trying to get away of his abyss ,at his last days.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Yannis Aivazis

    The thousand gates of Filippo
    Italy
    Synopsis:
    The documentary “I mille cancelli di Filippo” (The Thousand Gates of Filippo)
    recounts the daily life of an autistic artist, Filippo Zoi: his passion for drawing,
    his activity as an illustrator for a series of books written by his father, his
    violent and mysterious crises, his relationships with family and friends.

    Official Facebook
    Composed by:
    Carlo Chiarotti
    Tiki Taane in session with CSO
    New Zealand
    Synopsis:
    In a future world where brain-computer interface (BCI) surgery is ubiquitous, individuals face a choice: upload their consciousness to the cloud for immortality, or preserve their physical bodies in a body archive and upload their consciousness for future resurrection. For those who choose the latter, the promise of reawakening in a tangible form brings new opportunities and challenges as they navigate a world that has advanced far beyond their previous lives.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
     Tiki Taane
    Immortal Mind
    United States
    Synopsis:
    In a future world where brain-computer interface (BCI) surgery is ubiquitous, individuals face a choice: upload their consciousness to the cloud for immortality, or preserve their physical bodies in a body archive and upload their consciousness for future resurrection. For those who choose the latter, the promise of reawakening in a tangible form brings new opportunities and challenges as they navigate a world that has advanced far beyond their previous lives.

    Directed by:
    Roku Jingwen Long
    The Sand Eating Shark
    France
    Synopsis:
    Official Website
    Composed by:
    Samuel Safa
    The Neighborhood Storyteller
    United Arab Emirates
    Synopsis:
    War tragically pushed Asmaa out of her home country, Syria, where her destiny had been written as a wife and mother with only 16 years of age. Asmaa rebuilt her adult identity as the neighborhood storyteller and began using reading aloud to children for fun as a bridge to tackle critical issues in her new community at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan.

    Six years later, with Asmaa’s first born daughter reaching adolescence, a flashback of her education deprived past emerges and inspires her to embark on a new read aloud project to empower teenage girls to build a future of opportunities she never had. Despite her complex living situation as a refugee and the community’s conservative mindset, Asmaa is determined to raise a conscious generation of successful women.

    The Neighborhood Storyteller is a documentary feature film that explores human resilience, the transition from child to adult and one's capacity to turn hardships into an opportunity for self growth.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Alejandra Alcala
    Best Short Documentary (Main Category Competition)
    Land of the Other
    Turkey
    Synopsis:
     One only takes their identity to exile! “We left our dish in the oven.” This sentence encapsulates the tragedy that hundreds of thousands of Kurds lived first in 1990’s and again in 2010’s. The Other’s yarning to their land in their oppressors’ lands and its transformation to despair has been the implicit reality in Turkey.
    This documentary, having been shot under police surveillance and government threat, brings the accounts of a timeless oppression spanning 40 years from the minds and lives of “internally displaced” people. Now in tents and slums in Turkish cities, many tells their individual stories that contextualizes in a broader narrative, which they all share. The occurrence of the same events has, in the eyes of Kurds, canonized their torment and suffering. Land of the Other is a telling of people who says “Neither pet our heads nor kill us” keeping their dignity and pride after all their suffering, of people who says “I still want to shout piece” despite the loss of a son. But it is also a telling of the fear of people who says, “I will die in these wastelands.”
    The realization of this work has only been possible after the director fled her country for political reasons.
    Directed by:
    Sibel Yiğittekin
    A Perfect Love
    USA
    Synopsis:
    A PERFECT LOVE is a true life, inspirational short documentary about one family's dream to adopt a child with special needs from China. Eight years and six children with special needs later, the family copes with the everyday struggles of bringing two worlds and cultures together to form an everlasting bond with love as the tie that binds them together.
    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Kyle Saylors
    Liturgy of anti-tank obstacles
    Ukraine
    Synopsis:
    The reality in Ukraine split into before and after the war. Every citizen is trying to contribute to the nationwide resistance. Many people retrained for the needs of the military. Sculptors and metalworkers now make anti-tank obstacles. In the art workshops, among the artwork, anti-tank obstacles are being produced. The artists make the anti-tank obstacles, surrounded by the sculptures of angels, Cossacks, and famous Ukrainian personalities. Statues stand in the corners like a silent army. Multiple copies of Jesus Christ, like a terracotta army, froze in various poses and waiting. Masters weld metal for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk
    The Orchestra Chuck Built
    United States
    Synopsis:
    In 2016, the League of American Orchestras conducted a study that revealed a shocking statistic: only 1.8% of the professional orchestra workforce in the US is Black. From an old church rec room in the inner city of Los Angeles, former lawyer-turned-conductor Chuck Dickerson is on a mission to change that.

    Through ICYOLA - The Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles — the largest majority Black orchestra in the country — Chuck is creating life-changing opportunities for his community that did not previously exist. The Orchestra Chuck Built is a loving portrait of a tireless mentor and a testament to the transformative power of music.
    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Christopher Stoudt
    Terror in Toulouse: Has the Community Recovered?
    United States
    Synopsis:
    In 2012, a radical Islamist opened fire on a Jewish High School in Toulouse, France, killing three children and a religious instructor. In this documentary, Lisa Burkhardt Worley will retell the story of this antisemitic attack and will explain the state of antisemitism in France today.
    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Lisa Burkhardt-Worley
    future paradise
    Cuba
    Synopsis:
    For the past decade, the Cuban government and a Chinese company have been preparing a tourist project in Havana linked to golf. The work won’t begin until the State relocates the 38 families living on the site. Lacking official information, the neighborhood lives between rumors and waiting. Silently but steadily, other tourist constructions are flooding the island…
    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Karel Ducasse Manzano
    Dugout Dick
    United States
    Synopsis:
    A heartwarming portrait of an Idaho hermit, Richard “Dugout Dick” Zimmerman, who lived in caves that he dug on the banks of the Salmon River. It was the hope of finding precious metals that kept him digging and mining, but ultimately it was his simple life of living off the land that sustained him.
    Filmmaker Harrod Blank decided to edit the film in March of 2020, given the COVID pandemic, as he felt Dugout Dick's hermit lifestyle and living off the land was especially timely
    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Harrod Blank & Joanne Shen
    13 Driver's Licenses
    United States
    Synopsis:
    German town to face its horrendous and regrettable past. With no other clue but those licenses, a group of high–school students with their tenacious teacher research the fates of the town's former Jewish citizens. A year later, an unexpected turn takes place. The modern-day Germans and some of the Jewish descendants from overseas gather in “their hometown,” and a fortuitous friendship begins.
    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Ryoya Terao
    Raising Faith — Stories About Dyslexia
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Raising Faith — Stories About Dyslexia shares real talk with nine families with dyslexic children. The film, set in each families' home, shares poignant stories, advice, strategies and struggles from experiencing the learning difference called dyslexia. This film provides hope, inspiration, and a feeling of camaraderie for families of unique learners, and those who wish to open themselves to learning something new about neurodiverse individuals. The film also discusses the genetic component of this learning difference through the experiences of Faith, a young dyslexic, her father, and others. Ability advocates, unique learners, and those who know and love them, will feel "heard" by the end of this film. The film raises faith about dyslexic life, as Faith's parents experience raising her. This current under thirty minute cut of the film was completed in 2020.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Stacey O. Irwin
    Cai Lun's Key: How the Kam People Preserved the Earliest Papermaking
    United States
    Synopsis:
    An art professor and her students apprentice with Kam minority artisans deep in the mountains of southwest China to learn early papermaking technology. The Kam have lived secluded from the rest of the world for centuries. Their papermaking tradition can be traced directly to the Chinese official Cai Lun, who is credited with inventing paper over 2000 years ago. Kam artisans adopted his technique after the addition of mulberry bark to the pulp mixture but before he invented the dipping method of forming paper. Their current practice takes us back two millennia the way no archaeological discovery can.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Marie Anna Lee
    Teyuna - Lost City
    United Kingdom
    Synopsis:
    A journey to seek out the lost city of Teyuna in the jungle of Sierra Nevada Colombia.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Stuart Fortune
    Best Feature Documentary (Main Category Competition)
    Anything You Lose
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Anything You Lose explores the world of Reproductive Technologies and its effects on mental health. The documentary delves into the booming industry, where clinics compete for clientèle with high success rates, and follows the director on her personal seven-year journey. Irina Vodar and her husband Eddie are a couple who want to have a child but face challenges and pressures along the way. Through cinema vérité footage and narration, Vodar shares her intimate story of hope and resilience, and examines the psychological impact of reproductive technologies on patients, such as addiction, shame, isolation and silence.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Irina Vodar
    Happy Stones
    Bulgaria
    Synopsis:
    When you lose a child, you fall into despair or you start to build. The challenges of building a chapel high in the mountains as a unifying image of power, will, spirit of the ordinary man, and a monument for those who will always live in our hearts.

    Official Facebook
    Directed by:
    Zoya Dimitrova
    Where Storks Rest
    Poland
    Synopsis:
    "Where Storks Rest" is a magical story, both sad and funny, sometimes even mocking. This is a film about male friendship and male sensitivity.
    The action takes place in the tiny village of Czukty, located in Poland, in Masuria Garbate. For the protagonist of the film, Wiesław Boltryk, an artist-vagabond by choice, it is an adopted patrimony. The camera accompanies his lonely wanderings around the countryside, looks into the houses where he spends the night, registers micro-events in which his life and the villagers' lives intertwine for a moment. The songs of Masurian bard Andrzej Garczarek provide a metaphorical commentary on these micro-stories, "reviewing" events invisible in this kind of road movie. They ask the eternal questions about the "tree of knowledge: good not necessarily and bad not necessarily...".

    Official Facebook
    Directed by:
    Józef Romasz
    ZIUTA’S CROSSINGS
    Mexico
    Synopsis:
    Ziuta, Polish, Jewish and a survivor of the Second World War, was an extraordinary woman who aroused special devotion. His political commitment and his participation in supporting the clandestine struggle, beyond being a virtue, were a direct and almost biological part of it. Ziuta had the determination, being just a teenager, to resist exile with integrity, saving her mother and another family from perishing in flight. Despite the horrors and hardships, he maintained a grateful attitude toward life. These characteristics, and his particular sense of humor, permeate his story, even in chapters with painful themes: the death of his father, his madness; her suicide attempt in the Caspian Sea and her decision to come to Mexico where she rebuilt her life and lived with artists , writers, dancers and fimllakers in a time of great cultural effervescence in the country, even participating as an actress in some movies.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Carolina Kerlow
    I MILLE CANCELLI DI FILIPPO - THE THOUSAND GATES OF FILIPPO
    Italy
    Synopsis:
    Filippo Zoi is a 24-year-old with autism. Gifted with a remarkable artistic sensitivity which takes up most of his energy, every year he draws thousands of comic strips and illustrates the children’s stories that his father writes, with two successful books to his credit. But what seems to be the catalyst for all his inner effort are doors and gates, which from childhood Filippo has catalogued in his mind, both to “touch” and to draw. Periodically he feels the need to list to his parents all the gates he has seen from when he was a child until now. This ritual seems anchored in reality as well affording him a pleasure all of his own. Intimate and impenetrable like autism itself.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Adamo Antonacci
    Home Cookin - Over 100 Years in the Making
    United States
    Synopsis:
    A personal look back on family and self using film collected 1908 to 2020.

    Directed by:
    Rich Allen
    Searching for Halifax NP711
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Seven crew members of the Royal Canadian Air Force were killed in a bombing raid over Germany on Feb. 21, 1945. The cause of the crash was a mystery. Their Halifax bomber was discovered 73 years later. We examine the crew's final hours, its flight path, the conclusions on why it crashed and the search for the wreckage.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Rob Leicester Wagner
    The Neighborhood Storyteller
    United Arab Emirates
    Synopsis:
    War tragically pushed Asmaa out of her home country, Syria, where her destiny had been written as a wife and mother with only 16 years of age. Asmaa rebuilt her adult identity as the neighborhood storyteller and began using reading aloud to children for fun as a bridge to tackle critical issues in her new community at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan.

    Six years later, with Asmaa’s first born daughter reaching adolescence, a flashback of her education deprived past emerges and inspires her to embark on a new read aloud project to empower teenage girls to build a future of opportunities she never had. Despite her complex living situation as a refugee and the community’s conservative mindset, Asmaa is determined to raise a conscious generation of successful women.

    The Neighborhood Storyteller is a documentary feature film that explores human resilience, the transition from child to adult and one's capacity to turn hardships into an opportunity for self growth.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Alejandra Alcala
    Skin Deep
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Alex Porro lost over 300lbs on his weight loss journey, from the heaviest weight of 480lbs. After completing his journey he was left with a lot of excess skin, to compete in the bodybuilding competitions and stand a chance, he has to remove it and go through the painful recovery process.

    Directed by:
     Anthony Lolli & Tereza Hakobyan-Lolli
    ANWAR
    Spain
    Synopsis:
    Alex Txikon’s winter ascension on Manaslu, Nepal, is the seed of a story that will bring sustainable light to two very different places: Newton, Sierra Leone, and a special school in Diamer, Pakistan. Alpinism, solidarity and renewable energy are key to this story.

    Directed by:
    Rosa García Loire
    Best Supporting Actor (Main Category Competition)
    Space Eye
    Croatia
    Synopsis:
    After four young drug dealers obsessed with
    space accidentally kill the niece of a
    dangerous and eccentric mobster, they
    must decide what to do before he arrives,
    but little do they know that the real danger
    lurks in front of their eyes.


    Directed by:
    Kevin Mainenti

    "Best Supporting Actor" Nominee - Janko Popović Volarić
    Best Supporting Actress (Main Category Competition)
    Gina
    France
    Synopsis:
    Gino is a 10 year old child. His parents, Alba and Lorenzo, left Italy for France a few years after having Gino. Gino quickly joined a football club in his new city, his new life. In his 11th year, Gino wants to join the female football team of his club. Although his parents had already noticed Gino's attitude change for a long time, they were still shocked, especially his father. Lorenzo loves his son, Gino, with all his heart, but is not sure he can love Gina in the same way. However, the work of acceptance seems more natural for his mother, Alba, who will support her until she feels like herself. No matter how long it takes, Alba will accompany Gina until the end, hoping that one day she will be able to share moments of happiness with her daughter and her husband, Lorenzo.

    Watch on Vimeo
    Directed by:
    Michelle Piana

    Supporting Actress Nominee - Julia Cash
    LANA & TONI
    Slovenia
    Synopsis:
    Lana and Toni are a couple in a long-term relationship. Lana wants children and a large family, but Toni lives in his own world and shows no signs of wanting to take a step forward in their relationship.
    One day, Lana and her best friend Maja head to a castle where Toni's birthday party is supposed to be happening, but to their surprise, there is no one there. The situation gets even more complicated when they bump into Alex, Toni's best friend.
    As they are about to walk out of the castle, they come across a box with a very special surprise in it.

    Official Facebook
    Directed by:
     Predrag Peter Rajčič

    Best Supporting Actress Nominee - Leya Kos
    Best Experimental Film (Additional Category Competition)
    SCRUPUS
    Switzerland
    Synopsis:
    SCRUPUS is an interdisciplinary research. In it I conduct artistic and technical methodological research and investigate the possibilities of interaction between dance, film and architecture. In their encounter I search for the conditions and possibilities of mutual effects on each other with the aim of creating illusory effects of weightlessness and disorientation. In the experiment, new possibilities for temporality, scale, body-space relationship, and sequencing of movement emerge.


    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Timo Paris
    Lose yourself with me
    France
    Synopsis:
    An alchemy of sweat, of mixed breaths, of vibrations, of deliverance. An inextricable world of the quest and what fulfils it, of expectation and rapture, of burning and appeasement. A mysterious labyrinth where lesbian pleasures and floral metamorphoses merge.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Véronique Bourlon
    Is it living or dying
    Germany
    Synopsis:
    In first level it is a very old house (neglected, run down, in need of demolition) ask herself about the meaning of his life...in lyrical form.
    A young woman comes in and recognizes the potential and lets light and air into the dark rooms again.
    In second level the house stands as a metaphor for sick, old, dement, disabled people in our society who do not correspond to the supposedly general norms of a "life spent meaningfully".
    But now there are people today who take care of such people and enable them, sometimes at great sacrifice, to lead a better life and "bring them back" into society.
    It is also a homage to all those who devote themselves to the disadvantaged in our society...i.e. social workers, geriatric nurses, nurses, volunteers...

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Stephan Puppe
    ANA
    Brazil
    Synopsis:
    Ana is confined in a chicken coop. The female on the perch talking about her losses. Her pet rooster died. Should she be sad about the death of a rooster while millions of people die in the world? She lost a rooster, her father, her sister and a little bit of hearing. What does it means? No one wants to hear anymore. She brings her great-grandmother Ana, who killed herself, for reflection. She questions the attitude of the woman from before, drawing a parallel with the woman of today. Talks about her delights and fears. Ana : the portrait of a woman.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Carolina Correa & Leandro Miranda
    Best Mobile Film (Additional Category Competition)
    Small Fish, Dog Fish I
    Italy
    Synopsis:
    The short film takes its name from thoughts about criminal organizations and the slang used by them to describe, respectively, the small executioner and the boss.
    Filmed with an iPhone, the video is an exchange of considerations between the artist and her brother about the illegals’ way of life and the aggregations’ rituals.
    Having as the main location a leper colony–now a place of rave parties–Small Fish, Dog Fish turns from techno music and police alarm to the presence of sea, nature and calm. Going from hallucinations to clarity of mind, the viewer feels a kind of hope in life changes.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Silvia Mantellini Faieta
    Best Black & White Film (Additional Category Competition)
    Bunuelesque
    United Kingdom
    Synopsis:
    In this psychological thriller inspired by Luis Bunuel, a dinner party of the wealthy morphs into a surreal twist. A reflective look into the lives of the upper class, ‘Bunuelesque’ satirises the vapid conversations of the rich, paying homage through the truly surreal: the horror of the upper-class dinner party.
    An affluent couple, Charlotte and Ian, host their estranged friends, Mark and Ruth in their opulent apartment. All the while, the untouched meal serves as a haunting symbol of the characters’ greed …


    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Gregory Wait
    The Home
    Spain
    Synopsis:
    A humble family with three children live in the forest. One day they pass by a house they believe to be empty and occupy it, spending the best seven days of their lives there.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    JULIO DE LA FUENTE SANTOS
    Best No-Dialogue Film (Additional Category Competition)
    Her, life , the future...
    France
    Synopsis:
    The life of a couple with the disease of endometriosis, she will have to make a choice, but which one?
    Do you really know the disease?
    do you know who she is and what she does?
    Passionate about dance, the disease takes a big place, what is the fight she will lead?
    And what would be your choice?
    the end is up to you...

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Zabaldu Naraé
    Counterpart
    United States
    Synopsis:
    A composer facing writer's block finds inspiration through an otherworldly counterpart.

    Directed by:
    Ethan Grover
    Trapped
    United States
    Synopsis:
    When the time is stopped, we feel like we trapped.
    Trapped in the same place, at the same time, the same gap.
    we do not know why, we do not know what to do in this maze ... are we punished for something we did in the past or for something we are doing now ...
    when the time is stopped, past look like the future, at this moment we wonder, are we need a helping hand, or that's the karma.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Mohamed Maged
    The Home
    Spain
    Synopsis:
    A humble family with three children live in the forest. One day they pass by a house they believe to be empty and occupy it, spending the best seven days of their lives there.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    JULIO DE LA FUENTE SANTOS
    A message for Christmas
    Italy
    Synopsis:
    An ordinary family is celebrating Christmas in solitude and silence until a wish that comes true will change everyone's life.

    Official Facebook
    Directed by:
    Emanuele Pellecchia
    Talking Cure
    Germany
    Synopsis:
    A black room, a chair, a couch and two men.
    The constellation reminds one of a session at a psychotherapist. With one significant difference: the two men don't speak to each other. Why are they silent? One of them is perhaps tired of talking, the other possibly fears his own voice. Or maybe it is because they are meeting inside a film whose narration relays mainly on pictures.
    We look through daring mimings and gestures beyond which fantastic visions and imaginations are dwelling. What the two men don't say the pictoriality of silence reveals...

    Directed by:
    Maren Krüger
    Best Composer (Additional Category Competition)
    Bonding
    USA
    Synopsis:
    A solitary figure at an empty bar, CIA clinical and forensic psychologist, Dr. John Flemington, is planning to visit his girlfriend in Mexico when he is pressured by mysterious underground operatives to join them on a secret mission. He really doesn't have a choice.

    Official Website
    Composed by:
    Daniel Teo, Greg Beaton & Luke Rex
    Dior Lover_Natasa Lanieri Shakespeare
    United States
    Synopsis:
    SYNOPSIS of the film "Dior Lover", genre drama, comedy: Dior Lover works for a gourmet factory, yet she also draws Dior Fashion sketches hoping to work for Dior one day. And she receives a precious Dior item she can only dream of, and she is forced to confront a business person to prove it's hers. Soon she faces an emotional journey, not knowing that her personality is admirable. Audience: Everybody who loves the beauty of life.

    Watch on YouTube
    Directed by:

    Natasa Lanieri Shakespeare

    The thousand gates of Filippo
    Italy
    Synopsis:
    The documentary “I mille cancelli di Filippo” (The Thousand Gates of Filippo)
    recounts the daily life of an autistic artist, Filippo Zoi: his passion for drawing,
    his activity as an illustrator for a series of books written by his father, his
    violent and mysterious crises, his relationships with family and friends.

    Official Facebook
    Composed by:
    Carlo Chiarotti
    Tiki Taane in session with CSO
    New Zealand
    Synopsis:
    In a future world where brain-computer interface (BCI) surgery is ubiquitous, individuals face a choice: upload their consciousness to the cloud for immortality, or preserve their physical bodies in a body archive and upload their consciousness for future resurrection. For those who choose the latter, the promise of reawakening in a tangible form brings new opportunities and challenges as they navigate a world that has advanced far beyond their previous lives.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
     Tiki Taane
    The Sand Eating Shark
    France
    Synopsis:
    Official Website
    Composed by:
    Samuel Safa
    Talking to a survivor
    Austria
    Synopsis:
    The whole extent of globalization and capitalism is often reflected in day-to-day actions.
    A man leaves his picturesque mountain farm every day to go to the neighboring small town to assist in the production, in several shifts at a conveyor belt, of articles that - in both his own immediate neighborhood and on the other side of the world - can cause extreme distress.
    A boy who observes these things happening, and who is not impervious to their effects.
    A cautionary narrator who shows that the words of Erich Fried, now more than fifty years old, are more relevant and more far-reaching than ever.

    Directed by:
     Milena Olip
    Best Original Soundtrack (Additional Category Competition)
    Enter the Drag Dragon
    Canada
    Synopsis:
    THE WORLD'S FIRST DRAG-FU ACTION-HORROR-COMEDY

    Get ready to go on a Drag-Fu odyssey, filled with face-crunching action, corset-busting comedy, gut-munching horror, and soul-touching musical numbers! You’ve never experienced anything like Enter the Drag Dragon! This blast of true of independent cinema will leave you wobbly in your heels as you try to recover from the non-stop thrill ride of adventure, laughs, screams, and romance.

    Crunch is a part-time amateur detective, and a full-time Drag Queen. His lifelong best friend is Jaws, a roller-skating entrepreneur and fast-food delivery girl. The odd-ball pair has been through a lot over their lives, but are as close as siblings. They are no strangers to fast-times, adventure, and action. They spend their days working hard, and their nights watching chopsocky kung fu flicks in the abandoned movie theatre they've lived in since childhood, along with their childhood guardian, Fast Buck. Most of Crunch and Jaws' earnings go to Buck, to help him make ends-meet, and keep their stomachs full of popcorn and a roof over their heads.However, when Crunch takes it upon himself to solve his biggest case yet and track down a stolen panting that might reveal the truth of the mythical treasure of the of the Aztec Mummy, he discovers that he has much more to fear than the supposed undead army that guards the legendary loot. He soon finds himself over his head dealing with corrupt cops, zombies, dangerous mobsters, a lost puppy, ninjas, a budding romance, and ghosts. With mounting obstacles, Crunch realizes that he can't handle this one on his own, and must team up with Jaws and Buck if he wants to survive, let alone solve this case! Crunch only has one rule, never cross a cross-dresser!

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Lee Gordon Demarbre
    Eleanor Slaughter
    United States
    Synopsis:
    An ambitious musician uses the wrong hashtag and accidentally makes someone else famous. The result is a series of dueling documentaries that has the viewer questioning which story they can trust.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Chris Chan Roberson

    "Best Actress" Nominee - Rebecca Quinn Robertson
    The Home
    Spain
    Synopsis:
    A humble family with three children live in the forest. One day they pass by a house they believe to be empty and occupy it, spending the best seven days of their lives there.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    JULIO DE LA FUENTE SANTOS
    Best Original Song (Additional Category Competition)
    Yūjō (friendship)
    Italy
    Synopsis:
    Your face was hidden
    But I know that sooner or later
    Will return
    I do not see you
    But I know that you are watching me
    Day after day
    Night after night
    My ears no longer hear your voice
    But my heart hears everything
    A thousand years from now
    In 1 day, 1 year, 100 thousand years, your face I will see again
    In 1 day, 1 year, 100 thousand years, I don't know where, but you will find me again
    In 1 day, 1 year, 100 thousand years, I know your face next to mine I will see again
    I will be the cloud and you will be the moon.
    I will cover you with both hands
    And our roof will be the sky

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Carlo Chiarotti
    Turn Off My Heart - Music Video
    Norway
    Synopsis:
    The Artists emotions and loneliness is overwhelming. But does he run away from the emotions, or does he dive into them? The forces of nature, the ocean, the waves, the wind - the video shows you all this. Beautiful, dangerous, mighty! As metaphores of his feelings and his struggles, but maybe also his savior, his redemption? This music video takes you into the world and thoughts of the Artist, you experience the forces of nature first hand - but also the calm of it all. We all need to dive into our emotions sometimes, face what comes our way - and then hopefully, be able to move on. Emotions are part of life for all of us.

    This Music Video was made from a love of music and nature, for the song Turn Off My Heart. This was Bjørn Olav Edvardsens debut as a solo artist in the norwegian selection for Eurovision 2023.


    Official Website
    Composed by:
    Bjørn Olav Edvardsen
    Eleanor Slaughter
    United States
    Synopsis:
    An ambitious musician uses the wrong hashtag and accidentally makes someone else famous. The result is a series of dueling documentaries that has the viewer questioning which story they can trust.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Chris Chan Roberson

    "Best Actress" Nominee - Rebecca Quinn Robertson
    See
    Netherlands
    Synopsis:
    SEE is about a boy who doesn’t feel well in the dirty and poluted world around him. He decides to jump on his bike. His journey ends up in France, just like Vincent van Gogh. Where he starts seeing the true colors of Earth and starts painting on his iPad.
    The goal of the film is to inspire people to take action for our planet and also to rediscover the true colors of Earth.


    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Johan Oudshoorn
    Best Duet (Additional Category Competition)
    FRIED
    United Kingdom
    Synopsis:
    A psychotic call-centre worker and a depressed waiter struggle with minimum wage life in London, delving deeper into their alcohol and drug-fuelled violent fantasies, blurring the lines between reality and madness.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Richard Goss

    "Best Duet" Nominees - Richard Goss & Jake McDaid
    One for the other
    France
    Synopsis:
    Two women wounded by life, with diametrically opposed characters, meet by chance at the table of a brewery. An exclusive and singular relationship forms between the two women.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Philippe Michel

    "Best Duet" Nominees - Marie Legault & Celine Cuvelier
    Best Short Screenplay (Additional Category Competition)
    Just Talk
    United Kingdom
    Synopsis:
    Paul is the life and soul of the party. Behind closed doors however, is a different story. His mental health is at an all time low, and he has turned to drugs and alcohol to try and cope. Can he get his life back on track?

    Written by:
    Patrick Bailey
    Moth
    United Kingdom
    Synopsis:
    A moth follows a warm glow, and moves through a surreal landscape towards a final metamorphosis, culminating from love, tragedy and visceral desire.

    Official Instagram
    Written by:
    Maggie Nightingale
    S.T.E.A.M. CHRONICLES: BOOK 1: NIGHT WATCHERS
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Night Watchers - A science-filled adventure with the Story Monster. Readers join Story Monster as Eddie the Elf Owl serves as a learning guide to explore the amazing world of nocturnal creatures that live throughout North America. The book uses engaging storytelling, dynamic language, and fun, "graphic novel" style illustrations to ignite a reader’s curiosity. Night Watchers blends nonfiction topics with a captivating narrative in an effort to promote literacy and a desire to learn more about science and nature. The book is designed for young readers, teachers, and parents who want to foster a love for S.T.E.A.M. subjects.

    Official Website
    Written by:
    Conrad J Storad
    STOP. PLAY. FORWARD
    Italy
    Synopsis:
    A young girl trapped inside a dystopian government structure tries to break free from a teacher who wants to know who stole from a forbidden area.

    Written by:
    Luigi Rizzo
    Super Nova
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Super Nova" is a heartwarming story about the bond between a father and daughter, and the ways in which that bond can shape and influence our lives. Nova's father works for NASA and each night he shares his space explorations with her, sparking her imagination and allowing her to dream. But when he becomes a workaholic and distant, Nova's dreams stop and she grows up to be just like him - cold and unhappy. It's only when she has a daughter of her own that Nova realizes the importance of pouring into and encouraging the imagination of the next generation. Can she break the cycle and be a better parent to her daughter and rediscover the power of dreaming?

    Written by:
    Jonathan Cardell Sims
    Get the bloody money
    Netherlands
    Synopsis:
    Student Guss has money problems. In a local magazine he sees the advertisement of a certain William. This turns out to be an older man who has a simple assignment: 'Give me an authentic picture of a rainbow, and you will get the money you want.'
    Guss thinks it is almost too good to be true, but by necessity he takes the job anyway.
    After delivering the photo, he gets what the old man promised: a suitcase full of money. When Guss spends this money, something strange happens. His body changes in a nasty way. When he goes to William to get revenge, he finds out that it was a premeditated plan. Guss must now make a choice that is irreversible.

    Written by:
    Frank van der Meijden
    Best Feature Screenplay (Additional Category Competition)
    Fright Games
    United Kingdom
    Synopsis:
    Set in the year 2044, Five years after the dissolution of an Undead Pandemic, Billionaire Tycoon Nate Parker is falsely imprisoned for the brutal murder of his wife Susan. He and nine other participants have the chance of freedom if they survive five tasks. Fast paced with a number of twists and turns along the way, Fright Games is a Horror Thriller with a Who done it tone, and a cross between SQUID GAMES, THE RUNNING MAN, and THE WALKING DEAD.

    Written by:
    Steven Paul McCarthy
    Trickster
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Based upon a true story a wise old horse narrates his extraordinary life. After a near death accident he finds the meaning of life through the eyes of a special needs little girl.

    Written by:
    Rob York
    Tourists
    Germany
    Synopsis:
    German film school friends, take a trip to famous locations from horror film classics in Texas/USA. At the same time, an American clique is out in the desert to have fun. But suddenly the two groups are faced with an unexpected enemy...

    Written by:
    David Vodan
    Krazy Dead
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Krazy Dead is comedy about a dysfunctional family that owns operates in funeral home. Seems even the dead need a good laugh now and then.

    Official Facebook
    Written by:
    Horatio Tihanyi
    Sanity Road
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Young Billy is put into a mental institute for talking to animals, rocks, clouds and "God" and they all talk back, according to Billy. Upon his release, he sets out on a mysterious road trip to find some answers.

    Official Website
    Written by:
    Eric Kelso
    Carnevil
    United States
    Synopsis:
    An eccentric group of people seeking answers and justice band together in the summer of 1973 to try to take down a killer carnival on the run.

    Written by:
    Anthony Cross
    James
    United States
    Synopsis:
    In the civil rights battleground known as the 1960’s south, an unrelenting honest police detective discovers that a cold-blooded murder case of an African American woman’s is never filed by the Chief’s (James’ dad) office. Bound and determined, the uncovered web of corruption in the law enforcement and government ranks hits home when the master mind of the obstruction is his own abusive, alcoholic father. Inspired by true events. 

    Written by:
    John P. P. Hallar
    Down Memory Lane
    France
    Synopsis:
    In the near future where social classes have been redefined, procreation is limited to the upper class, and AI replacing the third class, third class citizens with good behaviour are offered a
    merciful killing before their 41st birthday in which they have the opportunity to watch their memories before their consciousness is uploaded onto Pleasant Dimension. Yasmeen, a Palestinian refugee coder, who is turning 41 and as a well behaved citizen third class citizen , is given a session to watch her memories before her merciful killing . While watching her memories, she begins to notice something is weird about her memories. The details are not adding up. In a light slumber and watching her memories form, she decides to figure out why.

    Official Website
    Written by:
    Nada Serhan
    The Bobbsey Twins Go to Hell
    United States
    Synopsis:
    To break a family curse, descendants from the present-day attempt to escape hell with their dead relatives from the 1930s and 1980s by saving them from their discriminatory ways when Lucifer traps them in the underworld.


    Official Website
    Written by:
    Gil Luna
    Shoulder Dreaming
    Australia
    Synopsis:
    Barry has looked after his aged father who cannot do anything for himself. When his father falls, he is taken to a Nursing Home because of his injuries. There Barry meets Jennifer whose father has also fallen and admitted to the same room as Barry’s father.
    Although attracted to each other Barry and Jennifer have a responsibility to their fathers. Barry is an artist and when Jennifer sees his work, she is shocked. Jennifer has a gallery and knows that she can sell Barry’s painting.
    Jennifer’s best friend Lisa reminds Jennifer that she promised her that once free of her father for a while they would go on holiday together. Barry is devastated when Jennifer goes to Paris for a holiday. When depressed Barry paints and does so until he collapses from lack of food and exhaustion.
    While in Paris Jennifer realizes that she is in love with Barry. When checking on her father she is told that Barry has not been to the Nursing Home for a few days. She rushes back to find Barry collapsed on his living room floor. She saves his life and they are joined as a couple. 

    Written by:
    Stephen John Karnaghan
    Sushi Loves Sake
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Romantic Comedy Coming of Age Drama of 2 Comedy Actors and Screenwriters who run an Improvisational theatre troupe on Community TV inside the dying Michigan Film Industry and fall in love. They begin to rebuild their lives from Divorce amidst Suicide, Drug Addiction And write a sold screenplay in New Hollywood together.

    IMDb page
    Written by:
    Nelson Beltran
    Best Original Screenplay (Additional Category Competition)
    Lessor
    Republic of Korea
    Synopsis:
    A broker who runs an ordinary-looking real estate office brokers surrogate mothers for infertile couples. One day, a client who has no need for a child from a surrogate mother due to divorce receives a message that the surrogate mother has disappeared.
    <The problem of a world where the value of money exceeds the value of life>

    Written by:
    Il Sik Jang
    Socio-political
    Turkey
    Synopsis:
    A writer seeks refuge in a storm and finds it in a retired factory worker's house. As the night continues things turn out to not be what they seem and the two with sinister plans try to out do each other in a fight in order to exist and be free.

    IMDb page
    Written by:
    Umur Işık
    Desert Belles
    United States
    Synopsis:
    DESERT BELLES is an action-adventure film with comedic undertones about a driven off-road racer who’s determined to win a grueling desert 4-wheel drive rally to save her family’s motor sports shop, only to find herself saddled with a beginner partner who won’t be much help in the battle against deadly conditions, sabotage, and her shady former racing partner.

    Official Website
    Written by:
    Candace Egan
    One for the other
    France
    Synopsis:
    Two women wounded by life, with diametrically opposed characters, meet by chance at the table of a brewery. An exclusive and singular relationship forms between the two women.

    Official Instagram
    Directed & Written by:
    Philippe Michel
    Super Nova
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Super Nova" is a heartwarming story about the bond between a father and daughter, and the ways in which that bond can shape and influence our lives. Nova's father works for NASA and each night he shares his space explorations with her, sparking her imagination and allowing her to dream. But when he becomes a workaholic and distant, Nova's dreams stop and she grows up to be just like him - cold and unhappy. It's only when she has a daughter of her own that Nova realizes the importance of pouring into and encouraging the imagination of the next generation. Can she break the cycle and be a better parent to her daughter and rediscover the power of dreaming?

    Written by:
    Jonathan Cardell Sims
    Mariposas
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Set in a universe of magical realism, a boastful father prattles on superficially about his daughter to another parent in the school pick up line, but is unable to perceive her when it matters most.

    Written by:

    Samanta Schweblin

    Best Television Script (Additional Category Competition)
    Coke and A Smoke
    United States
    Synopsis:
    A meeting with a Warden, Detective and a Death Row Prisoner that will lead to open cases for closure to the grieving families.

    Official Website
    Written by:
    Charli Brown
    AJ
    Hungary
    Synopsis:
    AJ /Assassin Jane/ is a nomad killer with mystical powers, partly living with her two Norwegian warrior brothers: Halvar and Tore, her chosen family. Their tribe brings the female myth culture into my story. AJ is the chosen one picked by the supernatural being from the Norwegian folk - the White Wolf. Halvar (the elder brother) is the mentor-figure for AJ, while Tore is some kind of forbidden love for her. They promised each other to enter the Valhalla together. Until then, AJ only accepts criminal targets and falls for a high-profile Russian gangster, Maxim. He represents lost mercy. Tore meets Gustavo Alvarez (The Mexican) in a cave to perform a saman ritual which gives Alvarez supernatural powers in exchange for his soul. The Mexican wants AJ to join his rebellious tribe against racism to save his people in this lifetime. AJ uses a man to cover one of her killings but they 'accidentally' meet again, continue their heavy flirting, go on a date, kiss, then sleep together. He's James, an undercover CIA agent who's job is to stop Alvarez. AJ thinks she's a tool for James but the Mexican surprisingly tells otherwise.

    Official Instagram
    Written by:
    Kata Varga
    Who's Annie?
    United States
    Synopsis:
    After jail-time, 12-step programs and five marriages, Annie begins her acting career in her mid-fifties with the help of a young director she met at a Burger King. In this show within a show, Annie tackles both her gigs as an actor and the role of herself in her own life story.

    Official Website
    Written by:
    Sophia Peer & Annie Sicherman
    Oroboro Island
    Ukraine
    Synopsis:
    Three time-travel ships are sent from the 23d century to a distant past with an important research mission. Unaware of a huge planetary time-stream loop, the expedition goes through many unexpected adventures and produces stunning results. Even though there is no way to change anything, the remaining crews still try to fix at least something...

    Official Website
    Written by:
    Oleg Bazylewicz & Karen Buckton
    Best Student Film (Additional Category Competition)
    If I Knew
    Greece
    Synopsis:
    A man, suffering from a psychiatric disorder, tries to understand what exactly is going on in his difficult life.


    Directed by:
    Piro Gjylameti
    SCRUPUS
    Switzerland
    Synopsis:
    SCRUPUS is an interdisciplinary research. In it I conduct artistic and technical methodological research and investigate the possibilities of interaction between dance, film and architecture. In their encounter I search for the conditions and possibilities of mutual effects on each other with the aim of creating illusory effects of weightlessness and disorientation. In the experiment, new possibilities for temporality, scale, body-space relationship, and sequencing of movement emerge.


    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Timo Paris
    A Way on Another Avenue
    Portugal
    Synopsis:
    An ambitious young actor with doubts about his future, at the end of the last show of the season, takes a strong introspective, emotional and musical journey home, where he reflects on the various paths ahead of him and which one he has to give up, in favor of his great opportunity.


    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Luis Eduardo Graça & Renan Tcholakian
    Racho
    Mexico
    Synopsis:
    Valentin tiene que matar una cucaracha un día que sale con su novia para tener relaciones, lamentablemente el miedo por la cucaracha lo hace verla de una manera distinta.


    Directed by:
    Rodrigo A. Rodríguez
    Grandma's Magic Pills
    Taiwan
    Synopsis:



    Directed by:
     Jing-Yu Xiao
    we had a thing
    Austria
    Synopsis:
    Helene and Hans have been dating for over three months. Today she'll visit him for the last time. As they talk about their attempted relationship, they get to know each other and themselves more than they are comfortable with.


    Directed by:
    Franz Quitt
    Harvesting Our Tea
    United Kingdom
    Synopsis:
    For centuries, women have picked tea on the steep slopes of Turkey's Black Sea region. It is grueling work, and much of what they earn has traditionally been handed to their husbands. But now a new generation are turning their backs on tea picking, and the industry's survival is uncertain. 'Harvesting Our Tea' follows the young women who hope change is coming and the older ones who fear for their way of life.


    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Sheida Kiran
    Space Eye
    Croatia
    Synopsis:
    After four young drug dealers obsessed with
    space accidentally kill the niece of a
    dangerous and eccentric mobster, they
    must decide what to do before he arrives,
    but little do they know that the real danger
    lurks in front of their eyes.


    Directed by:
    Kevin Mainenti
    Best Director Debut (Additional Category Competition)
    Adam Jack's The Lurker
    Canada
    Synopsis:
    “Instagram Influencers, Colin and Fiona, seem like the perfect couple to their loyal followers, but their relationship is put to the test when a crazed serial killer breaks into their home. Chained to their bed, the couple is forced into a sadistic game of relationship trivia in which honesty is their only way to survive.”

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Adam Jack
    The Cow
    Ireland
    Synopsis:
    A short film about domestic disharmony leading to the onset of domestic abuse.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Justin John Carroll
    Abyss in
    Greece
    Synopsis:
    A 60 years old man with memory loss trying to get away of his abyss ,at his last days.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Yannis Aivazis

    Eleanor Slaughter
    United States
    Synopsis:
    An ambitious musician uses the wrong hashtag and accidentally makes someone else famous. The result is a series of dueling documentaries that has the viewer questioning which story they can trust.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Chris Chan Roberson
    Fight or Flight
    Netherlands
    Synopsis:
    MMA-Fighter number 362 is just steps away from the ring, when his social anxiety disorder takes over. The society he lives in is divided in rankings, the higher the ranking, the more freedom you have as a civilian. In order to climb up in ranking, 362 has to win a personalized trial; a streetfight. During his path to the ring his perception of the reality starts to twist, panic attacks increase and his inner demons project into the real world. He is captivated by his own reality, his own blurry mind and it seems like the world that he lives in, is turning against him. The only way 362 knows how to deal with his fears is to either fight or flight but this only takes him further away from winning the game. After trying to escape multiple times, his anger and despair take over which brings him to the point of madness. Whilst being in the middle of his anxiety, the audience tells a visual story through hiphop dance to confront him and make sure he can not run away. He stands across his biggest fear, who is manipulative, a bully, a fighter, a demon and only wants to bring 362 down. Neither fighting or flighting will get him to win the fight. In order to win and go up in ranking in the hierarchy of his society he has to stay calm, overcome his anxiety and let go of the insane.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Jody Geijsendorpher
    Gina
    France
    Synopsis:
    Gino is a 10 year old child. His parents, Alba and Lorenzo, left Italy for France a few years after having Gino. Gino quickly joined a football club in his new city, his new life. In his 11th year, Gino wants to join the female football team of his club. Although his parents had already noticed Gino's attitude change for a long time, they were still shocked, especially his father. Lorenzo loves his son, Gino, with all his heart, but is not sure he can love Gina in the same way. However, the work of acceptance seems more natural for his mother, Alba, who will support her until she feels like herself. No matter how long it takes, Alba will accompany Gina until the end, hoping that one day she will be able to share moments of happiness with her daughter and her husband, Lorenzo.

    Watch on Vimeo
    Directed by:
    Michelle Piana
    LANA & TONI
    Slovenia
    Synopsis:
    Lana and Toni are a couple in a long-term relationship. Lana wants children and a large family, but Toni lives in his own world and shows no signs of wanting to take a step forward in their relationship.
    One day, Lana and her best friend Maja head to a castle where Toni's birthday party is supposed to be happening, but to their surprise, there is no one there. The situation gets even more complicated when they bump into Alex, Toni's best friend.
    As they are about to walk out of the castle, they come across a box with a very special surprise in it.

    Official Facebook
    Directed by:
     Predrag Peter Rajčič
    The Power of Choice
    Germany
    Synopsis:
    Bettina Mumm from Wiesbaden is one of the few remaining contemporary witnesses. She reflects on
    her childhood in the mid-1930s. The Nazis seize power and nothing is the way it used to be. The
    radical new attitudes put friendships to the test. Pastor Franz von Bernus, as well as many young
    parishioners of the Bergkirche put up resistance and took a clear stand, each in his own way. They
    turn to the "Confessing Church" and fight for humanity and freedom. They are faced with the burning
    question: Is this God's will what is happening out there?

    Directed by:
    Anton Algrang
    Best Producer (Additional Category Competition)
    Touching Moon
    China
    Synopsis:
    In post-covid Shanghai, young artist Mengyan encounters writer Siqi, and begins to question her life. Her self-consciousness awakes in a way like a dream to touch.

    Produced by:
    Sophia Liu
    Bonding
    USA
    Synopsis:
    A solitary figure at an empty bar, CIA clinical and forensic psychologist, Dr. John Flemington, is planning to visit his girlfriend in Mexico when he is pressured by mysterious underground operatives to join them on a secret mission. He really doesn't have a choice.

    Official Website
    Produced by:
    Luke Rex Psy.D.
    Dior Lover_Natasa Lanieri Shakespeare
    United States
    Synopsis:
    SYNOPSIS of the film "Dior Lover", genre drama, comedy: Dior Lover works for a gourmet factory, yet she also draws Dior Fashion sketches hoping to work for Dior one day. And she receives a precious Dior item she can only dream of, and she is forced to confront a business person to prove it's hers. Soon she faces an emotional journey, not knowing that her personality is admirable. Audience: Everybody who loves the beauty of life.

    Watch on YouTube
    Directed by:

    Natasa Lanieri Shakespeare

    Dojo
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Shane Lucas, an ex-Yakuza member and 4th degree black belt in Judo, is hunted down at his local dojo in Los Angeles 1985 by his long-time rival, Elias Da Rosa and his crew members from the same crime family. Shane is threatened to come back to the Yakuza or would suffer the consequence of not.

    Official Website
    Directed by:

    Armin Alic


    Best Producer Nominee - Jon Paul

    Scorpio
    United States
    Synopsis:
    The love story between a novelist and his muse ends up abruptly with the revealing of an unexpected secret.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
     Zoran Zonde Stojanovski

    "Best Producer" Nominee -  Marco De Ornellas

    Desire Untamed
    United States
    Synopsis:
    A successful writer risks her life and career after accepting a proposition to seduce her client's husband in exchange for a kidney to save her dying mother.

    IMDb Page
    Directed by:
    Jonathan Daniel Williams & Qituwra Anderson

    "Best Producer" Nominee - Qituwra Anderson
    Danger
    United States
    Synopsis:
    The animated short talks about the real pandemic experienced in Spain since 2020. John is a cast member of the EMMY Award-winning “Bob’s Burgers” as matriarch Linda Belcher which landed him first EMMY nod in the category of “Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance”.
    In 2017 Blondie tapped him to drop some lyrical fire on “Love Level” from their critically acclaimed chart-topper Pollinator. "Looking," a wild anthem produced by Big Black Delta, followed in 2019, marked his solo debut with remixes by Tensnake and Gerd Janson. The song—which landed at #19 on UK club charts--along with “Dirty Little Secrets” In 2022 Roberts released a full album of club bangers with legendary DJ Junior Sanchez featuring Beth Ditto and Debbie Harry as well as remixes by Harry Romero and Felix da Housecat.
    John’s first release of 2023 is a return to pop with his single “Danger” a moody mid-tempo 80’s esq bop produced by Junior Sanchez offers an exciting musical landscape filled with pulsating sounds and throbbing rhythm as well as Roberts vibrant and signature vocal style that brings the music to life.


    Directed by:
    Ned Stresen-Reuter

    "Best Producer" Nominee - Leslie Brockett
    The Neighborhood Storyteller
    United Arab Emirates
    Synopsis:
    War tragically pushed Asmaa out of her home country, Syria, where her destiny had been written as a wife and mother with only 16 years of age. Asmaa rebuilt her adult identity as the neighborhood storyteller and began using reading aloud to children for fun as a bridge to tackle critical issues in her new community at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan.

    Six years later, with Asmaa’s first born daughter reaching adolescence, a flashback of her education deprived past emerges and inspires her to embark on a new read aloud project to empower teenage girls to build a future of opportunities she never had. Despite her complex living situation as a refugee and the community’s conservative mindset, Asmaa is determined to raise a conscious generation of successful women.

    The Neighborhood Storyteller is a documentary feature film that explores human resilience, the transition from child to adult and one's capacity to turn hardships into an opportunity for self growth.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Alejandra Alcala

    Best Producer Nominee - Francisco Alcala
    The Home
    Spain
    Synopsis:
    A humble family with three children live in the forest. One day they pass by a house they believe to be empty and occupy it, spending the best seven days of their lives there.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    JULIO DE LA FUENTE SANTOS

    Best Producer Nominee - Jose Luis Cuendia Palacios
    The Super Lollis
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Tereza made the journey from Armenia to America during college. After graduating with a Finance degree, she followed her dreams in the entertainment industry by moving to NY, where she met the love of her life, her husband, Anthony Lolli. After years of trying to convince him to lose weight, he finally succeeded in a major way. While watching Anthony transform, she was withering away under the pressure of motherhood. However, seeing Anthony’s weight loss success, she decided to follow his footsteps and start her own journey, to show all moms that you can look better than ever even after having 2 children. The couple ventures to Florida for Tereza's first ever fitness competition and we see Anthony continue his journey as he tries to break through the transformation world into the world of competitive bodybuilding. 

    Directed by:
    Anthony Lolli & Tereza Hakobyan-Lolli

    Best Producer Nominee - Anthony Lolli & Tereza Hakobyan-Lolli
    Best Young Director (Additional Category Competition)
    Grandma's Magic Pills
    Taiwan
    Synopsis:



    Directed by:
     Jing-Yu Xiao
    Bullets in Paradise
    United States
    Synopsis:
    This documentary explores how teens' mental health is negatively affected by active shooter drills, and how nonchalantly they are handled in school environments.

    Directed by:
    Violet Dempsey
    Fight or Flight
    Netherlands
    Synopsis:
    MMA-Fighter number 362 is just steps away from the ring, when his social anxiety disorder takes over. The society he lives in is divided in rankings, the higher the ranking, the more freedom you have as a civilian. In order to climb up in ranking, 362 has to win a personalized trial; a streetfight. During his path to the ring his perception of the reality starts to twist, panic attacks increase and his inner demons project into the real world. He is captivated by his own reality, his own blurry mind and it seems like the world that he lives in, is turning against him. The only way 362 knows how to deal with his fears is to either fight or flight but this only takes him further away from winning the game. After trying to escape multiple times, his anger and despair take over which brings him to the point of madness. Whilst being in the middle of his anxiety, the audience tells a visual story through hiphop dance to confront him and make sure he can not run away. He stands across his biggest fear, who is manipulative, a bully, a fighter, a demon and only wants to bring 362 down. Neither fighting or flighting will get him to win the fight. In order to win and go up in ranking in the hierarchy of his society he has to stay calm, overcome his anxiety and let go of the insane.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Jody Geijsendorpher
    IF THEY ASK WHAT IT IS; IT IS A LEAF
    Turkey
    Synopsis:
    Iranian painter and academic Farzin Rahneshin tried to create himself and his art in Iran, but faced a series of great obstacles. Alienated from society, Farzin comes to Istanbul temporarily. Stating that he had the same strong influence in his post-immigration art in Istanbul, the painter tells how the place where he lived affected his art.

    Watch on YouTube
    Directed by:
     İdil Oğuzhan
    Best Young Actor (Additional Category Competition)
    Three boys
    Italy
    Synopsis:
    Bertinoro, 1972. Thirteen-year-old friends Carmelo, Michele and Salvatore, run away from home towards Ravenna, with the hope of boarding a ship that will take them to America.
    The whole village mobilized to search for the three young boys. Now far away, after a long walk in the surrounding woods, they boarded the train that took them to Ravenna. At the port, however, they found something bigger than themselves: the side of the huge, inaccessible ship saw them forced to change their plans. Lost in the city, they will come up against their inexperience and a seemingly hostile world.
    Three boys, the possibilities of life and escape as a choice or as a search for freedom.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Gianfranco Boattini

    Best Young Actor Nominee - Alessandro Spinelli
    See
    Netherlands
    Synopsis:
    SEE is about a boy who doesn’t feel well in the dirty and poluted world around him. He decides to jump on his bike. His journey ends up in France, just like Vincent van Gogh. Where he starts seeing the true colors of Earth and starts painting on his iPad.
    The goal of the film is to inspire people to take action for our planet and also to rediscover the true colors of Earth.


    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Johan Oudshoorn

    "Best Young Actor" Nominee - Hugo Voorn
    Best Young Actress  (Additional Category Competition)
    Memory Box
    United Kingdom
    Synopsis:
    A young girl has disturbing visions of her dead brother. She creates a Memory Box, with the aid of her little sister, in order to remember him and to move forward making new ones despite her loss.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Elizabeth Chinnery


    Best Young Actress Nominee - Isobel Lilac Chinnery
    The Divorcees Of Casablanca
    Morocco
    Synopsis:
    Five women from the great city of CASABLANCA, a source of economic, social, and civilizational progress. There are five divorced women from different social strata, and are professionally active in various fields. These women try to rebuild their lives, in an unequal society, dominated by prejudices against divorced women, and ignorance of the rules of law governing the status of women.

    Official Facebook
    Directed by:
    BENSOUDA MOHAMMED AHED


    SINIOLCHU , the peak a man fell in love with
    India
    Synopsis:
    The story revolves around fifty-year old Dawa who lives in his own world. His village is situated in the lap of the Himalaya. His infatuation is Siniolchu, the slender peak. If it shines he feels happy; if it is clouded he feels gloom. He considers his chickens as his near and dear ones. He talks with them and shares with Siniolchu. Villagers think he is imbecile. His only friend is a five-year old girl Maya and her puppy Bro. Their world is free from violation of anything on earth; it is bonded by compassion and love. Suddenly Bird Flu breaks out. Mere touch may cause death to a person drives the entire village panicked. Instructed by the village headman ravage goes on to throw them out of the village, virtually leading to death. Only Maya and Dawa try hard to save them. This leads to further catastrophe.

    Directed by:
    Indranil Ghosh

    "Best Young Actress" Nominee - Tiyasha Saha
    The Home
    Spain
    Synopsis:
    A humble family with three children live in the forest. One day they pass by a house they believe to be empty and occupy it, spending the best seven days of their lives there.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    JULIO DE LA FUENTE SANTOS
    A message for Christmas
    Italy
    Synopsis:
    An ordinary family is celebrating Christmas in solitude and silence until a wish that comes true will change everyone's life.

    Official Facebook
    Directed by:
    Emanuele Pellecchia

    Best Young Actress Nominee - Aurora Pellecchia
    Best Drama (Additional Category Competition)
    Sospeso
    Italy
    Synopsis:
    Martino is a professional photographer who is working with a colleague on a nocturnal animals’ documentary about the tawny owl, a bird of prey very widespread in the forests of Piedmont.
    Martino leaves with his equipment and a tent for a research in the woods around the area of Turin but, after his arrival, he discovers a tombstone. From this moment on, disturbing and hard to understand events begins to take place. Seeking shelter in his tent, on the verge of insanity, he will wait for a dawn that will never show up.
    Hunger, exhaustion and even his own escape attempt, after three days of darkness, will drag him into his past, that is going to interlace with the drama of Nadia, a drug addict in her 50s who lives a miserable life in the outskirts of Turin.

    IMDb Page
    Directed by:
    Mauro Loverre

    Little Fantasies
    United Kingdom
    Synopsis:
    Fiona spurs on her neighbour Niall‘s fantasies by letting him watch her when she has sex with her lover.
    It‘s a distance-based affair – from her window to his. And that‘s exactly how Fiona wants to keep it.
    But when she runs into Niall‘s pregnant wife Siobhan, she develops a liking to her and starts to question how far she and Niall have let their voyeuristic games go.

    IMDb Page
    Directed by:
    Alissa Autschbach

    Out of State-A Gothic Romance
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Elsa, 18, is sent to live with her strange step-relatives Aunt Marcia and her two twenty something sons, Tab and Emery. Tab is a pianist and Marcia's favorite while Emery is the Cinderella of the family and they never leave their house. Both brothers fall madly in love with Elsa shattering Marcia's control. Who will leave with Elsa? Stay tuned and find out.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Victoria Bugbee

    Abyss in
    Greece
    Synopsis:
    A 60 years old man with memory loss trying to get away of his abyss ,at his last days.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Yannis Aivazis

    One for the other
    France
    Synopsis:
    Two women wounded by life, with diametrically opposed characters, meet by chance at the table of a brewery. An exclusive and singular relationship forms between the two women.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Philippe Michel
    Best Romance (Additional Category Competition)
    Ave Gradiva
    Israel
    Synopsis:
    When a lonely man, a fashion photographer, meets the sweetheart of his youth, from whom he separated under the pressure of his Oedipal mother, he is attacked by fragments of past memories and does everything he can to realize the love of his life, doubt in the dream - doubt in reality, doubt in the present - doubt in the past, under the influence of a literary and surrealistic character Gradiva.

    Ave Gradiva tries to challenge the conventional perception of a short film as something limited in terms of time, place, and plot, and instead - to create a 19 min' show that embraces different countries and civilizations, lasts for thousands of years, and contains within it several kinds of LOVE - human phenomena which take place on the border between Dream and Reality.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Yuri Riklis

    Out of State-A Gothic Romance
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Elsa, 18, is sent to live with her strange step-relatives Aunt Marcia and her two twenty something sons, Tab and Emery. Tab is a pianist and Marcia's favorite while Emery is the Cinderella of the family and they never leave their house. Both brothers fall madly in love with Elsa shattering Marcia's control. Who will leave with Elsa? Stay tuned and find out.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Victoria Bugbee

    Best Comedy (Additional Category Competition)
    Suit Casing
    USA
    Synopsis:
    A prison comedy short based on a true story.

    Directed by:
    Jorge Yanes
    Enter the Drag Dragon
    Canada
    Synopsis:
    THE WORLD'S FIRST DRAG-FU ACTION-HORROR-COMEDY

    Get ready to go on a Drag-Fu odyssey, filled with face-crunching action, corset-busting comedy, gut-munching horror, and soul-touching musical numbers! You’ve never experienced anything like Enter the Drag Dragon! This blast of true of independent cinema will leave you wobbly in your heels as you try to recover from the non-stop thrill ride of adventure, laughs, screams, and romance.

    Crunch is a part-time amateur detective, and a full-time Drag Queen. His lifelong best friend is Jaws, a roller-skating entrepreneur and fast-food delivery girl. The odd-ball pair has been through a lot over their lives, but are as close as siblings. They are no strangers to fast-times, adventure, and action. They spend their days working hard, and their nights watching chopsocky kung fu flicks in the abandoned movie theatre they've lived in since childhood, along with their childhood guardian, Fast Buck. Most of Crunch and Jaws' earnings go to Buck, to help him make ends-meet, and keep their stomachs full of popcorn and a roof over their heads.However, when Crunch takes it upon himself to solve his biggest case yet and track down a stolen panting that might reveal the truth of the mythical treasure of the of the Aztec Mummy, he discovers that he has much more to fear than the supposed undead army that guards the legendary loot. He soon finds himself over his head dealing with corrupt cops, zombies, dangerous mobsters, a lost puppy, ninjas, a budding romance, and ghosts. With mounting obstacles, Crunch realizes that he can't handle this one on his own, and must team up with Jaws and Buck if he wants to survive, let alone solve this case! Crunch only has one rule, never cross a cross-dresser!

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Lee Gordon Demarbre
    Racho
    Mexico
    Synopsis:
    Valentin tiene que matar una cucaracha un día que sale con su novia para tener relaciones, lamentablemente el miedo por la cucaracha lo hace verla de una manera distinta.


    Directed by:
    Rodrigo A. Rodríguez
    The Master of Sento
    Japan
    Synopsis:
    Shitamachi (traditional commercial district) Tokyo. Asakusa, Taito-ku. At an old public bath, there is an old fashioned, stubborn master who doesn't speak much and his beautiful wife. The couple runs the business well, but the wife leaves home due to the husband's bad drinking habit. Instead of learning from his wife's leaving, his drinking habit gets worse. Losing patience, his nosy neighbors visit him and persuade him into getting back together with his wife... Set in the public bath "Arimayu", which was built in 1930 and is still open, the story depicts the relationship of a married couple and humanity.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Yusuke Ishide
    Track in Time
    United States
    Synopsis:
    A stoner skydiver bump attempts to fix his life by messing with the time and space continuum.


    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Ruben Rodas
    What do we do?
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Some employees of a massive corporation make the mistake of actually questioning their purpose.

    Watch on Vimeo
    Directed by:
    Roderick Fenske
    The Home
    Spain
    Synopsis:
    A humble family with three children live in the forest. One day they pass by a house they believe to be empty and occupy it, spending the best seven days of their lives there.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    JULIO DE LA FUENTE SANTOS
    LANA & TONI
    Slovenia
    Synopsis:
    Lana and Toni are a couple in a long-term relationship. Lana wants children and a large family, but Toni lives in his own world and shows no signs of wanting to take a step forward in their relationship.
    One day, Lana and her best friend Maja head to a castle where Toni's birthday party is supposed to be happening, but to their surprise, there is no one there. The situation gets even more complicated when they bump into Alex, Toni's best friend.
    As they are about to walk out of the castle, they come across a box with a very special surprise in it.

    Official Facebook
    Directed by:
     Predrag Peter Rajčič
    Who's Annie?
    United States
    Synopsis:
    After jail-time, 12-step programs and five marriages, Annie begins her acting career in her mid-fifties with the help of a young director she met at a Burger King. In this show within a show, Annie tackles both her gigs as an actor and the role of herself in her own life story.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Sophia Peer

    Best Actress Nominee - Annie Pisapia
    Best Thriller (Additional Category Competition)
    You're Early
    Germany
    Synopsis:
    Returning home late at night after class, a woman finds her partner at the mercy of a desperate burglar. But things don't always seem to be what you think they are and surprises can happen at any second.
    Directed by:
    Felix Wollner

    Silent Partners
    United States
    Synopsis:
    A Mob based drama set in Miami during the 1980’s. A mild mannered insurance salesman by day, Valentine doubles as Chicago mob soldier hell bent on creating is on good fortune and exit from the family.
    Directed by:
    Jorge “Jokes” Yanes

    The Alice Test
    Italy
    Synopsis:
    Two men are locked in a room. Their task will be to survive inside it, but they will not be alone.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Gabriele Sardella
    Healer
    Canada
    Synopsis:
    A man coming to terms with the violent act he just committed.

    Watch on YouTube
    Directed by:
    Conner Nikides
    REVERSE
    France
    Synopsis:
    With the help of her alters, an ex-spy with dissociative identity disorder hatches a plan to get revenge on the one-eyed, the man who tried to kill her.
    Morgane has many characters who live inside her, and with their help she develops a plan to track down her target: a one-eyed double agent. As each day their identity is alternated, the alters use a Dictaphone to record their days and share the information of their daily investigations. But along the way they are betrayed by one of their own, Louise, who joins forces with two thugs to be freed from this life under control, who agree to help her in exchange for a fortune. The two men manipulate the identities, pretending to be the man they are looking for -the one-eyed. But soon the trap closes on them, and they become the victims of the obsession of this woman with many faces.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Christophe Lenoir
    Trust Me
    Ireland
    Synopsis:
    A crazy couple,Noel and Maria,in their forties,lose a baby in a late miscarriage and soon after ,a younger professional couple,Sarah and Rob,move into the apartment below them expecting a baby. Noel and Maria plan to be friends with them and gain their trust, and steal the baby when it’s born.

    Directed by:
    Leonard Martin
    Best Horror (Additional Category Competition)
    Little red hen
    Canada
    Synopsis:
    Struggling with anxiety disorders for years, Valérie rarely leaves her neighbourhood. However, she must face her fears when her new boyfriend arranges to meet her out of town for mysterious reasons. Disturbing revelations will force her to confront her deepest fears.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Vanessa-Tatjana Beerli
    8:13
    Ireland
    Synopsis:
    An ignorant man is haunted by an entity day after day, as much as he tries to ignore the evil creature that stalks him from outside the comfort of his home, it slowly gets closer and closer to him. Despite his best efforts, he cannot outrun the revelation that the horrifying entity must reveal.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Stephen Clarke Dunne
    Hold of the Dead
    United Kingdom
    Synopsis:
    Aleena attempts to save her mother (Zara)'s life with help from a short term time machine.
    Over and over it fails but when she eventually succeeds, Aleena learns Zara has felt every single one of her deaths.
    Now in a rotting zombie state, Zara attacks Aleena, forcing her hand to violently put her mother to rest.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Charlie Langford
    Adam Jack's The Lurker
    Canada
    Synopsis:
    “Instagram Influencers, Colin and Fiona, seem like the perfect couple to their loyal followers, but their relationship is put to the test when a crazed serial killer breaks into their home. Chained to their bed, the couple is forced into a sadistic game of relationship trivia in which honesty is their only way to survive.”

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Adam Jack
    GOD'S WHISPER
    Malta
    Synopsis:
    Lazarus has died and been buried, but his grieving sisters Mary and Martha argue about whether he can be raised from the dead. Tempted by a Dark Power, Martha allows her brother to be raised from the dead, but at what cost to them all?

    Official Website
    Directed by:

    Christian Kotey

    Best Action Film (Additional Category Competition)
    Dojo
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Shane Lucas, an ex-Yakuza member and 4th degree black belt in Judo, is hunted down at his local dojo in Los Angeles 1985 by his long-time rival, Elias Da Rosa and his crew members from the same crime family. Shane is threatened to come back to the Yakuza or would suffer the consequence of not.

    Official Website
    Directed by:

    Armin Alic


    Best Producer Nominee - Jon Paul

    Best Fantasy (Additional Category Competition)
    The faun of healwood, the edge
    France
    Synopsis:
    During a walk in the forest, a young woman, Jane, meets a wounded stranger pursued by strange hunters. She asks her to help her reach a dolmen in order to bring a magical object. Jane is reluctant to accept the adventure for which she seems destined.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:

    Stephane Artus

    Asphodel Fields
    United States
    Synopsis:

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Luigi Calabrese
    Mariposas
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Set in a universe of magical realism, a boastful father prattles on superficially about his daughter to another parent in the school pick up line, but is unable to perceive her when it matters most.

    Official Website
    Directed by:

    Adrian Carey

    Superheroes
    Brazil
    Synopsis:
    Famous superheroes take care of adult problems, but children also have their superheroes, always ready to help solve their dilemmas. Anonymous heroes may be closer than we think, and in this fun movie, they will be taken back.

    Directed by:

    Rafael de Andrade

    Best Sci-Fi (Additional Category Competition)
    Iridium Springs
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Two teens from 1996 find themselves in a strange, post-apocalyptic wasteland. Billy and Iris must join up with local weirdos Beek and Jams as they navigate Iridium Springs.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Mike Rosenberg
    Let's Start Over
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Homeless on the streets, Jackson has a chance encounter with a former acquaintance, who was partially responsible for his current fate. Moments after the encounter a mysterious stranger shows up, pausing to read Jackson’s beat up, cardboard sign. Rather than offering him money, this mysterious man in Shades offers him something far more valuable, the chance to start over. Placing him at a point of limbo between what is so and what is possible. Jackson now has to traverse through a world he doesn’t fully understand to change his fate for the better, or risk repeating his life all over again.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
     Kent Bernhard
    Best Sport Film (Additional Category Competition)
    Granite Jaw
    Canada
    Synopsis:
    A heavyweight boxer training on his boxing bag as he thinks of the fights he has had in the past and is going to have.
    A man with a granite jaw.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Conner Nikides
    Best LGBTQ+ Film (Additional Category Competition)
    Prova Generale
    Italy
    Synopsis:
    Sara and Roberta are a couple. One day Sara leaves Roberta's house after an argument. Roberta does not trust Sara because of her bisexuality. The day flows between reflections on their fears and what really unites two people.

    Directed by:
    Sabrina Monno
    transformis: The School of Melancholy
    Switzerland
    Synopsis:
    'transformis' is an ethnofiction film, providing an intimate portrait of X Noëme aka X Schneeberger, an award-winning author and performance artist. The zero-budget production celebrates the failure of constructs, takes the alchemical transmutation process on an adventurous journey, redefining storytelling in the process and offering a new perspective on queer narratives through an experimental approach. Get ready for a captivating exploration of intersectionality and the indomitable resilience of the human spirit.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Julia Lanz
    Dear Vanessa
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Amidst a night of heartache and longing, two Asian girls, Lucy and Vanessa seize an opportunity to get closer through laughter, tears, and shared dreams. As their connection deepens, Lucy must navigate her hidden feelings toward Vanessa while exploring the possibility of a profound and unexpected love. Along the way, Lucy reveals her desire to create a story about their journey, and the film becomes the realization of her deepest aspirations.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Roku Jingwen Long
    Best Symbolic Film (Additional Category Competition)
    Myth Taboo & Pleasure
    France
    Synopsis:
    This film tract, poetic and political, is focused on the reconstruction of a woman through dance. Her performance addresses, through the edifying prism of excision, the subject of the crushing of women by men, since the dawn of time.

    Watch on YouTube
    Directed by:
    Sophie Riffont
    Happy Stones
    Bulgaria
    Synopsis:
    When you lose a child, you fall into despair or you start to build. The challenges of building a chapel high in the mountains as a unifying image of power, will, spirit of the ordinary man, and a monument for those who will always live in our hearts.

    Official Facebook
    Directed by:
    Zoya Dimitrova
    Best Educational Film (Additional Category Competition)
    13 Driver's Licenses
    United States
    Synopsis:
    German town to face its horrendous and regrettable past. With no other clue but those licenses, a group of high–school students with their tenacious teacher research the fates of the town's former Jewish citizens. A year later, an unexpected turn takes place. The modern-day Germans and some of the Jewish descendants from overseas gather in “their hometown,” and a fortuitous friendship begins.
    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Ryoya Terao
    Best Historical Film (Additional Category Competition)
    The New Age
    Germany
    Synopsis:


    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Paul Schilling
    Searching for Camelot: The Queen of Camelot
    United States
    Synopsis:
    In the dark days after President John F. Kennedy’s murder, did you ever wonder what was going on with Jackie and Robert as they grieved over the greatest murder mystery of our history?
    Our chorus of Millennials and Elders wants to know the answers and they express their memories and opinions of this tragic period. I also express my memories of this revolutionary period in our history.
    In this film we try to understand why Jackie used the Camelot mythology as a metaphor for her husband's presidency. We search for the reasons why Robert ran for the Presidency even when he knew 'there was a gun between me and the White House''. In our search for Camelot, we discover an epic time in our history full of blood, tears and a romance that will last forever

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Roger Paradiso
    Best Autobiography Film (Additional Category Competition)
    Not everyone wants to leave home
    United States
    Synopsis:
    What happens when a Mexican president engages in a full-on war against the drug cartels? This is the story of just one of the thousands of families who were forced to flee their homes in the once-booming Mexican border city of Juarez due to widespread violence during the Mexican Drug War.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Alfonso Duarte
    Best War Film (Additional Category Competition)
    Searching for Halifax NP711
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Seven crew members of the Royal Canadian Air Force were killed in a bombing raid over Germany on Feb. 21, 1945. The cause of the crash was a mystery. Their Halifax bomber was discovered 73 years later. We examine the crew's final hours, its flight path, the conclusions on why it crashed and the search for the wreckage.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Rob Leicester Wagner
    Best ECO Work (Additional Category Competition)
    EarthLove
    Sweden
    Synopsis:
    EarthLove is a poetic music/dance film with 6 dancers, filmed in the city of Malmö, south of Sweden. "There’s a revolution that needs to happen and it starts from inside each one of us. We need to wake up and fall in love with Earth. We’ve been homo sapiens for a long time. Now it’s time to become homo conscious." Thich Nhat Hanh

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Felicia Konrad & Johan Haugen
    Le Choix de Sofia (One Last Thing)
    Canada
    Synopsis:
    Sofia, a marketing specialist, a superwoman in a man’s world is trapped in an episode of her stressful life, overlooking herself until she hits a wall. The film sets up a parallel between Sofia’s life and the climate change problems, initiated through the denial of her soul for the benefit of our mass consumption society.

    IMDb Page
    Directed by:
    Alain Deslongchamps
    Best Adapted Screenplay (Additional Category Competition)
    Script Avenue
    Switzerland
    Synopsis:
    "Forrest Gump" meets "Pulp Fiction" - that sums up the life of Claude Cueni in its brutality and witty drama. Growing up under the religious delusion of his parents and the violent relatives, he has one goal: to get out of what others would call 'family' and become a writer. But fate is only partially kind to him. His son is handicapped by a mistake the doctors made shortly after birth, his great love dies because of cancer - and as a 'thank you' for the years of care for child and wife, Cueni falls ill with leukemia and has to fight for survival himself. But two things cannot be taken away from him: the will to go on living and his sense of humour. If the story of the troubled protagonist were not true, one would dismiss it as exaggerated fiction.
    From his sickbed, Claude Cueni tells the touching story of his life in his own quirky way. Not without heading for a happy ending - or yet another misfortune?


    Official Website
    Written by:
     Daniel Bodenmann
    A Tale of Two Cities in 4 Episodes
    USA
    Synopsis:
    Dr. Manette, falsely imprisoned in the Bastille for 18 years, is released to the custody of his daughter, Lucie Manette. On the ferry from Calais to Dover, the French emigrant Charles Darnay, a young man with secret ties to French aristocracy, befriends them. Set up to be tried for treason against the English Crown by his uncle, the Marquis St Evremonde of France, Darnay is pronounced innocent based on his remarkable likeness to Sydney Carton, his dissolute lawyer. In his fervor to face off with his uncle by renouncing the privileges and abuses of the class to which he was born, Darnay unwittingly springs a trap set by the vengeful Madame Defarge, a trap with grave consequences for himself and the Manettes.

    Written by:
    Michael O'Rourke
    Best Sound Design (Additional Category Competition)
    I' ll never be like you. I change all the time.
    Greece
    Synopsis:
    I'll never be like you. I change all the time explores the limits and consequences of technological modernity in relation to human psychology as well as the concept of confinement and social stigmatization.

    Official Website
    Sound design by:
    Katerina Apostolidou
    Bonding
    USA
    Synopsis:
    A solitary figure at an empty bar, CIA clinical and forensic psychologist, Dr. John Flemington, is planning to visit his girlfriend in Mexico when he is pressured by mysterious underground operatives to join them on a secret mission. He really doesn't have a choice.

    Official Website
    Sound design by:
    Daniel Teo
    Dojo
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Shane Lucas, an ex-Yakuza member and 4th degree black belt in Judo, is hunted down at his local dojo in Los Angeles 1985 by his long-time rival, Elias Da Rosa and his crew members from the same crime family. Shane is threatened to come back to the Yakuza or would suffer the consequence of not.

    Official Website
    Directed by:

    Armin Alic


    Best Producer Nominee - Jon Paul

    Best VFX (Additional Category Competition)
    Asphodel Fields
    United States
    Synopsis:

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Luigi Calabrese
    Best Makeup (Additional Category Competition)
    Hold of the Dead
    United Kingdom
    Synopsis:
    Aleena attempts to save her mother (Zara)'s life with help from a short term time machine.
    Over and over it fails but when she eventually succeeds, Aleena learns Zara has felt every single one of her deaths.
    Now in a rotting zombie state, Zara attacks Aleena, forcing her hand to violently put her mother to rest.

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Charlie Langford
    Dior Lover_Natasa Lanieri Shakespeare
    United States
    Synopsis:
    SYNOPSIS of the film "Dior Lover", genre drama, comedy: Dior Lover works for a gourmet factory, yet she also draws Dior Fashion sketches hoping to work for Dior one day. And she receives a precious Dior item she can only dream of, and she is forced to confront a business person to prove it's hers. Soon she faces an emotional journey, not knowing that her personality is admirable. Audience: Everybody who loves the beauty of life.

    Watch on YouTube
    Directed by:

    Natasa Lanieri Shakespeare

    Space Eye
    Croatia
    Synopsis:
    After four young drug dealers obsessed with
    space accidentally kill the niece of a
    dangerous and eccentric mobster, they
    must decide what to do before he arrives,
    but little do they know that the real danger
    lurks in front of their eyes.


    Directed by:
    Kevin Mainenti
    Best Costume Design (Additional Category Competition)
    Enter the Drag Dragon
    Canada
    Synopsis:
    THE WORLD'S FIRST DRAG-FU ACTION-HORROR-COMEDY

    Get ready to go on a Drag-Fu odyssey, filled with face-crunching action, corset-busting comedy, gut-munching horror, and soul-touching musical numbers! You’ve never experienced anything like Enter the Drag Dragon! This blast of true of independent cinema will leave you wobbly in your heels as you try to recover from the non-stop thrill ride of adventure, laughs, screams, and romance.

    Crunch is a part-time amateur detective, and a full-time Drag Queen. His lifelong best friend is Jaws, a roller-skating entrepreneur and fast-food delivery girl. The odd-ball pair has been through a lot over their lives, but are as close as siblings. They are no strangers to fast-times, adventure, and action. They spend their days working hard, and their nights watching chopsocky kung fu flicks in the abandoned movie theatre they've lived in since childhood, along with their childhood guardian, Fast Buck. Most of Crunch and Jaws' earnings go to Buck, to help him make ends-meet, and keep their stomachs full of popcorn and a roof over their heads.However, when Crunch takes it upon himself to solve his biggest case yet and track down a stolen panting that might reveal the truth of the mythical treasure of the of the Aztec Mummy, he discovers that he has much more to fear than the supposed undead army that guards the legendary loot. He soon finds himself over his head dealing with corrupt cops, zombies, dangerous mobsters, a lost puppy, ninjas, a budding romance, and ghosts. With mounting obstacles, Crunch realizes that he can't handle this one on his own, and must team up with Jaws and Buck if he wants to survive, let alone solve this case! Crunch only has one rule, never cross a cross-dresser!

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Lee Gordon Demarbre
    The Master of Sento
    Japan
    Synopsis:
    Shitamachi (traditional commercial district) Tokyo. Asakusa, Taito-ku. At an old public bath, there is an old fashioned, stubborn master who doesn't speak much and his beautiful wife. The couple runs the business well, but the wife leaves home due to the husband's bad drinking habit. Instead of learning from his wife's leaving, his drinking habit gets worse. Losing patience, his nosy neighbors visit him and persuade him into getting back together with his wife... Set in the public bath "Arimayu", which was built in 1930 and is still open, the story depicts the relationship of a married couple and humanity.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Yusuke Ishide
    Best Color Editing (Additional Category Competition)
    Three boys
    Italy
    Synopsis:
    Bertinoro, 1972. Thirteen-year-old friends Carmelo, Michele and Salvatore, run away from home towards Ravenna, with the hope of boarding a ship that will take them to America.
    The whole village mobilized to search for the three young boys. Now far away, after a long walk in the surrounding woods, they boarded the train that took them to Ravenna. At the port, however, they found something bigger than themselves: the side of the huge, inaccessible ship saw them forced to change their plans. Lost in the city, they will come up against their inexperience and a seemingly hostile world.
    Three boys, the possibilities of life and escape as a choice or as a search for freedom.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Gianfranco Boattini
    Life After
    USA
    Synopsis:
    A priest unable to escape the shame. A pastor haunted by her memories. Neither knows how the trauma of their past will affect their future.

    Official Instagram
    Color Editing by:
    Luke Flower
    Bonding
    USA
    Synopsis:
    A solitary figure at an empty bar, CIA clinical and forensic psychologist, Dr. John Flemington, is planning to visit his girlfriend in Mexico when he is pressured by mysterious underground operatives to join them on a secret mission. He really doesn't have a choice.

    Official Website
    Color Editing by:
    Pete Szijarto
    Abyss in
    Greece
    Synopsis:
    A 60 years old man with memory loss trying to get away of his abyss ,at his last days.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Yannis Aivazis

    See
    Netherlands
    Synopsis:
    SEE is about a boy who doesn’t feel well in the dirty and poluted world around him. He decides to jump on his bike. His journey ends up in France, just like Vincent van Gogh. Where he starts seeing the true colors of Earth and starts painting on his iPad.
    The goal of the film is to inspire people to take action for our planet and also to rediscover the true colors of Earth.


    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Johan Oudshoorn
    Best Scenography (Additional Category Competition)
    Out of State-A Gothic Romance
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Elsa, 18, is sent to live with her strange step-relatives Aunt Marcia and her two twenty something sons, Tab and Emery. Tab is a pianist and Marcia's favorite while Emery is the Cinderella of the family and they never leave their house. Both brothers fall madly in love with Elsa shattering Marcia's control. Who will leave with Elsa? Stay tuned and find out.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Victoria Bugbee

    Fight or Flight
    Netherlands
    Synopsis:
    MMA-Fighter number 362 is just steps away from the ring, when his social anxiety disorder takes over. The society he lives in is divided in rankings, the higher the ranking, the more freedom you have as a civilian. In order to climb up in ranking, 362 has to win a personalized trial; a streetfight. During his path to the ring his perception of the reality starts to twist, panic attacks increase and his inner demons project into the real world. He is captivated by his own reality, his own blurry mind and it seems like the world that he lives in, is turning against him. The only way 362 knows how to deal with his fears is to either fight or flight but this only takes him further away from winning the game. After trying to escape multiple times, his anger and despair take over which brings him to the point of madness. Whilst being in the middle of his anxiety, the audience tells a visual story through hiphop dance to confront him and make sure he can not run away. He stands across his biggest fear, who is manipulative, a bully, a fighter, a demon and only wants to bring 362 down. Neither fighting or flighting will get him to win the fight. In order to win and go up in ranking in the hierarchy of his society he has to stay calm, overcome his anxiety and let go of the insane.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Jody Geijsendorpher
    Best Music Video (Additional Category Competition)
    Spectacular (Espectacular)
    Spain
    Synopsis:
    ‘The spectacle is not a collection of images; rather, it is a social relationship between people that is mediated by images.’
    Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle.
    The technical reproduction of images inaugurates an era in which the available views of the world and of history become a spectacle to be contemplated from distant places and times. The tour of France, an iconic competition of cycling, is one of the most popular sporting events ever. Tanoca’s music video recreates the spectacularity of the 1953 tour of France by making an animated piece that combines footage of the event with the song ‘Espectacular’ by Joan Colomo (Disc Trist, B-Core disc, 2021), creating a piece that brings cyclists to an abstracted France. The music video has been created by using artisanal techniques, such as photocopying, painting, watercoloring, cutting, scanning and digitally editing stills.
    The original footage comes from the film Tour de France 1953 (Haghefilm, 1953), provided by the Eye Filmmuseum of Netherlands, a collaborator of this project. The film, considered the first Dutch sports documentary film, documents the first tour that was won by Louison Bobet, and the first of his consecutive three victories in the competition.
    The images recall the dispute between Bartali, Loroño, Bobet, Wagtmans, Robic, Schär and others, together with the appearance of the press, the mechanics, the public or the music in sporting events. The overall result looks back into a time in which sport was experienced in a more spontaneous way. This epic allows Tanoca to pay tribute to these years and to escape from the contemporary professionalisation of cycling -and of filmmaking.

    Directed by:
    Pau Albà
    Shukriya | Thank You
    India
    Synopsis:
    In this Music Video, we express our gratitude to the teachers who have dedicated their lives to run a free school for underprivileged tribal children in the interiors of Maharashtra, India. Hence the title - Shukriya - which means Thank you in Urdu.
    Directed by:
    Shoneel Yallattikar
    CREMANTIQUE
    United Kingdom
    Synopsis:
    "Cremantique" is a supernatural short film exploring isolation, sleep paralysis, and that haunting carnival of late-night anxious thoughts, ringing like an operatic chorus line of evil puppets in your head.


    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Remy Powell Lamont
    Turn Off My Heart - Music Video
    Norway
    Synopsis:
    The Artists emotions and loneliness is overwhelming. But does he run away from the emotions, or does he dive into them? The forces of nature, the ocean, the waves, the wind - the video shows you all this. Beautiful, dangerous, mighty! As metaphores of his feelings and his struggles, but maybe also his savior, his redemption? This music video takes you into the world and thoughts of the Artist, you experience the forces of nature first hand - but also the calm of it all. We all need to dive into our emotions sometimes, face what comes our way - and then hopefully, be able to move on. Emotions are part of life for all of us.

    This Music Video was made from a love of music and nature, for the song Turn Off My Heart. This was Bjørn Olav Edvardsens debut as a solo artist in the norwegian selection for Eurovision 2023.


    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Bjørn Olav Edvardsen & Jostein Vedvik
    EVERYBODY NEEDS SOME LOVING
    Denmark
    Synopsis:
    This music video is a puppet animation featuring a lonely man who feels redundant as he reminisces on better days. Alternating between uplifting rhythms and melancholic lyrics, the
    character takes us through nostalgic encounters between himself and his friends, dancing and
    musing, blurring the lines of reality. The journey becomes increasingly surreal, though culminates
    on a hopeful note.
    Because Jacob Bellens` song “Everybody Needs Some Loving” references the Backstreet Boys hit “Everybody”, the music video
    has elements from the Backstreet Boys video implemented, and gives a nod of acknowledgment to their video too.


    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Sara Nanna Jørgensen
    See
    Netherlands
    Synopsis:
    SEE is about a boy who doesn’t feel well in the dirty and poluted world around him. He decides to jump on his bike. His journey ends up in France, just like Vincent van Gogh. Where he starts seeing the true colors of Earth and starts painting on his iPad.
    The goal of the film is to inspire people to take action for our planet and also to rediscover the true colors of Earth.


    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Johan Oudshoorn
    Danger
    United States
    Synopsis:
    The animated short talks about the real pandemic experienced in Spain since 2020. John is a cast member of the EMMY Award-winning “Bob’s Burgers” as matriarch Linda Belcher which landed him first EMMY nod in the category of “Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance”.
    In 2017 Blondie tapped him to drop some lyrical fire on “Love Level” from their critically acclaimed chart-topper Pollinator. "Looking," a wild anthem produced by Big Black Delta, followed in 2019, marked his solo debut with remixes by Tensnake and Gerd Janson. The song—which landed at #19 on UK club charts--along with “Dirty Little Secrets” In 2022 Roberts released a full album of club bangers with legendary DJ Junior Sanchez featuring Beth Ditto and Debbie Harry as well as remixes by Harry Romero and Felix da Housecat.
    John’s first release of 2023 is a return to pop with his single “Danger” a moody mid-tempo 80’s esq bop produced by Junior Sanchez offers an exciting musical landscape filled with pulsating sounds and throbbing rhythm as well as Roberts vibrant and signature vocal style that brings the music to life.


    Directed by:
    Ned Stresen-Reuter
    Sound of the Shadow
    Spain
    Synopsis:
    The animated short talks about the real pandemic experienced in Spain since 2020. The whole world is suffering from an economic crisis, but also a health crisis in the field of mental health. Sound Of Th Shadow is the reflection of pain, anger, frustration, the blood of thousands of people who suffer mentally and many commit suicide and people who suffer from mental disorders.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Gairah Praskovia
    Love In Vain
    United States
    Synopsis:
    A music video that tells the story of Robert Johnson's lament, LOVE IN VAIN. The film takes the viewer on a journey on old Route 66 from New Mexico, Arizona, Amboy California and Palm Springs as our hero chases his lost love (the woman in red) only to be rebuked. But, does he still have a chance? The viewer must decide...

    Official Website
    Directed by:
     Rudy Strukoff
    Best Dance Video (Additional Category Competition)
    Reality shifts
    Hungary
    Synopsis:
    Personal layers of realities in the passage of time. Encounters. Space. As rhythms of a city, and rhythms of different living beings intersect. Embody.
    Grass growing on the rock. Now is only now.
    This dance film was shot in urban open spaces of Budapest, Hungary. Dancers were sensing into the places, and from the felt qualities of each other, the space, the surrounding, and people around, actions raised. The film is based on this presence. The shared present moment of performer, cinematographer, and space.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Bernadett Jobbágy
    Chains
    Peru
    Synopsis:
    A woman walks with difficulty in the middle of the desert tied to a suitcase. After entering a trance he must gather strength to fight for his freedom and break the bonds. 

    Directed by:
    Antonio Quijano
    EarthLove
    Sweden
    Synopsis:
    EarthLove is a poetic music/dance film with 6 dancers, filmed in the city of Malmö, south of Sweden. "There’s a revolution that needs to happen and it starts from inside each one of us. We need to wake up and fall in love with Earth. We’ve been homo sapiens for a long time. Now it’s time to become homo conscious." Thich Nhat Hanh

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Felicia Konrad & Johan Haugen
    SCRUPUS
    Switzerland
    Synopsis:
    SCRUPUS is an interdisciplinary research. In it I conduct artistic and technical methodological research and investigate the possibilities of interaction between dance, film and architecture. In their encounter I search for the conditions and possibilities of mutual effects on each other with the aim of creating illusory effects of weightlessness and disorientation. In the experiment, new possibilities for temporality, scale, body-space relationship, and sequencing of movement emerge.


    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Timo Paris
    F A L L
    Ireland
    Synopsis:
    A short solo contemporary dance film by Kathleen Doherty, exploring the complex intersection of emotion and environment. Embodying the struggle for mental health from the depths of the pandemic.

    The artist’s struggle with their environment echoes the internal conflict that often accompanies mental health challenges. As a result, the image glitches and fractures, mirroring the artist’s own sense of disorientation and confusion. The artist's work evokes a somber, introspective mood hinting at anxiety and loss. Yet there is a sense of hopefulness as they reach for the light. This theme runs throughout, suggesting that even in the most difficult times there is a chance for redemption and renewal.

    By confronting their own emotional challenges head-on and expressing them through their art, Kathleen has created a powerful work that is both deeply personal and universally resonant.

    Official Facebook
    Directed by:
    Kathleen Doherty
    Best BLM Film (Additional Category Competition)
    The Orchestra Chuck Built
    United States
    Synopsis:
    In 2016, the League of American Orchestras conducted a study that revealed a shocking statistic: only 1.8% of the professional orchestra workforce in the US is Black. From an old church rec room in the inner city of Los Angeles, former lawyer-turned-conductor Chuck Dickerson is on a mission to change that.

    Through ICYOLA - The Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles — the largest majority Black orchestra in the country — Chuck is creating life-changing opportunities for his community that did not previously exist. The Orchestra Chuck Built is a loving portrait of a tireless mentor and a testament to the transformative power of music.
    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Christopher Stoudt
    Rachel's Reason
    United States
    Synopsis:
    Rachel invites her sisters, Rebecca and Rochelle, over to her place for a night of wining and laughing over their childhood and adulthood lives. Amidst the laughter, Rebecca and Rochelle discover a truth about Rachel. A night of fun turns into Rachel’s Reason.

    Directed by:
    Dajour Ashwood
    Best COVID-19 Film (Additional Category Competition)
    Perfect Storm
    New Zealand
    Synopsis:
    During the perfect storm of the pandemic, the beauty of nature and the connectivity of humanity endures. On the wild west coast of Auckland ( New Zealand ) we follow one mans enforced isolation. Pacing into the unknown, wondering if those dear to him, will ever be seen again.
    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Morag Brownlie
    CREMANTIQUE
    United Kingdom
    Synopsis:
    "Cremantique" is a supernatural short film exploring isolation, sleep paralysis, and that haunting carnival of late-night anxious thoughts, ringing like an operatic chorus line of evil puppets in your head.


    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Remy Powell Lamont
    Best Trailer (Additional Category Competition)
    Queen Vernita Conquers the Volcanic Islands
    United States
    Synopsis:

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Dreambooks distribution
    Best Opening Credits (Additional Category Competition)
    Enter the Drag Dragon
    Canada
    Synopsis:
    THE WORLD'S FIRST DRAG-FU ACTION-HORROR-COMEDY

    Get ready to go on a Drag-Fu odyssey, filled with face-crunching action, corset-busting comedy, gut-munching horror, and soul-touching musical numbers! You’ve never experienced anything like Enter the Drag Dragon! This blast of true of independent cinema will leave you wobbly in your heels as you try to recover from the non-stop thrill ride of adventure, laughs, screams, and romance.

    Crunch is a part-time amateur detective, and a full-time Drag Queen. His lifelong best friend is Jaws, a roller-skating entrepreneur and fast-food delivery girl. The odd-ball pair has been through a lot over their lives, but are as close as siblings. They are no strangers to fast-times, adventure, and action. They spend their days working hard, and their nights watching chopsocky kung fu flicks in the abandoned movie theatre they've lived in since childhood, along with their childhood guardian, Fast Buck. Most of Crunch and Jaws' earnings go to Buck, to help him make ends-meet, and keep their stomachs full of popcorn and a roof over their heads.However, when Crunch takes it upon himself to solve his biggest case yet and track down a stolen panting that might reveal the truth of the mythical treasure of the of the Aztec Mummy, he discovers that he has much more to fear than the supposed undead army that guards the legendary loot. He soon finds himself over his head dealing with corrupt cops, zombies, dangerous mobsters, a lost puppy, ninjas, a budding romance, and ghosts. With mounting obstacles, Crunch realizes that he can't handle this one on his own, and must team up with Jaws and Buck if he wants to survive, let alone solve this case! Crunch only has one rule, never cross a cross-dresser!

    Official Instagram
    Directed by:
    Lee Gordon Demarbre
    Teyuna - Lost City
    United Kingdom
    Synopsis:
    A journey to seek out the lost city of Teyuna in the jungle of Sierra Nevada Colombia.

    Official Website
    Directed by:
    Stuart Fortune
    Best Closing Credits (Additional Category Competition)
    Grandma's Magic Pills
    Taiwan
    Synopsis:



    Directed by:
     Jing-Yu Xiao
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