Competition shorts   

Apodemy
Continuous circular tour of a half completed, deserted metropolis in pale sunlight offers a graphically impressive interplay of structures and roads.
Katerina Athanasopoulou, United Kingdom, Greece, 2012, 5:13
At Saint Vincents
Slightly macabre nightlife at a cemetery in the poetical aesthetics of early movies, with all its technical shortcomings. An insistent voice-over tells.
Stanislaw Furman, Poland, 2012, 4:59
Au Coeur de l'Hiver / Heart of Winter
As the seasons change, so too do the fortunes of the forest creatures. In the heart of winter the lumberman, the owl, the mouse, the rabbit and his lady nex door try to scrape out their living around a big tree.
Isabelle Favez, Switzerland, 2012, 7:38
The Banker
Short film in the absurdist series about bad-mannered, self-opinionated, politically incorrect Mister Christie. He joins the Mayan End of the World Society.
Phil Mulloy, United Kingdom, 2012, 3:03
Benjamin's Flowers
Benjamin's lack of love and company has placed him on the blurry borderline between fantasy and reality, where it can be hard to understand what's what. In his mind he has the most exciting adventures.
Sweden, 2012, 11:52
Big Hands Oh Big Hands, Let It Be Bigger and Bigger
In a city all the citizens have very big hands. One child, however, has tiny hands and his head full of peculiar thoughts. Colourful design, fast tempo.
Lei Lei, China, 2012, 6:00
Briganti senza Leggenda / Thugs with no Legend
In the countryside near Rimini, two pitiful thugs try racketeering a couple of farmers. But the farmers who have gotten tired of always being tricked decide to take revenge and they scheme a diabolical plot.
Gianluigi Toccafondo, France, 2012, 14:39
Chase
An action sequence taken from a famous Schwarzenegger film is turned into a semi-abstract experience in which the world is literally turned on its side.
Stuart Pound, United Kingdom, 2012, 9:26
Chasing
About pursuit and loss. Mutilation and destruction. Succession of seemingly disconnected events in a pale world with soft colours. Curious children in red capes march.
Chao Wu, China, 2011, 22:27
Chemin Faisant / Along the Way
Associative trip with effective music and attractive forms and shadows in the familiar style of great master Georges Schwizgebel.
Georges Schwizgebel, Switzerland, 2012, 3:41
Choir Tour
A world-famous boys' choir goes on a tour with their their severe conductor. Once in Seoul the conductor is accidentally trapped in the elevator, and the boys are left alone. Strong graphics.
Edmunds Jansons, Latvia, 2012, 5:15
Chopper
The natural chain from grasshopper to biker, in smooth pace and attractive imagery.
Netherlands, 2012, 2:10
Comme des lapins (Chroniques de la poisse, chap. 2) / Like Rabbits (Sticky Ends, chap. 2)
Second chapter of Sticky Ends. Succession of more or less bizarre situations involving strange characters at a funfair. The fish-headed man tries to shoot a heart.
Osman Cerfon, France, 2012, 8:00
Crops
CROPS is a stop motion film on centre pivot irrigation in the USA, using over 1000 circles, captured and cropped in Google Earth. Long water-sprinkler arms rotate around a central pivot.
Gerco de Ruijter, Netherlands, 2013, 4:00
Dji. Death Fails
Hilarious Moldavian computer animation. A truck driver falls asleep at the wheel and ends up in hospital. The Grim Reaper gets there like lightning and plays with the electrocardiogram wave like a DJ.
Dmitri Volosin, Moldova, 2012, 3:56
Edison Bay
Time goes by in the Port of Rotterdam, captured from 25 angles. Images of a floating man are mixed with an industrial horizon.
Michiel van Bakel, Netherlands, 2013, 3:31
Edmond était un âne / Edmond Was a Donkey
Edmond is not like everybody else. When his co-workers tease him by crowning him with a pair of donkey ears, he suddenly discovers his true nature.
Franck Dion, France, Canada, 2012, 15:04
The Event
Apocalyptic love story, based on a poem by Tom Chivers in the recognisable style of Julia Pott, winner of the HAFF European student competition 2012.
Julia Pott, USA, 2012, 3:05
Fibonacci Bread
Black-and-white geometric patterns show a baker’s routine life. At night, he bakes the loaves of bread he delivers in the urban labyrinth on his bike in the morning.
Danijel Zezelj, Croatia, 2012, 7:42
Le Fobie del Guard Rail / Phobias of Guardrail
Cryptic situations near a crash barrier. Characters are wholly engrossed, a woman peeks through her fingers, a child takes out its hearing aid. Black-and-white.
Marco Capellacci, Italy, 2012, 5:10
Freedom for Jafar Panahi: Des Femmes Libres / Free Women
Part of the series for the freedom of Jafar Panahi and all imprisoned Iranian filmmakers. A look at depictions of women in Jafar Panahi’s films.
Francis Desharnais, Canada, 2012, 0:35
Freedom for Jafar Panahi: Joda
A woman writes a letter that will be read by a man in prison. A letter full of love, worry, compassion, suffering and hope.
Theodore Ushev, Canada, 2012, 3:39
Freedom for Jafar Panahi: La Cage / The Cage
When a filmmaker is imprisoned, how many others find themselves behind bars? Part of the series for the freedom of Jafar Panahi and all imprisoned Iranian filmmakers.
Pierre Hébert, Canada, 2012, 0:28
Freedom for Jafar Panahi: Liberté de parole / Free Speech
Part of the series for the freedom of Jafar Panahi and all imprisoned Iranian filmmakers. When all the voices have been silenced, only one will remain.
Steven Woloshen, Canada, 2012, 0:38
Futon
Comfortably wrapped in a futon, a woman happily gives her thoughts and senses free rein.
Yoriko Mizushiri, Japan, 2012, 6:03
Here and the Great Elsewhere
Lost in a reverie, a man reels with sudden, piercing awareness of his own state of being. Bounded by a walled enclosure, he searches in vain for the key to the great beyond.
Michèle Lemieux, Canada, 2012, 14:25
I Saw Mice Burying a Cat
A Chinese play is disrupted. A group of mice tries to remove a sleeping cat. Melancholy soundtrack.
Dmitry Geller, China, Russia, 2011, 5:45
It's Raining
Wistful film about the fragility of happiness. A careless day gradually becomes more ominous and for one small boy ends in tragedy.
Anna Shepilova, Russia, 2012, 9:15
Junkyard
En route with his girlfriend, a man is stabbed on the subway. Before he dies, childhood memories flash by of his best friend who ended up in a grim world of drugs and violence.
Hisko Hulsing, Netherlands, Belgium, 2012, 17:50
Die Konferenz oder die Rückseite des Mondes / The Conference or Shooting for the Moon
Hand brushes that have been saved from the rubble of a former factory have grown beaks and get the chance to hold a conference, says the voice-over.
Franz Winzentsen, Germany, 2012, 6:00
Lay Bare
A composite portrait of the human body, revealing it as it is only rarely seen in the most intimate relationships we have with our family or our lovers - erotic and comic, beautiful and vulnerable.
Paul Bush, United Kingdom, 2012, 6:00
De Lokeend / The Decoy
A decoy takes revenge on a hunter. Relatively simple story in charcoal with beautiful details, fine timing and fitting dramatic music.
Oswald Verhaak, Netherlands, 2012, 3:21
Lonely Bones
Rather hallucinating film about dreams and what they require of you. Visually overwhelming sequel in a series concerning the music project Thee Wreckers by artist and filmmaker Rosto.
Rosto, France, Netherlands, 2013, 9:36
Marcel, King of Tervuren
Greek tragedy featuring Belgian roosters and an unstoppable voice-over. Unmanageable Marcel is subdued with alcohol, sleeping pills and three hens. Then, he stops running away.
Tom Schroeder, USA, 2012, 6:00
Maze
Made with visitors at the Kyoto Art Center Gallery, using light, simple lines and symbols in a pattern that was inspired by the Kyoto landscape. People get lost in a rigid world.
Tochka, Japan, 2012, 2:09
Mud Crab
Serial adventures of cocksure Spike in strikingly simple line drawings. The infant has just caught his first crab. Now, he and Dadda have to get it out of the little cage without losing their fingers.
Igor Coric, Sheldon Lieberman, Australia, 2012, 4:50
My Little Underground
Autobiographical story that follows a young girl’s journey home. Drifting between real and imagined events, the girl seeks self-discovery and rebirth.
Elise Simard, Canada, 2012, 6:43
Palmipedarium
A country boy knows ducks quite well. They fly, swim and make noise. One day, he finds a remarkable bird. Rather odd, but strangely beautiful.
Jérémy Clapin, France, 2012, 10:25
Patrick
An adolescent is given advice on how to live by the Chancellor of Exchequer Geoerge Osborne. Meanwhile a fly tries to escape from the window.
Vera Neubauer, United Kingdom, 2012, 3:05
Paula
A child and a prostitute share the same stretch of sidewalk in a working-class neighbourhood. Paint on glass, on the intersection of love and money, games and violence, prejudice and lack of understanding.
Canada, 2012, 10:29
The Present
A properly married man on a business trip resists the come-ons given by the hotelier’s daughter and meets with an exceptional urge for revenge. Austere, Japanese-looking animation from Taiwan.
Joe Hsieh, Taiwan, 2013, 15:16
The Rage
Music video for Holding Back by Walking Mountains, with light lines and colour patches combined with scratched texts and sand, dirt, sticks and skewers.
Saul Saguatti, Audrey Coïaniz, Italy, 2012, 4:51
Ransom
Bandits can sometimes use a little appreciation for their work, too. For example, when they have composed a beautiful letter.
Dustin Rees, Switzerland, 2012, 1:54
Recycled
Some three thousand colour negatives found at Beijing rubbish dumps together show, at lightning speed, the city, its inhabitants and its transience. Abstract, but still a story.
Lei Lei, Thomas Sauvin, China, 2012, 5:40
Red Colored Bridge
Colourful creatures, erotic subject matter and a bridge as the channel between worlds: between the living and the dead, between male and female, between sacred and profane.
Keiichi Tanaami, Japan, 2012, 5:40
Regel van het Inwendige / Inner Canon
At a secondary girls’ school, boring lessons prepare the pupils for society in a tight regime. A pink-haired girl discovers an unknown world. Attractive puppets and objects, with a keen eye to detail.
Arlette Boerlage, Netherlands, 2013, 39:59
Seven Minutes in the Warsaw Ghetto
Warsaw, 1942. A high-spirited eight-year-old boy tries to get hold of a carrot through a hole in the ghetto wall. Two SS officers look on. Fascinating puppet animation with real eyes.
Johan Oettinger, Denmark, 2012, 7:48
SiSiSiSiSiSiSiSiSiSiSi / YesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
Endless repetition of civilities in a drawn micro world with four sets of eleven sheets of paper. Student film.
Juan Camilo González, Colombia, USA, 2011, 5:51
Toto
Impressionistic story about a boy who is seduced in church. Impressive design, almost casually drawn.
Zbigniew Czapla, Poland, 2012, 12:12
Tram
An ordinary day full of drab routine transforms into an erotic adventure for a tram conductress. Latest film by Oscar winner Michaela Pavlátová was instantly showered with awards.
Michaela Pavlátová, France, Czech Republic, 2012, 7:48
The Triangle Affair
Interplay of light and lines in a compelling choreography for charladies, window-cleaners and acrobats that gradually gains momentum and sweeps along the traffic. Dark puppet film.
Andres Tenusaar, Estonia, 2012, 10:38
Triptyque 2 / Triptyc 2
Three screens remix of an improvisation performance presented in May 2011 with musician Andrea Martignoni in Vienna. Organic movements contrast with the edges of the rectangle.
Pierre Hébert, Canada, 2012, 10:00
Tunnel
Dark sand animation from Iran. A man tries to pick up a sheep in a very complicated way. Politically inspired by the tunnels that people dig in Gaza to avoid the blockade.
Maryam Kashkoolinia, Iran, 2012, 7:00
Under the Lion Crotch
Rather violent film about life in Hong Kong. The message is clear: ‘Under the Lion Crotch, nobody stays virgin.’
Ping Wong, Hong Kong, 2012, 4:43
Villa Antropoff
A man who has nothing left to lose embarks on a dangerous trip to realise his dreams. His destination is not what it seems.
Vladimir Leschiov, Kaspar Jancis, Latvia, Estonia, 2012, 13:03
A Wind Egg
In a family that runs a chicken farm everybody has a secret. The boy hankers after birds and his little sister keeps an eye on him. The father loves eggs. The mother loves somebody else.
Ryo Okawara, Japan, 2012, 10:30
Woman Who Hates Plants
Graphically overwhelming film around a coarse old woman in black-and-white who does not like plants. But she does like smoking.
Morgan Miller, USA, 2013, 1:01