Competition 1

REMEMBER THIS IS NOT OVER / Husk, dette er ikke over 04:49
Norway 2022
Directed by: Christine Tjore Lervåg
Dialogue language: Norwegian


A stop-motion film about a girl trying to escape her sleep paralysis nightmare. I have planned on doing some more small editing in masking, color and sound



METAPHYSICAL RECLAMATIONS 13:05
USA 2022
Directed by: Mary Flanagan


Metaphysical Reclamations is an experimental short created entirely with raw AI-Generated imagery. To create the video I rendered nearly one hundred thousand unique images related to city centers and skyscrapers fused with natural scenes and trees. My aim is to consider the anthropocene by collaborating with an artificial intelligence. I engineer prompts that draws from a pattern language determined by word-to-image keyword associations culled from massive datasets for AI training, and whatever results I have gotten -- sometimes cut short because I was pushed off shared machine cycles for Silicon Valley projects. As a tactician interested in the collaborative process of working with code as a form of speculative research practice, I aim to document trajectories, good and bad matches, bizarre sequences, errors and glitches and render these in time based media. The sounds emerge from a variety of natural and technologically mediated sources. I work with machines as collaborators to imagine the future and produce speculative possibilities in the rapidly changing anthropocene. As someone who has always questioned any hard distinction between the natural and the artificial, my goal is to move beyond these binaries towards envisioning forms of future interdependence. I am fascinated by the practice of ancient trees being used as landmarks the way we often see human-made architectures in city centers as landmarks marking the sky above. I combine these two different markers of place in this video. I am interested in looping the collaborative process, creating productive feedback with new technologies. Commissioned by the Moody Center for the Arts, Rice University for the installation “Metaphysical Reclamations: The Metropolis Project,” opening Sept 16 2022.



THE IDEAL OTHER / Ο ιδανικός άγνωστος άλλος 08:05
Greece 2021
Directed by: Dimitrios Patrikios
Screenplay: DIMITRIOS PATRIKIOS, SOTERIA GEORGOPOULOU
Production/School: VIEW STUDIO
Dialogue language: Modern Greek (1453-)


Marina, a young disabled woman, takes part in a video conference, during which she talks to John, a ‘different’ racially student. The 'demon' of the internet, however, prevents them from seeing their visual 'social' peculiarities. In the appointment they later arrange, they are recognized, surprised and flee, terrified by the ‘social’ and racial, unknown that they meet and refuse to accept, despite the public image that they both want to present.



SACRIFICIAL RABBIT 04:30
China 2022
Directed by: Qian Chen
Screenplay: Qian Chen
Animation: Qian Chen
Technique: Meiling Zhong, Joe Hirst
Music: Guillermo Pita
Production/School: Royal College of Art
Dialogue language: English


By chance, Qi'an attended a training camp based on the pyramid selling model, in which she experienced three-day brainwashing, telling her that she could get a healthy life through their products. She pretended to be deceived, so as to become one of them to observe the interaction between the deceiver and the deceived from the perspective of a bystander. She wants to build on this experience based on cult structures, which re-examines the conflict and compromise between a social operation mode and human nature. Sacrificial Rabbit is based on clues that gradually enter the trap, starting from a girl who is hypnotised after following a rabbit into a hole, trapped in a room for a series of killings that follow instructions. she was arranged to escape here, but chose to return.



I KNOCKED ON MY HOME'S DOOR / طرقت باب بيتي 05:28
Palestine, State of 2021
Directed by: Matthew Khoury
Screenplay: Matthew Khoury
Dialogue language: Arabic


In a small village, George is an 11-year-old boy, struggling to figure out masculinity along with his body hair growth and at a relatively early age for his classmates, they are constantly harassing and mocking him, George begins a journey of self-acceptance and looking for ways to deal with these changes, leading Him to places he never thought he would reach.




ALEXANDER MOSOLOV. THREE PIECES / Александр Мосолов. Три Пьески 02:57
Israel 2020
Directed by: Natalia Ryss
Screenplay: Natalia Ryss
Animation: Natalia Ryss
Technique: Stop Motion
Music: Alexander Mosolov
Production/School: Irina Margolina, studio M.I.R.
Dialogue language: English, Russian
Subtitles language: English


The experimental film is dedicated to Alexander Mosolov's constructivist period, as well as to the architecture and cinema of this direction and consists of three parts I named intuitively: 1. Shadows 2. Movement 3. Volume The structure of the film is close to constructivism visually and rhythmically. The idea of creating a musical-animated album belongs to Irina Margolina. Classical composers’ works for children are performed by young musicians, students of Jacob Flier Children School of Arts. This experimental movie is one episode from "Children's Album. Film 2. 20th century” I used a stop motion technique based on a series of black&white photos (sometimes colored), mixed collage and animation.




DREAM EATERS / Comedores de Sonhos 07:44
Brazil 2022
Directed by: Mike da Silva Wanderroscky
Screenplay: Mike da Silva Wanderroscky
Animation: 2D vector animation for the intro and 3D animation for the film.
Technique: Digital Animation
Music: Original Music
Production/School: Universidade Veiga de Almeida
Dialogue language: Portuguese
Subtitles language: English


The short film tells the story of two creatures that need to eat dreams from human children. The plot unfolds with a "dream eater father"​ teaching his son the techniques to eat a dream for the first time. They go inside the children's rooms trying to make a snack but something mysterious happens and changes the future of all.




THE BENEFACTORS 08:49
Switzerland 2022
Directed by: Christophe Lopez-Huici
Screenplay: Christophe Lopez-Huici
Animation: Christophe Lopez-Huici / Natacha Baud-Grasset
Technique: 2d
Music: Emile Sornin
Production/School: Nadasdy Film


A weary young man thinks he found the perfect patrons for his rickshaw tours, but he soon finds out that his new customers can be very demanding.