Competition 2

GIRL IN THE WATER / 水中的女孩 07:20
Taiwan 2021
Directed by: Shi-Rou Huang
Screenplay: Shi-Rou Huang
Animation: Shi-Rou Huang
Technique: Shi-Rou Huang
Music: Peilin Wu
Production/School: Shi-Rou Huang/Tainan National University of the Arts
Dialogue language: No Dialogue


Contemplation of torn walls and scars reminds the heroine of the ups and downs of love. The film depicts femininity and female internal time-consciousness through the convalescence of a woman's broken heart, which is based on my personal experiences. Long Synopsis Contemplation of torn walls and scars reminds the heroine of the ups and downs of love. The story is based on my personal experience, recreating the unique perspectives and inner sense of time that women have shown in the process of heartbreak and self-healing. A total of about 1,500 paintings have been drawn frame by frame by watercolors and pastels.



DON'T INVITE WOLFMAN TO TEA 00:57
USA 2021
Directed by: John T. Hill
Screenplay: John T. Hill
Animation: John T. Hill
Technique: Digital 2D Animation
Music: Public Domain
Production/School: Self


A recently discovered 1978 short from the National School Board of Transylvania.



CANDELIGHT 06:47
United Kingdom 2022
Directed by: Scott Newton
Screenplay: Scott Newton
Production/School: Richard Gordon


In a dusty attic, a tall dinner candle springs to life. As the playful and curious candle explores, learning to hop, skip and dance, it discovers a second candle. The two play and dance their way through the attic, falling in love. However, a shocking discovery is made when both candles realise that the heat from their combined flames, whenever they touch, causes them to rapidly melt. Splitting up, the two must decide whether life without the other can still be magical, or if they want to sacrifice everything for love.



BALONEY BEACON 05:13
USA 2021
Directed by: Max Landman
Dialogue language: English


The balloon gods are hungry. Peculiar appetites evoke vulnerable memories.




BYE, MY CAPTAIN 04:17
China 2021
Directed by: Li Luo, Xiaoyun Liu
Screenplay: Li Luo, Xiaoyun Liu
Animation: Xiaoyun ，LiuLi Luo
Technique: Li Luo, Xiaoyun Liu
Music: Junchen Yu
Production/School: Tsinghua University


The father, once a captain, had to give up his job when his wife died and his daughter became seriously ill. He tried his best to take care of his sick daughter, but her illness was getting worse. After the death of his daughter, the father painted a boat with his daughter's brush out of longing, and the mutual longing made the two meet again...



PAINT ON PAINT # 1-8 28:43
Portugal 2021
Directed by: Vasco Diogo
Production/School: Vasco Diogo


Paint On Paint # 1-8 is an experimental animation film that brings together eight autonomous films, produced and made between March 2020 and October 2021, marked by the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and that follow some common structural principles: each film explores a different animation technique related to the use of color and digital brushes; each movie is 3 minutes and 33 seconds long; each film was set to music and sounded by a different young composer/sound designer, with the exception of nº8 which starts from a soundtrack created by Vasco Diogo himself, for which a montage was made using images from the previous films. As a whole, the film, with an eminently abstract character, expresses interior visions, concepts and perceptions linked to the ideas of contamination, recording emotions, freedom and enclosure, delirium and hope for a better world.




FOR THE TIME BEING / Προς το παρόν 01:32
Greece 2022
Directed by: Joanna Poupaki
Screenplay: Joanna Poupaki
Animation: Joanna Poupaki
Technique: 2D traditional animation, stop motion animation
Music: Skiadereses
Production/School: EINA University School of Design and Art of Barcelona
Dialogue language: Modern Greek (1453-)


A visual interpretation of the same-titled song “Προς το Παρόν” (Pros to Parón) in Greek, by the Greek music group Skiadereses, made as an animated video clip for the chorus of the song. “For the time being I hate you I keep trying to remind myself and I keep forgetting For the time being I hate you I keep trying to kiss you, but I turn the other way” Emotions of love-hate, of loss and nostalgia. Self-contradiction. Referring to someone else but at the same time referring to oneself. Crying. Overthinking. Drowning in one's thoughts. A giant head that can’t stop crying, at risk of flooding the world around it and drowning in the process. But there is still hope. The animals, the friends, the companions, the new family, together with the Head can bring change and create a new, slightly prettier world.