FRIDAY, SEPT 8, from 18:30
AT CINÉMA ELVIRE POPESCO

The second programme of international short films sends the viewer on a whirlwind of memories, images and mesmerizing human experiences where narratives shape reality, from the story of a crane operator in Lebanon to a social satire that looks into male stereotypes in Japan. Intimate stories unravel bold clusters that fight their way back through breaking societal norms, exploring self-awareness, freedom and seeking inner support in an ever-changing world. They dance their way through liminal spaces to overcome inner fears.

EVERYTHING AT ONCE

8:51, 2022, NO
D: Henrik Dyb Zwart

Jakob has gone through something big. Something that changed everything. Well, actually, it was a lot of different things, and he can’t really tell them apart that well. It’s as if everything happened at once. Some fragments stand out; a car, a gust of wind, sunshine reflecting off that building. Feet on the asphalt. And Mads, his intrusive, abusive friend, with some kind of grand plan to fix everything. And someone so perfect, you’ll always remember them.

BECAUSE WE BLEED

13:50, 2023, DE
D: Andrea Grambow, Joscha Kirchknopf

With the short film 'Because We Bleed', Andrea Grambow and Joscha Kirchknopf explore narratives as both center and limit of human world experience and self-awareness, the concept of an immortal human soul in neo-religious, dataist times, as well as the USA as a collective narrative of capitalist superiority in decay. The film mixes the journey of a fictional character with documentary roadside encounters in a nocturnal car ride through the 'City of Angels’. Observations of people passing by, accompanied by an AI-generated voice-over reciting first-person narratives from interviews, intertwine with sequences of the main character dancing to Holly Herndon's song 'Frontier'. 'Because We Bleed' is a meditation on storytelling and a poetic journey into a new, dark age.

Flowers While You’re Here

6:21, 2021, CA
D: Yú

Flowers While You’re Here is a social-satire examining the “Herbivore Man”, a social label originating in Japan used to describe men who embody “feminine” traits. The new species is the antithesis to the classic male image of a “macho man”, and the traditional ideals of a Japanese man. For some, they are seen as undesirable for Japanese society.

YAGORIA

13:02, 2022, RO
D: Alina Tofan, Gabriel Durlan

An ecopoetic statement on the collective relationship with the environment, “Yagoria” draws attention to abusive deforestation, plastic waste and pollution. Reinstantiating the figure of Baba Yaga and drawing from local traditions of apotropaic practices and ecospirituality, “Yagoria” reclaims Ritual as means to re-establish a more profound and reflexive relationship with the “interconnected real”. It explores three sites of tension between pristine/natural systems and abusive human intervention, where the body acts as a territory for the inter-dance between equilibrium and disruption.

OPFERSCHICHT

5:15, 2022, DE
D: Rain Kencana

Lost souls in an urban misanthropic world are dancing away their inner emptiness, their pain, their fears. Finding comfort, support with one another. Seeking strength in healing nature.

WARSHA

15:55, 2022, FR/LB
D: Dania Bdeir

Mohammad is a crane operator working in Beirut. One morning he volunteers to take on one of the tallest and notoriously most dangerous cranes in Lebanon. Away from everyone’s eyes, he is able to live out his secret passion and find freedom.