Comme un fleuve / Flowing Home
Sandra Desmazières (Les Films de l'Arlequin/National Film Board of Canada)
France, Canada, 2020, 15'15"
Two sisters grow up in Vietnam and are separated by the war between North and South. After the fall of Saigon in 1975, Thao, in her teens, must leave the country with her uncle. Her sister Saoi Maï, only a little older, remains with their parents, hoping they will soon be reunited.
Have a Nice Dog!
Jalal Maghout (Karsten Matern/Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf)
Germany, 2020, 13'14"
Trapped in Damascus, surrounded by war, a lonely man becomes increasingly lost in his fantasies of fleeing and the inner dialogues with his dog.
Naked
Kirill Khachaturov (independent)
Russia, 2019, 14'40"
A man is accidentally endowed with superpowers. His only desire? For life to go back to normal. Vulnerable and lonely, he meets a woman who helps him accept himself for who he is now. Crude, expressive 3D animation.
L'Amour en plan / Plans for Love
Claire Sichez (Ikki Films/Innervision)
France, 2021, 14'42"
After 20 years of living together, Carine, Fabrice and their son Simon have a well-ordered daily life. While Carine is restricted to household chores, Fabrice spends his time watching television. Each in a different space, their eyes no longer meet.
Step into the River
Weijia Ma (Les Valseurs/Beyond Frozen Films/Cheng Rui)
France, China, 2020, 14'45"
Lu and Wei are two young girls living in a village nestled on the banks of a river. As the one-child policy has led some families to drown baby girls, they both have a special relationship with this river, which looks like a cradle of tragic stories.