Pond
Lena von Döhren, Eva Rust (Cat Pics/SRF)
Switzerland, 2023, 8’30”
A shoal of herrings, adopting fantastic formations, roams the vast ocean. When seagulls suddenly attack, one small herring finds itself stranded in a tidal pool. As it searches desperately for a way out, it discovers many other sea creatures here. And now there is no time for fear: only by joining forces can they hope to defend themselves against the hungry seagull.
Night Boots
Pierre-Luc Granjon (Am Stram Gram)
France, 2024, 12’20”
While his parents are entertaining friends, a child leaves home in the middle of the night into the undergrowth, rubber boots on his feet. There, a little creature, curious and solitary, takes him into the heart of the forest to meet the nocturnal inhabitants that live there.
Bunnyhood
Mansi Maheshwari (National Film & Television School)
UK, 2024, 9'07"
“Mum would never lie to me, would she?” Innocent Bobby discovers the answer to this question when she is surprised by a last-minute trip to the hospital.
I Died in Irpin
Anastasiia Falileieva (Maur Film/Artichoke/Plastic Bag Films)
Češka, Slovaška, Ukrajina/Czechia, Slovakia, Ukraine, 2024, 11'30"
On February 24th in the morning my boyfriend and I decided to go from Kyiv to Irpin to see his parents. It is hard for me to recall the chronology of those days, my mind blocks and minimizes all the memories, erases them, but the only thing I know for sure is that every day everything rapidly became worse.
The Car That Came Back from the Sea
Jadwiga Kowalska (Fuzzy Yesterdays)
Switzerland, 2023, 10’47"
Full of exuberance and frivolousness, six friends drive to the Polish Baltic coast and back in a small, dented car. During their trip, their car and their country fall apart. Nevertheless, life goes on. Their journey is interfused with memories and snapshots from the past.
Long Distance
Michael Frei (Playables)
Switzerland, 2024, 2’
A fly takes flight to meet a close friend.
Matta and Matto
Bianca Caderas, Kerstin Zemp (YK Animation Studio/SRF)
Switzerland, 2023, 10’15"
In a dystopian world where touch is forbidden, Matta and Matto offer refuge to the lonely at Hotel Vaip. In the deceptive labyrinth of mind-bending rooms at their transient hotel, one’s deepest desires are fulfilled and surpassed, but this comes at a price.
Vegan Mayo
Luca Tóth (Boddah)
Hungary, 2024, 4'35"
She is all that: A super empath, a justice warrior and your favourite confidence queen… but then again maybe just a sausage.
On Hold
Delia Hess (Papierboot/SFR)
Switzerland, 2024, 7’10"
A young woman is stuck in the hold queue of a telephone hotline. A surreal episodic short film about the absurdities of urban life and the frustration of a paralysing standstill.
The Voice of the Sirens
Gianluigi Toccafondo (Miyu Productions/50N)
France, Italy, 2024, 19'45"
In the heart of the seabed, between rocks and corals, primitive seaweed ripples, cradled by the muffled sound of roiling currents. Up there, on the surface of the water, something extraordinary has just appeared: a voice. So soft and seductive that it's unlike anything we've heard before.