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Browse through the detailed list of the screening films of the 3rd-4th Athens Short Film Festival edition and explore our diverse programme.
273 days From Today
This short animation film is about the life of the soldiers in the greek army. The compulsory military service lasts nine months or two hundred seventy three days. Through the film we see the everyday routine of the soldiers. What's inside their minds? What's inside their dreams?
Konstantinos Vachlas
A Lonely Duck
As the drought approaches in Qing River, Cheng is struggling to make ends meet, as his daughter needs money for school. His wife expects him to leave the river and work on the land. Cheng keeps trying to gather money but without any success. One day, an unforseen stranger came on the boat, requesting Cheng with stacks of money to look for a corpse…
Kaia Ke Gao
A Million Eyes
A young mixed-race photographer, grappling with his mother's alcoholism, sets out to capture something he loves.
Richard Raymond
Almost Liam
Raised in an Orthodox Jewish family, Liam came out as transgender while they were serving as a woman soldier in the IDF. In this film, which includes private videos documenting some of the most profound changes that Liam undergoes in body and mind, he reflects on his journey to manhood before traveling to Germany, where he will undergo irreversible surgery.
Sapir Rockach
Appalachian Holler
It’s still a tough life in the isolating hills and hollers of West Virginia, Kentucky and North Carolina – deep in the Appalachian Mountains. It is the poorest region of the USA. This is ‘Trump-Country’. The end of extensive coal-mining has left the Appalachians with environmental destruction and unemployment. Many families live in ragged trailers on the verge of or beneath the subsistence minimum. But homemade music gives the mountain people something to hold on to and some dignity and pride in their heritage. Oldtime music echoes in the streets and boisterous dancing occurs at jams or small venues. Both music and dance are deeply rooted in this region. APPALACHIAN HOLLER is a mesmerizing trip into Appalachia – far away from the American dream.
Matthias Lawetzky
Aura
A visual interpretation of an euphoric state of mind, occurring while in a presence of an exceptional personality or a flawless beauty.
Łukasz Zabłocki
Beats
A series of attacks terrorizes Munich. Max, having survived the first shots fired at the audience in the electro club Beats, hides in a storage room with his new friend Sefi and other party attendees. The immediate danger puts the humanity of all trapped people to the test and Max has to decide whether he wants to save himself or try to save a stranger, as well. Shortly before arriving at home, Alexa hears of the attack on the club she left her brother Max at. She decides to go back, accompanied by her boyfriend Raphik, who joins her in the end despite his misgivings. This short film enables us to add our voice to a very topical conversation that concerns all of us: the fear of terrorism in the western world. Our characters are confronted with many extreme circumstances, during which questions about ethics and humanity turn their relationships upside down. They realize that compassion is more important than fear, even among all the danger and terror.
Simon Pfister
Birds
Birds is about a young woman’s escape from her own, mystical side, our relation to nature and about experiencing a contact with it beyond what we are capable to understand rationally.
Daniel Paida Larsen
Broken Bird
Birdie, a biracial girl raised by her Jewish mom, spends a rare day with her father while preparing for her Bat Mitzvah. She overcomes her doubts, and decides to risk inviting him back into her life. Birdie confronts what independence means as she steps into adulthood on her own terms.
Rachel Harrison Gordon
Can You Eat Plastic?
In a world overwhelmed by plastic, where the fishing trade is almost extinct and the birds have stopped chirping, an old fisherman continues with his daily routine, to catch fish.
Christina Konstantinou
Chlorine
In a desperate bid for attention, 11-year-old Keira compulsively steals from pregnant women at her local aquatic centre. But her actions put her at risk of losing the only family she has.
Melissa Anastasi
Clear Sky
In a primary school in Athens, Greece, three students, a student on the autism spectrum, a student with ADHD and a refugee are struggling against stereotypes. Can their teachers increase the space they think their students deserve by defying the restraints and boundaries of daily life.
Vaso Sidiropoulou, Lefteris Rampazis
Cloud Tamer
When diagnosed with a serious disease, 16 year old Eigil puts his life on the line to change his mothers views on vaccination.
Andreas Krohn
Curtains
Kirsten Vangsness (CBS, Criminal Minds actor and writer) makes her directorial debut in this animated short adapted from her own personal essay about a feral cat who stars on a network procedural drama, takes ballroom dance lessons, and has an encounter with a predatory tow truck driver. It explores the idea of vulnerability as a source of power and the emotional "curtains" we lay over our essential selves.
Kirsten Vangsness
Dawn
Kim, 14 years old, is placed in juvenile correction centre for the first time. Deprived of liberty, she suddenly has to conform to strict rules, and she loses all her bearings. She might well try, it seems to her that it will never be enough, no matter how many efforts she makes. So she gets overwhelmed sometimes. To catch her breath back, Kim will have to find a place, to strike a new balance.
Valentine Lapière
Dear Hearing World
Dear Hearing World is a short film directed by Adam Docker, based on a poem written and spoken by deaf spoken-word artist Raymond Antrobus. The film blends deaf actress Vilma Jackson’s powerful and thought-provoking performance in British Sign Language with music and striking urban London scenes. This important work calls out ‘audio supremacy’ and asks us to acknowledge the deaf protagonist’s defiant indignation at their treatment by the hearing world.
Diaplous, Tales of Hope
A group of marginalized people with mental health issues are getting back their lives. The film describes the stories of five employees who work in a social cooperative in Greece, attempting to highlight the unique strength of people that are concerned as vulnerable. On the basis of solidarity, cooperation and participation for a common goal everything can happen.
Ifigeneia Kotsoni
Drawings
Shots of a hand on a green leaf, a glass of wine, a cigarette being lit, French fries falling down in slow motion and other seemingly unrelated yet familiar images are repeated throughout Jeppe Lange’s film. These are images we somehow know as they form part of our popular culture image bank, having become recognizable forms we quickly decipher as signs for something we should desire. Inserted into and interrupting this flow is footage of three women who describe their memories of an event creating a sense of uncertainty and suspense to the entire piece. The memories of the three women overlap, but only manage to unfold into broken narratives. Despite this enigmatic atmosphere what remains seems to be cinematic images comprising an alphabet or a language, that is, the tools for producing meaning. Lange explores how this imagery works on individual and collective memory, activating both in order to accomplish a sense of coherence or completion. The piece generates a sense of searching, as if trying to recreate something in your head that happened long ago.
Jeppe Lange
Evripidou 14
At 14 Evripidou Street in the centre of Athens, Mr. Costas and Mrs. Sofia open the doors to their Shelter, where homeless people have a chance to eat a cooked meal, take a shower, wash their clothes, and find themselves in a welcoming environment, significantly different from their daily reality.
Michael Demetrius
Hell of a Week
Mondays can be a drag. But imagine if everyday sucked. Well, that's Roger's life and… he's having one hell of a week. I present to you my short film, "Hell Of A Week"!
Damien Bastelica
Homesick
Two years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Murai braves danger and wanders through the no-go zone in order to spend time with Jun, his eight-year-old son.
Koya Kamura
Instances of Grief
A woman learns to live with the grief of losing her father. She goes on an internal journey to where she has compartmentalised her grief, the defence mechanism she has created against emotional pain, in order to maintain her everyday normality despite the heart-wrenching circumstances.
Nicola Jane Francis
Last Days
Night after night, Majo dreams of her missing friends. Her struggle begins when the school authorities decide to remove these students memorial in order to make space for the graduation festivities. A chronicle of systematic oblivion.
Pablo Camargo
Lucha Libre
A fake daughter, a wrestling mask and a car : Isabelle is ready to meet again a father she hasn’t seen for 20 years.
Marion Lefeuvre
Mila
Based on a true story, "Mila" is a "polaroid picture" of a daughter's and a father's last encounter at the hospital. She is a twenty year old girl who likes to skate and who hates talking to her mom. He is a forty-five year old hospitalised alcoholic life artist. They haven't spoken or seen each other for years. Their encounter at the hospital might change everything. Or, it might not. The film was shot on location in a working hospital with natural light bounced into the hospital rooms with the use of DIY stands and mirrors.
Andreas Vakalios
Morituri
It's been six months. Six months Marie has not seen her brother, Max. One night she wakes up at a bus stop, a place she and her brother used to spend a lot of time together. And, out of nowhere, Max finally decides to show up.
Léo Lebesgue
Muttertändelei
An exploration of dysfunctional family dynamics, through an explosive incident between a controlling mother and her only son.
Marios Mettis
No New Friends
A psychedelic adventure into a fantasy world with power trio Diplo, Sia and Labrinth aka LSD . Starring Sia's doppleganger, Maddie Ziegler as a friendly giant learning to make new friends.
Dano Cerny
Nothing less
There’s the majority that fits in a societal box. And then there’s a group of people who jump right out of that too-tightly fitting box, set it on fire and create their own set of rules. In this community, common social expectations and prejudice are erased. Here, the understanding of sheer freedom, of expression, is undeniable and impossible to ignore, impossible diminish. What connects them are those deeper roots of sometimes gentle rebelliousness, sometimes fierce power and innate joy but always—always—the community and the never ending thirst for freedom. Connection found even in moments of complete solitude, without unnecessary words spoken or glances shared. Sometimes the only conversation—the only explanation—needed is the noise of rubber and wood on pavement. Nothing else. Nothing less.
Kristijan Stramic
Odds and Evens
A story of a nameless astronaut’s journey through the universe and beyond human's comprehension. She is travelling in the cube-shaped space ship. On her way she meets abnormal phenomena. The further she goes, the more the reality mixes up with dream-like sequences. At the end of the journey, she arrives at a place with a mirror-like object. The astronaut leaves her space ship and goes through to another side of the mirror. That causes the creation of a doppelganger and causes even more deconstruction to reality. The astronaut’s helmet is taken off and then she is sitting at a table at a bar on (probably) Earth.
Michał Czyż
Olfaction
Cheol', 'Sook', 'Yong' meet in the room of emotion. 'Sook' and 'Yong' are happy to see their old friend 'Cheol' again. They Throw their hands to shake with 'Cheol'. But 'Cheol' ignore them weirdly. They are getting obsessed to shake hands. 'Cheol' freaks out. Things go crazy. So they decide to talk to him what's going on.
Beboon Bahk
On the Bare Earth
Returning to Corsica for a summer visit, thirty-year old Alice begins to explore her links to the territory and to those who come from it.In doing so she rekindles contact with two men who seem to be the strong incarnations of her relationship with her native land. It does not take long for us to discover that her fleshly desires and loving relationships are perhaps not in accord with our normal perceptions.
Julie Perreard
Once in Purple Dungarees
Three women. Three generations. One political conflict. While visiting her grandmother, Johanna meets her mother coincidentally, who broke off contact with her, and a major dispute breaks out.
Benjamin Kramme
Oshri
One morning Sima leaves the women’s shelter where she lives and makes a mysterious visit to a pre-school, where she gains entry under false pretences. There she attempts to deliver a birthday present to Oshri, her five year old son whom she gave up for foster care when he was a baby. But she is prevented from making meaningful contact with the child by the preschool teacher, the child’s foster parents, and ultimately by her own questions over what in fact is best for the child. A deeply touching and sensitive film that asks some serious questions about the suffering of mothers who have had to give away their children away.
Lihi Sabag
Our Land
Idris and Kojo are the two last survivors of a group African refugees, who have inhabited Swedish woods for almost 10 years and lived independently. When they encounter a young boy named Stellan a riskful friendship begins.
Jean-Luc Mwepu
Piece of Meat
Enslaved in a surreal world of living objects, a Lamb Chop does whatever it takes to make ends meet.
Jerrold Chong, Huang Junxiang
Super Special
In the midst of her first period, a quiet resilient young girl must choose between a surprise for her beloved little brother or buying pads for herself.
Ashley Williams
Survive
On the abandoned baseball field of the 2004 Olympic Games, 500 refugees live in UNCHR tents. While populist parties speak worldwide of the downfall of Western civilization, the christian West, mass rape, terrorism or exploitation of their social systems, the refugees live in this abandoned stadium until they get their papers. One of these refugees is a 78-year old English teacher from Afghanistan, who tries not only to survive under very difficult conditions, but to live with dignity in his own way.
Shahryar Ahadi
Tetlalli: the Place of Stones
Through mist and stones, a setar player will embark on a journey from which he will not return.
Miguel Nájera
The boy who wanted to fly
In the Madrid of the 80s, Ivan, a five-year-old boy, is confronted with the birth of a new brother. His sister is dad´s favorite, the newborn is mom's favorite. Which place does he take in this new situation? What if He could fly and escape?
Jorge Muriel
The Drone Over Corn Fields
This is a story about "the separated family". Dalang, a 15-year-old boy who was abandoned by his father in his hometown and has been living with his grandfather. When his father returned home from the city with his stepmother and Erlang to congratulate his father on his 70th birthday, he put forward his wish to return to the city with them, but this small wish, however, put everyone in a dilemma.
Chuanfa Wan
The End
Overcoming lovesickness can make sacrifices, but the solution is freedom. Vera is an emotionally unstable young psychologist, who can not even manage her own problems. After her musician boyfriend Szabi broke up with her, she refuses to face the fact: she is no longer needed. The feeling of abandonment makes her to listen to her instincts, and go to the extreme to be able to leave the past behind. The end reveals the depth of a human condition in which rationality has disappeared, and only action can relieve sufferings that are believed to be irrelievable. At the end of her seemingly endless day, Vera realizes that love is transient, but our relationship with ourselves is eternal.
Anna Gyimesi
The Junkie’s Daughter
Ning Ding
The Loop
Auteur Lorcan Hopper is a proud disabled man who will stop at nothing to see his semi-autobiographical soap opera brought to life. The Loop is an absurd journey into disability, authorship and representation. First-time television director Lorcan Hopper partners with emerging filmmaker Johanis Lyons-Reid to twist the world of soap operas and share Lorcan’s experience of disability. But with a documentary team filming Lorcan’s every move, can the cast and crew match the intensity and professionalism he demands? Heartfelt, hilarious, and always unexpected, The Loop is soap opera like you’ve never seen it.
Johanis Lyons-Reid, Lorcan Hopper
The Other One
The physicist Walter moves into a new apartment in the 1970s and works there on a paper about time travel. In his new home, however, he is haunted by uncanny events. Is it the spirit of his previous tenant who disappeared under mysterious circumstances? Walter hears strange noises and feels persecuted and watched. Although his fiancée Marianne does not believe him, Walter sticks to his theory and realizes that the other one is even trying to get in touch with him – from the future!
Lukas Baier
Where Are We?
A young woman takes a road trip for four days with her boyfriend and his family. She spends the duration of the trip in the back seat of the car with her boyfriend’s mother, Mela. Conversation is slow, Mela isn’t naturally talkative. Neither is fluent in the same language. Hanna has known from the beginning, Mela doesn’t. Santi’s mother has Alzheimer’s.
Hanna Besirevic
Your Turn
As tensions rise between an ignorant teenage boy and his tired-of-everything mother, hope for a peaceful family birthday celebration starts to fade away.
Patrik Rosanics