Programme 2024

Programme 2024

CHECK OUR FULL PROGRAMME FOR ASFF 2024

12.12.24

DAY 1

DOORS OPEN: 18:30

19:00 –

20:25

This is a girl’s world

19:00 –

20:25

Cross My Heart and Hope To Die

Sam Manacsa

Mila struggles as she remains unpaid at work and a love interest becomes a source of comfort through his constant phone calls. But a promise of hope may also lead to tragedy and sad love songs. MORE

Ebounda

Perrin Sombo

Ebounda, 12 and fatherless orphan, gets raped by a stranger while coming back from her school, ten kilometers away from her village, Bossas. Despite her mother’s efforts, she falls into a deep silence. But, one night, she gets carried away by the traditional dance. MORE

Panties

Marissa Emmanuelle Velez

PANTIES is a provocative short film about a woman’s relationship with this essential piece of clothing. MORE

The Pink Voice

Marieke Dora Elzerman

A young woman follows a treatment in Spain for her damaged voice, caused by a teaching job and a toxic relationship. While wandering around the city of San Sebastian, she meets people who each show her their work. Slowly, her personal way of looking at the world and the people takes more form and she starts to speak up. MORE

Kokuryo: The Untold Story of Bb. Undas 2019

Diokko Manuel Paguia Dionisio

Centered around two brave transgender women who find the resilience of their friendship tested and affirmed over the course of one chaotic midnight, KOKURYO: THE UNTOLD STORY OF BB. UNDAS 2019 is a squalid short story of a midnight gone wrong. Mindy Jane has just won the Bb Undas 2019. While de-dragging and untucking backstage, she opens the envelope containing the cash prize. Mindy Jane is surprised when she finds out that the envelope containing the prize money is insufficient. Mindy Jane immediately tells Diding – her best friend, that she only got half of the prize. Right after telling Diding, Mindy Jane decides to embark on a mission to get to the bottom of the scandalous robbery. From fighting against drunkard transphobes, blasting off the sponsor's house and being summoned in a Barangay Hall; their rip-roaring odyssey leads them through a physical and emotional rollercoaster ride of a lifetime. MORE

21:00 –

22:20

Shorts mixtape: the lovesick one

21:00 –

22:20

Super

Nikolas Kouloglou

On their way to the supermarket, Penny and James meet again for the first time. MORE

To My Love

Aino Kontinen

Facade renovation locks young woman inside her apartment. During a reconstruction of her home and herself she writes a letter to her loved one. MORE

Buffer Zone

Savvas Stavrou

Two young soldiers across enemy lines fall in love and find escape from their oppressive environments through music. MORE

Love Bubbles

Marcel Hobi

Floating on a pink cloud as a couple is easy. It is much more difficult to cope with everyday life and the future together – an amusing relationship drama. MORE

-200 degrees

Nikolas Passaris

A young couple discovers the true nature of their relationship after a -far from successful- ski trip. MORE

A Dead Marriage

Michał Toczek

Filip works as a professional movie extra and he always plays roles of dead bodies. On the set of a historical film, he meets Lucy, who also happens to be an extra, playing a role of a dead woman. Whilst laying on top of each other during long filmmaking hours a bittersweet relationship develops between them in the unusual circumstances. MORE

13.12.24

DAY 2

DOORS OPEN: 18:30

19:00 –

20:25

Dads |with| issues

19:00 –

20:25

Lemon Tree

Rachel Walden

At a Halloween carnival, a young father steals a magician's rabbit to impress his ten year old son. The thrill of the petty theft quickly dissolves into reality when the young boy is tasked with getting himself, his father, and his new pet home safe. MORE

Our Males and Females

Ahmad Alyaseer

A father and mother are faced with the painful task of washing and shrouding their deceased transgender daughter. Shrouding is an Islamic religious practice that is deemed obligatory to carry out upon death. But when no one agrees to wash her and shame falls onto the family, how far is the father willing to go to make sure his "son" is washed? MORE

Prelude of a Story

Ashley Salman

After a mother’s passing, a daughter searches through archival footage to understand who she was, and how it connects to the father's abusive relationship that is shaping her understanding of womanhood. MORE

Days of a Lilac Summer

Ariadni Angeliki Thyfronitou Litou

An angry teen goes on a summer vacation with her absent father. In the Greek, peaceful countryside, she explores her desire for male attention with two older boys, ignoring her need of a father figure. MORE

Sushi

Iván Morales

Sushi is the story of Betu and Jaume, two men from different generations, who have yet to understand what parenthood means to them. MORE

21:00 –

22:25

Shorts mixtape: the eerie one

21:00 –

22:25

Sawo Matang

Andrea Nirmala Widjajanto

In a post-New Order Jakarta, Native Indonesians (Pribumi) are legalized to perform the black magic ritual “Babi Ngepet” to balance their economy against Chinese Indonesians. When Kai, a Chinese Indonesian boy, needs money for university, he asks his best friend Nala, a Pribumi girl, to perform the ritual for him. MORE

Raticide

João Niza

On a night like indistinguishable from the previous or the next, Carlos sees himself locked out of his bedroom. Beyond the door, a rat as taken over, without a courtesy call or warning. Carlos is forced to deal with a progressively eroded reality, unable to face what lies inside his bedroom. MORE

Top View of my Brain as a Crime Scene

Luzia Vita Johow

A Dream. A woman is sitting in a forest clearing. Did something horrible happen? Children are dead or gone. Anonymous authorities, allies and a professor scurry around the accused, who is treated like a witness, victim and suspect all at the same time. Slowly she realizes that she might be to blame. Even after her acquittal she remains alone with a feeling of guilt. MORE

Beltane

Helena Houghton

A camping trip becomes a nightmare for Josh and Sarah when they kindle the ire of Unseelie Fae. While camping in the British countryside, Josh stumbles into and desecrates a liminal space one May Day eve. Lured deeper into the woods, Josh is 'Fae-led’ and separated from Sarah, before being offered a stark choice – to become king for a year, the consort of a Fae Queen, or wither and perish alone. Steeped in British folklore, Beltane is a stop motion short film, an evocative exploration of the Summer King myth. A cautionary tale, it is a portrayal of the cyclical nature of our natural world, of life, death, and rebirth. It explores themes of humanity's careless attitude towards nature and feminine agency. MORE

DONTGIVEITUP

Simon Lemarchand

In a surrealistic factory, workers are indefenitly wrapping rocks in plastic. As Sisyphus who, in Greek mythology, was doomed to eternally carry a rock up a hill before it rolled back down the slope, a man fights tirelessly, despite the absurdity of his task. MORE

The Blind

Michiel Robberecht

For generations, the blind inhabitants of a village have lived in fear of a rumbling, hissing sound they hear at night. They believe it to be a monster, lurking in wait for them. No-one leaves the safety of the village walls. One day, the young Amin feels a light burning his eyes, and decides to leave the village for the very first time. MORE

14.12.24

DAY 3

DOORS OPEN: 18:30

19:00 –

20:30

The city sings to me

19:00 –

20:30

Closing Dynasty

Lloyd Lee Choi

On a school day, a 7 year-old hustles strangers for money on the streets of New York City. MORE

Public Lighting

Aleš Pojar

David wakes up in the middle of the night during another fight between his parents. He doesn't want to listen to them again, so he puts on his headphones and leaves for the city. The sidewalk determines his trajectory, from which he gradually breaks away and, through contemplation of the public world, explores his inner world. The world calls him to the club, to the street, to the taxi. He drifts through the night until morning. The public lighting will never stop shining. MORE

Solitaire

Nicolas Costes

In the depths of an urban landscape, a woman in her forties embarks on a solitary journey through the city streets. As she walks alone, a mysterious man materializes before her, his intentions unclear. The film delicately navigates the tense encounter without explicitly revealing the outcome, instead focusing on the woman's resilience and inner transformation. Perched atop a wonder wheel, she finds solace amidst the city's chaos, gazing upon the majestic skyline as night gives way to a breathtaking sunrise, igniting a newfound strength within her. This experimental avant-garde film invites viewers to contemplate the resilience of the human spirit and the power of personal triumph in the face of adversity. MORE

Teatralna Station

Alina Panasenko

Tymofii is a little pickpocket. He lives his normal life until he suddenly falls in love with the lady station officer at the Teatralna station. MORE

Women Visiting a City

Enrique Buleo

Three retired women travel on a bus on their way to Europe. They have just been widowed and want to start living. They have been listening to people talking about the wonders of tourism all their lives and are dying to experience it firsthand. MORE

The Olympic Flame

Guil Sela

Thaïs, a 17 years old girl is desperate about the mysterious paralysis affecting the planet. To make money and reopen cafés, she sets up a juicy business for Tokyo Olympic games tickets, taking place during the summer. MORE

21:00 –

22:20

Shorts mixtape: the absurd one

21:00 –

22:20

A Study of Empathy

Hilke Rönnfeldt

Dana wants to show empathy. Penelope wants to explore empathy. Penelope's artistic experiment unfolds and Dana's feelings are whirled around. MORE

Canary In a Coal Mine

Dwan Kaoukji

While guarding his aunt’s house in a remote Lebanese village one night, Anis is forced to pretend he is a thief to save his life from a break-in. After successfully convincing the two burglars, Anis is coerced into helping them move all his aunt’s valuables to a remote storage facility nearby. The following day, as Anis goes to report the crime at the local police station, and is surprised to discover that the burglars are in fact law enforcement officials. This dark comedy sheds light on the current state of corruption in Lebanon today and shows how citizens are often complicit in its’ absurdity. MORE

The Storm

Clemente Lohr

An actor's shot at stardom begins to unravel after he is confronted with a split second moral dilemma. In the pursuit of a career-making role, Gabriel, an aspiring actor, faces a pivotal audition for a Hollywood film. However, a chance encounter with the mysterious Beatrice, alters his trajectory. As he wrestles with his own ambition against a sense of responsibility, his choices set in motion a series of events that crumble his very perception of reality. MORE

The Nun Slayer

Ben Bovington-Key

After 30 years of ‘false imprisonment’ Donald Peartree had been living his dream as a globally notorious and feared serial killer. Now, with new evidence proving his innocence he is being released and must face the fact he has been living a lie. While Donald wrestles with his self identity and new found freedom, his wife Ophelia must come to terms with the fact her husband may not be the psychotic nun murderer she fell in love with, as the couple struggles to pick up the pieces of their imploding marriage. MORE

In The Zone

Connor Pritchard

On an evening out, Tom suddenly finds himself zoning out and eventually transported to a parallel dimension known as the "Zone Out Zone." Here, a receptionist informs him that he's been put on autopilot to save his date, but as fate would have it, everything that could go wrong does. MORE

The Balkans Mirage: A Journey on Wheels

Nicolas Bellavance

Felix and Nicolas, armed with their cameras, will stop at nothing to immortalize every moment of their cycling adventure. Alongside them is Annie, a determined scientist on a quest to uncover the secrets of a most enigmatic species of bats. And then there's Mathieu, who quite frankly, hasn't a clue what he's gotten himself into… MORE

15.12.24

DAY 4

DOORS OPEN: 18:30

19:00 –

20:25

My place in this world

19:00 –

20:25

The First Setting Sun of Summer

Asteris Tziolas

Summer, early 2000s. A young boy arrives at his grandparents’ house in a small seaside village. Summertime is finally on! Keeping him company during his carefree summer days, is the mysterious “witch”, a self-isolated elderly woman living in an old house by the sea. When one day the woman is no longer there, the boy will turn his gaze, for the first time, to the light of the setting sun. MORE

Waking up in Silence

Mila Zhluktenko, Daniel Asadi Faezi

Ukrainian children are confronted with their past as they explore their new home in Germany: a former Wehrmacht military barracks. MORE

White Ant

Shalini Adnani

Ashish, a middle-aged businessman, is called back to his now abandoned childhood home, where he is confronted with a colony of termites eating the house from the inside out. While trying to make arrangements over the days, he realises how disconnected he is from his old self, watching helplessly from the side-lines as the house caretaker and a termite exterminator deal with the infestation. White Ant poetically explores the drastic shift in values of a country as it modernises, the universal experience of watching the world change around us and the cultural and emotional disconnect a man experiences when being reminded of his past life. MORE

The Man Who Couldn't Clap

Hyunoh Chang, Josh S Rose

"The Man Who Couldn't Clap" is a short story of a man looking back on his life. Caught in a complicated affliction that makes it impossible for him to clap or put his hands together, he ultimately finds a way to live with it. A dance of acceptance, a silent applause to learning to live with what life hands us. MORE

Shape of the Elephant

Sam Kuwa

There was an elephant living in my house, but all the adults were avoiding it. The elephant kept changing its shape and grew up with me. MORE

Playground

Raul Villalba

When Uri arrives at a rave in Montjuic, he can't quite find his place. It's his first time… But he'll end up finding a way. A short film about integration at a hardcore rhythm. MORE