SESSÃO 1 – Sexta-feira, 3 de outubro, 18:30
WITHOUT FLESH OR VOICE – Louise Massis
França, 2:20
Have you ever tried to disappear? Or to let words take control?
“Without Flesh Or Voice” is a poetic, experimental fiction film featuring a ghost wandering through vast expanses, sometimes in absurd situations. He personifies human transparency, this spectral otherness that is nonetheless very much present, everywhere unnoticed because the order of our society has decided that it doesn’t deserve our consideration. It embodies social invisibility in a society where norms are often exclusionary and power is held by a minority. The voice-over, on the other hand, gives weight to the words, which can be used as a lever to break out of this silence and indifference.
THE BEACON – Darin Ramić Mazalović
Bosnia e Herzegovina, 1:00
A nameless protagonist reconciles with his existential dread as he arrives at a lighthouse, a physical manifestation of all that he searched for.
WHO AM I? – Swati Mangrulkar
India, 1:00
This is a film about fitting in the society and dealing with identity crisis. It makes you question yourself, but are you looking for answers?
MIRRORS – Hamza Amro, Mouneer Masri
Palestina, 3:00
A poetic reflection on identity, loss, and belonging, Mirrors follows a young man as he confronts his own image in the mirror. Through a quiet inner monologue, he questions his purpose, his past, and his place in a fragmented homeland.
Torn between emptiness and overflow, presence and absence, the film drifts between personal memories and collective struggles.
With layered visuals, raw narration, and intimate soundscapes, Still Here captures the silent resistance of simply continuing to exist, when the answers remain uncertain, and the mirror keeps asking back.
FRAME OF MIND – Aleksandra Kardalevska
Macedónia do Norte, 5:00
In the heart of an old city, a photographer’s chance encounter with a mysterious girl leads to a night of shared intimacy and connection, but as morning breaks, it exposes a hidden truth, casting shadows on their romance.
SPACE ELEVATOR – Claudia Aguiyrre
Brasil, 2:11
This experimental video was inspired both by Marielle Franco and by grassroots struggles for greater dignity.
Lifting this character into orbit is like seeing the world from space and realizing that the entire planet shares this ongoing flow of struggles against social injustice. Her soul ascended, but her love, her fight, and her courage remain in earthly memory. The poem places her as a vessel of this memory, and of the thousands of women who were killed for being politically engaged women.
Video art, as an audiovisual language, proposes an immersion in the experience of original image compositions, reimagining visuals that have been worn out by overuse. This is achieved through the layering of photographs and videos sourced from platforms offering free-use content.
Images and poetry merge into new meanings, generated by the interplay between word, image, sound, and movement, creating a rebellious symbolism. Metaphorical elements emerge, representing a break from the surveillance of rational thought.
A collaborative experiment between poet and multimedia artist Cátia Cernov and filmmaker and video artist Claudia Aguiyrre.
UNA GOTA – Flavia Mertehikian
Argentina, 1:22
What remains of the storm.
LIGHT AND PEACE – Alessandro Bavari
Itália, 3:06
The sound machines flash,
the flashing beats.
I see no reason to think he held back,
because he breathes the machines.
Amid the screams of chaos,
they contemplate the glittering electric dreams,
gliding on the rays of light and peace.
(…)
ASCOLTAMI – Mariana Oliveira
Países Baixos, 2:26
A poem by Ilaria Mammucari about the power of nature.
SEPARATION – Kenneth De la Cruz, Anna Terr-Gabrielyan, Amir Masoud Soheili, Nawa Bijaya Shrestha
Nepal, 3:53
Separation
Poem by Kenneth De la Cruz
To be in a womb, is uncertain
To be in a tomb, inevitable
Two versions of truth in between
What they said and what I believe in
You listen but speak no answer
As you are since I was younger
In your presence you share nothing
In your nothingness, I feel everything
When life leaves the earth it never return
Everything becomes ashes when it burn
When the spirit ascends like smoke
Remembering is all I can hope
I will never truly understand death
My heart was never ready for your last breath
Where the memory of you finds a place,
Pain of separation, I also embrace
Duração da sessão: 25:18
SESSÃO 2 – Sábado, 4 de outubro, 18:00
BEAUTIFUL – João Quesado e Azevedo
Portugal, 1:00
‘Beautiful’ – the personal struggle of an individual dealing with an existential crisis and derealization. In this one-minute short, we follow the character on a journey through his most intimate thoughts, his philosophy and his pain. A character, who was born into the world and forced himself to find a purpose – without being able to actually achieve one. A boy who lives in numb and pain, desperately aiming to find inner peace.
AT THE CHECKOUT – Juliet Faldin
Ucrânia, 1:04
“At the checkout” is a personal project, an exploration about how inspiration shows up out of nowhere (usually when you don’t need it), and disappears the second you try to find it.
I used film photos I’ve taken over the years, mixed them with elements from my paintings, and brought it all together using AI tools like Kling, Midjourney, ChatGPT, and Suno.
ECHOES OF HOLDING ON – Chia Wei Peng
Taiwan, 2:14
Between ribs and roots, affection curls into possession.
A song for love that lingers too long, for the spaces between holding and letting go.
FOSFORIZE – Sundra Ray Monde
Itália, 4:19
A tale about the vision from obscurity to Sun.
THE SWIMMER – Hannah Maria de Groot
Países Baixos, 4:18
Sometimes you have to leave. Not because you want to go, but because you don’t want to stay. The Swimmer is a 4 minute animation about a girl who decides to leave and to eventually swim the oceans.
SHUFFLE AGAIN – Marie Chiriac
Reino Unido, 4:34
My poems and short films follow the stream of consciousness. This one is about places and music – which both evoke memories and sometimes perhaps we are trying to forget. Also, being on the spectrum means perception is often distorted and feelings augmented and the undesired effect is quite fitting here.
NO FISH – Mo Xudong
China, 3:30
Through a dying fish, the protagonist is pulled back to the moment of their first encounter, swimming on the edge of dreams and reality, fighting against the forgetting of memory by grasping the faded details.
LES FLEURS DU MÂLE – Hadi Moussally
Espanha, 3:49
“The mysterious creature, Salma, realizes that being herself has repercussions on her life and that she will never be accepted as she is. So she decides to ask the creatress of this world for mercy.” The film was shot in super 8 in-camera edited. It was inspired by the letter sent by Charles Baudelaire to the Empress Eugenie after being censored and fined for his book “Les fleurs du mal”. The reason of the condemnation: offense to public morals and good manners as well as offense to religious morality.
Duração da sessão: 24:48