Shorts Competition. Block 4

Prairie Flowers
Mexico, 2022, 19 min
Directed by: Mariana X. Rivera
Cinematography by: Jessica Villamil
Production: Josué Vergara / Urdimbre Audiovisual, Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía
Montaż: Andrea Rabasa, Josué Vergara, Mariana X. Rivera
Selected festivals and awards: 2022 –Sheffield Doc Fest

In the Amuzgo town of Suljaa’, women are backstrap weavers and cotton sowers. In this place, traditional textile knowledge is handed down and possessed by women. But violence against them is an ordinary thing. Yecenia, a young weaver, is mourning because her cousin, Silvia, has been a victim of femicide. She and other weaving women create a collective ritual to honor Silvia’s life, and the textile legacy all of them have received from their female ancestors.

Budapest Silo
Netherlands, Hungary, Portugal, Belgium, 2022, 24 min
Directed by: Zsófia Paczolay, Nora Ananyan
Cinematography by: Ezequiel Salinas
Production: Zsófia Paczolay, Bálint Biró / DocNomads
Editing: Bálint Biró
Selected festivals and awards: 2022 – IDFA Amsterdam

József has been working at the largest still-operational grain mill in Budapest for over 30 years. During the day, he wanders through the thick coat of dust of the mill, then he descends into the 25-meters-deep silos, undertaking the seemingly hopeless task of cleaning them. József has been suffering from the effects of long-term grain dust on his lungs, yet, he seems unable to escape the mill. An unspoken bond seems to tie them together, during his work he is hanging from his harness, utterly alone, he performs dazzling dance-like movements in the depths of the silo.

Blush – An Extraordinary Voyage
Finland, 2022, 15 min
Directed by: Iiti Yli-Harja
Cinematography by: Iiti Yli-Harja
Production: Valtteri Munkki, Mikko Heino
Selected festivals and awards: 2022 – DOK Leipzig

A marvellously wild stop motion animadoc trip to unknown worlds, in which 18-year-old astronaut Fatu sets himself a challenge that’s as nerve-racking to him as a lunar expedition. He wants to go shopping at the supermarket – for the first time as he sees himself: in full glam make-up. How will his family with their Kosovar roots react to these new coordinates? Will his self-perception and the others’ perception clash? Set course for star date LGBTQAI+.

Handful of Dirt
Poland, 2023, 13 min
Directed by: Izabela Zubrycka
Cinematography by: Stefan Żółtowski
Production: Agata Golańska / The Polish National Film School in Lodz
Editing: Anna Adamowicz
Selected festivals and awards: 2023 – Millennium Docs Against Gravity: World Premiere

Is there a way to envision oneʼs funeral? Halina is one of the last funeral singers in Podlasie. Her son Andrzej is a gravedigger.

Is there a way to envision oneʼs funeral? Halina is one of the last funeral singers in Podlasie. Her son Andrzej is a gravedigger. Thousands of people have crossed to the other side accompanied by them. He dug, she sang. Throughout their existence, life collided with death. Normalcy with spirits. Reality with dreaming. Funeral lament breaks the silence.

Little Boy
Poland, France, 2023, 17 min
Directed by: Sophie Horry
Cinematography by: Mateusz Strzelecki
Production: Maciej Ślesicki / Warsaw Film School
Editing: Sophie Horry
Selected festivals and awards: 2023 – Millennium Docs Against Gravity: Millennium Docs Against Gravity: World Premiere

Sophie Horry declutters the intimacy of her family, whose life is now centered around the rare, incurable sickness of Pierre, Sophie's older sibling. While documenting her family's daily life and her brother's sickness, the young woman deals with her own emotions.