COMPETITION SHORT FILMS
(in alphabetical order)
CUANDO TODO ARDE
Argentina, 2024, 12’ – FICTION
Director: Maria Belen Poncio
SYNOPSIS
Isabel is ostracized by the fire brigade she belongs to for attacking a real estate development implicated in forest fires. Determined to forge ahead on her own, she faces her loneliness and frustration in an encounter that will question the essence of her fight.
EINA
Sweden, 2022, 22’ – FICTION
Director: Tommy Vella
SYNOPSIS
Her kayak, a cold river and the wilderness. Will she live up to her high expectations and overcome her doubts? A young woman on a turbulent journey.
IN THE MISTS
Serbia, 2024, 11’ – DOCUMENTARY
Director: Mina Jelić
SYNOPSIS
The only escape from the polluted city is to go into nature, where every step through the misty forest landscapes is a step into the unknown, leading to the realization that the world changes when we can’t see it fully, remaining mysterious and introspective.
KNOW YOUR STONES
Germany/Netherlands, 2024, 21’ – DOCUMENTARY
Director: Katarina Jazbec
SYNOPSIS
Young climate activists, steelworkers, and a geologist come together in a dream-sharing, time-travelling space full of nightmares and aspirations. Europe’s biggest steelmaking site, a lime-stone quarry, the proximity of Garzweiler open pit coal mine – the lives of protagonists are intimately intertwined with stone matters. Their special bonds with ores, fossil fuels, and machines act as the oracles for the future. As we face climate change, who else could speak on behalf of stones about the faith of humanity?
LEAF
Netherlands, 2023, 20’ – FICTION
Director: Thom Lunshof
SYNOPSIS
LEAF tells the story of Nora and her son Sil who set out to find one of the last green habitats in a future parched Earth. But when Sil undergoes a strange physical change during their journey through the merciless heat, Nora’s fear grows of what they will find on the other side of the desert.
M/ARGINI
Italy, 2023, 11’ – DOCUMENTARY
Directors: Gaia Vallese, Serena Magalotti, Indi Arumahandi
SYNOPSIS
M/Argini is a short documentary that follows the story of Enrica, a woman whose life was irrevocably altered by the devastating flood of river Savio that swept in Cesena on the 16th of May 2023. The documentary navigates the delicate interplay between human emotion and natural disaster, focusing less on the event itself and more profoundly on its enduring impact on Enrica’s psyche and daily existence.
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THE WHEAT WILL NOT BE GOLDEN
China, 2023, 11’ – FICTION
Director: Guoxin Wang
SYNOPSIS
An old farmer has been abandoned by the society in a ‘corner’. This only corner that makes his life meaningful is facing being taken over. Stubborn and insignificant as he is, he will not surrender and will hold up his weapon to fight against the torrent of times.
THE WORLD IS OURS
Canada, 2023, 21’ – DOCUMENTARY
Director: Nadia Louis-Desmarchais
SYNOPSIS
Currently, post pandemic, one in two young people show symptoms of anxiety and depression. The World is Ours is a film that gives the opportunity to six Montreal teenage girls to leave their urban environment for the first time to take part in a nature canoe-camping expedition. By presenting their struggles and small victories, the film poetically and luminously embraces their vulnerability, emphasizing in broad strokes the power of female sisterhood and therapeutic intervention by nature.
TIME TO LIVE
Kurdistan, 2023, 12’ – DOCUMENTARY
Director: Hawar Rahimi
SYNOPSIS
Halima is nursing her elderly father who is spending the last days of his life and taking care of their cow that is about to giving birth, will her father who is waiting for the cow’s giving birth see the calf?
WHITE ANT
India, 2022, 15’ – DOCUMENTARY
Director: Shalini Adnani
SYNOPSIS
When Ashish is summoned to his childhood home, he discovers termites are eating at the house from the inside. He calls an expert to check the situation, the termite inspector uses a microphone to listen to the termites through the walls. That night, he struggles to sleep outdoors. Restless, he wakes up and goes back into the house. He takes the inspector’s microphone and begins listening to the walls again, this time the sound leads him to a closet in his childhood bedroom. As he opens it up, he discovers a termite mound that leads us into the underworld of termites. The following morning, the inspector returns to treat the house. Ashish goes on a walk and stumbles upon a community meeting, where villagers discuss the new light technology being used to deal with the village-wide termite infestation. As he returns home, he finds the inspector burning wooden furniture from his home. As the day progresses, the house, and his memories, seems to be on its last leg.
OUT OF COMPETITION SHORT FILMS
(in alphabetical order)
GUARDIANI DEL LAGO
Italia, 2023, 15’, col. DOCUMENTARIO
Regia: Alice Gagliardi
SINOSSI
“Il lago mi ha dato tutto”. C’è amore nelle parole e nei gesti di Pietro e Gianfranco, due vecchi pescatori impegnati a cercare di ripopolare le acque del Lago di Varese, in Italia, con specie ittiche autoctone. Passione e competenza sono i valori che sperano di trasmettere alle nuove generazioni per cercare di preservare l’equilibrio e la biodiversità di un luogo che è stato la loro casa per una vita, e che ora rischia il collasso.
