Vader
Isabel Lamberti
Holland.  2019.  24 min

Father explores the relationship of a dad and son who haven’t been in touch in the last years.  While he tries to reconnect with his son in the present, he reflects with his girlfriend on the past.

A moving, delicate and intimate portrait of a father and son in a rare moment, to share, express emotions and learn about each other.  The history and backstory unfold via conversations with a lover, revealing a softness and desire to forget the past and live in the moment.

ISABEL  LAMBERTI

SKAM (2018, TV series), AMOR (2017, short), I WILL FLY HIGHER (2015, graduation film) Award: Torino. Award-San Sebastian IFF.

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CONTACT

IJswater Films :    films@ijswater.nl

Kamali
Sasha Rainbow
Great Britain, India.  2019.  24 min

Kamali is the only female skateboarder in her fishing village in southern India.  While she finds a way to express herself in the male-dominated world that surrounds her, Suganthi – her mother – takes a pilgrimage in a quest for self-discovery.  Raising Kamali and preserving her dreams is a struggle, given the traditional nature of the society to which they belong. But Suganthi is determined to help Kamali go against the grain, become a champion skateboarder, and taste freedom that she did not have.

SASHA  RAINBOW

Sasha Rainbow has worked across multiple disciplines including film, art direction, photography and costume.  She is passionate about filmmaking, and aims to use the power of storytelling to throw light onto sheltered communities and showcase heroic role models. She participated in the BAFTA Crew programme in 2018 and 2019, and her films have been screened in festivals worldwide – picking up numerous awards along the way.  She is based in New Zealand, and is currently working on her first feature-length film.

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CONTACT

Submissions :    submissions@festivalformula.com

The Talking Plow
Jayaraj
India.  2019.  14 min

A short film based on Ponkunnam Varkey’s short story, of the same title, The Talking Plow narrates a heart-warming tale about a farmer and his ox Kannan,  who he treats as kin.

JAYARAJ

Jayaraj is an Indian director working predominantly in the Malayalam film Industry.  He is a 7 time recipient of the National Film Award and several State Film Awards as well.  His notable films include Desadanam, Kaliyattam, Karunam, Shantham, Daivanamathil, Vellapokkathil, Ottaal, Veeram and Bhayanakam.

CONTACT

Jayaraj :    jayarajfilms@yahoo.com

Hope
Partha Sarathi Manna
India.  2019.  20 min

Year 2040.  After being requested for a bird as a gift by his younger sister,  A young boy sets out in the hunt for a bird.

PARTHA SARATHI MANNA

Partha was born on 2nd August, 1985 in a small village of East Medinipur, West Bengal (India). Partha since the age of 16 began to take keen interest in the world of cinema.

Partha Sarathi Manna is an Indian film director known for his work in Bollywood and Tollywood. He is mostly known for his critically acclaimed short films, ‘Gandh/Smell‘,  ‘Kite the Messenger’ and ‘LOC…A Playground’.  He was shortlisted for the JIO Filmfare Short Film awards 2017 & 2019.

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CONTACT

Partha Sarathi Manna :    partha.sarathi.manna@gmail.com

Ellipsis
Raunaq Das,  Abhirup Halder
India.  2019.  17 min

A young couple spends a long night on the road, floundering about in abandoned memories.

ABHIRUP HALDER – RAUNAQ DAS

Abhirup Halder grew up in Kolkata, arguably the cultural capital
of India. In his formative years, he got swept away by the strength of Cinema as a medium, and has been trying to dissect the craft ever since. He got exposed to Cinematography and Editing while making curriculum films at his institute.  In 2018, he collaborated to make his first feature film (Khyapa) where he worked as associate director, cinematographer & editor.

Raunaq Das, born and brought up in Kolkata, deviated from his
science stream after higher education. Starting off as a writer and director of fictions, he developed interest in documentaries. Since then he has been editing documentaries and writing scripts for various directors.

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CONTACT

Raunaq Das :    dasraunaq@gmail.com

Abhirup Halder :    h.abhirup@gmail.com

The Egg and the Thieving Pie
Lola B Higgins
Great Britain.  2018.  19 min

Community Police Officer, Shona, finds herself battling the call of the ocean when investigating the theft of a precious egg.  Whilst interviewing the local residents she comes face-to-face with their animalistic traits culminating in surreal exchanges, leading to the thief.

LOLA BLANCHE HIGGINS

Whilst studying Fine Art at Edinburgh University Lola Blanche Higgins wrote and directed GROUT PRAY.  The film was twice nominated for SCOTTISH BAFTA NEW TALENT AWARDS and commended by MoMa.  Since then she wrote and directed THE EGG AND THE THIEVING PIE, a surreal short exploring the idea of animal traits in human form.  Starring double BAFTA winning Anna Maxwell Martin, Gemma Jones, double OLIVIER Award winning Noma Dumezweni and Ralph Ineson.  The film has been supported by the Women In Film LA Finishing Fund.  She has recently been accepted into the American Film Institutes Directing program.

CONTACT

Frandie Stewart :    submissions@festivalformula.com

Mama
Vladimir Kott
Estonia.  2018.  19 min

Two young social workers are taking a runaway child back to his mother by ferry.  But in the middle of the icy Baltic Sea, something goes wrong.

VLADIMIR KOTT

Vladimir Kott is a director and writer, known for Gromozeka (2011), Mukha (2008) and Na dne (2014).

Born in 1973. He graduated from the Director’s Faculty of GITIS (State Theatre Institute) in 1996. From 1996 to 2000 he worked as a theatre director in a number of regional theatres in Tver, Novgorod and other cities.

In 1999 worked as Assistant Director for the film Yekhali dva shofyora /Two Drivers (dir. by Alexander Kott). In 2004 graduated from the Director’s Faculty of Graduate School of Scriptwriters and Film directors (Master Vladimir Khotinenko).

His graduation project Dver/Door (19 minutes) won numerous awards at international and Russian festivals. His first full-length feature film MUKHA, which followed a number of successful TV productions, was recognized locally and internationally and is also a winner of a number of awards.

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CONTACT

Cine Promo :    cinepromo@yandex.ru

She Runs
Qiu Yang
China.  2019.  20 min

In an ordinary Chinese winter, a small city junior high student, YU, tries to quit her school aerobic dancing team.

QIU  YANG

QIU Yang was born and raised in Changzhou,  China. He studied film directing at the Victorian College of the Arts in Australia.

His latest short film “SHE RUNS” won Leitz Cine Discovery Prize for best short film at the 58th Cannes Critics’ Week.  “A Gentle Night” was awarded the Short Film Palme d’Or at the 70th Festival de Cannes.  He is the first Chinese director to receive these awards. In 2015, “Under the Sun” was selected for the 68th Festival de Cannes Cinéfondation Competition.  Aside from his fiction work, Qiu also created a VR project – “O”, that’s chosen for the 76th Venice International Film Festival VR Competition.

He is currently developing his first feature project, which was selected to CineMart and Cinéfondation Residence and was awarded the CNC Screenwriting Grant during the 70th Festival de Cannes.

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CONTACT

Wouter Jansen :    info@someshorts.com

Precious
Irfan Avdic
Bosnia Herzegovina.  2018.  27 min

Seventeen-year-old Alem desperately wants to go on a school trip to Italy, but he doesn’t have the money.  An orphan, he lives with his grandmother and has no cash for extra expenses.  If he could find the necessary funds, he’d no longer be the pitiful kid who’s always the worst off; instead, he’d be on a par with his richer classmates. And so Alem – whose coarse exterior hides a young man suffering from a sense of inferiority – decides to solve his eternal poverty through one dangerous act. In Precious, director Irfan Avdić demonstrates a knack for capturing minor situations that, although unimportant for some, are cruel and painful for others.

IRFAN  AVDIC

Irfan Avdić (1991, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Yugoslavia). Filmography: I Only Came to Use the Phone (2013, short), Brainless (2013, short), Making Movie (2014, short doc.), Fuck You (2015, short), Today I Died (2016, short), Precious (Majkino zlato, 2018, short).

CONTACT

Association of Filmmakers of Bosnia :    udruzenje@bhfilm.ba

Toll Bridge
Daniel Knight
Australia.  2019.  25 min

Cohen the Barbarian was angry.  Angry that he never died in battle, angry that the world had forgotten him, and angry that his knees were starting to play up in the cold.

He was also angry that his faithful mount had been gifted the ability of magical speech. The horse was insisting that they had made a wrong turn back at Slice.

He was also angry that the horse was probably right.

This was not how it was supposed to end for the barbarian.  This was not how the Discworld’s greatest hero imagined it at all.

DANIEL KNIGHT

Daniel has been directing for film and theatre for over twenty years and has won awards in both. In 2003 he commenced work on TROLL BRIDGE a fifteen-year odyssey which has served as the spine of his filmmaker training. He has also written and directed a clutter of music videos and other short films including THE MORNING AFTER, UNDEAD TED, GOLDILOCKED, and BLOOD ON THE GAME DICE.

No stranger to Pratchett’s work, Daniel has also directed WYRD SISTERS and SOURCERY for stage (the later he also adapted) and performed in another three.  Daniel’s personal work is bent towards character-driven, fantasy comedy, so is naturally attracted to Terry’s material.

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CONTACT

Snowgum Films :    daniel@snowgumfilms.com