Retouch                                                                                                                                Kaveh Mazaheri                                                                                                                    Iran. 2017. 20 min

In the corner of the home, Maryam’s husband does weightlifting. Suddenly, the weight falls on his throat and puts him between life and death. Maryam tries to save him, but she just decides to stop helping and stand and watch her husband’s death. After she makes sure her husband is dead, gathered her stuff and goes out with her child. During the day, she pretends her husband is got disappeared and she does not have any news.

KAVEH MAZAHERI

Mazaheri’s first short film, TWEEZERS (2007). To date, he has made three independent short films and more than twenty short and long documentaries for some broadcasts. He is the editor and author of a great many projects aside from his own.
His documentary “A REPORT ABOUT MINA” was official selection of many international film festivals around the world, and won “Special Mention Prize” from Yamagata Documentary Film Festival (Japan 2015).

Some of the films he has directed include:

TWEEZERS (short fiction, Iran 2007)
Official Selection of Opolskie Lamy Film Festival (Poland 2009), Yari Film Festival (Sweden 2009), Third Eye Film Festival (India 2009), Jaipur International Film Festival (India 2009), Tasvir Film Festival (Iran 2014)
SOORI’ S TRIP (doumentary, Iran 2009)
Official Selection of Arsenal Film Festival (UK 2010), Kvinnor I focus Film Festival (Sweden 2010), IBAFF Film Festival (Spain 2010) *Nominated “Best Feature Film”, Extrema Film Festival (Spain 2010), Parvin International Film Festival (Iran 2014)
LABYRINTH (TV docudrama series, Iran 2013, 15 Episodes, for Iranian National Television)
COCKROACH (short fiction, Iran 2015)
Official Selection of 11st Celebration of Khaneh Cinema (Iran), Parvin Film Festival (Iran), Alborz Film Festival (Iran)
*Winner “Best Short Film”
A REPORT ABOUT MINA/GOZARESHI DABARE MINA (doumentary, Iran 2015)
Official Selection of Yamagata Documentary International Film Festival (Japan 2015) *Winner “Special Mention Prize” – Nominated “Ogawa Shinsuke Prize” / Black International Cinema Berlin (Germany 2015) *Winner “Best Film Expressionist Narrative” / Scandinavian International Film Festival (Finland 2016) *Winner “Award of Rcognition” / Cinema Verite Documentary Film Festival (Iran 2015) / 1001Documentary Film Festival (Turkey 2015) / 18th Celebration of Khaneh Cinema (Iran 2015) / Queens World Film Festival (USA 2016) / 6th Dada Saheb Phalke Film Festival (India 2016) / Livermore Valley Film Festival (USA 2016) / International Video Art House Madrid (Spain 2016) / Iranian Film Festival Zurich (Switzerland 2016) / Ferfilm International Film Festival (Kosovo
2016) / All Lights India International Film Festival (India 2016) / The 5th Persian International Film Festival (Australia 2016) / The festival Antropofest (Czech, 2017) / Festival of Iranian Films (Czech, 2017) / Docfeed Film Featival (Netherlands, 2017) / ETHNOCINECA International Documentary Film Festival Vienna (Austria, 2017)
FLIGHT TO PARDIS (TV doumentary, Iran 2016)

CONTACT

Contact Person: Peyvand Sholevar
Ph: +989123049139
marketing@darvashfilm.com

Nabikei                                                                                                                                        Shri Prakash                                                                                                                              India. 2017. 66 min

The American Southwest—especially the sovereign Indigenous nations of Acoma, Laguna, and the Diné or Navajo Nation—has a long history of uranium mining. Once home to a booming economy and proudly called the Uranium Capital of the World, these Indian reservations and poor White communities are now littered with old mines, tailings dams, and other uranium contamination, which is the legacy of this deadly industry.  On the Navajo Nation alone, there are more than 500 abandoned uranium mine sites that need to be addressed.
In spite of the US government’s Clean Air Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, and the Radiation Exposure and Compensation Act, supposedly strict and powerful regulatory agencies like the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the United States Environmental Protection Agency are almost helpless to mitigate the contamination left by the nuclear industry.
This film explores how colonialism, which came to the Southwest with Spanish conquest, has changed face in modern time, as it is played out in a new quest for mineral resources.
Contaminated land, water, and air have left these poor communities helpless. Their  efforts to gain justice have failed. Indigenous and poverty-stricken communities who suffered the most are trapped and exploited, as new mining companies continue to disregard the health and environment of these people with the lure of a better economy, jobs and new In Situ Leach uranium mining methods.

Unfortunately, this is the same sad story repeated in other parts of the world including India, but in India it is the government itself undertaking the enterprise and repeating the same degradation in Jadugoda (Jharkhand).

SHRI PRAKASH

Shri Prakash is the first filmmaker from Jharkhand to bring a National Award in 2008 for his film ‘Buru Gara’ also his regional language fiction film ‘Baha’ received first international award for the state 2010. Using audio visual medium as a tool for social transformation and empowerment, National Award winner film maker, teaching film studies in St. Xavier’s College, Ranchi.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shriprakash,

CONTACT

Kritika Productions
Shriprakash
Add- Shatya Niketan
Madhukam Lane, near Shashtri Chowk
Ratu raod , Ranchi 834005
Jharkhand
India
+91 9431580434
http://www.shriprakash.com

Veil Done                                                                                                                                    Juhi Bhatt                                                                                                                                  India. 2017. 28 min

Three women from Nizamuddin basti, Delhi, take a decision that sets them on a journey to find themselves- they join a gym.

JUHI BHATT

Juhi Bhatt is a freelance filmmaker based in Mumbai, who has worked on documentaries, television commercials, TV shows and corporate films, on themes including environment, women’s rights, urban infrastructure and financial literacy in rural areas. She has written and directed for organisations such as UNICEF, SAARC, SEWA, Bharat Bala Productions, NDTV Goodtimes and Travelxp Channel.

Shmama                                                                                                                                      Miki Polonski                                                                                                                            Israel. 2017. 25 min

Leah works as a maid in the hotel during the day, while Meital, her daughter, sings at the hotel’s lobby at night. They live trapped in their relationship, surrounded by the Dead Sea.

MIKI POLONSKI

Miki Polonski, 35, born and raised in Bat Yam, Israel. He graduated with distinction from the Film Department of Minshar School of Art, Tel Aviv. He was chosen to participate in Fred Kelemen Master class at Tel Aviv University and graduated with distinction.
He directed:
“Ten Buildings Away” (Short fiction, 2015, La Cinéfondation in Cannes, winning 8 international awards, above 40 festivals, nominated for the Israeli Academy Awards).
“Albina 12” (Short fiction, 2012, nominated for the Israeli Academy Awards, special mention Tel-Aviv International Short Film Festival).
“1 Building and 40 People Dancing” (Documentary, 2015, won the Perlov Fund Prize, DocAviv Film Festival and the Israeli Documentary Filmmakers’ Forum competition, winning 5 international awards, above 10 festivals)
He was chosen to participate in the 2016 German-Israeli short film project, Storyvid, among 5 promising directors.
In 2016, “Shmama”, won best script in the Sam Spiegel and Gesher Multicultural Film Fund script competition.
Polonski received in 2016 a development from the Rabinovich Foundation for the Arts for his debut feature film.

CONTACT

KM Productions
Kobi Mizrahi
1 Simta Almonit St.
Tel-Aviv 6326637, Israel
kobmiz@walla.com
+972-525785388

Tradition                                                                                                                                   Lanka Bandaranayake                                                                                                        Srilanka. 2016.

An old woman decorates a bride with the traditional Sri Lankan jewelry. She describes the symbolic meaning of each jewelry piece. Those meanings carry the girl to her past relationships and their deep scars. The bride’s ultimate destiny seems something illusive.

LANKA BANDARANAYAKE

Ms.Lanka Bandaranayake was born in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. She started her career as an actress in 1998. Since then she has won several acting and costume designing national awards. Later she also became a national award Winning Drama Producer and Director.
Her first short film “Tradition” was produced in 2016.

CONTACT

Lanky Films :  lankabandaranayake@ymail.com

Hamja                                                                                                                                          Mehdi Ghanavati                                                                                                                  Iran. 2016. 58 min

The film tells the story of a man called Abdolhassan who has built a village for himself and his family. The village is located in the south of Iran in Boushehr. Their income comes from farming and livestock. There is a private school at the village where the students are all brothers and sisters. Abdolhassan has managed to electrify the village.He has four wives and 27 children.

MEHDI  GHANAVATI

Graduated in filmmaking from Ahvaz Soureh University, Ghanavati began his artistic career in 2002. He got his bachelor’s degree in filmmaking in 2013. He is a filmmaker and a photographer. His directorial film works include Usual Lunatics (2003), Jajim (2004), Sneeze (2013) and Yaft Abad (2013)

CONTACT

mohammad.fartousi@gmail.com

Bones for Otto                                                                                                                        Matei Lucaci-Grunberg                                                                                                      Romania. 2016. 29 min

Two prostitutes meet on a deserted road. One is used to the nightly routine but is having trouble coming to terms with the competition – a naïve beginner who is just discovering what the oldest profession is all about. Time spent together gradually reveals that neither has anything to reproach the other for. They both need money, whether to feed their family or to fulfill a lifelong dream. With its comic tone, Bones for Otto doesn’t take aim at women on the streets, presenting them instead as strong individuals whose lives have taken an unexpected turn.

Matei Lucaci-Grunberg

Matei Lucaci-Grunberg (b. 1989, Bucharest) is a theater and film director, screenwriter, and playwright. He earned his bachelor’s in film direction from the National University of Theater and Film I.L. Caragiale (UNATC) in Bucharest. He completed his master’s at the same university and is currently pursuing a doctorate. His theater and film productions have earned him national and international awards.

CONTACT

Matei Lucaci-Grunberg

E-mail: m.lucaci.grunberg@gmail.com

Romanian Film Promotion
52, Popa Soare Street, 023984, Bucharest
Romania
Tel: +40 213 266 480
Fax: +40 213 260 268
E-mail: info@romfilmpromotion.ro
www: www.romfilmpromotion.ro

Meral, Kizim                                                                                                                            Süheyla Schwenk                                                                                                                  Germany. 2016.  21 min

Meral, a young paraplegic girl, is not only bound to bed because of her illness but also to her traditional family – which she thought she had escaped long time ago.
No one can accept her illness, only to her younger sister she has a special relation.

SÜHEYLA  SCHWENK

Süheyla Schwenk was born in Sweden / Göteborg. When she was five, she moved with her family to Turkey, where she grew up. She studied acting in Istanbul and completed with the master degree. Now she lives in Berlin since 2009. Since 2012 she studies directing at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb). She makes movies which are about politics, social and woman rights.

FILMOGRAPHY 

2016/ SEVINCE/ DCP/ 30Min (Toronto International Film Festival 2016, Max Ophüls Preis 2017)                                                                        2015/ MERAL, KIZIM/ DCP/ 22Min (Achtung Berlin 2016 Best short Movie Award, !f Istanbul 3. Audience Award, Max Ophüls Preis 2016, Lausitziale 2016, 45. Lubuskie Filmsummer, World Cinema Amsterdam 2016.)

2014/ PERI GEHT AUS/ DCP/ 7Min

2013/ STEMPEL/ DVD/ 5Min

2012/ DER ANFANG/ DVD/ 2Min

2012/ OPFER/ DVD/ 6Min

CONTACT

Production:
DFFB (a.zaluska@dffb.de)

Sevince  (Germany)                                                                                                              Süheyla Schwenk                                                                                                                  2016.  30 min

Peri wants to leave and to be free; she does not just exist for her husband and daughter. It’s not only the Burka creating the borders of her life in the German society, her mind is divided too. She is convinced that she doesn’t have the right to live out the life she wants and worries what will happen to her if her secret is discovered by a her husband who has just made a decision that will throw her life off track.

SÜHEYLA  SCHWENK

Süheyla Schwenk was born in Sweden / Göteborg. When she was five, she moved with her family to Turkey, where she grew up. She studied acting in Istanbul and completed with the master degree. Now she lives in Berlin since 2009. Since 2012 she studies directing at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb). She makes movies which are about politics, social and woman rights.

FILMOGRAPHY 

2016/ SEVINCE/ DCP/ 30Min (Toronto International Film Festival 2016, Max Ophüls Preis 2017)                                                                        2015/ MERAL, KIZIM/ DCP/ 22Min (Achtung Berlin 2016 Best short Movie Award, !f Istanbul 3. Audience Award, Max Ophüls Preis 2016, Lausitziale 2016, 45. Lubuskie Filmsummer, World Cinema Amsterdam 2016.)

2014/ PERI GEHT AUS/ DCP/ 7Min

2013/ STEMPEL/ DVD/ 5Min

2012/ DER ANFANG/ DVD/ 2Min

2012/ OPFER/ DVD/ 6Min

CONTACT

Production:
DFFB (a.zaluska@dffb.de)

The End (Jiri Volek) Czech Republic                                                                           27 min.  2016

Mara, an exemplary factory worker and father of two is striving for a better life for his family. His efforts are derailed by his brother-in-law Paja, a hopeless teenager roped into the football hooligan life by his girlfriend, Dana. When Mara’s wife asks him to tag along with Paja at a football match, he has no idea that his life is about to change. In an unexpected turn of events, Mara gets in.

JIRI VOLEK

Jiri Volek was born in Kolin, Czech republic, right next to the grocery store from Forman’s Black Peter. He studied architecture and graphic design in Prague and later on he started his film studies at FAMU with Vera Chytilova as his mentor. In 2010 he shot the movie “Bastards” about growing aggression among teenagers and the thin line between foolish pranks of boredom and pathological violence.

In 2012 he made his movie “Open Call” that was nominated for the Best Student Film at Cesky lev national film awards. This movie is a bitter sweet summer story about two girlfriends stranded in a carousel of questionable castings for young girl models. Jiri is also an author of a very successful chapter “Flag Bearers” in the project “Tribes 0” where he reveals the onset of the british hooligan “illness” during 1970’s. He also shot a television adaptation of this chapter for Czech television.

With his currently finished movie “The End” he won Czech television’s competition “The Accelerator“ selecting the most ambitious scripts from all Czech film schools for future co-production.

FILMOGRAPHY

The End / 2016
Open Call / 2012
Rays Of Death / 2012
This Is The End / 2011
Bastards / 2010
Anticorra / 2009
Way Back / 2007

CONTACT

Tomas Smrcek | Punch
+420 737 411 965
tomas@punch.cz