Borzaya
Simon Schneckenburger
Germany. 2021. 19 min

In the Ukrainian Carpathians, large Western companies threaten to destroy the existence of the forestry owned by Sylwia’s family. In order to make some urgently needed money, Sylwia agrees to help to smuggle refugees across the nearby external EU border.

SIMON SCHNECKENBURGER

Born 1990 in Freiburg. He studied media and production at Offenburg and graduated with his BA in 2017. His graduation film STARS AT DAY won the German Young Talent Film Award. Currently Simon is studying directing/fiction film at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg.

POSTER

CONTACT

festivals@filmakademie.de

One Free Murder
Ares Ceylan
Germany. 2021. 16 min

You can’t choose your parents. But do you really need both? On their daughter Mia’s 18th birthday the clumsy parents Christian and Simone discover a serious death threat. Apparently, their rebellious daughter is planning to send one of them to the afterlife, thanks to a freshly acquired license to legally commit murder. Now, of course, parental empathy is called for. Or even better – tactics!

ARES CEYLAN

Ares Ceylan (*1989), born and raised in Basel, studied Communication Sciences and Film Studies at the University of Zurich. After graduating 2011 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences he worked for five years as a director and editor for short films, commercials and image films at Filmgerberei GmbH. From 2016 to 2023 he studied directing/feature film at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg.

POSTER

CONTACT

festivals@filmakademie.de

Waiting for Kalki
Nimay Goswami
India, UK. 2022. 14 min

Waiting for Kalki is a story about a day in the life of Vishnu, a daily wage leather tannery worker, stuck in the monotonous loop of poverty. He is waiting to welcome a mysterious guest to his home, who is believed to have the ability to transform human lives.

NIMAY GOSWAMI

Nimay Goswami is a Filmmaker from India. He made several independent films after his undergrad in Journalism and found solace in Writing and Directing. Telling stories through this beautiful medium gave him the means to explore his inner journey and experiences as an artist and he moved to London to develop on them. He loves music and has experience in Film Editing and sound. He is a recent graduate at London film School with an MA in Filmmaking. Observing people around him, inspires him to explore the depths and extent of their behaviour and sensibilities in various contemporary situations. This became the subject of his craft as a filmmaker and helped him develop his own style over the years.
Through experimentations and innovations, he has tried to evolve an idiom which plays with the philosophical and mythological elements. This is reflected through the life of a normal human being in the contemporary society.

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

Coming from a religious background, the spirituality and philosophy of Hindu mythology always intrigued me. I wondered how it would be to view this from a realistic perspective – through the eyes of a common man stuck in the monotonous loop of poverty, and struggling in the modern world.

When everything else fails, the only hope that remains for him is to rely on the supernatural. The film Waiting For Kalki challenges the mythological idea of the supernatural as a saviour, or last resort in one’s life. It also explores the feeling of stillness that comes with the waiting, through the use of static shots and wide frames.

POSTER

CONTACT

nimay.goswami@lfs.org.uk

Neighbouring Sounds
Ali Kivanc Guldurur
Turkey, UK. 2022. 18 min

Bilal and Aylin, a young married couple, overhear a domestic battery in their neighborhood late at night. Despite his initial disregard for the situation, Bilal works up a curiosity which paves the way for an unwanted exposure.

ALI KIVANC GULDURUR

Ali Kıvanç Güldürür was born in Izmir, Turkey in 1991. After completing his studies at Bilkent University’s Department of American Culture and Literature in Ankara, he enrolled at the London Film School to study filmmaking where he has worked on numerous projects as a writer, director, editor and sound recordist. Neighbouring Sounds is his graduation film from the London Film School.

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

I value stories and the kind of filmmaking that reflect upon behaviours, reflexes and anxieties of the times that they’re being made in. The story of “Neighbouring Sounds” derives from the actuality of everyday life in contemporary Turkey where violence is rampant, its perpetrators untouchable and our sense of security is nothing but a mere illusion.
It is a reflection on human behaviour; how it takes form within a reality that grinds even the slightest tenacity to ‘do the right thing’. It exhibits the ways in which the ‘outside’ creeps into the ‘private’, although both notions seem separable at first glance.

POSTER

CONTACT

alikivanch@gmail.com

Herbert and Humphrey
Siddarth Joshi
India. 2022. 21 min

Herbert & Humphrey is a short mockumentary about an ordinary man living in a house with an extraordinary ghost. Humphrey is a confident (and slightly mean) ghost haunting Herbert’s house. Humphrey believes that to survive as a ghost, he must kill Herbert. Although they both constantly try to kill each other, this constant Tom & Jerry relationship hides a deeper friendship.

SIDDARTH JOSHI

Sid is an aspiring Producer/Director from India who left his first creative home in the advertising industry to pursue an education in filmmaking in London. Before joining the film school, Sid worked as an assistant director for tv commercials, digital content and all things corporate. More recently he has worked as a HOD for TV shows with BBC, Paramount+ Netflix and more. Sid aspires to hone his skills in the comedy genre and aims to write & direct a mockumentary series in the near future.

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

Movies like What We Do In The Shadows & The Exorcist and TV shows like The Office & People Just Do Nothing have been a huge inspiration in deciding the style and pace of the film. Emotional, Cinematic and Rooted in character, Herbert & Humphrey is a love letter to the golden age of mockumentaries. It’s not just a comedy about ghosts but also a story about friendship and emotions disguised as humour.

POSTER

CONTACT

joshisiddharth.work@gmail.com

VHS
Alexander Markin
Russia. 2022. 12 min

End of summer 1991. USSR. Yura works at a factory and dreams of escaping to America. His son’s dream is the whole family to be together at nights. Both desires can come true if a VHS appears in the family.

ALEXANDER MARKIN

Journalist and director. Has been working in a video production teams, and also in social projects organizing art festivals and events in support of charitable foundations. In 2022 he graduated from the Moscow Film School, directing department (workshop of Alexey Popogrebsky and Pavel Bardin). VHS is his graduation film.

POSTER

CONTACT

yulia@festagent.com