Warm Lake
Aruan Anartayev
Kazkhstan. 2021. 26 min

In a village on a shore of a warm lake, a local boy and a visiting girl from the boarding house meet each other. Teenagers spend the long southern summer exploring the coast, while the girl’s parents in the rooms of the boarding house decide whether their family will stay together.

ARUAN ANARTAYEV

Film director, producer and script writer based in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Aruan graduated the course of director Darezhan Omirbayev in 2015, and as an observer visited the lessons of documentary laboratory of Vladimir Tyulkin in Almaty.
Aruan graduated Boris Yuhananov’s Studio of individual direction (MIR 5) in Moscow, where he participated in plays on the scene of Electrotheatre Stanislavsky as a part of the project Orphic games. His first study film called Tauba (2016) is a great attempt to create narration close to a conditional idiom. Aruan managed to confront the Broken windows theory, which finds the connection in all crimes, whereas his short film shows an opposite side – the consequences of good intention to overcome apathy.
Aruan directed several documentary and feature short films. One of his films, Nostalgia seller (2017) – about a seller on the flea market who has been selling junk all his life and dreamed of suddenly getting rich, was selected to participate in Umut festival in Bishkek.
Since 2017 Aruan working as an executive producer at documentary film studio Tihiy Svet in Almaty.
Tihiy Svet documentary studio produces films that are socially impactful and creates documentary content for informational campaigns of underreported but socially important topics and events. As an producer he was lead the production of several social documentary projects. His major project at this position was FACE THE MUSIC (2019) –full-length documentary, that follows the protests against concerts of a local band Ninety One in Kazakhstan.
Film was premiered at DMZ international documentary film festival.

FILMOGRAPHY

Tauba (2015)
Nostalgia seller (2016)
Bailanys (2017)
A train of health (2020) doc
Warm lake 2021

POSTER

CONTACT

diana.ashimova@gmail.com

May You Stay Forever Young
Rex Ren, Lam Sum
Hong Kong. 2021. 86 min

In June, 2019, a series of massive demonstrations against the Hong Kong government’s attempt to revise and pass the Extradition Law led to a chain of suicides by young protesters to validate their opposition. The story takes place on 28th July, a week after the white mob attack in Yuen Long. YY, a 17-year-old girl, announced her attempt to end her life on Instagram. After that, she couldn’t be contacted or located.

Nam, the 20-year-old “comrade” she met after a protest-related arrest, and amongst others, frantically searched for her around Kwai Tsing district where she lived. Her photo and other information were posted on Telegram and LIHKG Forum, resulting in hundreds of volunteers joining the search. It’s a run against time. emotionally exhausting hunt, she was finally located in Mongkok, the busiest area populated by young people. Meanwhile, on the island side, protesters are confronting the fully armed riot police. Yet, it becomes a dilemma for those who are still searching for YY.

REX REN

Rex graduated from the School of Film & Television at Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, majoring in Directing. He won the Best Director Award with Even Ants Strife for Survival at the 12th Fresh Wave International Short Film Competition and Gold Award at the 23rd Hong Kong Independent Short Film and Video Awards. He was Fruit CHAN’s scriptwriter and assistant director before working for Andy LAU’s Infinitus Films as Creative Team Supervisor. In 2018, he won the grand prize with A Life of Papers at the Golden Horse Film Project Promotion meeting. He is also the founder of Equal Write Union Hong Kong.

LAM SUM

Born in Hong Kong. Lam is an independent short film and documentary filmmaker graduated from School of Film and TV, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, specialising in directing. Lam is also a social movement activist and his works mostly focus on social issues. Lam is also a video freelancer and as a film production tutor in several schools and colleges.

POSTER

CONTACT

daniel.cinemastudies@gmail.com

Eternally Younger Than Those Idiots
Yoshino Ryohei
Japan. 2021. 118 min

The story begins in ordinary days of Horigai, a 22-year-old virgin who is about to graduate and got a job as a social worker. She is spending boring days between her school and apartment with her college graduation coming soon. She meets Inogi at the same college, a girl who has tragic childhood, but somehow they get along in a little weird way. When Horigai’s friend Homine dies, she starts to find out violent and pitiful things around Homine that Horigai couldn’t see when he was alive.

YOSHINO RYOHEI

Born in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1982, Yoshino began making independent films while studying at Hosei University. After graduation, he enrolled at the Japan Institute of the Moving Image, where he majored in cinematography and lighting technology. He has won several awards for his short and medium-length films to date. He currently works as a lighting engineer for music videos, radio program director, and in a wide range of other fields.

POSTER

CONTACT

yuki.koutari@hakuhodody-map.jp

Remembering Mashi
Marco Hüsler
Germany. 2021. 12 min

Mashi is cooking joy, hot piping Masala Chai, for the people of Kolkata. It seems the world there doesn’t go around without having a break at her small tea stall once a day.

MARCO HÜSLER

Marco Hülser was born 1992 in Hamburg and gained his “Abitur” in 2011. After a voluntary service in Tamil Nadu (India), Marco studied Motion Pictures at the Hochschule Darmstadt, which he completed in 2016. During this he directed the short film “Zusammen Allein” which was nominated at several festivals. Mid-2015, he started to work on his first documentary “Masala Chai”, which got premiered in Toronto 2017. Since beginning of 2018 he is working on his first feature film and other short films.

DIRECTOR,S NOTE

We shot this portrait of Nandarani, also called Mashi, in 2016 but never completed the project until 2021. The lockdown finally gave us the opportunity to rediscover a small treasure saved on one of our many hard drives. The film is all about observing Nandarani who is following her daily routine of preparing chai for locals. It reminds us once more that beauty is found in small things, and you don’t need much to have a life full of peace and harmony. Mashi died s few month after we completed the shooting in 2016. We are grateful for spending time together with Mashi at her tea stall. There is no specific time for tea but there is always tea for time.

FILMOGRAPHY

2019 – Wanda & Jamal – Feature Film
2019 – Berlin To Bombay – Documentary
​2018 – Alles Gut – Short Film
​2017 – Mit Dir Ohne Dich – Short Film
​2017 – Masala Chai – Documentary
​​2017 – Hinter dem Meer – Feature Film
​2015 – Zusammen Allein – Short Film

POSTER

CONTACT

marcohuelser@gmail.com

I Always Lost My Gloves
Natalia Belova
Russia. 2021. 6 min

A couple who do not understand each other finds themselves in the world of a haiku written by a girl. When the heroes go back, reality changes.

NATALIA BELOVA

Natalia was born and raised in Moscow 31 years ago. For 17 years she has been studying the art of the sounding word and literary creation. She graduated from the faculty of television journalism, because she dreamed of television, and the law academy, because she fell in love with a graduate student. She worked as a screenwriter and director in the field of public events, theatrical performances, and stadium art shows. As a producer she shot TV series, short films and advertisements for big brands. Such a varied and interesting experience made it possible to create a story, assemble a team and make a debut film.

POSTER

CONTACT

submissions@festagent.com

Sincerely Yours
Igor Bagaturiya
Russia. 2021. 91 min

1961 year. USSR, Chelyabinsk. The young postal worker Nyurka is known for her spontaneity and kind disposition. In search of love, she travels a path full of small victories and big disappointments. No matter what happens, driven by an unquenchable thirst for happiness, Nyurka steadfastly continues to move towards her goal.

IGOR BAGATURIYA

Scriptwriter, film director, film editor. Graduated from VGIK , script and directing department (Head Masterts V.I.Romanov; V.S.Kalinin)
Work as a scriptwriter at «Goodstory Media» and «Sreda» production companies.

Filmography
2021/ «Sincerely Yours»/feature film
2019/ «Phantoms of Zamoskvorechie»/ mini series
2017/ «Red River» short film
2016 short film «Book Troubles»

POSTER

CONTACT

hello@festagent.com

The Portraits
Bijukumar Damodaran
India. 2021. 89 min

The Portraits” is a collection of six cinematic sketches that depict the various means by which fascist governments tries to silence its own people. The state hunting down its citizens suspected of political and Maoist links, suppression of people’s struggles against ecocide, mechanisation and labour strikes, people’s counter-attacks against state-sponsored violence, the state imposing a new type of obedience on its people in the wake of a new epidemic that causes its victims to go into a state of slumber; these are the six cinematic portraits that make up this collection.

BIJUKUMAR DAMODARAN

Dr. Biju (Bijukumar Damodaran) is a three-time India’s national award-winning filmmaker. He is considered one of the most important contemporary voices in Indian cinema. He is one of the rare filmmakers in India who is always raising his voice openly for social justice, gender equality, environmental problems, and marginalized people issues. His first film “Saira” was screened in the Cannes film festival in 2007 under the “Cinema of the world “section. Biju’s films have been screened at many international film festivals and won numerous awards. The festivals include Cannes, Montreal, Shanghai, Telluride, Cairo, Iran (Fajr), Eurasia Almaty, Jeonju, Tallinn, Oporto, Dhaka, IFFK, and IFFI. His film “Trees under the sun” premiered at the Shanghai International film festival 2019 and won the Outstanding Artistic Achievement award. This is the first time an Indian film won any award in the Golden Goblet competition at the Shanghai festival from its inception.

He has been invited as a member of the jury to many well-known film festivals across the world including Russia, Iran, Indonesia, India.

He was worked as a jury member for India’s National Film Awards 2012 and India’s Oscar selection committee 2015.

POSTER

CONTACT

drdbijufilmmaker@yahoo.co.in

Sunpat
Rahul Rawat
India. 2021. 25 min

Set in a small village in the beautiful mountains of Uttarakhand, Sunpat is a reflection of a society that seems to have lost past and no future. Twelve-year-old Anuj and his friend Bhartu go on to discover whether the girl Anuj likes pays any heed to him. As they plan out the ways to propose her, it’s through their journey, we see the emotional trauma large part of the villages in Uttarakhand are facing due to the long-prevailing socio-economic migration which has caused desertion in their villages for more than two decades. It’s a story of love and friendship blooming at the time of hopelessness. Threading manifold issues, the story portrays the innocence of friendship, struggles of villages in the mountains, and the undesired uncertainty of life with subtlety.

RAHUL RAWAT

Rahul Rawat is an Indian film director. He started his career in advertising productions to understand content communication better and worked under renowned ad-film directors. Later, he joined Percept Pictures as a writer/Director in Mumbai. In 2014, he had won an advertising competition for the clothing brand Allen Solly. Later, his interested shifted from advertising to films as he believed films can have life changing impacts on people and found meaningful to pursue. Since then, from Producer to Director, he has worn many different hats in the span of 8 years. Sunpat is his first film as a Writer/Director.

DIRECTOR,S NOTE

A film from the core of Uttarakhand is a very rare experience as almost no films are made which can present the struggles of people living in the mountains there.

POSTER

CONTACT

merahulrawat@gmail.com