American Anomie
Shahriar Azim
USA. 2020. 25 min

Timir, a young south-Asian student attends a prestigious Los Angeles music academy, chasing his dream of becoming a classical composer. To scrape together money for tuition he manages a shady motel in South LA where he lives with his girlfriend, Sarah. He struggles to find meaning in his music when faced with the grinding poverty and depravity the motel residents experience each night. As he watches his dreams, his relationship, and his ambitions slip away, Timir finds himself at a crossroads.

SHAHRIAR AZIM

Born and raised in Bangladesh, Shahriar Azim is an independent filmmaker based in Los Angeles. In 2010 he moved to Moscow after receiving a scholarship in Journalism. He made his first short documentary film “We are Global Citizen” (2014), a documentary that deals with the suffering caused by war and how traditional media helps to publicize the narrative of warmongers rather than stopping them down. In 2015 Shahriar made his second short Documentary Film “Freedom 404”, depicting journalism in Bangladesh.
After graduating from PFUR (2015), he branched out into fictional storytelling instead of working as a journalist and moved to Los Angeles. Since 2016 Azim continuously making various kinds of short films such as Osmosis (2016), Black beans (2017), Widh (2019).
“Widh” was screened in multiple film festivals and won the audience choice Award at Ojai short film festival (2020).

POSTER

CONTACT

shahriar@redshadowpictures.com

Crossroads
Faysal Soysal
Turkey. 2013. 116 min

Benjamin is a volunteer in Bosnia, dealing with the gruesome aftermath of the war while trying to get away from his own devastating past in Turkey, which still haunts his dreams. To cope he must return home to heal old wounds and possibly, face new love.

FAYSAL SOYSAL

Faysal Soysal was born in Batman in 1979. He left medical school to focus on poetry and cinema in 2000. Between 2003 and 2007, he finished MA on “Film Directing” in Tehran Art University-Iran and at the same time “New Turkish Literature” at Van Yuzuncuyil University-Turkey. He did 4 short films in Iran, which were awarded at international film festivals. With ‘Dreams of Lost Time’(35mm), he’s become closer to find his own cinematographic language. In 2008, with a scholarship, he attended to the New York Film Academy and directed 4 short films. He has been selected for Talent Campus of Sarajevo Film Festival at 2009. He did his first feature film ‘Crossroads’ in 2013, (Filmed in Turkey and Bosnia) and it got 13 awards from film festivals. He did documentary series for Al Jazire and TRT TV. He used to be voluntary of Doctors Worldwide and produced Africa documentaries about their aid. They have been screened on TRT Documentary Channel in the name Worldwide Stories as 11 episodes. He published books on poetry and cinema. He is the director of International Amity Short Film Festival since two years. He finished his second feature film Silenced Tree as a first co-production of Turkish-Iranian at 2020.

POSTER

CONTACT

revzin@arthoodentertainment.com

Bal
Semih Kaplanoglu
Turkey. 2010. 103 min

Yusuf is an only child who lives with his parents in an isolated mountain area. For the young boy, the surrounding forest becomes a place of mystery and adventure when accompanying his father on the job. Yusuf watches in admiration as his beekeeper father Yakup hangs specially-made hives at the top of the tallest trees. With the skill of a tightrope acrobat, he must often suspend dangerously from the uppermost branches to gather honey. The strong bond that he has with his father cannot protect Yusuf from becoming an outsider during his first year of school. Yusuf’s stutter shames him in front of his classmates during oral reading assignments. Yusuf’s anxieties escalate when his father must travel to a faraway forest on a risky mission. His father gone, Yusuf slips into silence to the distress of his pretty young mother Zehra. Days pass and Yakup still does not return. Yusuf sees his mother becoming sadder everyday. Yusuf summons all of his courage and goes deep into the forest to search for his father. A journey into the unknown…

SEMIH KAPLANOGLU

Semih Kaplanoglu is one of the most profiled writers/ directors/producers of present-day filmmaking in Turkey, having received important national awards such as the Golden Orange (Antalya IFF) and the Golden Tulip award (Istanbul IFF) for his third feature »Yumurta« (Egg). His feature films have also screened at festivals around the world, earning him international awards, such as FIPRESCI prize for »Süt« (Milk) at the Istanbul International Film Festival and the Best Film Alternativa award for »Melegin Düsüsü« (Angel’s fall) at the Barcelona Independent Film Festival.
»Bal« (Honey) is the third part of the Yusuf Trilogy, which traces the origins of a soul. Like in his previous films, Semih Kaplanoglu decides to work without music to create the emotional world of the film.

FILMOGRAPHY

2010 »Bal« (Honey, feature film)
World premiere in Berlin 2010

2008 »Süt« (Milk, feature film)
World premiere in Venice 2009

2007 »Yumurta« (Egg, feature film)
World premiere in Cannes 2008

2004 »Melegin Düsüsü« (Angel’s fall, feature film)
World premiere in Berlin 2005

2000 »Herkes kendi evinde« (Away from home, feature film)

PRESSBOOK

POSTER

CONTACT

ersin.adiguzel@yee.org.tr

My Brother Artyom
Roman Trofimov
Russia. 2021. 25 min

Nikita is twelve. And he is bullied by school hooligans and an overbearing mother. He patiently suffers and accumulates offense. It all lasts until his half-brother Artyom returns from the correctional boarding school. He involuntarily pushes the boy to a terrible way of solving his problems.

ROMAN TROFIMOV

Graduated German Sidakov’s drama school (theater director 2013-2014, theater & film actor – 2015 – 2016). Filmed over 50 musical clips.
Filmography:
-“Mother” short film, 2013 (Artyom Semakin, Ingrizh Olerinskaya)
-“Looser” short film, 2019 (Nikita Elenev, Ivan Fominov), movie featured on Kinotavr at short movie category in 2019.
-“Missing” Russian TV show (5 episodes, 2013)
-“Witnesses” Russian TV show (2 episodes, 2018)

POSTER

CONTACT

agent@festagent.com

How Dad Nicked the Snow for Mom
Sasha Karmaeva
Russia. 2021. 13 min

Short story about a father who was aimed to make peace with mother, and about mother, who tried to save her daughter from all the troubles, and about a daughter, who just wanted to watch cartoons.

SASHA KARMAEVA

Born in Tolyatti, studied in Literature Institute n.a. M. Gorkiy (art critic), in 2019 graduated from the workshop of V. Menshov on fiction filmmaking in VGIK.

POSTER

CONTACT

agent@festagent.com

Here Lived and Worked…
Aleksey Krasnotcvetov
Russia. 2020. 24 min

Sergey, a worker of a small country town, tries to read the epigraph on the memorial board that has been set by his window on the wall of the house he lives in on the third floor. This board out of nowhere brings the spirit of adventure into the settled life of the typical Soviet neighbourhood. The way of achieving the goal turns out to be far more important than the goal itself. That is the story of a small, touching and funny feat.

ALEKSEY KRASNOTCVETOV

Aleksey Krasnotcvetov- is an actor and director.
Graduated from the St. Petersburg Academy of Theater Arts in 2008.
Graduated from the Moscow Institute of Contemporary Art in 2019 with a degree in Film and Television Director.

POSTER

CONTACT

agent@festagent.com

Can Neither Stay Here, Nor Journey Beyond
Girish Kasaravalli
India. 2020. 80 min

Set in the India of the 60’s, the film tells the story of the challenges facedby a young boy and a young widow who dream of getting out of their oppressive and suffocating lives. These characters are mirror image of one another while one dreams of moving to the city, the other is dreaming of a better life. Young Naga lives in a country side which is idyllic and serene but on a personal level he is subjected to all kinds of humiliation because of his cast and economic status. Young widow, though belongs to an upper cast, is deprived of all the good things in life because of the tradional practices and rituals. They both are dreaming of a respectable life in another society. Will their search yield result? The contrast and the contradictions in their dreams form the crux of the story.

GIRISH KASARAVALLI

Girish Kasaravalli has made 15 feature films in a carrier spanning 4 decades. All his films have won awards at national film festivals and international film festivals. 2003 Rotterdam had him director in focus. Retrospective of his films were held in some other festivals.

FILMOGRAPHY

GHATASHRADDHA (The Ritual 1978)
TAI SAHEBA 1999
DWEEPA (The Island 2002)
HASINA (2006)
GULABI TALKIES (2008)
RIDING THE DREAMS (2009)

POSTER

CONTACT

girishkasaravalli@gmail.com