Friday, November 17, 2023
Carlton Cinema, Cinema 8
Shorts Block 1
7:00PM EST
Ice Merchants
Directed by João Gonzalez
Country: Portugal | Runtime: 14 minutes
Every day, a father and his son jump with a parachute from their vertiginous cold house, attached to a cliff, to go to the village on the ground, far away where they sell the ice they produce daily.
I & I
Directed by Conrad Coates
Country: Canada | Runtime: 10 minutes
I & I is a POV of one man’s quest to find the members of his father’s family that he never knew.
A Dead Marriage
Directed by Michał Toczek
Country: Poland | Runtime: 18 minutes
Filip is a middle-aged man. He works as a professional film extra, and his specialty is the roles of dead bodies. On the set of a historical film, he meets Łucja, who plays the role of a dead woman.
Women Visiting a City (Las visitantes)
Directed by Enrique Buleo
Country: Spain | Runtime: 15 minutes
Three retired women travel by bus on their way to discover Europe. They’ve recently lost their husbands and now it’s time to start living. They’ve heard people talk about the wonders of tourism all their lives and are dying to experience them firsthand.
This Will Not Be a Festival Film
Directed by Julia Orlik
Country: Poland | Runtime: 8 minutes
A tale of a girl who studied animation and spent four years without a day of vacation. An animated short about a film school student who is working on her graduation film.
The Syrian Cosmonaut
Directed by Charles Emir Richards
Country: Turkey | Runtime: 12 minutes
This is the story of Muhammed Faris, the first Syrian to go to outer space. He is forced to flee his country, as his ideas for a free Syria make him a target.
Municipal Relaxation Module
Directed by Matthew Rankin
Country: Canada | Runtime: 6 minutes
Artistic rivalry infects the Winnipeg public service. Strong words are uttered, regretted, retracted.
I’ve provided the film title, director’s name, country, runtime, and the synopses for each film, following the format you requested.
Shorts Block 2
9:30PM EST
Baba
– Directed by Anya Chirkova, Meran Ismailsoy
Country: Canada | Runtime: 13 minutes
A middle-aged Iranian man makes a desperate bid to keep his apartment as his relationship with his son unravels.
Knight of Fortune (Ridder Lykke)
– Directed by Lasse Lyskjær Noer
Country: Denmark | Runtime: 23 minutes
The loss of a loved one, the grief, the risk of yellow skin, and a coffin, that is too much for Karl to face. Then it’s much easier to fix a broken lamp. Karl meets Torben – a destined brother. An absurd, humorous, and melodic meeting between two old men captured by grief. Knight Of Fortune is a short film written and directed by Lasse Lyskjær Noer and produced in Denmark, Scandinavia by Jalabert Production.
Shera
– Directed by Arun Fulara
Country: India | Runtime: 19 minutes
When Monu’s parents decide to migrate from their remote Himalayan village to the city, he realizes that he may never be able to see Shera, the elusive leopard that lives in the forests around his village. Everyone in the village seems to have seen her but Monu. As the day of departure nears, he grows despondent, but his best friend Raju is determined to give him the best parting gift he can think of – a view of Shera.
PLSTC
– Directed by Laen Sanches
Country: France | Runtime: 2 minutes
Welcome to the world of PLSTC, an undersea dystopia that submerges you in the disturbing reality of plastic pollution in our oceans. Through a series of graphically confronting AI-generated and hand-composited images of ocean creatures, this experimental animated film confronts you with the devastating consequences of our habits on marine life and leaves you gasping for breath.
Friend of a Friend (Ami d’ami)
– Directed by Simon Gualtieri
Country: Canada | Runtime: 15 minutes
Jules is bi. Bi as in bisexual. Bi, even though he’s only slept with women. Bi and ready to try his first experience with Samuel, a friend of a friend.
God Level (Nivel Dios)
– Directed by César Tormo
Country: Spain | Runtime: 12 minutes
Laura, a fanciful 16-year old teenager is in love with her young and attractive Religion teacher and will experience an excessive spiritual awakening that will lead her to lose her mind.
Saturday, November 18, 2023
Carlton Cinema, Cinema 8
- Panel Discussion
10:30AM – 12:00PM
Shorts Block 3
1:00PM EST
Tiny
– Directed by Ritchie Hemphill, Ryan Haché
Country: Canada | Runtime: 16 minutes
This dreamlike stop-motion is about a young girl’s experience growing up on a West Coast float house.
I Promise You Paradise
– Directed by Morad Mostafa
Country: Egypt | Runtime: 25 minutes
Following a violent incident, Eissa, a 17-year-old African migrant in Egypt, strives to beat the clock to save his loved ones whatever it takes.
The Grand Book
– Directed by Arjan Brentjes
Country: Netherlands | Runtime: 20 minutes
A young woman lives in the streets of a city where people are watched by cameras 24 hours a day. Even in her sleep, she is followed. Is it possible to find a place where you can be yourself in a disquieting world of constant surveillance?
The Sistine (La Sistina)
– Directed by Juan Camilo Fonnegra
Country: Colombia | Runtime: 8 minutes
Vincho, a street dweller, spends his time recycling and classifying waste produced in the city to transform it into the source of his creations. Under a bridge, he works on his masterpiece: The Sistine.
Ella Ella
– Directed by Eddy Yang
Country: Canada | Runtime: 10 minutes
Ella Ella is a personal documentary that spotlights Ella, a drag performer who recently came out as a trans girl.
The Pest
– Directed by Jungwoo Choi
Country: Canada | Runtime: 3 minutes
Conrad the Torontonian is having a problem with a raccoon messing with his trash on his front yard.
Under the Endless Sky
– Directed by Alexsandra Dzhyhanska
Country: Ukraine | Runtime: 4 minutes
Personal memories of a place that no longer exists, of a life of freedom and security, of loved ones, shared moments, and painful losses.
Sunflower Field
– Directed by Polina Buchak
Country: United States | Runtime: 4 minutes
Sunflower Field is an animated short that follows a young girl in Ukraine who awaits a call from her father.
Shorts Block 4
3:30PM EST
48 Hours
– Directed by Azadeh Moussavi
Country: Iran | Runtime: 20 minutes
After three years in prison, Nader is given a furlough to go home. He has 48 hours to become a father to his four-year-old daughter.
End of the Line
– Directed by Marc Lajoie
Country: Canada | Runtime: 5 minutes
Taylor is faced with her anxiety in a larger than life way; will she overcome it or reach the end of the line?
Humbug Manor
– Directed by Juan Carlos Mostaza
Country: Spain | Runtime: 17 minutes
In a new chapter of the fashionable radio serial, Inspector Pratt is about to reveal the murderer of Mrs. Brown, the rich heiress of the Balme jewelry emporium. The suspects are waiting in the huge Victorian drawing room, expectant for the resolution of the cleverest of detectives. But nothing is what it seems at Humbug Manor.
Spiral (Kierre)
– Directed by Salla Sorri, Eva-Maria Koskinen
Country: Finland | Runtime: 18 minutes
Anna sees Jasmine, her former school bully, after years when Jasmine brings her daughter to Anna’s dance class. Anna and Jasmine try to behave in a civilized manner, but there’s something bubbling beneath the surface. “Spiral” is about a ballet class that gets out of hand.
The Weenies (Les roteuses)
– Directed by Garance Chagnon-Grégoire
Country: Canada | Runtime: 13 minutes
Philomene and Carolanne are the feminist punk-rock group “The Weenies.” After a fiery argument, both their friendship and their highly (un)anticipated gig are put at risk.
They Call Me Chino (Me llaman Chino)
– Directed by Jesús Rivera
Country: Spain | Runtime: 18 minutes
Chino has returned to Adra after being away for some time.
Shorts Block 5
7:00PM EST
Cups
– Directed by Andrew Gillingham
Country: Canada | Runtime: 18 minutes
Inspired by a true story, a lesbian couple looking for a sperm donor opt for a more personal approach.
The Sprayer
– Directed by Farnoosh Abedi
Country: Iran | Runtime: 9 minutes
In the land occupied by the sprayers’ army, no one has the right to grow any kind of plants, but one day one of the soldiers finds a seed buried deep down in the dust, and his curiosity is just the beginning of something extraordinary.
The Garbage Man
– Directed by Laura Gonçalves
Country: Portugal | Runtime: 12 minutes
On a hot August afternoon, the family gathers at the table and remembers Uncle Botão, the Colonial War, and emigration to France where he lived and worked for thirty years as a garbage man.
The Good Word
– Directed by Constance Hilton
Country: Canada | Runtime: 5 minutes
A young mother repeatedly rebuffs two Mormon missionaries.
This is What the World Looks Like When You’re Gone
– Directed by Steen Starr
Country: Canada | Runtime: 11 minutes
When we lose someone the world ticks on just the same. But for those left behind everything is entirely changed.
Linda
– Directed by Joe Lycett
Country: United Kingdom | Runtime: 8 minutes
Linda gets a job in a post office, but her tall tales soon raise suspicions.
Oskar
– Directed by Max Vannienschoot
Country: Canada | Runtime: 9 minutes
Astride his motorcycle, Oskar is confronted with an impossible choice: should he face his inner turmoil or keep riding away from it.
A Night for the Dogs
– Directed by Max Woodward
Country: Canada | Runtime: 6 minutes
On a frigid December night, a fire breaks out in an apartment building. Standing out in the cold, a young man watches as the inhabitants huddle together, plotting and scheming their revenge.
Could You Be Free Yet Locked In?
– Directed by Kazi Arefin Ahmed
Country: Bangladesh | Runtime: 9 minutes
When a woman expresses her willingness to master photography in the evening of her life, the grandson buys her a smartphone and teaches her mobile photography. The film tells the story of the relationship between two generations, capturing the sighs and hopes of lives that have passed.
Freaked Out: Train Brain
– Directed by Theo Grosjean
Country: France | Runtime: 2 minutes
As Theo prepares to take the train, an individual with a shady attitude will plunge him into a paranoid spiral. This is the first episode of the series “Freaked out” (20 x 2 min.).
Shorts Block 6
9:30PM EST
Eitr
– Directed by Fateema Al-Hamaydeh Miller
Country: Canada | Runtime: 15 minutes
A closeted Arab wholesale perfume seller, attempting to mask his identity with excessive amounts of Polo Sport Adjacent cologne, is knocked off center when a charming customer sees through his act.
Soundscape
– Directed by Timmy ONeill
Country: United States | Runtime: 15 minutes
Soundscape shares the sightless experience of climbing a mountain via echo location, touch, and imagination. Featuring Erik Weihenmayer, a global adventure athlete and author who is fully blind, as he ascends a massive alpine rock face deep in the Sierra Nevada.
Skin
– Directed by Liam Hoban Thrush
Country: Canada | Runtime: 19 minutes
A fashion student is put under harsh stress when trying to craft her final college assignment, but during the process discovers a horrific new addiction.
A Day After Work
– Directed by Lars Vega
Country: Sweden | Runtime: 7 minutes
A man comes home after work. His wife and bird hate him.
A History of the World According to Getty Images
– Directed by Richard Misek
Country: Norway | Runtime: 18 minutes
How can something in the public domain not be publicly available? A critical investigation of public domain—a legal term that has nothing to do with free access or public availability—that uses powerhouse commercial archive Getty Images as its example.
Death to the Bikini! (À mort le bikini!)
– Directed by Justine Gauthier
Country: Canada | Runtime: 17 minutes
Lili, a feisty 10-year-old girl, has always swum topless. When her parents force her to wear a bikini top for a trip to the water park, she rebels: why should she hide her flat chest when her friends, all boys, don’t have to?
Sunday, November 19, 2023
Carlton Cinema, Cinema 8
- Talk on PR and Social Media
10:30AM – 12:00PM
Shorts Block 8
1:00PM EST
Amok
– Directed by Balázs Turai
Country: Hungary | Runtime: 14 minutes
After losing his fiancée and his good looks in a freak accident involving an evil Santa Claus gnome, Clyde must confront his inner demons.
Maurice’s Bar
– Directed by Tzor Edery, Tom Prezman
Country: France | Runtime: 15 minutes
In 1942, on a train to nowhere, a former drag queen remembers a night from her past in one of Paris’ first queer bars. Remnants of customer gossip recall this mythic bar and its mysterious Jewish-Algerian owner.
Making Babies (Faire un enfant)
– Directed by Eric K. Boulianne
Country: Canada | Runtime: 20 minutes
After many years together, a couple decides to have a baby. Throughout their relentless efforts, the partners try to maintain their love and unity. MAKING BABIES is a minimalist comedy drama that takes a bittersweet look at a couple’s life, with its doubts, its challenges, and its resilience.
It’s Not All That Bad (Tout ne va pas ce mal)
– Directed by Nicolas Novak
Country: France | Runtime: 21 minutes
A snack bar, an online date, Teddy, and Alicia, both in their twenties. One of them has a secret…
Things Unheard Of
– Directed by Ramazan Kılıç
Country: Turkey | Runtime: 16 minutes
Ten-year-old Sevîn wants to make a Kurdish-language television for her bedridden and mute grandmother.
Circtopolis
– Directed by Claire Fleming
Country: United Kingdom | Runtime: 2 minutes
Circtopolis where life is wired better.
The Space Between Us
– Directed by Julianne Martin
Country: United States | Runtime: 3 minutes
A lonely spaceman’s desire for company may be fulfilled when a mysterious ship arrives at his space station.
Shorts Block 8
3:30PM EST
Yanni
– Directed by Rachid Allaoua
Country: Canada | Runtime: 20 minutes
Yanni, a teenage Quebecer of Algerian descent, lives in a small town with his single mother. When a Muslim family moves into town, he is forced by Nicolas, his bully, to commit a hateful act towards them. To Nicolas, this may only be a sick joke, but for Yanni, it is the opportunity to prove to his oppressor that he is on his side, hoping to not be his victim anymore. This film also tells the story of a teenager in search of his identity, lost between his origins and his adoptive country.
Death is dangerous, it could hurt (C’est dangereux la mort, ça pourrait faire mal)
– Directed by Mariane Béliveau
Country: Canada | Runtime: 19 minutes
The three female protagonists present their personal relationship with intravenous drug use, and their intimate confessions are filled with fear and insecurity but also love for the state of intoxication. Ambient music in the background and colorful textures multiplying over shots of the everyday reality of drug users create an almost dreamlike world. “I won’t feel the full effects the whole night, but it will help take my mind off things.”
Made of Flesh (Poupées de chair)
– Directed by Serena Robin and Florence Rochat
Country: France | Runtime: 19 minutes
With a touch of blush and a few drops of lip gloss, Lucie is getting ready to start her training day to become a hostess at a motor show. A lifelong car enthusiast, she has the secret hope of being noticed by the prestigious EBBE brand.
Bench, October (Un banco, octubre)
– Directed by Jack Chakerian
Country: Spain | Runtime: 10 minutes
A meticulous guy’s attempt to relive the day he met his girlfriend takes an unexpected turn.
California Locos Renaissance and Rebellion
– Directed by Dave Tourjé
Country: United States | Runtime: 9 minutes
The members of the acclaimed art collective California Locos give their views on what makes post-modern Los Angeles tick. Chaz Bojórquez, Dave Tourjé, John Van Hamersveld, Norton Wisdom, and Gary Wong all share their asymmetrical insights emanating from their diverse approaches in art and culture, having been born and raised in the mega-metropolis. Music by Los Savages with Ian Espinoza, Dave Tourjé, Jim Grinta, Toby Holmes, and Bryan Head.
Witness
– Directed by Aida Tebianian
Country: Iran | Runtime: 15 minutes
Shermin is a young girl who is in a dilemma to save her father’s life, and finally she makes a difficult decision.
Sequential Paintings
– Directed by Joseph Louie Pankowski
Country: United States | Runtime: 2 minutes
An exhibition of sorts of 16 paintings, each a single self-contained animation. The acrylic paintings on canvas range in size from 8×11 to 11×14 inches. They were painted and then digitally animated. In a simple stop-motion animation, the paintings, along with their digital animation, were placed in a sequence together to produce a loose narrative that viewers can develop as they watch the paintings pass by.