SCREENING#6
SATURDAY, 8 OCTOBER 2022
20:00-22:00
This screening session features 12 short films. All films are in English and/or have English subtitles.
Address
Alfred Sküll Gallery, Alpacastraat 29, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Tickets
Entry is free and includes a drink! Reservations are not required, but optional. Reserve your seats here.
Cabin Ban (Norway) by Finn Walther
Synopsis: To battle the Covid-19 outbreak the Norwegian government bans people from traveling to their countryside cabins. This gives a burglar the perfect opportunity. Running time: 00:01:09.
Selections/awards: South London FF (Winner Covid-19-inspired Short), Night of Comedy Shorts (Best Comedy), Boston Short FF, Verona IFF.
About the director: Documentary filmmaker born and bred in Norway. Finn has made several award winning shorts and in 2019 started the production company Walther Bros with his filmmaker brother, Martin Walther.
Rebirth (Sweden) by Nils Agdler
Synopsis: The conception of The New Man emerged in the 1970s, and has since then reappeared from time to time, with varying ideals about how he should look, feel and act. There are often major inherent conflicts within the same ideal, which can cause great confusion for the man at the individual level. What it is like to be a white, middle-aged man in the western society today, what does the hegemonic masculinity look like and are there other ideals to follow? How does the white man react when his privileges diminish or disappear, when he no longer belongs to a chosen ”we” but is mixed up with "the others"? It is easy to see destructive parts of men's actions around the world, but what is actually a good masculinity? Are male role models important or are human role models enough? And will men in the near future become redundant when women will be able to reproduce themselves without the help of a man? In Rebirth, Nils Agdler visualizes ideas of a coming new man, the unprotected and vulnerable man, the new-born man and the man as nature. Running time: 00:03:40.
Selections/awards: International Short FF Oberhausen, Berlin Flash FF, and more.
About the director: Nils Agdler (1969) is a Swedish visual artist, photographer and filmmaker. Agdler is interested in contemporary social and visual phenomena, representation and history, posthumanism and colonialism, primarily working in the fields of photography and film. Over the past 20 years, he has worked on issues that concern men and masculinities.
Before the Earthquake (Sweden) by Gustav Hugo Olsson
Synopsis: A man at a restaurant tells his girlfriend a weird story about that he once in his life have had exactly the same feeling as now. That time the whole world started to shake. The girlfriend gets uncomfortable about his behaviour and the story that really doesn't make much sense. They continue their conversation and the table starts to rattle... Running time: 00:06:51.
Selections/awards: Boston Short FF, Verona IFF.
About the director: Gustav Hugo Olsson is a Swedish award-winning director, producer, screenwriter, filmmaker and editor with over 10 years of experience in film productions in various sizes and genres.
Dynamite (France) by Jim Vieille
Synopsis: April 2020. Lêg always stays locked up at home, engrossed by screens that all broadcast the same image: a burning car. But is it the outside world that smoulders or Lêg himself ? Running time: 00:04:37.
Selections/awards: Brussels Independent FF, Sydney World FF, Boston Short FF, and more.
About the director: Jim Vieille is a french director. Dark and enigmatic, his work in different mediums (film, video, installation) explore the boundary between fiction and experimental. His films and videos have been featured in over 150 international festivals (Hamburg, Wintherthur, Dresde, Clermont-Ferrand, Minsk, Stuttgart, Krakow, Sydney, Barcelona, Berlin and more). In 2010, "Take Me To The Water", his first short movie, was awarded with Prize Of The City Of Clermont-Ferrand. In 2021, his music video "Atlas" was has received the 1st Prize for the Best Music Video at the Rhode Island International FF and the Best Music Video Award at the Verona, Bruges, London and Los Angeles International FF.
Sleep Serene (Canada) by Daniel Haack
Synopsis: A woman seeks out a new, hi-tech form of therapy which promises to ease her troubled mind. Running time: 00:13:00.
Selections/awards: Venice Film Week, Boston Short FF, Super Shorts NY,and more.
About the director: Daniel Haack is a film editor, having cut the shorts “Boxing” (2015) and “Glitter’s Wild Women” (2018), along with the feature film “Cardinals” (2017), all of which had their premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival. “Sleep Serene” (2019) is Daniel’s first writing and directing effort.
Scars (Canada) by Alex Anna
Synopsis: Alex Anna’s body is a canvas : her scars come to life to tell a new story of self-harming. Live action and animation intertwine in this short and poetic documentary, both intimate and universal. Running time: 00:10:00.
Selections/awards: Brussels Independent FF, Hong Kong Arthouse FF, Toronto Arthouse FF (Best Documentary Short Film), Ghent Viewpoint Documentary FF, and more.
About the director: Alex Anna is a director and script supervisor in love with cinematographic language and words in all their beauty. As a queer and feminist filmmaker, she signed her first short film “The Fruit of Our Womb” in 2017 (as Laurie Mannessier), and uses art as a way to fight for a better world.
Leap (Argentina) by Juan Baio, Eino Antonio
Synopsis: On the rooftop of a massive building, surrounded by the blazing Buenos Aires’ skyline, two friends are taking a relaxing sunbath. In the flash of an instant an unexpected event takes place, which will call into question their friendship and leave them both on the brink of a resolution that could change their lives. Running time: 00:02:37.
Selections/awards: Super Shorts London, Hong Kong Arthouse FF, Verona IFF and more.
About the director: Juan and Eino met in Buenos Aires in the process of making a short film. Juan is a graduate from the acting program of Universidad Nacional de las Artes. Eino graduated graduated as Film Director from Universidad del Cine.
The Pitch (USA) by Eno Freedman Brodmann
Synopsis: A satirical short film that spoofs the advertising industry by imagining a potential collaboration between chicken nuggets and bluetooth speakers. Starring Lourdes Hernández, it follows a call between an agency creative and director trying to one up each other on the most important product of the year...vegan chicken nuggets. Ridiculous, absurd, yet only too real, The Pitch is a commentary on the agony of the creative process until it all becomes a mess. Running time: 00:08:10.
About the director: Eno Freedman is a commercial and music video director, designer, and classically trained musician. His voice gravitates towards mindful comedy and tasteful satire. Usually painted in rich colors, his filmic worlds try to make the audience laugh and then also feel heartwarmed. His training and passion for sound has landed him opportunities to curate music for LVMH, Soho House, Art Basel Miami, and Norwood Arts and many music-geared projects. Originally from New York City and an NYU Tisch graduate he currently lives and works in Los Angeles.
A Dog You Are (Austria) by Benjamin Laabmayr
Synopsis: It's a hot day at the municipality's lido. A place where the whole village meets to satisfy their daily need for fries with sausages and to cool off in the lukewarm water of the lake and the pool. Running time: Selections/awards: 00:11:32.
About the director: Born 1999, Benjamin is currently studying Photography at the University of Applied Arts Vienna.
A Howling Dog (Netherlands) by Stijn van Gorkum
Synopsis: In a life that has been put on hold, the isolated human being is observed in all his loneliness and ignorance. Just when it becomes clear that this situation can also bring about something beautiful, things take an unexpected turn which changes everything. Running time: 00:21:00.
About the director: Stijn van Gorkum (22) graduated from the Utrecht School of the Arts in 2021 as a writer and director of this short fiction film.
Snake Dick (USA) by David Mahmoudieh
Synopsis: Jill's got the snake. Julia's got the flute. Alone, they have nothing. But together, they have a secret weapon to fight the darkness... Running time: 00:07:47.
Selections/awards: South London International FF (Winner Best International Short Film), Salem Horror Fest (Winner Audience Award), Venice Film Week, British Horror FF, Brussels Independent FF, and more.
About the director: Half-Iranian and half-British-French-Canadian, David began his career as a trainee AD on productions including 'X-Files', 'The Outer Limits' and 'Batman Begins'. He won the ECU Screenwriting Contest with his spec script, 'Rain', now in active development as an 8-part mini-series with Neve Campbell attached to star and produce. He was recently hired by Roddenberry Entertainment, creators of Star Trek, to write and direct the adaptation of their graphic novel, 'Worth'. Last year David directed his first feature-film as a “director-for-hire”, the indie drama 'See You Soon' starring Harvey Keitel, Liam McIntyre and Poppy Drayton.
Mamma (Norway) by Aslak Danbolt
Synopsis: It’s Christmas Eve, and Synnøve is searching for her drug-addicted daughter Michelle in an almost desolated city. (Synnøve and Michelle are mother and daughter in real life and play versions of themselves in a story that is very close to their own lives.) Running time: 00:15:00.
Selections/awards: Aesthetica Short FF, Brussels Independent FF, Norwegian Short FF, Ankara Accessible FF (Best Film Award, Best Director Award), Bergen IFF, Hong Kong Arthouse FF, and more.
About the director: Aslak Danbolt is a Norwegian filmmaker who lives and works out of Oslo, Norway. He studied Documentary Directing at Lillehammer University College and later attended The London Film School. His grad film 'Last Base', was selected for more than 120 festivals (including Tribeca, Chicago & Slamdance) and won numerous awards. He directed the documentary series 'Petter Uteligger – 52 dager på gata i Oslo' (2015), which was nominated for 5 Norwegian Golden Screen Awards 2016, winning Documentary Series and Audience Award.