SHORT MATTERS!
https://www.neme.org/projects/hosted/short-matters
Awarded European Short Film Festival
16 – 18 September 2015 at 21:00 at ARTos Foundation, Nicosia
and
23 & 24 September 2015 at 20:00 at NeMe Arts Centre, Limassol
The Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture, the European Film Academy and ARTos Foundation with the support of NeMe Arts Centre invite for the ninth consecutive year, short film lovers to the Festival of Awarded European Short Films, Short Matters! The screenings will take place at ARTos Foundation in Nicosia on the 16th, 17th and 18th September and on the 23rd & 24th September in NeMe Arts Centre in Limassol.
The program of SHORT MATTERS! presents short films by the European Film Academy, which have been nominated for the Academy awards, by the fourteen most important short film festivals in Europe.
In each of these selected festivals listed below, the Jury that selects the awarded films also selects one of the European short films which is then automatically nominated for the European Film Academy Prize.
- Berlin International Film Festival/Germany
- Cork Film Festival/Ireland
- Curtas Vila do Conde – International Film Festival/Portugal
- Encounters Short Film and Animation Film Festival Bristol
- Festival del film Locarno/Switzerland
- Film Festival Ghent/Belgium
- International Film Festival Rotterdam/the Netherlands
- International Short Film Festival Clermont-Ferrand/France
- International Short Film Festival in Drama/Greece
- Krakow Film Festival/Poland
- Norwegian Short Film Festival Grimstad/Norway
- Sarajevo Film Festival/Bosnia & Herzegovina
- Tampere Film Festival/Finland
- Valladolid International Film Festival/Spain
- Venice Film Festival/Italy
Then, the program with the nominated short films tours various European cities, two of which Nicosia and Limassol. Originating from various European countries – Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Ireland, Palestine, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Netherlands, United Kingdom and Ukraine – the nominated short films for 2014 are a multidimensional panorama of young contemporary European filmmaking.
The 2,900 members of the European Film Academy selected “The Chicken” by Belgian filmmaker Una Gunjak, as the overall winner, which was presented at the 27th European Film Awards Ceremony in Berlin, in December 2014.
Venues:
ARTos Foundation, Nicosia Ay. Omoloyites Ave. 64, Nicosia Tel.: 22 445 455
info@artosfoundation.org www.artosfoundation.org
NeMe Arts Centre, Limassol Corner of Ellados and Enoseos Streets, Limassol
Tel: 25 372 675
All screenings in Nicosia start at 21:00
All screenings in Limassol start at 20:00
Greek & English subtitles
Free admission
For film summaries and more information: short-matters.blogspot.com
Screening Programme
DINOLA
Grimstad Short Film Nominee
Georgia, 14’38”
Written & directed by: Mariam Khatchvani
Produced by: Vladimer Katcharava
Director Of Photography: Konstantin Esadze
Editor: Levan Kukhashvili
Production Design: Dimitri Arsanis
Costume Design: Ketevan Kalandadz
Sound Design: Ivane Gvaradze
Main Cast: Nutsi Khaptani (Daughter), Katie Lortkipanidze (Dino, Mother), Vakhtang Chachanidze (bridegroom), Datuna Guledani (boyfriend of daughter), Nukri Khatchvani (friend of bridegroom)
Synopsis: In the harsh mountainous countryside of Svaneti (Georgia), happiness is brief and the beloved husband of Dina dies. Tradition says she must leave her child and marry the first man who offers his hand.
ARTos: 16/9/2015 NeMe: 23/9/2015
THE MISSING SCARF
Volladolid Short Film Nominee
Ireland, 6’35”
Written & Directed by: Eoin Duffy
Produced by: Jamie Hogan
Director of Photography & Editor: Eoin Duffy
Production & Costume Design: Eoin Duffy
Sound Design: Gavin Little & Joe Mchugh
Original Score: Tobias Norberg & Gavin Little
Animation: Eoin Duffy
Main Cast: George Takei (Narrator)
Synopsis: George Takei narrates this multi-award-winning fable about a wise squirrel on an increasingly existential quest to find its scarf. The film sets out on a misadventurous route to answering four common human fears. Presented in order, they are: fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of rejection and, finally, fear of death, which is comically blown out of proportion to include the entire universe. For each fear both sides of an argument are presented but visually no real resolution is delivered. This allows the audience to form their own conclusion for each argument.
ARTos: 16/9/2015 NeMe: 23/9/2015
SHIPWRECK
Locarno Short Film Nominee
Netherlands, 14’57”
Directed by: Morgan Knibbe
Produced by: Jos De Putter & Wink De Putter
Director of Photography & Editor: Morgan Knibbe
Sound Design: Noah Pepper, Taco Drijfhout & Vincent Sinceretti
Original Score: Carlos Dalla-Fiore
Synopsis: On 3 October 2013, a boat carrying 500 Eritrean refugees sunk off the coast of the Italian island Lampedusa. More than 360 people drowned. Abraham, one of the survivors, walks through a graveyard of shipwrecks and vividly remembers the nightmarish experience. Meanwhile, chaos breaks loose at the harbour, whilst hundreds of coffins are being loaded onto a military ship.
ARTos: 16/9/2015 • NeMe: 23/9/2015
LITTLE BLOCK OF CEMENT WITH DISHEVELLED HAIR CONTAINING THE SEA
Cork Short Film Nominee
Spain, 15’32”
Written, Directed & Produced by: Jorge Lopez Navarrete
Director of Photography: Carlos Mora
Editor: Jorge Lopez Navarrete
Production Design: Cristina Martinez & Carlos Enriquez
Sound Design: Cristina Arias
Original Score: Carlo Marchionni
Main Cast: Kinara, Tomi
Synopsis: A dog and a mare embark upon a voyage together. With every step they take, the differences between them become inevitably clearer, and yet the profound mutual knowledge they develop over time shows the potential to suddenly produce a luminous moment between the two.
ARTos: 16/9/2015 • NeMe: 23/9/2015
STILL GOT LIVES
Drama Short Film Nominee
Germany, 23’
Directed by: Jan-Gerrit Seyler
Written by: Katarina Kokstein
Produced by: Thorsten Heger
Director of Photography: Jurgen Kemmer
Editor: Max Mittelbach
Production Design: Sabine Kasch
Costume Design: Miriam Aksoy
Sound Design: Hartmut Teschemacher
Original Score: Stefan Paul Goetsch
Animation: Toni Sattler & Tobias Graff
Main Cast: Swantje Kohlhof, Bazon Rosengarth
Synopsis: Marco and Lisa are in love. Online, they fight side by side against dreadful monsters. However, Lisa refuses to meet Marco in real life. When one day she stops showing up for the game, Marco decides to go searching for her. He finds a new world. And learns real dread.
ARTos: 16/9/2015 • NeMe: 23/9/2015
DAILY BREAD
Venice Short Film Nominee
Israel, 18’
Written & Directed by: Idan Hubel
Produced by: Kobi Azran
Director of Photography: David Stagmeister
Editor: Idan Hubel
Production Design: Estee Nemeth
Costume Design: Shai Friedman
Sound Design: Moshe Silver
Main Cast: Adam Shmidt (Jonathan)
Synopsis: Jonathan loves chocolate. One day he steals the last remaining chocolate in the jar. When his stepmother caches him and his brothers ostracise him, he decides to run away.
ARTos: 17/9/2015 • NeMe: 23/9/2015
PRIDE
Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Nominee
Bulgaria/Germany, 30’
Directed by: Pavel Vesnakov
Written by: Pavel Vesnakov & Vanya Rainova
Produced by: Vanya Rainova
Director of Photography: Orlin Ruevski
Editor: Karen Tonne
Production Design: Nikolai Zlatanov
Sound Design: Veselin Zografov
Synopsis: Manol − a retired general, a loving grandfather − is a patriarch of firm morals and fixed beliefs, which he has upheld in his household. But on this day he learns that the boy he raised is gay. The life choices of his loved ones challenge his values in a battle he has lost by default.
ARTos: 17/9/2015 • NeMe: 23/9/2015
SUMMER 2014
Krakow Short Film Nominee
Poland, 12’
Written, Directed & Produced by: Wojciech Sobczyk
Director of Photography & Editor: Wojciech Sobczyk
Sound Design: Michał Jankowski & Michał Fojcik
Original Score: Bartosz Chajdecki
Animation: Wojciech Sobczyk
Synopsis: A pessimistic view of the human fate, a universal tale of the world possessed by evil. The same piece of land is shown multiple times in different scenes. At the beginning, there is a bloody battle of swords, axes and spears, followed by plagues and conflagration. Next it becomes an arena of war, uprising and famine – observed through a cemetery wall. After a short while grains and grass sprout from the blood-soaked earth. Nature is reborn, it flourishes and presents itself in its fullest form: as summer. However, the repetition is painful and pessimistic, the world, trapped in a vicious cycle of evil, is unable to break free.
ARTos: 17/9/2015 • NeMe: 24/9/2015
THE CHICKEN (European Short Film 2014)
Bristol Short Film Nominee
Germany/Croatia, 15’
Written & Directed by: Una Gunjak
Produced by: Jelena Goldbach
Director of Photography: Matthias Pilz
Editor: Anja Siemens
Production Design: Ivana Škrabalo
Costume Design: Martina Franić
Sound Design: Sebastian Morsch & Raoul Brand
Original Score: Bernd Schurer
Main Cast: Iman Alibalić (Selma,Younger Sister), Esma Alić (Azra, Oldersister), Mirela Lambić (Mother), Mario Knezović (Soldier)
Synopsis: As a present for her 6th birthday, Selma gets a live chicken. When she realises the animal is going to be killed to feed the family, she decides to save it and set it free, unaware of the high stakes such action will lead to. While trying to bring back the missing chicken, Selma’s mum becomes the target of a sniper shoot. Sarajevo,1993.
ARTos: 17/9/2015 • NeMe: 24/9/2015
WALL
Tampere Short Film Nominee
Hungary, 11’
Written & Directed by: Simon Szabo
Produced by: Julia Berkes
Director of Photography & Editor:Albert Czomba
Production & Costume Design: Judit Sinkovics
Sound Design: Alex Hunyadi
Original Score: Ekaros Ekaros
Main Cast: Sandor Toth (Laci)
Synopsis: Laci is a 16-year-old gypsy boy, who lives off casual jobs. One day, he gets picked up from the streets, along with a small group of workers, for a construction job. He has to participate in the completion of a wall that surrounds a series of tenement buildings. The film follows the various stages of the construction as Laci helps out the other workers. In the end, Laci is asked to complete the work. He now takes his first look beyond the wall, which holds an unusual revelation for him.
ARTos: 18/9/2015 • NeMe: 24/9/2015
THE CHIMERA OF M.*
Rotterdam Short Film Nominee
UK, 25’
Directed by: Sebastian Buerkner
Written by: Sebastian Buerkner & John Mosely
Sound Design: Gernot Fuhrmann
Animation: Sebastian Buerkner, Peter Caires,Timothy Divall & Natalie Rose Young
Main Cast: Micheal Grime (M.), James French(Male Voice), Martina Schmucker (Female Voice)
Synopsis: Entering the already unfamiliar virtual space of a stereoscopic digital animation, viewers find themselves behind the eyes of an unseen and distinctly unreliable protagonist, so evasive that he and his motives can hardly be identified. Arriving by train at a town where he once lived, he moves through the old haunts seemingly attempting to re-engage with two abandoned relationships, one with a man, one with a woman, yet frequently appearing simply to become more engaged with quotidian objects made hallucinatory by close scrutiny. The very fractured and expressive manifestation of the three-dimensional space in this stereoscopic film, combined with the protagonist’s point of view, puts the viewers inside these contorted relationships. The pounding and intimate interactions of the characters have to be endured by being pushed through each situation locked into the identity of someone who refuses to participate, or maybe even to be.
ARTos: 16, 17, 18/9/2015 • NeMe: 24/9/2015
*Due to technical particularities, the short film THE CHIMERA OF M.” will be presented at ARTos Foundation in the form of an installation and will be available for viewing throughout the screenings for SHORT MATTERS!, on the 16, 17 and 18 September.
TAPROBANA
Berlin Short Film Nominee
Portugal/Denmark/Sao Tome and Principe/Sri Lanka, 24’
Written & Directed by: Gabriel Abrantes
Produced by: Gabriel Abrantes, Natxo Checa, Marta Furtado, Vimukthi Jayasundara, Tine Fischer & Patricia Drati
Director of Photography: Gabriel Abrantes
Editor & Production Design: Natxo Checa
Sound Design: Hugo Leitao & Daniel Gries
Main Cast: Jani Zhao (Dinamene), Natxo Checa(Camoes)
Synopsis: Luis Vaz de Camoes, the greatest Portuguese Renaissance poet, struggles creatively while engaging in a hedonistic, coprophagic, and drug-addled lifestyle. The film follows the poet, and his lover Dinamene, as he writes his masterpiece, the epic poem Os Lusiadas. He travels from the cacophony of the Indic jungles, surrounded by allegorical elephants and rhyming macaques, to the frontier of Heaven and Hell, where he is confronted by his fantasy: fame and immortality.
ARTos: 18/9/2015 • NeMe: 24/9/2015
EMERGENCY CALLS
Sarajevo Short Film Nominee
Finland, 14’59”
Written, Directed & Produced by: Hannes Vartiainen & Pekka Veikkolainen
Director of Photography & Editor: Hannes Vartiainen & Pekka Veikkolainen
Production Design: Hannes Vartiainen & Pekka Veikkolainen
Sound Design & Original Score: Joonatan Portaankorva
Animation: Hannes Vartiainen & Pekka Veikkolainen
Main Cast: Lauri Hynninen, Jonna Uhrman
Synopsis: Being human is a fragile and fleeting opportunity to experience life and the universe around us. In the face of overwhelming darkness all we can do is to rely on and find solace in one another. This film is based on authentic emergency calls and radio traffic.
ARTos: 18/9/2015 • NeMe: 24/9/2015
WHALE VALLEY
Ghent Short Film Nominee
Denmark/Iceland, 15’29”
Written & Directed by: Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson
Produced by: Anton Mani Svansson & Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson
Director of Photography: Gunnar Audunn Johannsson
Editor: Anders Skov
Production Design: Julia Embla Katrinardottir
Costume Design: Helga Ros V. Hannam
Sound Design: Gunnar Oskarsson
Main Cast: Agust Orn B. Wigum (Ivar), Einar Johann Valsson (Arnar)
Synopsis: The film shows a pure love story between two brothers who live in a remote Icelandic fjord with their parents. When the younger brother, a little boy, witnesses a life or death moment involving his big brother it sets in motion the possibility of either a great tragedy or a turning point to better times in both of their lives.
ARTos: 18/9/2015 • NeMe: 24/9/2015
