OFF ON SELECTION
STREAMING ONLINE
MAY 25 - JUNE 11, 2023
As of 2023, our festival adds the 'OFF ON' selection to the line-up. This special section is available for streaming only. Streaming on Whush.com from 25 May to 11 June 2023.
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ENCOUNTERS LOST IN TIME (PORTUGAL) BY JOSÉ MANUEL FERNANDES
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Synopsis: A Portuguese on the island of Tanegashima, follows the story of the first meeting between Japan and the West, observing that the gestures of the Portuguese and Japanese today reproduce the gestures of the Portuguese and Japanese of yesterday, in the same space, at another time. Running time: 00:20:00.
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ARMORED SAINT - A BAND OF BROTHERS (UK) BY RUSSELL CHERRINGTON
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Synopsis: This is the story of Armored Saint, a band of brothers that created their own unique sound and image in the 1980's Los Angeles rock and metal scene. Running time: 02:24:00.
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Selections/awards: Doc.London, Doc.Sydney.
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LIGHTS OUT, BERLIN! (GERMANY) BY DIMITRIS ARGYRIOU
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Synopsis: Lights Out, Berlin! is a documentary about the effects of the covid-19 pandemic in Berlin's music & club scene. Berlin has always been a vivid and colourful city. A city that was full of inspiring spots, artistic opportunities, and loud nightlife. A city with a huge cultural background that was for two years on hold. Running time: 01:30:00.
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Selections/awards: Ghent Viewpoint Documentary FF.
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FREEWHEELIN' (NORWAY) BY FINN WALTHER
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Synopsis: Constrained by his physical impairment, a boy in a wheelchair gets a wild idea when meeting a free-range hen. Freewheelin’ is a one minute story about restraints versus opportunities, and reaching for the stars in the spirit of Ikaros in Greek mythology. Running time: 00:01:20.
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Selections/awards: Minimalen Short FF (Audience Award: Best 1 Minute Short), Super Shorts LA, Brussels Independent FF, Hollywood Gold Awards (Best Super Short), Los Angeles FF (Best Super Short), and more.
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RE-MEMBERING: MEDITATION ON A TRIPTYCH (SWEDEN) BY AMRA HECO
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Synopsis: A chance encounter with discovered video footage from 1983 of the Bosnian town Tesanj triggers unexpected emotions as the filmmaker recognizes her grandfather who died in the 90's during the war. This opens old wounds, but also creates an opportunities for healing. The film is a meditation that brings into question dominating visual narratives through the eyes of three characters whose destinies and fates merge in unexpected ways through the thin veil of digital celluloid. Running time: 00:10:15.
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Selections/awards: Sarajevo FF, Golden Horse IFF (Best Documentary Short), Gothenburg FF, Doc.Boston (Best Experimental Documentary), and more.
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HOLESTEPPER (PERU) BY SERGIO FERNÁNDEZ MUÑOZ
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Synopsis: Angel (Oswaldo Salas), an enthusiastic high school teacher, discovers a website where his students make fun of him and his disability through some strange videos. Mixing reality and the adolescent digital universe, Angel will be involved in a world hitherto unknown. Running time: 00:17:26.
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Selections/awards: Sydney World FF, Sao Paolo Int Short FF, Frostbite IFF, Barcelona Indie Filmmakers Festival, London Screen Power FF, and more.
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A FUGUE (UK) BY CHARLES JIMENEZ
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Synopsis: In a melancholic half-alive dreamscape, a nameless and featureless sedentary body forgotten from time and space struggles to find the light to its path amongst an ever-expanding disorderly reverie. Running time: 00:11:00.
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Selections/awards: Philadelphia Youth FF (Winner Experimental), Enimation Festival, Farnham FF, Dhaka International Youth FF, and more.
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CANDLE (UK) BY CHARLES JIMENEZ
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Synopsis: Confined to an endlessly burning waiting room, a dying sedentary woman experiences herself blurring between existences as she decays. In her last remaining fragments she tries to make amends with her spirit before her last frame. Running time: 00:06:55.
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MOSCOW STATE CIRCUS (USA) BY JOSHUA VAN HORN
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Synopsis: A short profile on the bears of the Moscow State Circus based on a passage by John McPhee. Running time: 00:01:02.
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Selections/awards: Extremely Shorts FF, MicroMania FF, Big Teeth Small Shorts FF, Doc.London, Sydney World FF, Ghent Viewpoint Documentary FF and more.
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ATMOSPHERIC MARGINALIA (USA) BY ADAM E. STONE
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Synopsis: Equal parts poetic essay film and family folklore, Atmospheric Marginalia is an enchanting probe into a pair of star-crossed lovers and misfits, the continuing bonds theory of grief, and the existence of an afterlife. Steeped in the tradition of raw, no-budget guerrilla filmmaking, it was filmed entirely by hand on an unmodified iPhone 8 in 2020 and 2021, without the use of tripods, external lenses, lighting aids, etc. The film's free-flowing cycles of imagery feature unconventional palettes of unpeopled skyscapes and waterscapes that evoke, in rich and enigmatic detail, a world that often remains hidden in plain sight. Running time: 01:15:07.
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Selections/awards: Brussels Independent FF, Viewpoint Documentary FF, Sydney World FF, and more.
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REBIRTH (SWEDEN) BY NILS AGDLER
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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.
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Selections/awards: International Short FF Oberhausen, Berlin Flash FF, Super Shorts London, and more.
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