October 18, 20:00 | Theatersaal Puschkinhaus
international competition short films up to 15 min
Online available 15 - 30 October
When a town resident disappears under the ground, the supposed ambulance rushes to the rescue.
58-year-old hairdresser Melanie drives her son Stefan (32), a young author, to the first reading of his autobiographical debut novel THE SALON. While the journey becomes an excursion into his past for Stefan, Melanie feels an oppressive sense of unease: who is her son, who suddenly talks as rudely as the people on TV and looks as if he hasn’t washed for three weeks? How is she supposed to assert herself in an environment that is actually completely alien to her and in which she sees no place for herself?
A robot hoover suffering from burnout quits his job at a hospital and sets out to find community and a greater purpose in a quiet street where two lonely rabbits are stuck in an endless loop.
A young nurse struggles between caring for a disabled elderly patient and her dying grandfather. Although she doesn’t have much time left, she tries to fulfil her grandfather’s last wish, namely to learn to play his favourite song on the harmonica before he closes his eyes forever.
Shoes and Hooves is set in a world populated by human-animal hybrids. The logic of the film universe is based on the fact that the characters’ traits are dominated by their animal side and their personalities are thus determined on an instinctive level. The plot describes the doomed love of Paula, the centaur girl, and Arnold, the crocodile man. While Paula dreams of having human feet and thus denies her identity as a horse, Arnold tries to suppress his inner predator.
All attempts by a married couple to push the broken-down family car fail, but a single push from the child miracle could change the family’s fate forever.
Rina can’t see her son Dean, who is under house arrest at her home. Dean’s trial begins tomorrow. Rina doubts her ability to stand by him. Today she will have to look him in the eye and hear the truth.
In Bogota, a bird girl leaves her parental home, her dominating mother and her faithful dog behind to explore her sexuality.
Michèle lives with her daughter Suzanne. She is preparing to put on her first stage production with her friend Esther. The first meeting takes place in the town of her childhood. It is an opportunity for Michèle to return to her mother Gigi for a few hours … a few hours that will be anything but ordinary.
The final shovel plunges the shot into darkness. ‘Undergound’ is a stop-motion film that seems to speak of death, but does exactly the opposite.