One year after the release of their debut album, rising rock band In-Famous only have one day left in the studio to come up with their newest hit single.
Filmed over seven years, the documentary follows Valter Hugo Mãe as he writes his novel “A Desumanização”, across journeys through Iceland, Brazil, Portugal, Colombia, and Macau. A visual meditation on solitude, loss, and belonging, featuring appearances by cartoonist Laerte Coutinho and Icelandic composer Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, mentor of bands such as Sigur Rós and Björk. The film is part of the project “The Meaning of Life”, which director Miguel Gonçalves Mendes has been developing for more than a decade: a series of nine features built as a kaleidoscope of contemporary figures, in which the filmmaker invites us to reflect on what makes us, as humans, unique beings.
Walenty, under the influence of severe stress related to problems at university, has a mysterious seizure which transports him to a magical world of hallucinations. During his journey, he meets an eccentric hallucination hunter, Hapi, who knows a way out from this strange land.
Manakin is an experimental short that follows the story of a single woman living in a desolate house accompanied by a life-like stuffed doll. A creation of her own design, the manakin projects videos of single men reciting words of lust, absurd confessions and the desire for human connection. While these audio-visual projections keep her company in her isolation, our subject begins to weave her own web crafted by the same material as the doll, growing as an entity outside this house. Directed by Kasey Oldford, Manakin uses found audio prompts from the dating app Hinge, spliced and put back together to create a nerve wracking video love poem that touches on the obscene and lonely reality of the modern quest for love.
During a long car ride, nine-year-old Timo escapes his parents’ bickering by creating a fantasy world in the passing landscape. A spaceman and T. rex battle across the skies and rolling hills, taking Timo along with them.
Rhymed couplets express the irritation caused by an uninvited rat guest. Based on a book by Nadia Budde, this short humorously advocates for sharing space and time with others.
A normal day in the recording studio for voice actress Candice takes a sudden turn when a former fling shows up as her scene partner. Past resentment and underlying chemistry threaten to ruin (or heighten?) each take of their erotic audiobook performance.
When a princess decides to escape from a possessive ruler, she wonders if her desire for freedom will triumph over the king’s despotic visions. Paper Love is brought to life through animated paper cut-outs and an entrancing score that together showcase the young filmmaker’s inventive imagination.
Hugo, a well-loved family man, has spent nine years in prison for murder he insists he did not commit. As he waits for his case to be reopened and his conviction overturned, his family recounts fond memories with him.
Jinwoo, a Korean American, returns to Seoul amid an escalating global crisis. Despite being exempt from service, he’s determined to enlist in the military and join the Korean soldiers being sent overseas. Awaiting his deployment day, he spends his time wandering the city’s winding streets, reconnecting with old friends and trying to win the approval of his stern, reserved father. A quiet tension builds as the big day approaches, and Jinwoo begins to question his decision.
Weaving intimate conversations with hundreds of hours of never-before-seen archive and home video, this documentary draws a compelling portrait of an artist who spent his life battling his own ego and a career torn between art and commerce all in pursuit of fulfilling his dream.
Johanna, a struggling social worker, returns to her late mother’s home where bruises, nightmares, and a hostile presence blur reality. As she spirals into isolation, she must confront the abuse of her childhood and reclaim agency—or remain trapped in the cycle forever.
LAB MAN is a docu-portrait about Arturo Arnold, a master of emulsion who processes all the 8mm and 16mm motion picture film for a busy film lab in North Hollywood.
In a room isolated from the real world, Juan, a 10-year-old boy, lives with his grandparents. His grandfather has a strange disease that causes him to expel large amounts of matter, and because of this, every night they are visited by apparitions that feed on his rotten flesh. The grandmother tries to hide what is happening from the boy, but one night Juan decides to sneak out and approach the apparitions.
Moments after winning a prestigious award, a jaded celebrity’s conversation with a young fan through a toilet stall door makes her reconsider how much her success means to her.