SATURDAY 11/10 | 20:00
Man Number 4
10’, 2024
United Kingdom
Documentary, Experimental
Synopsis
Gaza, December 2023. A confrontation with a disturbing photograph on social media triggers questions about what it means to be an onlooker.
Credits
Directed by: Miranda Pennell | Screenplay: Miranda Pennell | Cinematography: Miranda Pennell | Editing: Miranda Pennell | Sound Design: Philippe Ciompi | Voice: John Smith | Producer: Miranda Pennell
Director's Bio
Miranda Pennell is a London-based filmmaker whose work often recycles images from British colonial archives to reflect on contemporary situations. Her films have screened at New York Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, FID Marseille, Viennale, Rotterdam International Film Festival, London International Film Festival, among others. Recent group exhibitions include Evil Eye: The Parralel Histories of Optics and Ballistics (2023) at the Tabakalera Centre for Contemporary Culture, San Sebastian. Retrospective programmes include Returning the Gaze at Documenta Madrid (2025). She is currently developing a new commission for the Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam.
Filmography
2023 Trouble
2020 Strange Object
2015 The Host
2011 Why Colonel Bunny Was Killed
2007 Drum Room
2005 You made me love you
2004 Fisticuffs
2003 Magnetic North
2002 Human Radio
2001 Tattoo
Selected Awards
- Nominated for the 38th European Film Awards (2025), short film category ARTWORKS.
- Experimental Competition Award, Curtas Vila do Conde IFF, Portugal, 2024.
- Grand Prix & Critics Jury Award, 20th 25FPS International Experimental FF Zagreb, Croatia, 2025.
- Grand Prix Documentary Short Award, 69th Cork IFF, Ireland.
- Best Film Award, Athens Avant-Garde FF, Greece, 2024.
- Best Short Film, Movies That Matter, Den Hague, The Netherlands, 2025.
- Best Short Film Award, UnArchive Found Footage Festival, Rome, Italy, 2025.
Trailer
NIKH (or The Impossible Hope of Trying)
15’, 2025
Greece
Fiction
Synopsis
On the eve of the biggest show of her career, a young pop singer struggles with her sense of control over her art and her mind. But fate has other plans for her.
Credits
Directed by: Savvas Stavrou | Screenplay: Savvas Stavrou | Cinematography: Konstantinos Koukoulios | Editing: Christos Giannakopoulos | Production Design: Dimitra Sourlantzi | Costume Design: Vasilia Rozana | Music: Melentini | Sound Design: Persefoni Miliou | Cast: Flomaria Papadaki, Elena Topalidou | Producer: Kiriaki Virou |Production Company: AbFab Productions | Co-producer: Emma Doxiadi
Director's Bio
Savvas Stavrou is a writer/director and Sundance Lab, Berlinale Talents, and BFI Network @ LFF alumnus. His BFI-funded musical short Buffer Zone premiered at Clermont-Ferrand and BFI Flare, winning multiple awards across several festivals internationally. He has produced commercials for Apple, Samsung, and Nike, and produced videos for The Rolling Stones, Dua Lipa, Sam Smith and Muse. His latest short, The Impossible Hope οf Trying, is on the festival circuit. He is in post-production on When The Music Stopped and developing three features, including Lovesong To Lavender Menace and The Ones Left Behind, which was one of 8 projects selected at the Sundance Mediterranean Screenwriters Lab.
Filmography
2025 NIKH (or The Impossible Hope of Trying)
2023 Buffer Zone
2019 A Jar of Nuts
2016 Interlude
2014 Dorothea
2011 Song to the Siren
Pigeons on the Rooftop / Porumbei pe Acoperiș
15’, 2024
Romania
Fiction
Synopsis
In a quiet Bucharest suburb, Edith and Stan lead an unremarkable life - until Spiridon, the building handyman, stirs their routine with a startling revelation: their new neighbour breeds pigeons that are not what they seem. As Edith, a fervent believer in conspiracy theories, becomes increasingly obsessed, her imagination spirals out of control, blurring the lines between reality and paranoia.
Credits
Directed by: Miruna Ursache | Screenplay: Miruna Ursache | Cinematography: Constantin Ene Jr. | Editing: Miruna Ursache | Sound Design: Cristian Laceanu | Cast: Adriana Neagoe, Claudiu Dragomir, Alin Constantinescu, Daniel Tonu | Producer: Miruna Ursache | Co-producers: Aurelian Virgil Dragne
Director's Bio
Miruna Ursache was born in 1980 in Bucharest, Romania. She trained in Filmmaking at Florin Șerban’s Film School, completing courses in acting, screenwriting, and film directing. Her debut short film, Pigeons on the Rooftop (2024), has been selected at Tampere Film Festival and won Best International Short Film at Chicago Shorts. She is currently in post-production with her second short and developing two new scripts.
Filmography
2024 Pigeons on the Rooftop / Porumbei pe Acoperiș
Awards
- Best International Short, Chicago Shorts, USA, 2025
We Were Never Perfect
12’, 2025
Greece, Cyprus
Fiction
Synopsis
As an epidemic of collective blindness spreads around the world, an archivist and a filmmaker meet on the edge of darkness. A short meditation on what it means to truly see and love, just as everything begins to fade.
Credits
Directed by: Alexandra Matheou | Screenplay: Alexandra Matheou | Cinematography: Konstantinos Koukoulios | Editing: Christos Giannakopoulos | Art Direction: Dimitra Sourlantzi | Costume Design: Dimitra Sourlantzi | Sound Design: Leandros Ntounis | Cast: Mary Mina, Loukianos Moschonas | Producers: Kiriaki Virou, Savvas Stavrou | Production Company: AbFab Productions | Co-producers: This Is The Girl Films
Director's Bio
Alexandra Matheou is a screenwriter and director whose work explores the intersection of the intimate and the social, with a focus on female subjectivity, class, and belonging. She holds an LLB and LLM from King’s College London and an MA in Film Studies from UCL. Her short films have screened internationally, and her latest A Summer Place(2021), a Cyprus-France co-production with the support of the CNC, has enjoyed selections and awards at major film festivals across the world. Her debut feature is in development with backing from the Cyprus Deputy Ministry of Culture, the Greek Film Centre, and Creative Europe MEDIA.
Filmography
2025 We Were Never Perfect
2021 A Summer Place
2018 Grief (A place none of us know until we reach it)
Fish River Anthology / Mereneläviä
10’, 2024
Finland
Fiction, Animation
Synopsis
The supermarket is nearing its closing time, and the last customers are queuing for their turn at the fish counter. The agonising wait offers a chance for existential reflection and a little song.
Credits
Directed by: Veera Lamminpää | Screenplay: Veera Lamminpää | Animation: Veera Lamminpää | Cinematography: Arttu Liimatta | Editing: Veera Lamminpää | Music: Iiti Yli-Harja | Sound Design: Samuli Ala-Lahti | Production Design: Veera Lamminpää | Costume Design: Tuuni Jacobs | Special Effects: Jaakko Maja | Cast: Mari Rantasila, Mika Rättö, Iiti Yli-Harja, Heikki Kujanpää, Elsi Sloan | Producers: Janne Vanhanen, Veera Lamminpää | Production Company: Aalto University – ELO Film School | Co-producer: Seiza Films
Director's Bio
Veera Lamminpää (b.1994) studies Film Directing with a minor in Animation at Aalto University in Finland. Veera is a director, screenwriter and animator with multiple short films and commercial film productions under her belt. While not working, she spends most of her time gardening or in the sauna.
Filmography
2024 Great Emotions / Suuret Τunteet
2023 Saunapiru / Sauna Τroll
2021 An Unfortunate Occasion / Valitettava Τilaisuus
2017 Rôtisseur
Selected Awards
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Risto Jarva Prize, Tampere FF Student Award – Nominee for the European Short Film Audience Award – Sustainability Award Versio, Tampere ISFF, Finland, 2025.
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Audience Award, New York International Children’s Film Festival, USA, 2025.
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Short Film Prize – Jussi Award, National Film Awards of Finland, Finland, 2025.
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Best Short Animation, Riga International Short Film Festival – 2 Annas, Latvia, 2025.
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Best Animation Award, Descubierto Film Festival, Peru, 2025.
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Best Animation Award, 43rd FILMSCHOOLFEST Munich, Germany, 2024.
Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites / Chao Somnop Chet
19’, 2025
Cambodia, France, USA
Fiction
Synopsis
During her chaotic family’s Qingming visit, dead Grandma Nai sneaks away from her peaceful afterlife after overhearing that her queer grandson is about to get engaged to a woman.
Credits
Directed by: Chheangkea | Screenplay: Chheangkea | Cinematography: Shyan Tan | Editing: Chheangkea | Cast: Bonrotanak Rith, Saroeun Nay, Sokun Theary Ty, Phalla Im, Chansophorn “Rose” Buth, Ponleu Chab, Naryroth Say, Sophat Peov, Bophal Meas | Producers: Daniel Mattes, Karen Madar | Production Companies: Anti-Archive, NoMad Productions
Director's Bio
Chheangkea is a Cambodia-born filmmaker based in Brooklyn, New York. He holds a BS in Architecture from MIT and an MFA in Filmmaking from NYU Tisch, where he was a Dean’s Fellow. His work explores the complexities of queer and Cambodian identity. His short film Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites (2025) premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction. His previous short Skin Can Breathe was a finalist in the 2022 HBO Max APA Visionaries competition and is now streaming on Max. His debut feature, Little Phnom Penh, is currently in development and was selected for the HamptonsFilm Screenwriters Lab, MunichFilmUp, and the NYU Purple List in 2024.
Filmography
2025 Grandma Nai Who Played Favorites
2022 Skin Can Breathe
2021 A Fire That Never Dies
Awards
- Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction, Sundance Film Festival, USA, 2025.
- Best Queer Short Award, Provincetown International Film Festival, USA, 2025.
- Audience Award, CinemaQ Film Festival, USA, 2025.
Trailer
The Weaver
4’, 2025
Cyprus
Animation, Experimental
Synopsis
Arachne, the masterful weaver, spun tales of the gods’ misdeeds. But for weaving the truth, she was met with divine wrath, cruel and unrelenting.
Credits
Directed by: Yiorgos Tsangaris | Dramaturgy: Magdalena Zira | Cinematography: Yiorgos Tsangaris | Editing: Yiorgos Tsangaris | Music: Antonis Antoniou | Producer: Yiorgos Tsangaris | Production Company: Revolutions in Small Rooms | Co-producers: Department of Contemporary Culture, Cyprus Deputy Ministry of Culture
Director's Bio
Yiorgos Tsangaris is a graphic artist, experimental animation filmmaker and the founder and artistic director of Animafest Cyprus (est. 2002), the first International Animation Film Festival in Cyprus. He has served as a guest curator and jury member of many international animation festivals. His work has received awards locally and internationally. Since 2019, he has been the artistic director of Hambis Municipal Printmaking Museum in Nicosia.
Filmography
2025 The Weaver
2021 Rites of Spring
Trailer
Vultures / Aasvoëls
15’, 2025
France, South Africa
Fiction
Synopsis
In the volatile moments after a car crash, yet before the authorities arrive, a hot-headed yet desperate tow truck driver fiercely protects his tow. But the situation quickly spirals out of his control.
Credits
Directed by: Dian Weys | Screenplay: Dian Weys | Cinematography: Pierre de Villiers | Editing: Dian Weys | Sound Design: James Olivier, Jack van Wyk | Production Design: Bathoni Robinson | Costume Design: Bathoni Robinson | Cast: Edwin van der Walt | Producers: Emilie Dubois, Anaïs Bertrand, Le Roux Fourie | Production Companies: Insolence Productions, Electronic Roof Films
Director's Bio
Dian Weys is a South African filmmaker born in 1991. He holds an MA in Film Studies cum laude from the University of Cape Town and is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Groningen (Netherlands). His first three short films screened at over a hundred international film festivals, including Clermont-Ferrand, Palm Springs ShortFest, Message to Man, Tampere, and ZINEBI Bilbao. Bergie also won Tanit d’Argent for Best Short Film at the Carthage Film Festival. Vultures is his fourth short film.
Filmography
2025 Vultures
2022 Bergie
2021 Farmhouse
2017 Accelerate
Awards
- Grand Prix Unifrance, Cannes Film Festival, France, 2025.