Directed by: Ninna Pálmadóttir
Iceland, Croatia, USA, 2020, 17 min

A solitary farm is home to an equally solitary man named Gunnar. The endless silence that surrounds him is occasionally disturbed only by the barking of his canine companion, and by the presence of his granddaughter, who turns up one day… A tender story of unspoken fears, of powerful gestures that disguise weakness, and of mortality, a subject we all have to address at some point in our lives.

Directed by: Magdalena Gajewska
Poland, 2021, 30 min

Teresa is suffering from postnatal depression after the birth of her son. In an effort to find comfort elsewhere she temporarily moves back with her husband to her parents’ house. However, the young woman’s family home conjures up memories of a previous relationship and a past love that perhaps has yet to be extinguished. A perceptive film about the painful side of motherhood that can’t be alleviated even by the tender smile of a child.

Directed by: Mathias Seebacher
Austria, 2020, 29 min

Andi shares a deserted building with a group of fellow-squatters he considers his family. One day his sister turns up unexpectedly with her small son Levi, seeking refuge from her abusive boyfriend; she has nowhere else to turn. So Andi suddenly finds himself in the role of uncle, the squat is transformed into an alternative kindergarten, and the estranged pair become the siblings they once were.

Directed by: Jerry Hoffmann
Germany, 2021, 27 min

Somewhere in the near future, withdrawn Noé is out in the forest one day and finds a motionless figure lying on the ground. Upon closer inspection, she discovers this isn’t a human being at all but a perfectly formed female android. Noé takes the robotic body home with her, she repairs it, charges its battery, and ELA comes to life. The coexistence of two different entities presents certain problems, even though the machine tries its best to solve them. For one thing, it starts to imitate Noé’s behaviour…

Directed by: German Golub
Estonia, 2020, 34 min

Erki’s birthday celebration isn't going at all the way he planned. A ring on the doorbell doesn’t signal the arrival of more guests, but the appearance of a repossession agent set on evicting the young man and his mother from their home. In order for Erki to get his mum’s apartment back, he takes on a job working for a funeral service. A tale about death with a whiff of the comic, a take on life with a mournful smile – that’s My Dear Corpses.

Directed by: Kateřina Hroníková
Slovak Republic, 2021, 27 min

Libuše and her husband Jaromír have been together for a long time, perhaps too long. It seems their lives have become mired in a vicious circle of enervation, which neither of them wants to admit. The couple might have spent the rest of their days like this were it not for the arrival of a motivational package from an agency called The Sun… A study of life’s declining years as a period in which simple whims become immutable laws, whose infringement is almost physically impossible.

Directed by: Irene Albanell Mellado
Spain, 2021, 18 min

The mother of ten-year-old Martina turns up late, just when the little girl is about to give up hope they might spend the afternoon together. As they have an amazing chemistry, she really wants to have her mum to herself, but all too soon she realises that her mother has not beaten her drug addiction and Martina finds herself in a hard situation yet again...

Directed by: Marcell Farkas
Hungary, 2020, 16 min

Peti is a diabetic and breeder of phoenixes. When a sweet (!) meteorite lands in his room one day, he can’t wait to rush out and tell someone about it. Irma, dressed in her dad’s old diving suit and the architect of the home-made meteorites, proves to be an ideal companion… Infused with an irresistibly unsettling playfulness, the film briefly addresses and then abandons the problems of the modern world, from an absence of love to pervasive microplastics.

Directed by: Glen Bay Grant
Denmark, 2021, 23 min

Jacqueline works as a relationship coach and she’s used to having everything under control. Including her course participants, her son and herself. One day, however, her carefully constructed world starts to collapse when her son tells her he wants to become independent. Jacqueline now has to confront her own personal integrity and decide whether it stems from the loyalty of others or from a healthy self-confidence…

Directed by: Hyun Lories
Belgium, 2020, 20 min

Sanaa has a job as a station cleaner. She seems contented enough there, or at least she is resigned to the work she does, but what she can’t deal with is the contempt her girlfriend’s family shows her. Sanaa seeks solace by returning to the place where she grew up, and where her younger sister still lives… A film about the kind of responsibility that is sometimes so difficult to accept.