Barreira (2023)

The Begotten Cycle

Themes of death, rebirth and mythology combine in this compilation of the subversive and surreal experimental films "Begotten", "Din of Celestial Birds" and "Polia & Blastema."

Bramayugam

Thevan, a folk singer of the Paanan caste, has a fateful encounter when escaping slavery, leading to discover an ancient tradition altering his destiny.

A Trip Elsewhere

During the Covid-19 pandemic, four anxious strangers take a record-breaking dose of LSD, catapulting them into a shared psychedelic dream where they must find solace and redemption before they can return to the real world.

Universal Language

Winter. Somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg. Negin and Nazgol find a sum of money frozen deep within the sidewalk ice and try to find a way to get it out. Massoud leads a group of befuddled tourists upon an increasingly-strange walking tour of Winnipeg historic sites. Matthew leaves his job at the Québec government and embarks upon a mysterious journey to visit his estranged mother.

La Chinoise

A small group of French students are studying Mao, trying to find out their position in the world and how to change the world to a Maoistic community using terrorism.

The Grass Dwellers

Juan Méndez Bernal leaves his house on the 9th of april of 1936 to fight in the imminent Spanish Civil War. 83 years later, his body is still one of the Grass Dwellers. The only thing that he leaves from those years on the front is a collection of 28 letters in his own writing.

Paranoid Park

A teenage skateboarder becomes suspected of being connected with a security guard who suffered a brutal death in a skate park called "Paranoid Park".

Inland Empire

As a Hollywood actress begins to adopt the persona of her character in a film, her world becomes nightmarish and surreal.

(NULL)

An unknown girl breaks out of her daily grind by undergoing an intense audio-visual trip.

Winter Portrait

A misty afternoon returns a Mapuche couple to their wedding video. In their civil ceremony, they are noted as one of only two couples married in the indigenous language of Mapudungun.

Electroma

Two robots embark on a quest to become human.

Mohammad Saadh

An Art and a Short Film in which the director records his childhood experiences and memories through the mischievous activities of a boy named Mohammad Saadh.

Blocked Together

Whilst a boy mourns the passing of his younger brother, hope of unity is found in his grief.

The We Should Game

Fame driven Ken Dean becomes the subject of a documentary when he attempts to start a pornography company. Following the failure of the company, Ken uses his father's religious music to start a Christian rock band but finds himself trapped in a gay conversion cult.

Thunderstruck

Flashing lights explode across an apartment as images of a naked woman in bed flicker in and out. Light paintings and projections illuminate a space of confrontation and an assault on the senses.

The Brown Bunny

Bud Clay races motorcycles in the 250cc Formula II class of road racing. After a race in New Hampshire, he has five days to get to his next race in California. During his road trip, he is haunted by memories of the last time he saw Daisy, his true love.

Puffer Rhapsody

By fabricating her biography, Luo Su, a young Chinese white-collar worker from a low-income family, hopes to wed Mr. Win, an alluring bachelor. But when her mother's shocking TV interview exposes her deceit, she loses everything and ends her own life. Left in limbo, she is mystically given one last opportunity to alter her fate within 72 hours - albeit within the body of a man.

Star

In this experimental short film, a young man and woman enter into a relationship with one another and quickly learn the ups and downs of intertwining their life with the one they love.

Three Mirrors Creature's Flashes of Flesh

In the aftermath of an emotional shock, a ruthless high-class manager faces her own abyss, becomes pervaded by a sensory spirit and undertakes a purifying voyage.

Amelia 2.0

After his wife Amelia suffers an aneurysm that leaves her bedridden and slowly dying, police officer Carter Summerland searches for a way to revive her. He's approached by Wesley Enterprises pioneering a new program to extend life through robotics, they get caught in a public debate over human’s relationship with technology and her right to exist.

Return to Reason: Four Films by Man Ray

An immersion into the surreal and dreamlike world of painter, photographer and filmmaker Man Ray (1890-1976), one of the most prolific American visual artists, through four of his short films, brought to life by the atmospheric music of SQÜRL.

Abysse

Plot unavailable

Totally F***ed Up

Gay, alienated Los Angeles teens have a hard time as their parents kick them out of their homes, they don’t have money, their lovers cheat, and they are harassed by gay-bashers.

Echo

A reframing of the classic tale of Narcissus, the director draws on snippets of conversation with a trusted friend to muse on gender and identity. Just as shimmers are difficult to grasp as knowable entities, so does the concept of a gendered self feel unknowable except through reflection. Is it Narcissus that Echo truly longs for, or simply the Knowing he possesses when gazing upon himself?

The Hanging City

Experimental film "Presence has all the things that life can have in itself. But living as a stranger in today's arena, how much does it desire to communication?

Nickel Boys

Chronicles the powerful friendship between two young Black teenagers navigating the harrowing trials of reform school together in Florida.

Anhell69

A funeral car cruises the streets of Medellín, while a young director tells the story of his past in this violent and conservative city. He remembers the pre-production of his first film, a Class-B movie with ghosts. The young queer scene of Medellín is casted for the film, but the main protagonist dies of a heroin overdose at the age of 21, just like many friends of the director. Anhell69 explores the dreams, doubts and fears of an annihilated generation, and the struggle to carry on making cinema.

Resurrection

In a world where humanity has lost the ability to dream, one creature remains entranced by the fading illusions of the dreamworld. This monster, adrift in reverie, clings to visions no one else can see — until a woman appears. Gifted with the rare power to perceive these illusions for what they truly are, she chooses to enter the monster’s dreams, determined to uncover the truth that lies hidden within.

Dam$els of Luxury

Amanda's stoner slumber party is put to a halt when one of her guests is nowhere to be found.

A Dying Tree

As the day ends for a worn-out office worker, he encounters the mysterious gaze of a chimpanzee, sparking a silent exchange that prompts him to make an irreversible decision.

2bhk

2 flatmates unfold the layers of their relationship on a random Sunday afternoon after they encounter a power cut.

Cobweb

In the 1970s, Director Kim is obsessed by the desire to re-shoot the ending of his completed film Cobweb, but chaos and turmoil grip the set with interference from the censorship authorities, and the complaints of actors and producers who can't understand the re-written ending. Will Kim be able to find a way through this chaos to fulfill his artistic ambitions and complete his masterpiece?

Kino Kopf

Born from steel and glass Kino Kopf is created by two inventors. They are assembled by their mother, a nurturing artist, and their Father a greedy entrepreneur. Kino Kopf is the first of its kind a sentient humanoid VHS camera. They are given a life by their mother but presented to the world by their father. Kino Kopf is the next big sensation and spurs a technological revolution. They are soon forgotten and alone as new models surpass them. Kino Kopf is left alone to contemplate if they ever had a soul, as visions of an electric cowboy dance through their dreams.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Shot on 16mm film in New York and composed in Berlin, the work explores polarizing themes of the metropolis. Audibly and visually, the viewer is put in a flicker between serenity and intensity; harrowing ambience cut with sharp beeps, vulnerable steps mashed in high velocity.

Blue

Against a plain, unchanging blue screen, a densely interwoven soundtrack of voices, sound effects and music attempt to convey a portrait of Derek Jarman's experiences with AIDS, both literally and allegorically, together with an exploration of the meanings associated with the colour blue.

The Tuba Thieves

A spate of robberies in Southern California schools had an oddly specific target: tubas. In this work of creative nonfiction, d/Deaf first-time feature director Alison O’Daniel presents the impact of these crimes from an unexpected angle. The film unfolds mimicking a game of telephone, where sound’s feeble transmissibility is proven as the story bends and weaves to human interpretation and miscommunication. The result is a stunning contribution to cinematic language. O’Daniel has developed a syntax of deafness that offers a complex, overlaid, surprising new texture, which offers a dimensional experience of deafness and reorients the audience auditorily in an unfamiliar and exhilarating way.

Introspection

Stephen, a blackbird, comes upon an abandoned mirror in a garden. Upon gazing his reflection for the very first time, Stephen begins to search within. Should Stephen return to his flock, or set out on an adventure to try and find his own way in life?

Documentary: Moving

Amateur documentary film about the process of moving. A boy, Jakub, decides to make a documentary himself after a tour of one of the apartments. The documentary shows the whole story of how he, his parents and younger brother move to a bigger apartment. The result is an emotional rollercoaster that deals not only with the move, but also with the family itself.

1888

When Demonetization (currency ban) is announced in India, 3 unlikely characters come face to face for a bag of cash. After that a car journey begins and some more characters come into picture. This results in a cat and mouse game with a very unexpected outcome.

Kyklop

The short film poem KYKLOP is dedicated to a mechanical eye as an autonomous being. Round wheels and targets similar to him seem to arouse the interest of this main character. The atmosphere is thundery, thunderous. It reminds of the cyclopean thunder demons from the "Theogony" of the ancient Greek poet Hesiod. KYKLOP (2023) is another autonomous part of the film cycle by Telemach Wiesinger and Alexander Grebtschenko that began with TURBULENCE (2022) and its pairs of mechanical wings.

Kottukkaali

A family decides to visit their clan God to cure their daughter, believed to be possessed but in fact is in love with a man from a different caste. The journey accompanied by her betrothed, unveils tensions between tradition and personal freedom, exposing her silent rebellion.

INFRASTRATA

Amongst the contemplative static shots of decaying architecture weaves an abstract narrative unveiling the life-cycle of a higher perception, too large to perceive. Shot at various sites across south-east England, INFRASTRATA is a study on the concept of super-organisms, and the relationship between structure and nature.

154

The prototype [TEST TYPE • 154] is a highly sophisticated artificial intelligence, which is capable of autonomously acquiring notions from its surroundings and - eventually - developing autonomy of thought. Given the nearly human nature of its learning capabilities, the laboratory that programmed it hires a kindergarten teacher, asking him to instruct the machine as if it were a newborn child. The learning process - which spans 7 days - becomes increasingly insidious in the long run, posing a peculiar yet crucial problem: can there be a form of autonomous thinking that excludes emotions?

Declan Sennott’s A Fair Trade

In this black comedy crime epic, eighth grader Tommy Uris is pushed into a teenage drug dealing business run by his two classmates Frank Newton and Patrick Reynolds after walking in on a drug deal between them. As their business falls apart, so does their trust for each other, and they need to either resolve, or kill each other in the process.

It's Not Me

This free-form film is a self-portrait, which revisits more than 40 years of the author’s filmography and questions the major stations of his life, while capturing the political tremors of the time.

Presence

A couple and their children move into a seemingly normal suburban home. When strange events occur, they begin to believe there is something else in the house with them. The presence is about to disrupt their lives in unimaginable ways.

Enys Men

A wildlife volunteer on an uninhabited island off the British coast descends into a terrifying madness that challenges her grip on reality and pushes her into a living nightmare.

Prelude: Dog Star Man

A creation myth realized in light, patterns, images superimposed, rapid cutting, and silence. A black screen, then streaks of light, then an explosion of color and squiggles and happenstance. Next, images of small circles emerge then of the Sun. Images of our Earth appear, woods, a part of a body, a nude woman perhaps giving birth. Imagery evokes movement across time. Part of the Dog Star Man series of experimental films.

Poughkeepsie Crispies

He really likes Poughkeepsie Crispies. Maybe too much. A darkly funny, minimalist loop of repetition, ritual, and barely-hinged performance.

Queens of the Qing Dynasty

A suicidal teen develops a candid rapport with the student from Shanghai assigned to watch her in hospital. A nightly exchange of secrets, text messages and possessions quickly expands the boundaries of their relationship and alters their inner chemistry.

Synchronicity

A daring physicist travels into the past to stop a mysterious woman from stealing his invention. But once there, he uncovers a surprising truth about the machine, the woman, and his own fractured reality.

Hebe

Hebe, in her journey from childhood to adulthood, finds herself compelled to explore the boundaries of the real and the illusory through her extrasensory perceptions. Endowed with a singular gift: glimpsing the past and future as an eternal present, Hebe defies temporal convention, questioning whether her premonitions are pre-written destinies or mere whispers of chance. Inspired by true events, Hebe invites us into the fabric of time to discover whether her gift can and should be controlled or whether she should surrender and succumb to it.