Shimmering Bodies (2023)

Negative Space

Even though Sam's father is hardly ever home because he is often away on business trips, he is able to connect with his son by teaching him how to pack a suitcase.

Consent

After meeting online, a woman allows a virtual stranger into her home to fulfill an agreement.

In Vitro

Amanda creates a reality where her child is not a product of rape, but is in fact, immaculately conceived.

Boiling Point

During the busy run-up to Christmas, a single-take snapshot of the immense stress and skills of a talented head chef reveals that things are about to burst behind the restaurant's flash façade.

We Are Fine

A boy makes a discovery at the seaside.

100m Freestyle

Polo and Domingo spend their last days together between Ciudad Mendoza and Cordoba, in Veracruz, Mexico, before Domingo moves to another city for college. Domingo has to say goodbye to his girlfriend, Mina; while Polo deals with his feelings towards his best friend in the little time they have left.

Toyland

On a winter morning, a mother goes to waken her son Heinrich; his bed is empty. She leaves her flat to find him. The neighbors' door, with a Star of David painted on it, is ajar, the furnishings in disarray, the family gone. She asks passersby, runs to the police then on to the rail yard. Flashbacks show that Heinrich and the neighbors' son Paul are six years old and best friends. Paul's family's deportation is expected soon; Heinrich's mother tells her son that they're going to Toyland. Heinrich wants to go with them, has a bag packed, and listens for their departure. His mother realizes he's joined them, and her resolve becomes more urgent. Will she arrive in time to save Heinrich?

Steam is Steam

Montreal 1952, teenager Samuel brings his friend Julien to the neighbourhood steam bath for his weekly routine with Dad. Julien’s first time will be a day to remember.

The Quiet

In the midst of a deadly outbreak, a man returns home in search of family.

Neon Boys

Unable to find a job after spending time in prison, Shawn takes work as an erotic dancer to support his daughter and falls in love with a man for the first time.

Frontera

During the last moments of a romantic involvement with an older man, Martina finds herself deeply overwhelmed by disappointment and confusion, left alone to question who she really is.

Poz

A troubled "twunk" ventures down a destructive path, searching for a solution to his problems and a way to ensure his sister's continued support.

Samira

Janosch, an interpreter, is called to help during a police deployment at the Port of Hamburg. A young African woman has barricaded herself in a container ship and threatens to commit suicide. In order to get her out, Janosch promises to help her, an offer which bears unexpected consequences.

Who's Afraid of the Dark

Two homeless people, one blind and the other disabled travel the city streets with a supermarket trolley on an endless journey.

Gameboy

Thijs, Tobias, Sjeng, and Tarik break into a house and steal a multitude of their school exams for profit. But in time, as their gain notoriety, the jig is up! But will all four go down, will there be consequences, and will that be all that happens to these rambunctious four young men?

Paris Ficelle

Plot unavailable

What's This Country Called Now?

A Bosnian woman, working as a reporter during the Siege of Sarajevo, interviews a living witness to the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand in 1914, and his wisdom gives her a deeper understanding of the Bosnian War, and her role in it.

Blue Sky

Michael is a young teenager passionate about writing, a passion he carries on almost secretly because of his father. Agnes is deaf, but the words she cannot speak are compensated by her drawings which she hopes will get her to an art school. One day they find each other on top of a brick wall which becomes their sanctuary away from the world.

Click

A rock singer, escaping from her abusive boyfriend, forms an unlikely friendship with a struggling photographer with scars of his own.

Juan Gabriel is Dead

Best friends Beto and Daniel spend most of their time together. Daniel struggles with his gender identity just to hide his feelings for Beto. To be himself, he has to overcome his fear by showing Beto what he truly feels.

Life in Color

An aging, closeted Alzheimer's patient, clashing against his strong-willed daughter, struggles to hold on to the memory of his long lost lover.

Trust Me

Animated short documentary following a young woman's diagnosis of bipolar: a journey of self-acceptance to challenge everyday stigma. In "Trust Me", a genre-bending short documentary, a young woman uses humour and compassion to share her moving and deeply personal story of coming to terms with her mental health condition. When she starts exhibiting atypical and extreme behaviour, her loved ones trick her into hospitalisation against her will. She is diagnosed with bipolar disorder which starts her challenging journey of self-acceptance, confronting internalised and societal stigma, and learning to trust herself and others again.

Femme

The Ysbreeker family -- mother Jolien, father Frank, daughter Roos and son Teun -- are enjoying their annual holiday on a camping site in France. Teun is at the beginning of his puberty and can't quite control his hormones. Roos, a teen girl in the middle of her puberty, is more interested in her first camping love than in her own family. Teun notices that his sister is becoming a woman, in all different ways. How does he react? Does it have any influence on the brother-sister relationship?

Bro

Bro is the story of Jamal and AJ, two brothers in NYC. Jamal returns home from prison to see a different world and a younger brother following in his footsteps. Their lives collide into a day they wont forget.

Shackles

The discharge of the nuclear sewage has brought great crisis to the environment. A particular mermaid becomes victim to it all.

Gentleman Spa

Hao, a chubby gay man, works as a janitor at a gay spa. For him, romantic relationships are an unreachable dream. One day, an attractive customer, Kai, walks into the place, and Hao has the opportunity to massage him.

Guardian

Manuel is a gay Latino teen who lacks guidance and support. Even though his mother, Anna deeply cares for him, she is only able to prove and instill her love through video tapes made from afar. Keeping his sexuality and boyfriend a secret from his homophobic father, Manuel must decide the life he wants to live or end.

Grandpa Walrus

On the windy and cloudy beach, Granny is praying, Mum is shouting, the sisters don’t care, Lucas is alone. Grandpa was a weird guy, now he's dead.

A Drowning Man

Alone and far from home, The Kid makes his way through a strange city looking for the means to get through his day. Surrounded by predators he is forced to make compromises merely to survive, his life of exile grows one day longer.

Push It

Hedda tries to approach Adam in every way she can, but everything she does turns out wrong. And Adam gets to break all the rules. A film about never being able to win, even though you’re the best, with the gym hall as its arena.

Wednesdays

Every Wednesday, 8 year old Kris accompanies 28 year old Willem to the swimming pool. They swim, go down the slide and have a lot of fun. But one Wednesday Willem confronts Kris with a frightening request...

Give Up the Ghost

While doing their homework on a winter afternoon, schoolmates Charlie and Matt share a kiss. But Matt snaps and storms off. Later at a catechism lesson, Matt accuses Charlie of it not being consensual and an argument erupts.

III

By a hot summer day on the lakeshore, three siblings face death for the first time through their contact with nature.

Smog

Thick, deadly smog blankets the globe, reducing visibility to less than a few metres. In a secluded farmhouse, a woman and her overbearing husband attempt to find resources and survive using a series of walking trails crafted from ropes and stakes. One night, the woman is alerted to the presence of someone or something else deep in the smog. Desperate to escape the farmhouse, the woman attempts to meet the unknown and risk everything to leave her loveless and abusive relationship behind.

Fili di memorie

Plot unavailable

Swain

Swain is inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Fanshawe, features a dreamlike narrative of a young man’s ritualized rejection of heterosexuality, as a mysterious woman in white gossamer pursues him through a ruined landscape.

The Female Side Effect

After the death of a patient, Crimera Pharmaceuticals, assigns the task of finding out what happened to Dr. Elena Pizano, a clinical trial analyst. She must do this with the help of the efficient and reliable artificial intelligence entity: KODA. During her findings she will come across data gaps in one of the drugs being studied, uncovering a darker truth in the world of medicine. As the organizations try to hide the information, she must decide how to handle the secrets she's just uncovered.

The Licensed Fool

A travelling court jester, known as The Licensed Fool, begins to unravel when he learns of a sinister motive behind him being hired for an upcoming performance.

American Eid

Ameena, a Muslim Pakistani immigrant, wakes up on Eid to find out that she has to go to school. Homesick and heartbroken, she goes on a mission to make Eid a public-school holiday, and in the process, reconnects with her older sister, and embraces her new home, while her new home embraces her.

Dinner Is Served

A Chinese student at an elite U.S. boarding school realizes excellence is not enough when he tries out for a leadership position no international student has ever applied for.

Growing Fangs

Val Garcia, a Mexican-American teen who is half human/half vampire, has had to keep her identity a secret from both worlds. But when her human best friend shows up at her monster-infested school, she has to confront her truth, her identity, and herself.

The Little Prince(ss)

When Gabriel, a 7-year-old Chinese kid who loves ballet, becomes friends with Rob, another Chinese kid from school, Rob’s dad gets suspicious about Gabriel's feminine behavior and decides to intervene.

Living Reality

An exploration of the emotional divide between fiction and reality in the American sitcom.

Enclosed World

A short animation by Makoto Shinkai in Lightwave 3D. Inspired by Haruki Murakami's book "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" with music by Tenmon.

Pria

Caught between the traditions of his upbringing in rural Indonesia and his idealization of Western freedom, a teenager struggles with the expectations of imminent manhood.

Pedro

Pedro gets home at dawn. Before the young boy falls asleep, his lonely mother drags him to the beach.