Self Portraits or: How to talk endearingly to possible victims (2023)

Kamen Rider Hibiki: Asumu Transform! You can be an Oni, too!!

Asumu Adachi imagines if he could be like Kamen Rider Hibiki, and are approached by talking Disc Animals who teach him how to be like Hibiki, eventually allowing Asumu to transform into Kamen Rider Armed Hibiki.

The Unreason

In this fun sci-fi comedy we meet Ruth and Megan, two best friends who run a vintage shop in North London. One day their lives are forever turned upside down when an abandoned time machine appears outside their shop.

J'ador

Rome. Claudio is 15 and wants to be part of the clique. He admires the 18-year-old leader Lauro. If he wants to fit in, he has to lose his little boy smell and learn to smell like a man.

Voices of a Distant Star

It is 2046 when a mysterious alien force begins their annihilation of the human race. Leaving behind the one person she loves, Mikako joins the interstellar battle as a pilot. And so - while Mikako risks her life to save mankind - Noboru waits. The two lovers, worlds apart, desperately strive to remain connected as the gap between them widens at a frightening pace.

Cencoroll

A giant monster sends a town's citizens into a panic, except for a girl named Yuki and her schoolmate Tetsu. Tetsu happens to have his own strange creature named Cenco as a pet. Another boy named Shuu controls the monster threatening the town, and the stage is set for a battle.

The Plague

Rosa's father escapes from a nursing home and comes back to his former house. He hides a secret, and he's not coming alone.

Ends

A bickering mother and father take their daughter to visit her estranged grandmother. Isolated, the grandmother has grown ill; suffering from a worsening paranoia of imminent alien invasion. The young girl and the grandmother form a bond as the parent's fight about how best to handle the situation.

"BUDKA" by George Alshevskij-Jones

Shot entirely on a webcam and guided by the Imperfect Cinema philosophy, this film captures the drunken drift of a man reaching for connection in a cold, indifferent city. What unfolds is either a dream, a dying vision, or both. Then — reality returns with a quiet whimper. Life moves on. Raw, lo-fi, and unapologetically rough, this is a meditation on how easily the world forgets. Meaning is left open; interpretation belongs to the viewer.

For a Few Moments

A troubled corrections officer pays a visit to a man he’s never met to request he cook a last meal for his ex-girlfriend on death row; one that will kill her before her execution the following morning.

My Baby

When the double wedding takes two daughters away from the old man at once, the youngest, now the only one left, in outraged spirit promises never to leave her father, but soon she too is departing for a new home. Then comes a cold hard fact of life. The son-in-law claims his right to make a home alone for his wife. In his bitterness and anger, the father denies them both the house. Several years later the lonely old man meets at the gate a babe in arms. When he learns whose baby it is, heart hunger craves another sight, and sought, brings with it the only natural result.

Safe Word

Cesar, an emotionally stunted masochist, must confront his self-loathing after his dissatisfied-yet-caring Dom, Bear, reinterprets the rules of their game. They arrive at a paradigm-shifting result neither one of them expects.

Room Closet: Truth or Dare

A couple of teenagers start playing truth or dare at a party.

Gold Star

Two black non-heterosexual masculine leaning men attempt to escape their sexuality.

Never Too Late

Never too late to find love with a stranger you meet out of nowhere.

I Am the Doorway

A sci-fi horror film based on the story by Stephen King. A first person POV perspective allows the audience to get inside the head of an astronaut trapped in a spaceship, as a strange virus grows inside him, altering his mind. To save himself he must take drastic action.

Miss(ed)

Behind the colors, glitter and excitement at the night market is Nabil, an older brother who lost his younger sibling. When he celebrated his younger brother 10th birthday. Nabil went through various obstacles in searching for his younger brother alone, until he discovered the true reality.

Somewhat Agree

Jérémie has a job recruiting subjects for testing. He'd rather recruit Rodrigue for something else entirely.

The Yellow Island

11-year-old Ena meets a young fisherman in a port. He gives her an eel and they arrange to meet the following Sunday on the other side of the lake. She has to be there.

Reckless

An uncompromising and controversial short set in the Scandinavian suburbia on the hottest day of the summer. A sister reluctantly babysits her little brother. Two young boys catch her attention, and she makes a crucial decision.

Verónica

Veronica, a woman fed up with the routine of her life, runs away from the van in which she is traveling with her husband. Marcela, a taxi driver, will help her escape from it. Together, they will travel through Mexico City, sing at the top of their lungs, cry, count planes in the sky and become friends for an afternoon.

Dreamgirls

A trio of female soul singers cross over to the pop charts in the early 1960s, facing their own personal struggles along the way.

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.

After the Winter

Después del invierno (After the Winter) is a modern fable. We discover through three characters in extreme situations the human ability to succeed in any situation.

No Word of Goodbye

Sin decir adiós (No Word of Goodbye) is the story of the encounter between Alex and Marina. The ghosts of the past that separated them a year ago will be present in this meeting.

Meet Me in Holmsund

Sabina has travelled from Romania to Holmsund in northern Sweden to find a job with her brothers. Elin has just finished school and is enjoying the first day of the summer holidays. That evening they meet, and it's a meeting that lasts forever.

Gaze in Silence

Yun Fei’s twisted curiosity turns critical when Yan Xin’s life is threatened. Will he stay in the shadows—or act?

SIN PIEDAD

Under the relentless sun, a killer stalks through the mountains, where the innocence of a young couple becomes prey. With no shadows to hide their fate, the hunt is a macabre game in broad daylight, where fear is not hidden in the darkness, but burns with the rawness of the unperturbed noon.

Ascenso

Plot unavailable

En passant

Andor is a young chess player, who even calls his pet turtle Kasparov. “Do you think I will succeed? - the boy asks her before the decisive tournament. "If I win, he will never come back." Who is Andor talking about and why is he either afraid of this return, or wants it?

Final Exams

Four friends are waiting for their final exam results... and their lives to begin. In the mean time, Lang-Vonh is worrying about his Asian heritage, Cédric is struggling to come to terms with being gay and Gaëlle and Chloé are trying to forget about everything until the results are in.

Èvanescence

Plot unavailable

17 Minutes with Nora

Nora is worried because she’s performing in a play at her school, but being bullied by her classmates make her face something much more important: being accepted by her dad. The following 17 minutes will change their relationship forever.

The Intimate Touch

At a romantic restaurant, a feminist reporter and a Muslim refugee meet for dinner.

Lost Parents

Luuk is the only survivor of a plane crash. He tries to process his loss through art.

The Dive

Thirteen years old and on the edge of adulthood, a boy on a diving board faces the unknown.

La Fin des étés

In this short fiction film, Marie has been living in the midst of a nightmare since the accident of Bernard, her brother. Clinging excessively to this handicapped being, she wants to take charge of it. Étienne, her fiancé, has no taste for sacrifice. He reproaches Marie for languishing in her adolescence. Love will prevail. In a definitive gesture, Marie will free herself from the bonds that still held her back to her childhood.

Escaping Gravity

To finally gain her father's acceptance, transsexual Leonie decides to return masqueraded as a man to the world of her childhood: the funfair. Though even the old owner of the ghost train has something to hide.

Footing

One winter morning, a father and his son go for a jog. Along the way, we understand that a gap has grown between Marco, a Parisian who has come to spend a few days in the countryside, and Jean-Claude, a retired policeman who doesn't talk much. Their love is present, but barriers and modesty hold them back from expressing it.

The Bathtub

Ramon Riera is taking a well-deserved bath when his cell phone suddenly rings. On the other side of the line is Clara, a girl who insistently tries to sell him a life insurance.

Plus. Minus.

Told in reverse chronological order, an aspiring drag queen creates a world out of desolated motel rooms with the guy he met online.

Savage Fire

In the city of Cajamar, in the middle of ruined nature, lonely characters deal with the police, rodeos and mysterious fires.

Mad Dog and Glory

Wayne Dobie is a shy cop whose low-key demeanor has earned him the affectionate nickname "Mad Dog." After Mad Dog saves the life of Frank Milo, a crime boss and aspiring stand-up comedian, he's offered the company of an attractive young waitress named Glory for a week. At first both are uneasy about the arrangement, but they eventually fall in love. However, the situation becomes complicated when Milo demands Glory back.

Kind Mother

An estranged mother arrives at the silent retreat that her daughter is attending. When the two women engage in an unusual - and fantastical - power struggle, limits are tested, generational trauma is brought to light, and together they must grapple with mortality and forgiveness.

Good Business

Humanity makes a deal with a new client. Based on the comic "Good Business" by Simon Roy

Blank Canvas

A queer female artist struggles with her first major painting and its impending deadline. Concealing herself in her cluttered bedsit, she begins to experience hallucinations which she ultimately decides to use to her advantage.

Trapped

A highschool janitor runs through a series of dangerous obstacles.

Learning English

An enthusiastic new arrival to the US seizes an unorthodox opportunity to practice her language skills.