Praiano (2022)

Two Belles in Love

She smells her fragrance, she sees her talent... The ancient love story of Cui Jianyun and Cao Yuhua. The plight of these two women is told as they fall in love due to the admiration for each other's stunning beauty and literary craft. Adapted from the Kunqu opera & story by Li Yu, "Fragrant Companion/Lianxiang Companion", this short film includes a parallel between the play and "reality." The ending has been altered from the original play.

Ella

Ella, a young aspiring actress, stands at a crossroads, pondering her journey on the day of a career-defining audition. her career. No matter how small, every decision can change the course of her day, illuminating the subtle battles of everyday life. In the heart-vibrant chaos of Paris, Ella navigates the complexities of her identity: a foreigner, a woman, and a proud member of the LGBTQ+ community.

Crossed Wires

A misunderstanding leads to sombre consequences as two flatmates recall very different turns of event from the previous night.

Artemide’s Knee

Mourning the death of his partner and collaborator Danièle Huillet, Straub finds tender mercy in music and nature. Out of the abyss, Kathleen Ferrier sings “The Farewell” from Gustav Mahler’s “The Song of the Earth”, (which the composer wrote in 1909 after the death of his daughter) and Heinrich Schütz’s Lament on the Death of His Wife. The landscape also provides solace: the mountain grove where Endymion pines for his beloved Artemis, “a wild thing, untouchable, mortal,” appears to embody the Japanese concept of ‘mono no aware’ — a wistful acceptance of the fleeting beauty of things.

We Are Not Here

We Are Not Here is a short film about a small derelict town, waiting for a road. Through a series of vignettes we take a glimpse into the life of the town and its residents.

Common Causes for a Clinical Condition

María rehearses Antigone the same way as she criticizes the government's actions; Ismene listens fearfully just as Irving reluctantly accepts the official version of a lie. Love only has consciousness in its disappearance; in the end the causes will be known, and only the memory of those who refuse to forget will be left with no consequence.

Benji's Hour

When a lawbreaking teenager is forced to work at a wig shop for cancer patients, he meets a guarded woman who irreversibly alters the course of his life.

Discovering Ella

The (mostly) true story of the greatest jazz drummer you've never heard of who stumbled upon a 16-year-old singer and nurtured her into a legend.

Where Do We Go From Here

An adolescent dreamer struggles to find closure after the untimely death of his older brother.

Dear Mr Shakespeare: Shakespeare Lives

An evocative and imaginative exploration of the racial tensions in Othello and how the themes in Shakespeare's play still resonate today.

The House of Loss

The elderly at the nursing home have their heads shaved. The protagonist who works there sees them but can't read their expressions. However, from one instance, he finds himself looking closely at their faces.

Here Comes the Sun

An old man in a seaside village reunites with a deceased person on an uneventful afternoon, which is fleeting but rippling and presents a warm picture of time in the midst of memories and reality.

Into the Blue

Thirteen year old Julija and her mother flee their abusive household to find refuge on an idyllic Croatian island where Julija grew up. Emotionally scarred, Julija is desperate to reconnect with her best friend, Ana. But Ana is in love with a boy and Julija is no longer a priority.

The Tram

A psychiatry student gets on a tram that delivers him twenty-five years into the future, where an unexpected encounter awaits him.

Thanks to Her

Millie Blake, a high school senior soccer player, has her life turned upside down after an altercation with an out and proud classmate of hers, Andy Wellick. As punishment, the two girls get sentenced to a month of community service at a local nursing home. As she begins to not only bond with two of the residents, Jade and Pepper, but with Andy too, Millie begins to understand more about herself and becomes more confident in who she is.

Nightwatching

An extravagant, exotic and moving look at Rembrandt's romantic and professional life, and the controversy he created by the identification of a murderer in the painting The Night Watch.

The Trap

Maggie's friends have planned a surprise birthday party (despite it being a month away). During the party, Maggie realizes there's more to it then that.

Home

Two young brothers living in rural isolation struggle to survive in the wake of a mysterious attack, only to have their fragile world shattered by the arrival of a teenage girl. Home by John Henry Hinkel

Normal People

Daniel has just been released from prison and is trying to make a new life for himself. Between taking care of his alcoholic mother and finding a job, he might be able to find some happiness and normalcy in a new relationship.

Pylon

A field. A gang. A gun. A frightened boy. His brave sister. Their determined mother. And a towering steel obelisk overseeing it all. 'Pylon' is about fractious family relationships, the horrors siblings subject each other to and the indelible marks they leave.

Frozen Roads

Balthazar and siblings Christian and Lyla have been friends since childhood. As the trio struggles with coming of age in a rural, conservative Canadian town, they must confront escalating desires for one another that threaten to destroy their delicate bond.

Bhed Bakri Bhoot

A brass band member's hate comment in a public toilet triggers a chain reaction of diverse social expressions.

Wild Youth

Wild Youth is an ode to being young. A sensitive and intimate story of the first experiences of losing one's childlike innocence, questioning the imposed "masculinity" and (re)discovering yourself in the function of others.

The Hollers

The story of a young Appalachian girl who has lost her way amidst her mythical family, and the obstacles she must hurdle to find it.

Pretty Boy

Sean is taken to a motel and is given a prostitute for his 18th birthday by his father. He must sleep with her to "fix" his questionable homosexuality. "Pretty Boy" is a coming of age story of a young bullied teen, Sean, struggling with his sexuality and the hardships of high school. After his father finds some questionable magazines in his room, this devout Christian will go to any lengths to get his son to find the light and "perform" the way a man should. Sean is introduced to Katie, a prostitute that understands the stigmas of modern society and helps him see the true light that is within him.

KING GAME

5 girls and 5 guys find themselves mysteriously trapped in a room and are forced to play a psychological game of dare.

And Then There Was You

Natalie and Joshua appear to be the picture-perfect couple, but looks can be deceiving. When Natalie discovers her husband has led a secret life, she is forced to deal with losing everything she loves. Newly divorced and soured on relationships, Natalie is picking up the pieces of her shattered world. In the process of healing, she meets a new man who challenges the boundaries of her trust and her ability to fall in love again.

Plein soleil

Under the leaden sky of a summer day, Eric goes to work to defend a great issue. But, blinded by stress, Eric is forgetting the most important thing...

Lifeline

A nervous job candidate is forced to show much more than a positive attitude to save the life of her competitor.

Limbus

As Alex struggles with disturbing hallucinations, his wife Vera tries to help, until they both experience their own profound revelations.

Clothes & Blow

An American voice-over artist in London finds himself questioning his life of hookups and emotional avoidance when he receives an unexpected visit from his mother.

The Hunt

Alba, an elderly woman living with her daughter, is unhappy with the way her daughter’s partner treats her. When she finds herself alone with him, she will have to decide how far she is willing to go in order to save her most loved one from a life of suffering.

It Gets Better?

After drinking heavily and getting stuck in a YouTube hole of "It Gets Better" videos, a man reflects on his life and decides to tell his own story.

Swell

Swell is a smartphone app that changes your mood through sound. When a young couple tries to control each other’s settings, they find their relationship threatened by an unintended cacophony of emotions.

The Tree and the Cat

Away from people, animals, forests and fields stood a very tall tree. It did not need anyone, it was completely indifferent to everyone. Once a cat wanted to learn the style of life of the tree, which has allowed her to stay near it, so that she could take over its attitude to everything around. But eventually the cat affects the tree as well...

Sun in My Mouth

A young man confesses his sexual past to an unseen phone sex operator. He reflects on his sexual identity as we follow him on a solitary excursion to a beach.

Shut Up And Dance

Suryabhan Tanaji Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Kharbujewaadi and an ardent follower of Shivaji Maharaj, tries his best to restore a decaying fort.

Dreams Come True

Plot unavailable

After-School Special

A man and a woman have an awkward encounter at an indoor playground.

Julie Baby

When a little girl gets called a whore for the first time, she discovers her place in the world but also her power to define herself.

Hotel Chevalier

In a Paris hotel room, Jack Whitman lies on a bed. His phone rings; it's a woman on her way to see him, a surprise. She arrives and the complications of their relationship emerge in bits and pieces. Will they make love? Is their relationship over? (A prequel to The Darjeeling Limited, 2007.)

CHORUS

After missing his wife's phone call goodbye on the morning of September 11th, a now listless and brokenhearted music teacher must harmonize with his increasingly desperate fourteen-year-old son.

Visions of Europe

Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.

Boys Like You

A young man struggles with the boundaries of friendship when he finds himself in an intimate situation