Weeds and Wildflowers (2023)

A Paw Over Dark

A washed up actor performs night after night in a grimy theater to a nearly empty audience. However, everything changes when a clueless dog jumps on stage.

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?

Smash

The model’s feet are uncomfortably squeezed into the heels, and her movements are slippery on slick silver liquid, before she slowly and ominously destroys the glass pane separating the subject from the viewer.

Scenic Jogging

Woman chasing projected images of typical screensavers such as idyllic meadows and mountainscapes. These images are embellished by design programs to be more attractive to appeal to our primal desire to be outside rather than in front of a computer or in ugly urban landscapes. Even if she were to ever catch up her object of desire, she will find it never existed in the first place, and she has been chasing the unattainable.

Hai Mangiato?

A mother feeds her son to the point of possessing him.

The Third Rule

Plot unavailable

LAND

LAND is a fluid series of formal land animation experiments based upon the imprint of landscapes in various locations and intuitive interpretations of those movements. Shot in New York, Thimble Islands Bear Island, Connecticut, Armstrong Redwoods, Sonoma County, California, Hastings, England. note* (part of the EYE Filmmuseum Permanent Collection)

Dreaming Dogs

A pack of strays – seven dogs and one woman live in the shadows of Moscow. Hidden from the totalitarian authorities, two species share their existence on the verge of disappearance. They are straying in constant restlessness through a savage landscape where the city is cracking. Shot from the animal’s point of view, patterns of mutual dependence and taming begin to blur.

The Architecture of Love

Raia, a famous writer struggling with writer's block, travels to New York to get inspired. There, she meets River and becomes entangled in a love story haunted by the past.

Beijo de Borboleta

Plot unavailable

Self Portraits or: How to talk endearingly to possible victims

Quinn is a grade school teacher who is exploited by a group of memoryless individuals who reeducate his long-term partner Amy.

Lohengrin

A short experimental film shot on Super 8, inspired by the music of Richard Wagner.

Mama Loves Molding Baby

A mother consumes abnormal objects in the hopes of granting her child desirable traits. While she has good intentions, her actions may not be good for her baby.

Demi-Goddesses

The second essay about still dominant dark aspects of our modern society. It is conceived as a surreal anti-patriarchal thought experiment and raises important questions about gender, power, and social change, prompting us to reflect on how historical patterns of discrimination and oppression might be either repeated or overcome in a reversed gendered world. It challenges the viewer to confront their own assumptions and biases, and to consider the possibilities of a more equitable society.

The Noise of Time

In the town of Xoco, the spirit of an old villager awakens in search of its lost home. Along its journey, the ghost discovers that the town still celebrates its most important festivities, but also learns that the construction of a new commercial complex called Mítikah will threaten the existence of both the traditions and the town itself.

Fog on the Mountain

Fog surrounds the peak of a mountain as summer wildflowers bloom.

Today

A day that takes place twice.

The Low Storm

Short film by Takashi Makino

Caterpillar

A half-hour experimental film that shows Fukui moving towards cyberpunk imagery in a manner similar to Tsukamoto, featuring industrial locations, a malfunctioning cyborg/android and a hulking metallic ‘caterpillar’ that stalks characters.

Jeff

A phone sex operator loses her grip on reality, caught in a hypnotic relationship with a caller making disturbing confessions.

PRESENCE

Presence narrates the journey of Thati, a woman determined to overcome her anxiety attacks through surfing. She finds refuge in the waves, where the surfboard becomes her ally and personal therapy.

Lux Æterna: The Art of Filmmaking

An experimental shortfilm in line with "Lux Æterna", showcasing the footage from Cecil B. DeMille's "King of the Kings". A voiceover pronunces word "Relax" in a hypnotic tone, which was Lux Æterna's working title. It was shown only once in Paris at L'Étrange Festival, at the opening of "Lux Æterna".

Denial

Erin. He thinks he's in 4th period math. Oh he's wrong

Money, Fascism, and Some Sort of Acid

A collection of five short films tackling the military industrial complex, the rise of fascism, political polarization and various issues in modern society.

Preface to a History

A couple, Vlad and Sophy, navigate their relationship as well as their own struggles with mental health in the context of a highly connected, politically uncertain modern world while on a trip to a remote Canadian island in this avant-garde feature film. PREFACE TO A HISTORY, created with a tiny crew of four people, represents an experiment in using minimalist tools to create an overwhelming aesthetic experience in service of a simple, but specifically contemporary, story about two people attempting to navigate a fraying relationship amid all the anxieties and external pressures of modern adulthood in a technologically-interconnected and politically unstable era.

THÁI BẢO HUỲNH KHANG

A trans Vietnamese woman's deadname being repeated over and over again.

Three Walls and a Window

A nuclear family sits in front of the television. The phone rings.

Desert Vows

Hunter, a bride-to-be, feels overworked and unappreciated. Her artistic spirit is squelched by the shallow corporate world she’s in and she has had enough. Unfortunately, she feels as if she can’t turn to Ian, her commercial executive fiancé, for solace. As her wedding day approaches, Hunter and her three bridesmaids embark on a road trip to Las Vegas for one last hoorah together. As the girls venture from the city, they decompress and let their personal barriers fall. An impromptu sightseeing excursion into the desert leads to a clash of anxieties and attitudes between Hunter, the bridesmaids, and her fiancé as Hunter searches for the road that’s right for her.