Votum (2024)

The Dead Ones

Markopoulos’ first attempt at making a 35mm feature film, clearly inspired by the cinema of Jean Cocteau, was left unfinished and the materials were lost for many years.

Laurita

Laura and her mother are spending their vacation on the seashore, in Sao Paulo, at a middle-class beach house. Laura's adolescent body is changing but not in harmony with her coming of age. She's less bothered by that than the situation the two of them find themselves in.

All Those Sunflowers

Marieke, a 27-year-old Dutch woman, works for an advertising agency in New York. She feels lonely in ‘the city that never sleeps’. Her boyfriend Dylan is the only one who can comfort her, although he only drops by occasionally. When she visits the verdant and quiet Long Island on an outing with colleagues, the introverted woman finally blooms. Especially when she is introduced to George. Right at that moment, Dylan asks Marieke to let him go. Subtle drama about loneliness, mourning and starting anew.

Sycorax

Who is Sycorax? The first character in Shakespeare's "Tempest" to set foot on the island. The problem is that she has no voice. She is barely mentioned by Prospero as a crooked, old, wicked witch who vilely locked Ariel, the spirit of the air, in a tree. But why would she do that? Here, we wouldn't believe Prospero so much.

Where the Birds Cry

Fourteen-year-old Szymon lives in a seaside village. He's going through one of the most turbulent stages in his life - puberty. However his monotonous life is interrupted by an unexpected visit from his childhood friend. An ordinary meeting on a cliff turns into his first summer romance.

The Big Dam

A 10-year-old boy sets off on a long-promised adventure with his father to discover Europe's biggest dam. But as they progress, harbored feelings surface and their relationship is put to a test. The dam they eventually face is not the one initially dreamed of.

The Bridge

A gay Australian man reflects on the immigration problems of his young Russian boyfriend.

Shakespeare's Sonnets

A Harvard dandy circa 1946 lures his best friend away from the privileges of conformity.

Content is King

Nick, a striving content creator, gets the opportunity of a lifetime to join a viral challenge on the popular vlog Zane’s World, risking his own safety for the chance at online fame.

Wonderkid

Wonderkid follows the inner turmoil of an unnamed football prodigy as he comes to terms with his own identity, struggling to reconcile his sexuality with his issues with alcohol and OCD.

Dead Horses

In an isolated and unknown place during a war, a child is forced to flee. Along the way, he sees horse corpses everywhere. Only dead horses. Why? Why have the horses decided to kill themselves?

Fragile

Through his struggle with gender identity, a young boy stands up for himself and embarks on a difficult journey of self - discovery and contentment

Chang-ok's Letter

Housewife Eun-ha is busy every day: In addition to taking care of her husband who doesn’t help out at all and her willful daughter and son, she has to care for her nagging mother-in-law, who is nearly bedridden.

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.

On the Mountains

A story about what ordinary internet browsing can do for kids. And parents change their lives.

Break Me

A young cage fighter must choose between his head and his heart after his father discovers the truth.

My Baby Bright

Pla Thong's friend, Tod dies but his unfinished business means he can't move on. Pla Thong helps Tod figure out what that unfinished business is, and they realise how each other feels in the process.

Now You Know

An uninhibited 10 year old girl discovers harsh new boundaries at her strict Catholic school.

Tooty's Wedding

A young couple's marriage hilariously hits the rocks during a weekend wedding in the country.

Requited

Nicolas, a young man in his mid 20s, struggles to decide whether or not to go to the wedding of his best friend from high school, Aaron, who he's always been quietly in love with. The two had a falling out years earlier after Nicolas inexplicably kissed Aaron's girlfriend. Nicolas clings to an idealized image of his former friend, unconsciously sabotaging his own happiness in the process. The film is a realistic slice-of-life that poses the question "How do you get over something you never had?"

Boys Like You

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

Revolution

A coming-of-age story about Jack, a 16-year old Iranian boy growing up in 1989 Los Angeles. With the 1979 Iranian Revolution a distant memory, the AIDS movement as a backdrop, and a haunting score by Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij, Jack learns how to stage his own much smaller revolution within the confines of his traditional family.

The In-Between

The story or two men who fall in love and move in together.

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.

Gulis

A story about a dysfunctional father and son who are still coping with a loss, the other with a highly-stigmatized illness who are compelled to talk to one another to make ends meet and heal the wounds of their relationship.

The Summer of 12

Just as the young members of the swimming team spend another day training in the pool, the cusp of early puberty threatens to turn innocent friendship and camaraderie into something much more. Sixth-grader Yu-Hsuan has a closely guarded secret, but this tide of feelings inside is brewing into a storm…

Summer Sounds

Three generations of Youngseok’s family live together in a house. Even though his mentally ill grandmother’s time on this Earth is gradually running out, Youngseok is embarrassed by the way she behaves like a child in front of his friends despite her efforts to take care of him. The film displays the challenges of a family who live with a dementia patient, told from young Youngseok’s perspective. Dreamlike summer nights in the film evoke the innocence of childhood, and the gathering of dear friends and family.

Envy

Plot unavailable

The Drum

The Drum is a short film that follows the journey of Kang, a recently retired man in his 60s dealing with the sudden onset of a late-life crisis. He realises that he must mend old conflicts and learn to accept his new life or risk losing himself in the emptiness of old age.

The Anderson Family Breakfast

While a seemingly picture-perfect suburban family enjoys breakfast together, an omniscient narrator reveals their repressed inner thoughts and secrets…all just moments before a nuclear bomb is dropped on the family.

Summer Bus

In the everyday life of the bus, the world still hopes to find warmth.

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.)

Crawlies

Crawlies is a soliloquy based on voice recordings of my schizophrenic uncle. An audiovisual exercise of mise en abyme that weaves a patchwork of memories from my childhood, of madness and desire.

Dawn

Dawn is a quiet young teenager who longs for something or someone to free her from her sheltered life.

Crash

Three men. From different corners of the crime world: A hired gun, Musta; a con man, Cem; and a thief, Ali. By a twist of fate their paths crosses at Central Station and start to work as a team. But their past won't let them go too faraway...

After Shave

Abou Milad, an old itinerant barber, lost his barbershop during the Lebanese civil war. Today, he hardly earns a living by offering his services in the popular cafés of Beirut. One day, he is summoned by a recluse resident of a large old mansion.

Bumping Heads

Craig is an older, average-looking man who isn't handling aging well. Gary is a hot, blond young stud at the center of attention. They literally bump heads one night, and become best friends. But Craig wants to be boyfriends, while Gary has other issues. They work things out (somewhat) during a night in the emergency room.

Family Affair

Sunday. Classic game on the brazilian championship. Rossi’s family organize themselves in front of TV. Eunice, his mother, looks trough the window while Borges, his dad, and Cauã, his older brother, watch the football match. Rossi tries to find his place in the house.

97%

A man tries to track down a potential love interest on a crowded train using a smartphone app.

On/Off

An astronaut hears a mysterious message that turns a routine space-walk into a dangerous mission.

The First Murder

Based on the novel "Šta bi učinio Zobec?" (What Would Zobec Do?) by Svetozar Vlajković. It's a short movie about a young man who is afraid of being turned down by a girl.

Barely in Love

When a new troupe leader joins the 'Bnai Akiva' boy scouts movement, Yotam's world trembles. He is forced to cope with his sexual orientation and the difficulties he faces with family and religion, and is torn between his love of religion that forbids homosexuality and his mother who tries to 'cure' him.

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.

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.

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.