What We Wished We Could Be (2024)

The Charming Mr. Brambila

Mr. Brambila receives the news that he has terminal cancer. Upon witnessing an accident, he meets Death and begins an affair with her.

Heartless

Léo goes on vacation at his cousin's, in a fishing village. There, he meets a girl who goes by the nickname Heartless.

Glasgow

Damian, a young boy raised by a single mother, believes that his father is a famous footballer playing for Glasgow Celtic F.C. His dream is to visit him. In his everyday life he has difficulty finding a common language with his mother who is trying to make a new life for herself with a younger man.

Kernel

When the world has been pushed past breaking point, an aging neurobotanist collects and preserves what little of value remains.

Intruders

In the aftermath of a deadly haunting in a small suburban home, a sinister omnipresent entity proceeds to cause havoc in the private lives of a young boy, an unsuspecting teen, and an absent-minded inspector.

TommyTeen18

This short film tells the story about a 15 year old boy who explores the world of online dating. Trapped between boy and manhood he tries to find his way.

From the Bottom of the Vortex

Kiko, who is pessimistic about herself being a lesbian, spends her days worried because she cannot convey her feelings to her best friend. A story about the conflicts and decisions of lesbian women.

Jump

Abandoned by his parents, a boy takes care of his younger brother Mattie as they fend for themselves in a council house in Sheffield. When the authorities come to take Mattie away, a desperation to retain control forces the boy to take Mattie and go on the run.

Deep It

Deep It is a powerful drama that explores the real impact of carrying a knife on young people and their communities. The message is loud and clear, there is no such thing as a victimless crime. Everyone gets hurt in the process.

Dummy

Using a faceless doll criminal reenacts a brutal crime. But surprisingly he is not the one being judged. There seems to be an odd one out in the investigative group. The film premiered in the Berlinale Short competition programme.

Filipiñana

A film about a girl drawn to a golf course.

Genius Loci

One night, Reine, a young loner, sees among the urban chaos a moving oneness that seems alive, like some sort of guide.

Union County

Cody is a recovering opiate addict in rural Ohio, 45 days clean and enlisted in a strictly enforced drug court programme by the county government. Local sober-living facilities are full, so Cody is living in his car on the outskirts of town and working at the nearby lumber mill to save money and keep busy. But his past doesn't want to forget him.

Aban + Khorshid

Inspired by true events, Aban + Khorshid is an intimate portrait of two lovers, glimpsing into the world in which they met, moments before their execution for being gay.

Brace

On his first foray out onto London's thriving gay scene, newly single Adam meets Rocky, a handsome and mysterious drifter, with whom he shares an instant and undeniable chemistry. From the outset, Rocky is eager to reveal more of himself than Adam is ready for, and so the two maintain an uncomfortable pact of silence. As the pair grow closer, something has to give, and the truth about Rocky is explosively revealed. As the dust settles, the men are left to decide whether they can find acceptance in each other, by facing the truth about themselves.

The First Emperor of China

This historical drama tells the story of Qin Shihuang, who unified China's vast territory and declared himself emperor in 221 B.C. During his reign, he introduced sweeping reforms, built a vast network of roads and connected the Great Wall of China. From the grandiose inner sanctum of Emperor Qin's royal palace, to fierce battles with feudal kings, this film re-creates the glory and the terror of the Qin Dynasty, including footage of Qin's life-sized terra cotta army, constructed 2,200 years ago for his tomb.

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.

Arconada

Jon wants to be Arconada, the mythical goalkeeper of Real Sociedad, but is the substitute goalkeeper of the school soccer team.

Confession

Gayoung, a director, expects to hear a farewell confession from her boyfriend, who's an actor. (Part of "100인 X 100초영화 프로젝트", a project dedicated to celebrate 100 years of South Korean cinema.)

DC Showcase: Death

Vincent, an artist with unresolved inner demons, meets a mysterious girl who helps him come to terms with his creative legacy… and eventual death.

Meaningless Conversations in Beautiful Environments

Against a backdrop of magnificent landscapes and epic tableaus, banal conversations take place between characters who are comically oblivious to their surroundings.

My Pana

Pana is a popular world from Venezuelan slang that means many things: as a noun it refers to a friend, a good person; as an adjective, it’s a positive quality, someone nice, someone friendly and enjoyable. A coming-of-age story, the short My Pana is also a tale of immigration and exile, a portrait of a teenager adapting to a new society with the few tools he knows to survive: his youth, his body and, ultimately, his own resilience. Through the point of view of a teenager we’ll understand the hardships of million of Venezuelans abroad and the consequences of corruption, exile and the fractured soul of a person who was pushed to leave his true life to adapt to a hostile new place.

A New Goodbye

Helen lives with her son Bruno, but Bruno doesn't behave like a normal kid. She will have to overcome the mourning crisis to withstand reality.

Stationary Bike

Adaptation of Stephen King's story "Stationary Bike". After the tragic death of his wife, Boris loses all meaning in life, and his only desire is to be with his beloved again. Her old stationary bike becomes a bridge that connects his world with the path to his wife.

Hunger

Living by the railway tracks, a homeless man makes his living by selling novelty items at the busy traffic signals on the streets of Mumbai. The high point of his existence is passing a restaurant that serves the food he dreams of. One day he gets an opportunity to fulfil his life's big desire.

Intruders

In the midst of political upheaval in Brazil, Travis Mathews directs this startling and moving film of the intersection between class, privilege and sex. A man lives a lonely, exquisite lifestyle in his large, empty apartment. He hears a noise, of a man stumbling through the window in his bedroom. The man has a gun, and he shakes while he holds it. What follows is a tender, complex exploration of lust and desire between two very talented performers and the faultless Direction of Mathews.

Atardeceres

Erick travels with his father to the beach after the death of his mother; in that place he will find a sea shell, through which he will hear her voice.

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.

All of This Unreal Time

On a journey from darkness into light, a man explores his failings as a human being.

Cream

The time has come for CREAM - the latest product that will fix your life. This is the story of Dr. Bellifer, a scientific genius, who after years of smashing particles together, reveals his revolutionary new product: a cream with the power to fix all of the world’s problems.

Sofia, Last Summer

Her parents have gone on vacation and Sofia moves into her childhood home for the summer. She's struggling to connect with new people, and in the absence of her best friend she spends the summer alone.

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.

Invincible Summer

Sixteen-year-old Clément spends a hot summer evening home alone by the pool. Determined to lose his virginity, he swipes through guys’ profiles on Grindr.

The Love Effect

The journey of two men wrestling with loss, suicide and their unexpected friendship that helps them rediscover life's greatest gift.

Giitu

A woman returns home to her father and childhood home, after being gone for over 20 years. Her purpose for the visit is to deliver the message that her fathers former wife has passed away.

Daddy's Girl

Lo (14) is living alone with her father at his farm. Bored and frustrated she's fantasizing about sexy boys, spying on the hot seasonal workers. Rune (45) is a single parent too busy making ends meet to be paying attention to his child becoming a young woman. When he catches her masturbating in her bedroom, he goes out of his mind thinking she's a victim of male sexuality. Daddy's Girl is about fear of losing and fear of not getting.

Dawn

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

Through the Wall

A mother discovers the surprising universe hidden in the silence of her son.

Ruth

Inspired by the scriptural tale. Moabitess priestess Ruth is drawn both to a Judean man and to his talk of a forgiving God. After tragedy strikes, she begins a new life in Bethlehem.

Minden

Plot unavailable

Little Weakness

While his wife is pregnant, Marc enters into a strange relationship with a young Polish man who is willing to do anything.

Lacuna

As she struggles to finish her short film, a first-time filmmaker travels through her memory bank in search of inspiration.

Anything Once

Both Joey and Mike are faced with breaking boundaries that previously limited them. There's a first time for everything.

Weapons and Their Names

Struggling to connect with her grieving family after the sudden death of her stepfather, a teenager sneaks off to shoot guns in rural Florida with her best friend.

With Thelma

An Icelandic volcano has blocked air traffic and Thelma’s parents are stuck overseas. Until planes start flying across the sky again Jean, Vincent and Thelma share the same roof.