Descent (2003)

A Curtain Raiser

Bruno, a young Frenchman, is frustrated by his girlfriend's constant lack of punctuality. He decides to end their relationship the next time she is late again.

Atoms

Hugo, 34, an educator at the boarding school, finds is daily life disrupted by Jules, a provocative teenager.

Andy

After being accused of sexually assaulting a girl at a party, Andy uses a public twitter confessional to rewrite his story.

Senko

A Japanese family is confronted with the mother's disease. The profoundly symbolistic images of this short film show us how Yù and his father perceive the possibility of the death and how it affectsa young boy and his vision of life.

Underwater

A susceptible teenager, in trying to escape the tumult of his home, drowns himself in alcohol, drugs, and parties. Based on a true story.

Sitara: Let Girls Dream

Pari, a 14-year-old girl, dreams of becoming a pilot while growing up in a society that doesn’t allow her to dream.

Praiano

Plot unavailable

Iamerica

Erica Stateland; a Medal of Honor recipient, suffering from survivors guilt, is hired to coach Marc Beckham; a "cancelIed" actor to play a war hero in the comeback movie of his career. The unlikely relationship that unfolds is a testament to the equalizer that is grief. It's a story about being human and learning that the highest form of courage can come, not from what you've done, but who you choose to be as a result of it.

The Kite

A short coming-of-Age film about two boys, first love, and a kite that reunites them 20-years later.

Lalibela

On the eve of Easter, an icon depicting the Ethiopian Mother of God enters a Ukrainian village. After the icon is noticed by regular parishioners, a conflict begins between the young priest and his flock. Peasants do not agree to have a dark-skinned Mother of God in the church. One night someone makes his way to the church and cuts the icon. After the night events, the icon begins to pour myrrh.

Angst & Flesh

Elena loves Abel, she is drowning on the anguish of being, her subconscious manifests her urges; during the funeral misfortune sets in. Laceration and calm, devotion and fear, angst and flesh.

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.

A Shade of Grey

A peaceful life on a family farm. A cold, clear winter day. Nine-year-old Noémy is about to leave the carefree world of childhood behind.

El balancín de Iván

Ana is a woman of thirty-something, goes back to the house where she spent of her childhood during the Argentine dictatorship.

Swingin'

When sixth-grader boy Qiu is bullied in school for having gay dads, his stepfather Howard, a flamboyant Jazz trumpet player, must confront his own nightmares of childhood bulling before he can provide his son a feeling of security.

Shannon Amen

Shannon Amen unearths the passionate and pained expressions of a young woman overwhelmed by guilt and anxiety as she struggles to reconcile her sexual identity with her religious faith. A loving elegy to a friend lost to suicide.

Meatoo

A naive actor auditions for a film which could launch his career. The things he's asked to do make him more and more uncomfortable, until a choice remark from the director makes him see red.

By the Sea Where We Played

A short story about a boy who is honest and courageous despite being paralyzed.

between the walls

A young artist, Sofia - a photographer, wanders the streets at night with her camera. She's led by a mysterious graffiti artist through his written poetry on street walls and embarks upon a spiritual quest.

The Doldrums or How to Cure Sadness

The tiricia is an illness of the soul when the heart is saddened. A story of three generations afflicted with being tiricientas: Ita, Justa and Alicia – grandmother, mother and daughter – who have at different times suffered, tolerated and allowed abuse, dragging on the disease. Alicia decides to break the cycle, eradicating it for future generations.

Women in Film: BBC Introducing Arts

Cultural historian Janina Ramirez presents a collection of intriguing and exciting short films by emerging women directors and artists. Each film gives a female perspective on modern-day topics from body image and new love to grief and belonging. Expect honest and refreshing storytelling that will make you laugh, make you cry and make you think. In a Room Full of Sisters; Blood Stains; Bridging the Gap; Cake; Ding-Ding, Next; Fruity; In Perpetuum; Owulide; White Dwarf; Cosmic Domestic; The Dead Are Jewels to Me; The Presence of Absence

Hiwa

Jay wakes up in Manila, yet he dreamed of Athens. He has a nightmare, during which he has a special quest: to save his two daughters from a dangerous surgery. In his attempt to rescue them, he roams around Athens’ cityscape, seeing things under a very different light.

Cherry Blossoms in March

In this mother-daughter story, a young woman explores her own mortality through art and poetry as her terminal illness holds her back from a normal life.

Beautiful Dreamer

Facing a terminal disease, a mother uses space travel and relativity to stretch her last two years over the lifetime of her baby daughter, visiting for only one night every seven years. Mother and daughter must negotiate to build a relationship despite the longing and estrangement that marks the life moments they are able to share.

Birdboy

A terrible industrial accident changes little Dinki's life forever. Now Dinki's fate may ride on the wings of her eccentric friend Birdboy, a misfit who hides in the forest lost in his fantasies.

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.

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.

Pê

Pê, a man with terminal cancer, wanders through his city, Lisbon. Throughout the day, he is confronted with a reality unaware of his suffering while he prepares his imminent death by writing a farewell letter to his daughter. When emptying her father’s house, the daughter discovers the letter. It is the beginning of a new encounter.

Tomorrow's Shame

Realizing he won't be able to pay his mortgage, Pierre faces a heartbreaking decision: to evict Micheline, his tenant and friend, who is behind on her payments.

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.

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 One You Never Forget

A 14 year old boy excitedly prepares for his first dance, but when his date arrives he's faced with a split-second decision.

A Tale of the Laundry Game

A night ride, a few beers with an old friend, memories of better times. One seemingly ordinary drive reveals the dark truths of men’s past and a sinister web of strange events.

Three Months

When a young man belatedly reveals to his lover an omission, their romance wavers.

We Are Dancers

Set in Berlin, 1933, We are Dancers is the story of real-life anti-Nazi drag artist Hansi Sturm and his circle of friends in the immediate aftermath of the Reichstag fire, an event that allowed Hitler to become absolute dictator of Germany. Confronted by a former lover, now a Nazi, Hansi must decide whether to abandon his club or stay and face the Fascists on his own terms.

Hangry

Expectations run high as Alicia and John get their first child-free weekend in ages.

Polly

When Jacob's ex-girlfriend Polly comes to visit, the pair can barely contain their excitement. Since their teenage days when they were an item, Jacob has long since been out of the closet and in a happy relationship with boyfriend Nicholas, so both he and Polly have a lot of catching up to do. Sure enough, Polly's visit extends into a long stay as the trio relish each other's company. However, all good things must, eventually, come to an end.

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.

Waking Up in Vegas

Yael is at the beginning of puberty and is searching for his own identity between his virile big brother and his queer best friend Aaron. In the process, he not only questions himself, but also endangers his friendship with Aaron.

Devil's Tribulation

Liu Ming and Jia Lan are childhood sweethearts. Liu Ming devotes herself to cultivation every day, and Jia Lan always waits quietly, accompanying Liu Ming. Ye Tian Mei has admired Liu Ming for a long time, but hates that Jia Lan is always by Liu Ming's side. One day, when Jia Lan is playing in a lake, Ye Tian Mei hypnotises her, swaps their souls, and imprisons Jia Lan's...