Prodigal

Capturing candid street scenes in urban Romania, this bleak and surprising documentary tracks the relationship between filmmaker Livia Ungur and the place she used to call home. Filming with a long lens from a great distance, Livia and collaborator Sherng-Lee Huang observed strangers and tried to read their lips. From these fragments of conversation, Livia’s own story emerges. “Prodigal” is a self-reflexive critique of the documentary form, a poetic evocation of urban loneliness, and a melancholy meditation on being home and leaving home.

Director: Livia Ungur and Sherng-Lee Huang

Livia Ungur and Sherng-Lee Huang have exhibited as an artist duo since 2015. Livia was born in communist Romania, grew up there after the revolution, and as an adult came to America. She studied sculpture and video at the Yale School of Art. Sherng-Lee was born and raised in Tennessee. He learned filmmaking by directing short films and sketch comedy videos. Their collaborative work plays as a conversation—or an argument—between makers with contrasting reference points. Storytelling drives much of their work, as do the lies and truths underlying the creation of narratives. In time-based media and objects, they create wary yet hopeful encounters with history, autobiography, and pop culture. They live with their schnoodle Dexter in Brooklyn, New York.

Specifications

Film Type:Documentary, Short
Genres:Experimental documentary, city symphony
Runtime:8 minutes 14 seconds
Completion Date:January 1, 2015
Production Budget:200 USD
Country of Origin:United States
Country of Filming:Romania
Film Language:English, Romanian

115 (cent quinze)

Charlie searches for a room to sleep, he searches for the sunrise as well.. he calls 115 everyday and he is still waiting for an answer

Specifications

Film Type:Feature, Short
Runtime:3 minutes 45 seconds
Completion Date:February 8, 2015
Country of Origin:Syrian Arab Republic
Country of Filming:France
Film Language:French

Laura

Laura is the coming of age story of a young girl, abandoned as an infant by her mother. Laura lives with her grandma and for two weeks every summer she visits her father, a logger, who lives alone in the forest. A man of few words, the father is unable to communicate with his adolescent daughter, who hates what he does for a living. As the silence between them grows, Laura turns to nature for company, especially with old trees, and starts a strange communication with them.

Director: Julio Mas Alcaraz

Julio Mas Alcaraz initially studied Economic and Business Science as well as an MBA starting a career in the corporate world that sent him to different management positions in Madrid, London and New York. After several years of boredom, emptiness and moral void, he progressively dedicated less time to these activities and went to the opposite side of the spectrum, underlining his bipolarity: he began writing poetry, an activity he had given up when he entered college. Julio had also written several screenplays, as part of a continuation of his interest in writing and his obsession with film. One of them was chosen by a Canal + Program for Young Talent in France but was considered too sexually daring at the time. After a few of years of starting publishing, Julio kept the entrepreneurial skills he had learned both at business school and his professional life for a better purpose but sold his shares in the software and 3D company he had created after new bursts of boredom.

Specifications

Film Type:Short
Runtime:22 minutes 30 seconds
Completion Date:August 18, 2014
Production Budget:10,000 USD
Country of Origin:Spain
Country of Filming:Spain
Film Language:Spanish

Bayberries have ripened

The film is set in the suburbs of Nepal during the civil war period, where most men were either abroad or displaced because of the war. Sushmadevi, a mother of two sons whose husband is abroad, directs her sons to take their cow for fertilization. As the boys bring back the cow, worshiped as a mother and giver, they are faced with a new realization. While all these happening, a cuckoo bird known as Kafal Pakyo among the locals, is singing.

Director: Niranjan Raj Bhetwal

Born in Nepal, Niranjan Raj Bhetwal earned B.F.S in Film Direction at the Oscar International College (College of Film Studies, Nepal, in 2013). His graduation film, ‘Kafal Pakyo / Bayberries Have Ripened’ (2014), received the Jury award and Best Fiction Film Award in "Watersprite: -The Cambridge International Student Film Featival – England" and Audience Choice Award in "25th MEDIAWAVE – ANOTHER CONNECTION International Film Festival – Hungary".

Specifications

Film Type:Short, Student
Genres:Social Issue
Runtime:16 minutes 25 seconds
Completion Date:September 17, 2014
Production Budget:1,600 USD
Country of Origin:Nepal
Country of Filming:Nepal
Film Language:Nepali

Why Iceland

Short documentation to the question: Why should you travel to iceland. With beautiful aerial and landscape shots.

Film Type:Documentary

Genres:Travel, outdoor, documentary

Runtime:4 minutes 14 seconds

Completion Date:July 3, 2015

Production Budget:0 USD

Country of Origin:Switzerland

Country of Filming:Iceland

Film Language:English

Damn Girl

'Damn Girl' is a coming of age story about, Alex, a 12-year old tomboy. She hangs out with a group of only boys, drinks and paints graffiti at night etc. Confronted with an incipient sexuality she fights the changes that are taking place within and around her.

Director: Kira Richards Hansen

Biography
Kira Richards Hansen lives in Denmark and has directed multi-award-winning short films and music videos. She studied film directing in England (BA Hons., at the Arts University Bournemouth) and holds a master's degree in Film Studies from the University of Copenhagen. Kira lived in London for 10 years, working both as a performance and installation artist and in the fashion and advertising industries, before moving back to Denmark. Her debut feature film project (“Hot Ice”) has received support from The Danish Film Institute and is currently in the early stages of development.
 

Specifications

Film Type:Short
Runtime:13 minutes
Completion Date:October 1, 2012
Production Budget:10,000 USD
Country of Origin:Denmark
Country of Filming:Denmark
Film Language:Danish

I feel great

Muki is 30 years old and lives in the suburbs of Copenhagen. He arrived to Denmark as the only survived member of his family – all others have become victims of the Bosnian war in the beginning of the 90’s.

When his girlfriend leaves him, Muki’s world starts crumbling apart and all the traumas from the war and the exile begin to arise.

To help him through the painful time after the break up, Muki’s friends decide to take him on a fishing trip.
During the trip, Muki is struggling to keep the secret of his condition, but the illness betrays him and all of a sudden they all realize that the loss of the girl was only a trigger for something deeper and more serious.

Director: Mirza Ekinovic

Directors bio

Born in 1981 in Bosnia. He came to Danmark 1993 and has lived there ever since. He received his directors degree at The National Filmschool of Denmark .
He lives and works in Copenhagen Denmark.

Specifications

Film Type:Short
Runtime:40 minutes
Completion Date:October 27, 2014
Country of Origin:Denmark
Country of Filming:Denmark
Film Language:Croatian, Danish, Serbian

Nameless Children

The older brother, who looks after his younger disabled brother, makes their living by collecting and selling scrap metals. They have a very hard life. Only dream of disabled brother is having a wheelchair. One day, the older brother meets a young girl and her old, frail Father in the wheelchair. He steals the wheelchair in order to make his younger brother’s dream come true. But everything goes into a wrong direction and causes the dead of old man.

Director: Süleyman Karaaslan

Süleyman Karaaslan
Süleyman Karaaslan, who was born in Kiziltepe/Mardin, met with cinema during high school days. He attented to a short film studio of director Hüseyin Kuzu and studied script writing there. After these lessons, he worked for International Film Festival in Mardin for four years. After graduated from Muğla University of Turkey, he currently studies in Anadolu University of Turkey.

Specifications

Film Type:Short, Student
Runtime:11 minutes 30 seconds
Completion Date:December 12, 2014
Country of Origin:Turkey
Country of Filming:Turkey
Film Language:Turkish

Pizza Money Star System

A couple on a hallucinogenic trip conspire to rob a liquor store to pay for a pizza delivery

Director: Sean Mercado

Sean Mercado is the director/writer/editor/composer/vfx artist of Pizza Money Star System. As a filmmaker, he combines absurdist/surreal elements to seemingly familiar scenarios to create a collection of off kilter works. While his films generally tilt towards comedy, his emphasis on visuals and bizarre characters give his films a deeper viewing experience than typical films in the genre. Inspired by such filmmakers as Gilliam and Linklater, the world and characters he creates are flawed, absurd and evocative of curiosity.

Specifications

Film Type:Short
Genres:Comedy, Experimental
Runtime:5 minutes 33 seconds
Country of Origin:United States
Country of Filming:United States
Film Language:English

Chaldean Voices

Chaldean Voices is a full-length documentary that shows the story of Iraqi youth, formerly persecuted, as they seek peace, opportunity, and democracy in El Cajon, California.

Director: Peter Alkatib and Miguel-Angel Soria

Peter Alkatib (Co-Director)

Peter Alkatib is a first-time filmmaker and a social, civic, ethics and health activist for the Chaldean American community. Peter was born in Baghdad, Iraq and moved to the United States with his family when he was only one. He grew up in San Diego, CA where he studied at the University of California San Diego and received a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology. He has dedicated the past few years to the promotion and civic involvement of the Chaldean American community in the City of El Cajon, CA. He felt compelled to make a film in order to portray the struggles the youth of the Chaldean population face upon emigrating from Iraq to the United States and the impact the education system has on them. In the documentary titled Chaldean Voices, Peter and his team follow the lives of six high school students as they reveal the struggles they have faced as new immigrants of the US as well as the determination they have to succeed.

Specifications

Film Type:Documentary
Runtime:1 hour 22 minutes
Completion Date:September 30, 2014
Country of Origin:United States
Country of Filming:United States
Film Language:English