One hand the other (Germany) by Lenna Fichter, Janis Westphal

Martina is a handicapped person. In order to be able to live her everyday life in her own home, she requires personal assistance. When Sandra starts working for her, the two of them carefully approach each other. In the extreme intimacy between the tenderness of the gestures, it is also the heaviness of the situation that emerges. It is a fragile dance between being near and being distant, that demands a lot from both of them.

Running time: 01:10:00

Vulva (United Kingdom) by Stefania Silvestri

Seventeen people respond to a casting call inviting them to explore the appearance of their vulva. The collective thoughts, feelings, and experiences look to normalise vulva diversity and open discourse about insidious genital shaming.

Running time: 00:17:43

Mitayo (Peru) by Marco Alvarado

Mitayo is the Amazonian word that describes the time of fishing in a hamlet called Aguanomuyuna in the Chazuta district in the city of Tarapoto of the San Martín Region in the jungle of Peru. The Shapiama Inuma family invites us to "mitayar".

Running time: 00:16:14

Karam Camera (United States) by Liam LoPinto, Shaimaa Al Sabti, Hana Barhum

Two Syrian refugee girls make their first films.

Running time: 00:16:51

OT7 (United States) by Sofia Chang

Two friends struggle to make sense of developments within their favorite boy band. Weaving together archival footage and intimate conversations, OT7 explores the ways that we use parasocial relationships to understand ourselves. How do we come to terms with the inevitability of change and loss in our deepest connections?

Running time: 00:10:10

Myrteza Blue (Australia) by Eren Besiroglu

Myrteza Blue is the intimate portrait of Graeme Myrteza — a once multi-generational farmer and now celebrated Australian landscape painter. 

Filmmaker Eren Besiroglu chronicles Myrteza through his meditations on artistic exploration, evoking Myrteza to explore the question: "Why did I embark on the journey of painting at the age of 60?". 

The result is an extraordinarily up-close and personal film that bears witness to an artist's introspection on his passion for art. Brimming with a rare alchemy that only springs from a courageous, unguarded collaboration between subject and chronicler, Myrteza Blue is a special observational documentary.

Running time: 00:05:00

Iconoplast (Italy) by Sara Bonaventura

“Imagine alien visitors arriving on Earth in the remote future.”  Jan Zalasiewicz's The Earth after us, and the seminal Lynn Margulis' Microcosmos inspired this mockumentary (e.g. the voice over, a re-adaptation of them, where past tense verbs are turned into future tense, embedding the fantasy of a future already set as past).  The idea that symbiosis, the living together and sometimes merging of different species of organisms, is crucial to the evolution of life forms on Earth, is the underpinning concept of this work.

Running time: 00:08:00

Day of the Dead (Belgium) by Kris Curtiz De Meester, Peter Bracke

"Day of the Dead"  is a short film that delves into the unique blend of life, death, and celebration during Mexico's Day of the Dead. The story unfolds against the backdrop of the mesmerizing migration of millions of Monarch butterflies to Mexico, believed to embody the souls of the departed. The film explores the profound Mexican tradition of not just commemorating the dead but reveling in the coexistence of life and death during these sacred days. The short film is a visual and emotional journey that explores the delicate balance between the living and the dead, culminating in a moment of serene reflection as the dead fall silent, and the living are left to calmly confront their own emotions. The film captures the essence of a cultural celebration that transcends borders, inviting audiences to reflect on the universal themes of love, loss, and the enduring connections that bind us across time and cultures.

Running time: 00:03:11