Chemistry

A couple wakes up one sunny morning on the 15th of May. Apparently, they had the same nightmare and the day unfolds strangely. The next day, we are still on the 15th of May. Graduation work from La Fémis.

Four stories... Four couples... Ang Mga Pinakamahabang One Night Stand is a collection of four short films exploring themes of fidelity, relationships, and true love in a world filled with complex societal norms permeating personal spaces. The anthology includes Wait Water Wait [directed by Crisaldo Pablo], Balot [directed by James Harvey Estrada], Ang Pinakamahabang One Night Stand [directed by Eduardo Roy Jr.], and Tutok [directed by Crisaldo Pablo].

A girl wraps her grandmother in a spiral of fantasy, causing amnesia to her.

A free adaptation of the novel History of the Eye, by Georges Bataille, Janaina Leite investigates the relationship between theatre and pornography, a recurring theme in her last shows, in which it is claimed as a scenic art. Hybrid between fiction and non-fiction, Story of the Eye – A Porn-noir Fairy Tale mixes 13 performers, some amateur and sex workers including a porn actor, a camboy, and a camgirl. With the collaboration of erotic film director Lara Duarte and multi-artist André Medeiros Martins, who performs works on art and pornography on different platforms, the play follows the structure of the book to tell, in fairy tale settings, the story of three teenagers in their sexual discoveries. During intermezzo, the audience watches a gig with live music and performances. Between the blatant theatricality and the explicit of pornography, the show recreates this fable noir among the vulgar and the sublime, mundane and cosmic, ordinary and abyssal.

A young alcoholic woman agrees to attend an AA meeting with her partner. When she unexpectedly runs into her estranged mother, she's forced to confront demons from her past.

Kate and Sam are best friends, but there’s a tension building in their relationship. When Kate’s sister falls victim to an act of violence, they are determined to bring the perpetrator to justice. On a summer evening, their actions tear a hole in reality as the assailant’s heart falls out of his chest and onto the pavement, just as it begins to snow. Their relationship crumbles in the aftermath and the girls are left to question whether any of us are truly worthy of forgiveness.

Panahi's graduation film is an imaginary behind-the-scenes documentary short on the making of Kambuzia Partovi's film Golnar. It focuses on the puppet maker for Partovi's film and his relationship with his puppets.

Second arrative short starring non-professional.

This is the first fiction short movie of Panahi, who offers us his vision on what it is like to be a young boy and is considered to be an homage to Abbas Kiarostami's 'Bread and the Alley'

Introducing Horsin Dickler, who introduces the fundamental concepts surrounding the idea of explicit television.

Sonia, the daughter of a prominent publisher, is about to fulfill her lifelong dream of marrying Rosendo, a promising writer with homosexual tendencies, who pines for his fiancee far less than he does for the brand new literary award launched by his future father-in-law. The wedding shindig will bring its share of unexpected surprises. This is a film is part of the DOGME 95 Movement, described as follows: 'the goal of the Dogme collective is to purify film-making by refusing expensive and spectacular special effects, post-production modifications and other gimmicks. The emphasis on purity forces the filmmakers to focus on the actual story and on the actors' performances. Given these restrictions the story and the action of DIAS DE BODA ('WEDDING DAYS') seem much more immediate and the lapses in fluidity of the story can be forgiven - to a point.

In his film 'La tête dans les nuages' ('Head in the Clouds') Jean-Marie Teno criticizes the ills of the modern world and the regression of African societies. This short documentary shows the capital of the Cameroon, Yaondé, but might equally show other African cities: heaps of rubbish lie at the edge of streets, academics are out of work, officials unpaid, corruption is the norm, and misery everywhere. For Jean-Marie Teno 'colonization, civilization, independence, then humanitarian talk are merely excuses and theatrical gestures to ensure that Africa remains the place which foreign powers can exploit with a good conscience.'

In the aftermath of a devastating rumor, Iman and his family have been forced to flee Iran. As refugees, they end up in a run-down hotel in northern Sweden. Despite feeling powerless, Iman tries to maintain his role as the family patriarch. To increase their chances of asylum, he breaks a promise to his wife and joins the local wrestling club. As the rumors start to resurface, Iman’s fear and desperation begin to take a hold.

23-year-old Franky is a nurse who lives with her large family in an East London borough. Obsessed with a thirst for revenge and a need to assign guilt for a traumatic event that happened 15 years before, she is unable to build any meaningful relationship until she falls in love with one of her patients – Florence. They escape to the coast where Florence lives with her more open-minded patchwork family. There, Franky finds the emotional shelter to deal with the grudges of the past.

Lieutenant Troyano, a young Italian officer, bids his sweetheart, Marie Petrini, a fond farewell and then rushes to war. In reading a detailed newspaper account of the battle, Marie sees an appeal for Red Cross nurses. Leaving her luxurious home and arriving at Tripoli, she takes up the duties assigned to her. She is beloved by all who require her services

A young woman is being offered seeds of a vegetable with incredible energetic properties. The care required by the culture of these vegetables opens internal perspectives to the young woman, which transform her step by step. The insipid routine of this young woman takes slowly a direction...

On a Saturday night in the "City of Love", two sworn enemies are united in their hatred for someone they despise even more than each other: a gay man.

Tyron is one of the top college basketball stars in the country and is expected to be a top NBA draft pick, but as the pressure to perform well in school threatens his ability to perform on the court, things start to fall apart. Then, when his brother, Blak, is released from prison, he is pressured to rejoin the family business hustling drugs on the street. In a last ditch effort to save his star player, Tyron's coach introduces him to Carmen, a tutor who Tyron falls deeply in love with.

A hastily written letter is used in a blackmail scheme by a scorned suitor.

As dawn creeps across London, two lost outcasts meet in the darkness, more afraid of themselves than each other. As the sun begins to rise, and the veil of the night is lifted, the pair look into the cold light of day for hope and it takes more than just the eyes to see inside a soul.