Back Stage

The lives of Stan Laurel (1890-1965) and Oliver Hardy (1892-1957), on the screen and behind the curtain. The joy and the sadness, the success and the failure. The story of one of the best comic duos of all time: a lesson on how to make people laugh.

Willie Whooper, doused in reducing creme, shrinks to the size of a mouse and is chased by a cat throughout a house. Finally Willie returns to normal size and angrily covers the cat in reducing creme. The cat now shrinks to mouse size, and gets a black eye from the mouse he habitually torments.

Névine, a secondary school monitor, is fully committed to her somewhat thankless day job, dealing with teachers, administration and students. Logan, a pupil she is found of insists on getting a cap back from lost and found. She has no idea of the consequences of her gesture.

Two deadbeat photocopier technicians discuss their recently deceased boss, who has been found dead the morning of. The conversation turns sour and some sinister and bizarre truths are revealed.

A nightwatchman who works at a pesticide plant manipulates chemicals (of which he treats a strange garden of marrow-like vines in his apartment) , causing evolution to accelerate, in this short illustrating the harmful effects of human interference with nature.

Tired of being a banal architectural ornamental, a sculpture runs from the Louvre to confront real life on the streets of Paris.

Rural comedy of the intrigues and stratagems involving a country wedding. From a comedy by Alexis Kivi.

The cat and mouse are in their usual game of chase-and-pursue until the mouse hides in a pickled-herring barrel. The cat gets intoxicated from inhaling the fumes and immediately becomes the mouse's newest best friend. He defends the mouse from a mean alley cat, and the mouse invites him to come home with him. There, the mouse takes care of him and sobers him up, and the cat immediately begins to chase him again. He reaches the barrel again and regains his newest best friend. Charlie Chaplin deserves an (uncredited) story listing.

When two LGBTQ+ Indigenous friends desperately search for fellow gay people in a straight-ass NZ beach town, they find that the true pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is PRIDE.

Two partners in a clothing store decide they want to become radio performers.

A short story about a young ninja.

Wallace Carlson walks viewers through the production of an animated short at Bray Studios.

Sometimes it's just one of those days.

Meet Bill; a lumpy dunce who has slipped on fish sticks and killed himself. At the customer service desk of the pearly gates, he is given the chance to relive one last memory. But if he dies, he'll end up in Limbo. Will Bill survive his past?

Waking up the morning after hosting a party, a man discovers a stranger passed out on his floor. He spends the rest of the day trying to convince her to leave.

When Vlace is suspended for hitting a classmate, Sasha is called to come get his son at school and has no choice but to take him along on his delivery route. During this intimate journey, we discover what provoked Vlace's uncharacteristic act, as father and son find their way toward a new understanding.

A poor misunderstood wolf tells the real story of what happened

Movie night unravels quickly for a group of friends after they place an order from a closed down, haunted pizzeria.

After lending a hand to a neighborhood club owner, a bartender is inadvertently swept into the aftermath of a heist which plunges him into Manhattan's crime world. If he fails, he risks not only himself but, crucially, the love of his life.

Matthias is going on a weekend course of self-discovery called “My Value on Earth,” which was an expensive gift from his girlfriend. The course is supposed to help him deal with his chronic inability to finish things that he’s started. But before Matthias leaves, his girlfriend springs a surprise on him: he’s going to be a father. And so he hopes to use the weekend, which he has no real desire to go on, to answer new and pressing questions. The “alternative” therapist, however, doesn’t inspire much trust. The tragicomedy Frantic Attempts takes aim at the field of personal development, in particular, dubious therapists who offer quick fixes. After all, what if we should answer our existential questions ourselves instead of trying to find answers from others?