Historias Breves I: Downhill

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An American woman is stranded in Tokyo after breaking up with her boyfriend. Searching for direction in life, she trains to be a ramen chef under a tyrannical Japanese master.

Harraga is an illegal immigrant who do it by land, by air or by sea. With no visa, nor passport. Out of the law (...) Yes, that's the key, outlaw ... but what happens when those harraga are kids?

Directed by J. Stuart Blackton.

A young man's struggle with his sexuality overtakes his life, driving him deep into his subconscious where guilt and fears of physicality chase him still further. Cornered by an intangible terror, he realises he must either break out or break down.

Explores a fleeting moment between two strangers, revealing their brief connection in a hyper real fantasy.

Everyone has their own Chimera, something they try to achieve but never manage to find. For Arthur, the Chimera looks like the woman he lost, Beniamina. In an adventurous journey between the living and the dead, between forests and cities, between celebrations and solitudes, the intertwined destinies of these characters unfold, all in search of the Chimera.

Tita is passionately in love with Pedro, but her controlling mother forbids her from marrying him. When Pedro marries her sister, Tita throws herself into her cooking and discovers she can transfer her emotions through the food she prepares, infecting all who eat it with her intense heartbreak.

Amid Guanajuato's vibrant streets, an aging filmmaker becomes a modern Don Quixote, joined by a spirited young animator as his loyal Sanchia. Together, they navigate themes of mortality, unfulfilled dreams, and the fragile line between madness and clarity, uncovering the transformative power of light, art, and the landscapes that shape our souls.

When her father enlists to fight for the British in WWI, young Sara Crewe goes to New York to attend the same boarding school her late mother attended. She soon clashes with the severe headmistress, Miss Minchin, who attempts to stifle Sara's creativity and sense of self-worth.

Karrer plods his way through life in quiet desperation. His environment is drab and rainy and muddy. Eaten up with solitude, his hopelessness would be incurable but for the existence of the Titanik Bar and its beautiful, haunting singer. But the lady is married and Karrer is determined to keep her husband away...

Ines is 21 years old and dreams of becoming an actress. In order to fulfil that dream, she decides to leave Brasília for São Paulo to appear as an extra in a popular soap opera. However, with no place to stay, she ends up staying at the Tiete Bus Terminal, the second largest in the world.

Remi and Bastien are friends, easygoing, and soon to be nuclear engineers. They are about to choose between friendship and career. But in this world, there are no good or bad choices. There are only choices... And the choice is Remi's.

The wealthy president of a company has built up an unpayable debt to a local crime lord, and to escape punishment he sells his famous dancer wife to the lecherous old man figuring a 90 year old can’t do too much bad with her. Perhaps not, but others can while he watches. She’s put on stage in an underground BDSM sex show and begins a spiraling decent from strongly independent woman to submissive sex slave

A young boy called Justen, who went through doleful past, discoveres a way to change his situation greatly.

Jesus is asked to judge an inheritance dispute, but instead He uses this conflict to affirm the eternal ideals of His Beatitudes taught in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus teaches the wronged brother to forgive and love his brother. All who follow Jesus must learn that what we own has little to do with who we are. Important ideals of stewardship and preparedness are emphasized through the parable of the House Built on Rock.

Padam...

Two teen girls see their long-time friendship crumble from the pressures of adulthood in their last year of high school.

The seven short films making up GENIUS PARTY couldn’t be more diverse, linked only by a high standard of quality and inspiration. Atsuko Fukushima’s intro piece is a fantastic abstraction to soak up with the eyes. Masaaki Yuasa, of MIND GAME and CAT SOUP fame, brings his distinctive and deceptively simple graphic style and dream-state logic to the table with “Happy Machine,” his spin on a child’s earliest year. Shinji Kimura’s spookier “Deathtic 4,” meanwhile, seems to tap into the creepier corners of a child’s imagination and open up a toybox full of dark delights. Hideki Futamura’s “Limit Cycle” conjures up a vision of virtual reality, while Yuji Fukuyama’s "Doorbell" and "Baby Blue" by Shinichiro Watanabe use understated realism for very surreal purposes. And Shoji Kawamori, with “Shanghai Dragon,” takes the tropes and conventions of traditional anime out for very fun joyride.

Jonas lives in a seaside town and has to deal with people leaving his town all the time. After his friend Giovanna has to move to the big city, Jonas isolates himself in his room taking turns between reading and watching with curiosity his neighbor, Gaspar, through the window. However, one day he hears a strange, incessant noise coming from his neighbor's house, a noise that seems to be being transmitted by a new girl in town, Sophia.