Syndromeda

Elephants Dream is the story of two strange characters exploring a capricious and seemingly infinite machine. The elder, Proog, acts as a tour-guide and protector, happily showing off the sights and dangers of the machine to his initially curious but increasingly skeptical protege Emo. As their journey unfolds we discover signs that the machine is not all Proog thinks it is, and his guiding takes on a more desperate aspect. Elephants Dream is a story about communication and fiction, made purposefully open-ended as the world’s first 3D animated “Open movie”. The film itself is released under the Creative Commons license, along with the entirety of the production files used to make it (roughly 7 Gigabytes of data). The software used to make the movie is the free/open source animation suite Blender along with other open source software, thus allowing the movie to be remade, remixed and re-purposed with only a computer and the data on the DVD or download.

A middle-aged loser and a lonely old woman separately contemplate suicide on Christmas Eve. After several strangers inadvertently interrupt their attempts, they cross paths in a surprising and dramatic way and change each other's lives forever.

Harold Krebs went off to fight in World War I, "the war to end all wars." But when he comes home, Harold finds that he doesn't fit in any more. He needs peace and quiet to figure out what has happened to him and who he has become, but his mother pressures him to rejoin society.

This is one of the four "animated comics" taking place in the same universe as the film "I Am Legend". In New Delhi, India, during the Krippin Virus Pandemic, Vatsala and her family are preparing to evacuate to a shelter. That night, Vatsala sneaks out of her home and into the chaotic streets of the city to find her boyfriend, Pritam.

Some Boys Don't Leave is the story of what happens when the break-up happens but the break does not. 'Boy' is forced to come to terms with the fact that 'Girl' no longer wants him around. The only problem is he just can't seem to leave their once shared apartment. 'Girl' decides to keep living her life around him; while he remains, watching at a distance. In time, each decides to go in his or her own distinctly different directions. 'Boy' soon finds that sometimes the greatest distance we are asked to travel is one within ourselves.

Epic story of betrayal, family and money. Basically a bit like The Sopranos. Only in live action. As if Shakespeare had completed an internship at Deutsche Bank and written a comedy out of despair. People born before 1977 simply replace Sopranos with Dallas.

Jim Broadbent wrote and starred in this short film directed by none other than Mike Leigh. As a member of the landed gentry, the 23rd Earl of Leete has a duty to maintain and expand his lands. Shot in the style and manner of a BBC documentary, Broadbent tells his family history to the crew, who slowly come to realise - as do we - that things are not what they seem.

Edward James Olmos narrates this multi-fest winner about an immigrant who recalls a vivid and momentous memory where he discovered his boundaries.

A 3-D animated film about the dream of reaching the unreachable and about the fact that something good can evolve from something evil.

Aïssa is a Congolese immigrant in France. She says that she is under eighteen but the authorities consider her an adult. To determine if she can be deported, a doctor must give her a physical examination.

The intersecting lives of two otherwise unrelated people in a rural Bolivian village adjacent to the Uyani salt flats are presented. The first is Carlos, a poor salt miner. Unlike his colleagues, he is unwilling to take the one time compensation package from an American conglomerate who wants to purchase the mining rights. Carlos would rather get paid for doing actual work than risk living off a one time payment without a guarantee of any other work in the area. Carlos being the one holdout irks his fellow miners, who cannot get their compensation until Carlos also agrees to the terms. Carlos views all gringos in a bad light because of this situation. The second is Marc, an American doctor who has worked in various third world countries providing aide where needed. Marc is completing his term here. Carlos and Marc have a turbulent few meetings based on Carlos' feelings toward gringos and his want for a simple stable life.

Fisnik is about to embark on a absurd journey in creating a fake weeding video, to get the German visa. He has to succeed in convincing his family, friends, and his ex to join him in this crazy journey.

Bullying is taken to unimaginable extremes at an exclusive private boys school.

Diogo Alves is a Spanish fugitive that comes to the Portuguese capital terrorizing the inhabitants by his cut-throat methods against rich and poor people alike. He attacks the women launderers on the Lisbon Aqueduct and throws the bodies over the high wall, and assaults homes with his large band of criminals. Eventually arrested, he, his female companion and his henchmen are condemned to death by the court.

A homeless bum, bored of eating the same food every night, promises his girlfriend a special dinner. He plans to take her out with money robbed from a passing stranger. But the bum’s in for a surprise when the man he targets for his mugging turns out to have special – and hilarious – powers.

Tichy is caught by a storm on the side road, and therefore forced to seek shelter in strange looking house. He is welcomed by Profesor Zazul, who devoted his life to cloning experiments. Based on a short story by Stanisław Lem featured in Memories of Ijon Tichy.

In the year 2150, Johnny, a lazy Space Delivery Man, must deliver a package on a planet he does not fully understand.

Mary has a problem. And it’s right in front of her. It’s in front of everyone else too, only they haven’t recognized it yet.

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.

A middle aged woman is desperately wondering in the streets looking for her daughter. A man finds her before she does.