Newborn

A reframing of the classic tale of Narcissus, the director draws on snippets of conversation with a trusted friend to muse on gender and identity. Just as shimmers are difficult to grasp as knowable entities, so does the concept of a gendered self feel unknowable except through reflection. Is it Narcissus that Echo truly longs for, or simply the Knowing he possesses when gazing upon himself?

Just another love story. The difference is Gerson.

Filmmaker and new media artist Tong Xie’s debut short probes the unease, confusion, and obsession experienced by the body as it crosses the urban physiognomy. Set amidst the shadowy loneliness of Paris at night, Absolutely No Sexual Favors je pense à toi 吾想汝顯 depicts the psychological and corporeal marginality of queer identity and desire through perpetually displaced figures.

Shot in a series of long-takes over several days, the film follows a flower shop attendant (played by Devereaux, then actually employed at a small flower shop by the beach) in fragmented detail. The order of scenes resists chronology: moments recur, shift, or vanish, creating not the passage of a single day but the jumble of many, refracted into a meditation on routine and its quiet abstractions.

As a young woman walks home alone one night, a chance encounter with a missing dog incites the reclamation of her body and self — as she learns to bite as tough as her bark.

An abstract perspective into two young South African workers in the heart of Johannesburg's industrial sector during Covid-19

An unknown girl breaks out of her daily grind by undergoing an intense audio-visual trip.

Fame driven Ken Dean becomes the subject of a documentary when he attempts to start a pornography company. Following the failure of the company, Ken uses his father's religious music to start a Christian rock band but finds himself trapped in a gay conversion cult.

The inner mind of Aaliyah Petra, a young black dancer fighting to withstand the immense pressure of being her family and community's “Moneybaby.” Aaliyah battles through the overwhelming pressure to succeed, discovers her own resilience, and realizes the true meaning of Black Excellence.

Christine Vachon’s story of a man haunted by the grotesque memory of having stepped on a dead animal's carcass is an artistic tour de force starring Michael Sean Edwards (the voice of Richard Carpenter in Todd Haynes’ Superstar) and a young Steve Buscemi.

Quando Antares nos encontrar

Man is constantly confronted by the one eyed beast. When peeking through the hole in his box, he discovers a truth that transforms his life. Every time the beast observes him and the darkness approaches his box, he becomes an embarrassed being.

An experimental lo-fi love story told through still photographs, an unseen character longingly admires a young woman from afar.

Daniela (24) is a ghost in pain. Her life ended suddenly and painfully, leaving her friend and roommate, Mónica (22) alone in their shared apartment in Santiago, Chile. Daniela feels her frustration grow within her, as she fears that her time in limbo will never end.

Alinur, a student filmmaker, tries to make a film about the apocalypse for his capstone project. The movie itself happens to be about a mercenary named M who inadvertently causes an apocalypse. As he tries to “create” the destruction of this supposed apocalypse through utilizing technical gimmicks that he has enforced onto the production of the film, this supposed effort also creeps in as a force that starts to “destroy” him, piece by piece. The outcome of it tests the sincerity of not only the film itself but also of the performative efforts that Alinur has made as a filmmaker—even this test might not be as sincere as it seems.

A photographer girl enters a street to take street photographs as usual and takes a few photos that she thinks are normal. When she washes the photos and hangs them, she sees that she is actually in one of the photos and goes in search of that person.

A group of young people spend an afternoon on an outing in La Arboleda

What appears at first glance to be a patterned floor of traditional Islamic tiles is in fact an intricate installation of hand dyed sand. In a light-filled room in an abandoned house, the artist steps into frame to sweep it away, breaking the illusion and destroying the image of traditional heritage.

In the aftermath of an emotional shock, a ruthless high-class manager faces her own abyss, becomes pervaded by a sensory spirit and undertakes a purifying voyage.

A journey to an unknown star, a children's theatre play, an untalented writer and the fear of becoming the worst version of oneself. A mixture of live-action footage and animated scenes. A stream of (un)conscious stereotypes.