The April Chill

Three men hammer on an anvil and pass a bottle of beer around. Notable for being the first film in which a scene is being acted out.

It's a classic boy-meets-girl story, boy-loses-girl, boy gets mistaken for an escaped convict and ruthlessly chased by armies of cops across the countryside in a thrill-packed stunt-addled climax.

An alcohol/drug abuser re-examines his life until he nearly dies from an overdose. Then a friend convinces him to join a self-help group which turns out to be demonic.

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

A distraught squatter tries to cope with his werewolf nature through drugs and music.

Overwhelmed by grief following the death of his wife, Donnelly shares a train carriage home with a troubled young man identified only as the 'Kid'. As the Kid becomes more agitated and foul-mouthed, the journey takes on a violent and dangerous hue – for the bereaved Donnelly and for other hapless passengers on the train. Academy Award Winner: Best Live Action Short Film – 2005

A boy grows a seed into a flower while the world around him marches on.

Belly

Through a series of auditions, a young actor in New York City struggles with his identity.

Before Words

Songbird

The O'Dell farm is on the rocks. A non-traditional accountant comes with a variety of ways to save the farm.

Alma

After a dreadful incident coupled with an ungovernable paroxysm of violence, a butcher will fall into a downward spiral that will burn to the ground whatever dignity still remained in him.

When Roxanna discovers her fascination with lesbian sexuality, she finds herself dragged deeper and deeper into it. This leaves her at odds with her boyfriend, with tragic results.

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.

The end of the 80s, a village in the middle of Finland. 15-year-old Hevari, the only long-haired boy in town, is the coolest guy in the world - at least according to Kake from next door. No-one else seems to agree. Short-tempered Hevari is used to being the laughing stock among the gang and the girls. But when the Friday night comes and there's a disco at the community hall, it's time to go again. Maybe tonight everything will be different.

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

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 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.