Fearless Juan (Colombia) by David Pombo

After having dedicated his whole life to pleasing the dead, Juancho begins to worry about who will fulfill his wishes when his time comes. Lonely and accompanied only by his faithful dog Pinina,  this old mortician from a popular neighborhood,  fights to maintain control over his body even when he dies. Juancho has almost everything arranged, the funeral home,  the burial field, the hole. He just needs a condescending soul who takes care of his instructions, especially his greatest wish, to be buried standing up.

Running Time: 00:15:15

Algorithms of Beauty (Belgium) by Miléna Trivier

Can a picture contain all the beauty of a flower? Between technology and emotions, Algorithms of Beauty questions the limits of our gaze when faced with AI images.

Running Time: 00:20:00

My Dear, (Portugal) by Aragon Yao

My Dear, is a self-reflective documentary about the will of a young Chinese director to express his own sexual identity in Europe. A quiet sense of impending change threads together scenes from director Aragon Yao’s own life. Calls from his parents in China inquiring after his marital status blend with calls from his boyfriend asking about his job prospects, each underscoring the reality that the student visa that brought him to Europe will soon end. With time running out, Yao faces tough questions about his relationship with his family, culture, and his sense of self. Seeking release, he turns to drag. Shifting between observational footage, paper puppetry, and poetic symbolism, Yao explores expressions of sexual identity in this essay about queerness, immigration, and performance.

Running Time: 00:30:00

On mothers and daughters in times of injustice (South Africa) by Talia Jawitz

Through old letters, Merle revisits her past as an anti-Apartheid activist, which fractured her relationship with her mother forever. At the same time, she faces her privilege in today's South Africa and her relationship with her own daughter.

Running Time: 00:28:48

Death Hotel (Sweden) by Gustav Hugo Olsson

In "Death Hotel," we follow 107-year-old Gulchu Bai's final days in the holy city Varanasi, where her family has checked her into one of the city´s revered death hotels to get salvation upon death. The film is exploring the complexities of this ancient tradition and its interplay with culture, spirituality, and mortality. A unique reflection on the circle of life, where death is not mourned but rather celebrated.

Running Time: 00:20:00

An Island Off An Island (Australia) by Guido Pezz

For the past 20 years, Jenene and John have carried a simple life together in Bruny; an island off the island of Tasmania, at the bottom end of Australia. This film is an intimate portrait about life away from the distractions of the outside world.

Running Time: 00:08:00

Wuqiao Circus (Portugal) by Lukas Berger

In Wuqiao, a small Chinese town, the inhabitants are dedicated to circus. For decades, different generations present themselves as clowns, magicians, acrobats and tamers. During the holidays of Chinese New Year, the Wuqiao Acrobatic World turns into a big playground for spectators. Surrounded by Buddhist temples and Taoist sculptures, artists create their own space of circus tradition, imagination, illusion and reality. Backstage life is melancholic. “Wuqiao Circus”, a film about circus life fragments, performative existence and the love for playfulness.

Running Time: 00:14:00

Evermore (Belgium) by Gilles Van Damme, Anouck Ramaut

Evermore tells the story of three young-adults: Eline, Kodou and Dries. A few years ago they all lost a parent due to a long-term illness. They share how they've processed that loss and what difficulties occurred during that process. They all found their own way to give their sorrow a place.

Running Time: 00:13:42

Tidal (United States) by Katrina Lillian Sorrentino (Treen)

In the wake of divorce and alone in a new country, Treen matches with the “one.” Months later, in what seems to be a fairytale romance, she discovers a huge lie. Who really is the man she loves? Isolated from friends and family, in an exclusive relationship with a volatile stranger, she gets pulled deeper and deeper into a toxic cycle. Will she ever get out and how? Treen finally finds the courage to leave and with the support of other survivors of narcissistic abuse, she beings to heal.

Running Time: 00:18:06

PathétiQue (Netherlands) by Arash Tagarian

A young father finds out, shortly after the birth of his daughter that he does not have long time left to live. His love for her keeps him going, but at the same time harbours his fear of having to leave her behind. An intense film about life, love and death

Running Time: 00:16:00

Even If You Love Someone (United States) by Aaron Kopelman

This unscripted short documents the raw intimacy of two lovers' final moments together before one moves away.

Running Time: 00:12:30

Sad LARP (United States) by Marissa Goldman

In this documentary, a comedian's break-up leads her to a surprising journey with a community of LARPers.

Running Time: 00:17:33

Histories of Wolves (Portugal) by Agnes Meng

This film is a collection of stories related with wolf in north Portugal mountains. At one peak among rocky ranges, there is a village called Pitões das Junias. At nightfall hour, shepherds used to gather and tell stories. Myth, death, killings…things might or might not happened but inspired by internal fighting between human and wolf, between us and the wild.

Running Time: 00:20:00

King of the World (Belgium) by Ron Chiers

Marc is an artist with bipolar disorder. He filmed himself, and was filmed, during a psychosis. It is an insight into the raw reality of someone struggling with mental illness. Like a lonesome rider, he lets us see into the depths of his soul and goes off the track with his uncontrolled connections.
Marc let music take him into higher realms and paints himself with battle colours. A wall is used as a canvas for a manic work of art. With a state of mind that alternates between euphoria and sadness, he struggles through a rollercoaster of delusions. Wandering through past and present, through his own reality versus reality, he imagines himself to be a king, performer, stripper, art teacher, advertising man and child. In this search for himself, Marc shares his vulnerability with us.    

Running Time: 00:25:45

Circus Movements (Ethiopia) by Lukas Berger, Mário Gajo de Carvalho

Circus culture is a space of diversity, cooperation and integration. A magical space with real people. "Circus Movements" was shot with circus kids from Ethiopia - Liya and Beza, doing the hula hoop; Habtamnesh, doing the aerial hoop; and the Beniyam, only 5 years old, performing acrobatics. Collectively, they are great circus artists performing in the magnificent landscapes of Ethiopia.    

Running Time: 00:15:00

From Moerbeke with Love (Belgium) by Laura De Baudringhien

Far away from home in a small Flemish village, Marta and her female colleagues are planting the seeds for the future of their (grand)children back home in Poland. Through her repetitive and physical work, Marta tries to stay connected and take care of her family. Stuck between east and west, distance and closeness, we follow her during two seasons.

Running Time: 00:22:00

Limbo (United States) by Alex Ramsey

Edward, now 28, hasn't seen his family since he crossed the US-Mexico border on foot 10 years ago. Trapped in the US by a maddening waiting game for citizenship, he grapples with the idea of leaving the life he built in New York behind forever in exchange for a long overdue homecoming. Will Edward reunite with his family or continue on in his self-imposed purgatory?

Running Time: 00:07:16