Shorts Competition: Block II


Set of films
dir. Gabriela Osio Vanden, Jack Weisman ("Nuisance Bear"); Maria Besora ("Wild Animal"); Ben Brown ("Hanging On"); Jérémie Battaglia ("The Brother"); Kamil Bembnista ("Tempo Home") / 2021 ("Nuisance Bear", "Wild Animal", "Hanging On"); 2020 ("The Brother"); 2022 ("Tempo Home") / Canada ("Nuisance Bear"); Spain ("Wild Animal"); UK ("Hanging On"); France, Canada ("The Brother"); Poland ("Tempo Home") / 97 min
For the first time at the festival we present the Shorts Competition – a selection of documentaries from all around the world, each under 45 minutes. Thanks to their diverse subject matter, they constitute an ideal starting point from which to explore the issues addressed in the feature-length films presented at the festival.
Nuisance Bear
duration: 15 min
country/year: Canada/2021
director: Gabriela Osio Vanden, Jack Weisman
cinematography: Jack Weisman, Sam Holling, Gabriela Osio Vanden
production: Jack Weisman / Documist
selected festivals and awards: 2021 – Toronto IFF; 2021 – IDFA Amsterdam
In a famous destination for photographing polar bears in Canada, we shift our perspective and see whom the bears must navigate during their annual migration.

Churchill, Manitoba in Canada is a famous destination for photographing polar bears. We’ve seen the majestic images and classic wildlife TV programs – but what do these bears see of us?

'Nuisance Bear' shifts our perspective revealing an obstacle course of tourist paparazzi and wildlife officers whom bears must navigate during their annual migration.

Wild Animal
duration: 24 min
country/year: Spain/2021
director: Maria Besora
cinematography: Núria Gascón
production: Maria Besora / ESCAC Films
selected festivals and awards: 2021 – IDFA Amsterdam
Janira is three years old and doesn’t speak like the other kids, but she is happy surrounded by animals. Soon she’ll have to decide between staying wild or adapting to society

Janira is three years old and doesn’t speak like the other kids. She is happy surrounded by animals with whom she communicates in a special way, and she seems to prefer their world than the human one.

Growing up is unavoidable and soon she’ll have to decide between staying wild or adapting to society.

Hanging On
duration: 10 min
country/year: UK/2021
director: Alfie Barker
cinematography: Ben Brown
production: Hollie Bryan / Cosmosquare Films
selected festivals and awards: 2021 – Sheffield Doc Fest, 2021 – BFI London FF
A docu-drama with artistic visuals spotlighting the strength of community, in a Leeds neighbourhood united when faced with eviction

Set in Oulton, Leeds, an old coal-mining community of over 60 houses still stand. Originally made as temporary council housing, but sold onto private investors, they now sit with the threat of demolition, displacing a large number of residents, some who have lived there all of their lives.

Featuring a combination of audio interviews and artistic visuals we discover the stories of a close community of residents, their sentimental memories and the stress and uncertainty of an ongoing campaign to save their homes.

This documentary reminds us about the struggles of people slipping through the cracks of society and explores what it actually means to have a home.

The Brother
duration: 28 min
country/year: France, Canada/2020
director: Jérémie Battaglia
cinematography: Jérémie Battaglia
production: Amélie Lambert Bouchard / Les Films Extérieur Jour
selected festivals and awards: 2021 – Palm Springs IFF
Living with an illness that is causing him to lose the use of his body, Kaïs is awoken every morning by a different member of his loving family

Living with an illness that is causing him to lose the use of his body, Kaïs is awoken every morning by a different member of his loving family.

On top of his health problems, the family is undergoing a financial crisis which forces them to emigrate from their native Morocco to France . Though paralyzed, Kaïs dreams he is the hero of his favorite manga, along with his dear brothers: Fehd, the bodybuilder and Zaïd, the ninja.

Tempo Home
duration: 20 min
country/year: Poland/2022
director: Kamil Bembnista
cinematography: Jasper Granderath, Joanna Piechotta
production: Ewa Jastrzębska, Jerzy Kapuściński, Wiola Łabędź / Munk Studio – Polish Filmmakers Association, No Drama Production
selected festivals and awards: 2022 – Millennium Docs Against Gravity – world premiere
Is it possible to feel at home in a place which is meant to be temporary? Leila, Amir and Baqir are three of over 1,000 residents of a refugee camp at the former Berlin-Tempelhof Airport

Is it possible to feel at home in a place which is meant to be temporary?

Leila, Amir and Baqir are three of over 1,000 residents of a refugee camp – made of containers – located at the former Berlin-Tempelhof Airport. Its temporality, which is in the veins of the materiality of the houses, seems to dictate the atmosphere of this maze. The protagonists are challenging the situation in the waiting room by the desire of stability and hope - hopefully not ending up in another temporary space.

Nuisance Bear
Nuisance Bear
dir. Gabriela Osio Vanden, Jack Weisman, Canada 2021, 15 min
Wild Animal
Wild Animal
dir. Maria Besora, Spain 2021, 24 min
Hanging On
Hanging On
dir. Alfie Barker, UK 2021, 10 min
The Brother
The Brother
dir. Jérémie Battaglia, France, Canada 2020, 28 min
Tempo Home
Tempo Home
dir. Kamil Bembnista, Poland 2022, 20 min

Other films from this section Short films

Other movies with this tag animal rights

Other films in the competition Best Short Film Award