Films presented at the Fourth MIT Short Film Festival 2009
Akvarium / Aquarium (Denizcan Yiizgiil, Czech Republic, 2007), 5 min.
It’s a story about a simple family in the 21st century that still thinks that fish live in an aquarium. (animation)
Die Leiden des Herrn Karpf. Morbus Bechterew / The Suffering of Mr. Karpf. Morbus Bechterew (Lola Randl, Rainer Egger, Germany, 2007), 11 min.
Mr. Karpf feels misterious pains …
La M con la A / The M with the A (Rosario Funtenebro Yubero, Spain, 2006-2007), 14 min.
In order to find out the content of a letter which Matilde thinks is her husband’s announcement of desertion, she will have to do something unusual for a women of her time: she’ll decide to learn how to read. But to reach her purpose, who can she turn to for help.
Piknik / Déja vu (Irena Gatej, Czech Republic, 2008), 7 min.
Memories of peaceful picnic in nature turn into nightmare dreams or .. .
WAS ÜBRIG BLEIBT / LEFT BEHIND (FABIAN DAUB UND ANDREAS GRÄFENSTEIN, GERMANY, 2008), 13 min.
SYNOPSIS In Waldenburg, situated in the Lower Silesian Coalfield, all mines are closed down. Lukasz and his elder friend Jacek have been digging coal at their own risk for several years now. Like hundreds of other former miners, they are illegally digging for the black gold on the outskirts of their city. The local police are constantly after them. The miners have also been trapped in the tunnels several times. But they keep going. (documentary)
Zlinská polévka / Zlin Soup (Akila Nazli Kaya, Czech Republic, 2007), 9 min.
Film represents endeavor of portrayal of Zlin city. It’s recent past is animated, present is pixilated. Film tries to find out: .. why Zlin city is so strange"? (animation)
Polar / Polar (MICHAEL KOCH, Germany/Switzerland, 2008), 29 min.
Luis travels up into the mountains to see his father again for the first time in years. In an isolated holiday house, unbeknownst to him, he is to meet the new family his father has been keeping from him. Pulled between the opposing forces of anger, incomprehension and the desire for intimacy, Luis tries to break through his father’s reserve, finally provoking a conflict.
Die Leiden des Herrn Karpf. Der Besuch / The Suffering of Mr. Karpf. The Visit (Lola Randl, Rainer Egger, Germany, 2008), 10 min.
Mr. Karpf is expecting a female visitor …
Und wenn wir dann im Himmel sind / When we are in heaven (Daniela Risch, Germany, 2008), 4 min.
A young man founded a family with his young wife. The doll’s house furniture performs the old story for us. Everything started out so promising but it ends with the lonesome death of the man. (animation)
Paseo (Arturo Ruiz Serrano, Spain, 2008), 12 min.
Gabino has never declared his love to a woman.
Epidemie / Epidemia (Daniel Stanchev, Czech Republic, 2008), 6 min.
Shitcats everywhere - that will kill us sometime!!!
Anker werfen / Cast anchor (Markus Beck, Germany, 2008), 22 min.
While Hamburg is celebrating Queen Mary 2, five people are met by fate: A stowaway from Africa needs help to find his family. A terminally ill customs officer wants to make peace with his daughter before it is too late. A young Vietnamese sailor welcomes his newborn child in his home faraway.
Del Blanco al Negro / Turn to Black (Gerardo Herrero, Spain, 2008), 13 min.
Two childhood friends meet again in a luxurious of Madrid. Nevertheless, the guest is surprised by his host when he raises a dark proposal which must be accepted or not.
Die Leiden des Herrn Karpf. Der Geburtstag / The Suffering of Mr. Karpf. The Birthday (Lola Randl, Rainer Egger, Germany, 2008/2009), 10 min.
It's Mr. Karpf's birthday and nobody phones him.
Jiro a Miu / Jiro and Miu (Jun Nito, Czech Republic, 2007), 8 min. (animation)
Film tells the story of two friends, girl Miu and boy Jiro, who, by his crazy ideas, sometimes makes life harder for both of them. This time he decides against all odds to learn to fly.
Schautag / Schautag (Marvin Kren, Germany, 2008), 23 min.
A boy wants to prevent his friends from taking a daring test of courage. A lonely man confronts his most painful memories.
A family is on its way to seek a long-overdue encounter with that man.
The day, when these fates will meet.
El Palacio de la Luna / Moon Palace (iane hernandez, Spain, 2008), 13 min.
A mother writes a letter to Paul Auster ...
2012 / 2012 (Markus Overbeck, Germany, 2008), 33 min.
The year is 2012. The RFID chips implanted in everyone's arms have made life transparent. Every area of social life is controlled by the conglomerate company AETAS. Gabriel, a subordinate employee of AETAS, becomes trapped in a system of surveillance after his grandmother commits suicide and the boundaries between perception and (staged) reality begin to blur into confusion...
Bucuresti-Berlin (Anca M. Lazarescu, Germany, 2004), 23 Min min.
Ioana is fed up with the postcommunism poverty in Bucuresti and decides to leave the country to find work in Germany. 37.5 hours later she gets out of the bus in Berlin with two heavy bags and a bit of money. But her plans don’t work out. Tomescu who promised to get her a job in a hotel does not even show up. And she finds out that the Gartenstreet he lives in happens to exist eleven times on Berlin’s map. Ioana is lost. She meets Kürün, a Turkish cabdriver and gievs him all her money. A long trip through the city’s labyrinth begins and Ioana discovers the endlessness of Berlin.
Für Mathilde / Mathilde (Alla Churikova, Germany, 2009), 7 min.
A seven-year-old girl in at a piano. Her exercise - black and white and boring as the ticking of the metronome. In her mind the girl escapes into the loud and colourful world of a big city. Concrete blocks, concrete mixers, building cranes. And a motionless crow. When the girl takes the half-dead bird into her hands, its heartbeat makes her realise the vividness a rhythm can have. Now the girl hurries back to the piano. (animation)
Milbe /Mite (Karl Tebbe, Germany, 2009), 6 min.
MILBE (MITE) is a short animation film about my grandmother, Oma Grete, and gigantic house dust mites that threaten to destroy the world.
Cemetery People / Cemetery People (Alessandro Molatore, Ireland/Philippines, 2008), 4 min.
Over 6,000 people make their home among the tombs of Navotas Cemetery, located in the Philippines on the shores of Manila Bay. Serving as a trustworthy guide, the smiling and talkative Pastor Jon leads us through the unimaginable world of The Cemetery People; where families live, sleep and even play among the graves. (documentary)
Mona / Mona (Agnes Rossa, Egypt/Germany, 2008), 30 min.
Mona lives with her fourrdaughters Mara, Marcell, Monika and Morgina in a five square meter apartment in Cairo. To support her family after the death of her husband, Mona sorts the city’s garbage every day. In contract to many other children in the neighborhood, Mona’s daughters attend school . Mona dreams of seeing her children graduate from school and lead a better life than herself one day. Her whole life revolves around her daughters whom she brings up with much love and pride. (documentary)
Freies Land / Free Country (Hannes Treiber, Germany, 2008), 24 min.
Summer 1983, GDR: Uwe, a parish priest from Mecklenburg, dares to openly express his ideals of freedom – increasingly
jeopardizing his family and himself. As his wife breaks down under the state’s threatening pressure, Uwe has to face a conflict that will turn out to be a crucial test for the whole family.
Das Zimmer / The Room (Nik Sentenza, Germany, 2008/2009), 13 min.
The famous actor, Thomas van Boys , checks into a hotel . . He orders a call girl , opens his mail , showers , and shaves . . . Then he turns on the TV. The screen shows his room . There must be a camera somewhere in the room . . . The "eye" begins an evil cat and mouse game. It presents van Boys with a mirror, which
lets him look into the uttermost depths of his soul . . .
Repete / Repeat (Ales Jána, Czech Republic, 2008), 7 min.
In a house there lives a man, who every morning battles with the demon of alcohol. So far he's managing but it's always a bit of a ... horror. (animation)
Cartolina Callulare / Mobile Postcard (Peter Vadocz, Italy, 2008), 4 min.
Peter goes to South-Italy on holiday. He takes thousands o photos on his mobile (using the stop-motion technique) and sends a postcard home. A mobile postcard.
Shooting locations 1-3 (Thomas Kutschker, Germany, 2009), 8 min.
SHOOTING LOCATIONS is researching the borderlines between war, playing war, war games and the disappearance of the separation between reality and fiction. The combination of ”found footage” sounds at Youtube from England, Honkong and Afghanistan with images of a 19th century villa, a skyscraper and townhouses are irritating.
Schattenwelten / Shadow Worlds (Thomas Kutschker, Germany, 2008), 25 min.
SHADOW WORLDS is a filmic essay about shadows. The stories and ideas which are collected in SHADOW WORLDS range from ancient myths where the shadow was an autonomous entity to the shadow and parallel worlds of quantum physics.
electromagnetic plot (Matthias Fitz, Germany, 2008), 7 min.
electromagnetic plot is a collection of electromagnetic audio-sig nals, analog and digital interference-images and signals, as well as different variations of making electromagnetic radiation visible forscientific purposes.
Alzheimeruv labyrint / Alzheimer’s Labyrinth (Tomás Polensky, Czech Republic, 2008), 9 min.
Labyrinth of Life, Old Age and Memories
Muz ktery uz nechtel nic vedet / The Man who did not want to know anymore (Marcus Bartos, Germany, 2008), 15 min.
The film tells the story of a man who doesn't want to know anything anymore. This longing almost draws him into absolute isolation until he finally realizes that he first has to know everything in order to forget it. In his urge for knowledge an encounter with a Rhinocerus helps him to find his way back to life.
Peinliche Ordnung / Embarrassing Order (Theo Lighthart, Germany, 2008), 13 min.
In 1957 „total resistance” was published in Switzerland. This book prescribes measures (guerilla warfare) to be taken by ordinary Swiss citizens against a foreign occupation. Because of its detailed content it became the handbook for resistance movements and terrorist groups around the world. It even goes on to instruct an individual who has been captured how to endure torture. The video [peinliche Ordnung] features a reader reciting the chapter concerning torture. The reader is being instructed and corrected off-screen. The awkward reading is reminiscent of the stumbling of the interrogated.
Záhuba / Destruction (, Czech Republic, 2008), 6 min.
Sensual concept under the name of the poem by Charles Baudelaire - we believed that the soul is immortal, but its not true . . .
Rot / Red (Lynn Kossler, Germany, 2008), 3 min.
ROT is a film about shame and blushing. Adults talk about their problems with this visibleemotion, and a girl shows us the handling of shame from a child's point of view.
Life Reloaded (Viktor Gasic, Germany, 2009), 11:30 min.
„Life Reloaded“ is an experimental project, which investigates the forms of cinematic language and its metaphors in the context of today’s acceleration. In that context the media play an important role. They create a virtual reality which calls "real” life into question. Here the media are entering the position of highest authority in a Freudian sense: “Father and God in one”. However this authority is not based on values, rather on power structures. Due to medial recycling, the quantity of symbols and information which are consumed accumulate, which is perceived as an “echo of reality”. The search for the “holy grail” in the technical jungle of the present becomes an abstract time journey through various life phases.
The Searchers (Theo Ligthart, Germany, 2007), 6:20 min.
A forest: straight and neat, domesticated. A woman and a man seem to be searching for someone. They shout out his name. Theo! A voice over recites from the “Minimanual of the Urban Guerilla” by Carlos Marighella. Should we retreat in to the dark woods to begin the guerilla war? However, the forest is quite ordered and transparent…
Idyll (Astrid Busch, Germany, 2009), 3 min. min.
Idyll being illusion.In a fragmentary daydream with scraps of thoughts and smithereens of images leads the film into a world of apparentnesses and memories. The basis for the film is just a 35mm b/w negativ.The film became a mixture of manual exposure by laser pointer Frame by Frame on b/w photomaterial, digital Compositing and animated handdrawing.
Loose Connection / Loose Connection (Jan Haering, Germany, 2008), 6 min.
A young person in his room. His single existing communication is with his computer. Time and Space seem to dissolve slowly, untill a unforeseen tournaround changes everything.
For further information please contact the Festival Director, Kurt Fendt <fendt
mit.edu>
