Stronger Than You Think (Belgium) by Laurent Stine

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Trailer

Synopsis: Break free from your fears. You are stronger than you think. Running time: 0:01:24.

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Artifacts Of You, Artifacts Of Me (Belgium) by Brecht De Cock

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Trailer

Synopsis: One phone call changed summer. When medics fail to save their father’s life, a child struggles to re-animate their memory of the tragic event. This experimental short film combines computer animation and archival footage to create an atmospheric depiction of personal grief. Accompanied by a haunting soundtrack, composed by Ismaël Iken and Vince De Leenheer. Running time: 0:09:00.

Selections/awards: Anima Festival Brussel, Videoformes Clermont-Ferrand.

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Luw (Netherlands) by Jos van Meerveld

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Synopsis: In the short film ‘Luw’ we meet Bram, a father and husband of a loving wife, living in the Bible Belt. One afternoon Bram goes into the woods to have sex with another man. Afterwards, Bram notices that he’s being watched by the eight year old Tess. Later that night Tess shows up at the front door to pick up her sports bag. Bram proposes to drive her, even though secretly he has ulterior motives. Running time: 0:08:28.

Selections/awards: Nederlands FF Utrecht, Noorderlijk FF Leeuwarden.

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We Are All On The Same Bus (Portugal) by Nuno Serrão

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Synopsis: We are all on the same bus, but some of us are more awake than others. If we consider Einstein's space-time concept, we end up with an object where everything that happened and everything that will happen, is understood inside. Through it, we are driven by a vehicle, let's call a bus, completely autonomous, that goes in a single direction, to the front, and has a single window, the rear. This vehicle, astronomer Arthur Eddington called The Arrow of Time. This idea, although depressingly deterministic, is difficult to ignore in view of the already proven plasticity of time, even when we consider Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, where the act of observing something, alters its result. A concept that does not invalidate a deterministic Universe, rather, allows the Interpretation of Many Worlds by Hugh Everett, also known as Multiverse. Running time: 0:02:00.

Selections/awards: InShadow Lisbon Screendance Festival, ARRF Berlin, International Microfilm Festival, Madrid, Screendance Festival Stockholm, Astoria FF, LA Experimental FF, Boston Short FF, and more.

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A Broken Fan  (Lebanon) by Assaad Khoueiry

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Synopsis: Adel, a desperate jobless father, gets out on the streets of Beirut hoping for a change. This film takes place before Lebanon's big collapse. Running time: 0:12:33.

Selections/awards: Clermont-Ferrand International Short FF, São Paulo International Short FF, Polish IFF, Morocco Short FF, and more.

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The Awakening of the Insects (France) by Stephanie Lansaque, Francois Leroy​

Synopsis: Hong Kong. Mr Lam is an old gentleman who loses his memory since the death of his wife. On March 5, the day of “the awakening of the hibernating insects”, he receives the unexpected visit of old Ms. Meng. This Taoist exorcist is determined to chase the demons lodging in the head of the old man. Running time: 00:14:09.

Selections/awards: Annecy IFF (Best Original Score), Gangneung IFF, Festival of Animation of Berlin, Kuandu International Animation FF, Tehran International Short FF, Sedicorto, Hong Kong Arthouse FF (Best Animation) and more.

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Detergent Daze (Switzerland) by Lucas Ackermann

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Synopsis: Multi-instrumentalist and producer “emanuel” stands for music as an experiment. Their sonic wonder worlds are testimonies to a place or a process. For this music video, we visited “emanuel” at home. The music was created in response to the visual recordings and consists of sounds from the same locations. Running time: 0:04:16.

Selections/awards: Solothurner Filmtage.

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The Leak (Belgium) by Paola Cubillos

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Synopsis: The quietness in a woman's apartment is imperiled by the emergence of a water leak. As the drops fall, unspoken memories of a sleeping man surface with a scared child begging to be seen and protected. Running time: 0:07:40.

Selections/awards: Leuven International Short FF, Festival Premiers Plans Algiers.

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Three Grains of Salt (France) by Ingrid Chikhaoui

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Synopsis: Two sisters, aged 8 and 5 hang out alone at home, in the middle of the country side. Elsa, the youngest swallows three grains of coarse salt. Judith announces to her that she’s doomed to a death by desiccation. She only has a few hours to live, when the return of their mother with her ardent and feverish behaviour, turns the family destiny upside down. Running time: 0:25:00.

Selections/awards: Clermont-Ferrand International Short FF, Brussels Short FF, Viva Festival (Best International Film), Orvieto Cinema Fest, IFF KineNova Skopje (Best Short Film), Santa Barbara IFF, and more.

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