New Short Films from Germany, Austria and Switzerland

Saturday, November 3, 2 pm

AUSTRIA

Desert Bloom
2016, 12 min., Directors: Peter Kutin & Florian Kindlinger
In addition to gambling, Las Vegas brings electricity and light into the darkness of the Nevadan desert. Together with German composer Christina Kubisch, sound artists Peter Kutin and Florian Kindlinger have made audible what usually remains unrecognized by our ears: the electromagnetic fields created by the neon signs, light emissions, and LED thunderstorms of the Las Vegas Strip. In expanding limited senses, Kutin and Kindlinger deliver a film built on various existing sites of our urban reality.

Rhapsodariddim
2017, 2 Min., Director: Jessica Hausner/Markus Binder
Rhapsodariddim is part of an endless poem from the book Teilzeitrevue from the author Markus Binder, published by Verbrecher Verlag, Berlin in early 2017. Set to music by the author and directed by Jessica Hausner, the video acts as a sequel to P.E. Finzi’s dance performance in the 2015 Videohit Oida.

First and Foremost (In Erster Linie)
2016, 6 Min., Director: Veronika Schubert
More than 3000 engraved pieces of glass show the time-lapse movement of clouds. But the outlines of the clouds appear to be the border lines of ever-changing countries. The sound is a mixture of sentences taken from Austrian television during September 2015, when thousands of refugees arrived in Austria.

Nelly
2015, 17 Min., Director: Chris Raiber
Thirteen-year-old Nelly, born with a heart defect, is used to suffering and pain. She refuses the pity of others, however; her thick skin gives her security, she wears white to counteract her medical wounds. Her greatest fear is that she will leave her mother behind alone—she is her protection, her understanding, and her caretaker. When Nelly’s heart once again stops beating regularly, she begins her fight against this fear.

SWITZERLAND

Facing Mecca
25 Min., Director: Jan-Eric Mack
The hospital calls Fareed; his wife's cancer has reached its terminal stage. Swiss retiree Roli comes to his help and takes him to the hospital, but the wife passes away shortly after, leaving the Syrian refugee alone with two daughters. Fareed wants to see his wife buried in accordance with Muslim rites, but problems quickly arise: the graves in the local cemetery have not been aligned to face Mecca; the council is unable or unwilling to carry out the burial within 24 hours after death. Unimpressed by the council’s tactical heal-dragging, together they stumble into a bewildering forest of Swiss bureaucracy to which Roli finds a beautifully simple answer.

Rewind Forward
2017, 24 min., Director: Justin Stoneham
Justin has always managed to escape his own story. But his past catches up with him when he discovers his father’s VHS recordings and sees his mother as he’s never seen her before - young and healthy. When Justin was four, a brain stroke left her partially paralyzed and unable to speak. Seeing the mother he longed to have in his father’s recordings triggers him to confront his family’s misfortunes. With his father dead, his mother is the only person he can turn to for answers. While she struggles to communicate with the help of a computer, she is sharp and witty. Justin begins to draw the connection between the mother he longed to have and the woman in the wheelchair.

DEUTSCHLAND

Follower
2018, 10 Min., Director: Jonathan Behr
Clara is spending the evening babysitting for a wealthy family. They’ve even got a harp in their living room! Naturally she snaps a picture right away and sends it to her bae Patrick via WhatsApp. When she posts another slightly enhanced image on Instagram, Clara’s thrilled to gain a new follower: ny4rl47ho73p. Alas, the internet stranger inserts himself into her world in deeply disturbing fashion in this rigorously staged smartphone thriller.

rien ne va plus
2017, 15 Min., Director: Sophie Linnenbaum
Bodo is standing on a rooftop, ready to jump, when suddenly his phone rings. It’s Evi, telling Bodo he won a prize in a competition he never took part in. While he tries to get rid of Evi, all of a sudden the casino she is calling from is attacked by robbers. And now not only is Bodo’s life in danger, but so are the lives of all hostages.

Back to Film|Neu 2018 Overview