LDN // THURSDAY // 31 AUG // OPENING NIGHT

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On opening night we want to remind you what InShort Film Festival is all about! Opening with films that express individuality, creativity and spirits that can’t be tamed or dampened: films about rebels, wonderers, and renegades. Towards the end of the night we’ve got some of the most powerful new global shorts, with narratives that grapple with modern issues of technology (and technophobia!), censorship and rebellion, and modern relationships and identities. Let’s start these conversations.

*We’ve included an F-Rating scale (F,FF,FFF), for films directed by women and/or written by women and/or have significant women on screen. 11 out of 25 films in our programme fall under a category of F-Rated shorts. We are also very proud to promote 7 First-Time-Filmmakers.

PART I

Below 0° // dir. Itai Hagage & Jonathan Gomez // 05′ // animation // Costa Rica // 2016 // First-time Filmmaker // International team: Israel, Costa Rica
A meteorologist who narrates his experience in the Arctic, and how his life is linked physically and spiritually to nature.

Who the hell is Satan // dir. Leo Ferri // 11′ // documentary // Islamic Republic of Iran // 2016 // First-time Filmmaker // International team: Italy, Iran
Tehran, Iran. Here rock music is forbidden. Metal music is considered a satanic cult. Women are not allowed to sing in public. The ‚5grs’ are the first Iranian metal band with female vocals and one of the most famous Iranian metal bands. They were threatened, beaten, and arrested but still play their music.

Retox // dir. Elana Emer // 04′ // experimental // Canada // 2016 // FFF // First-time Filmmaker 
Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing features in this perceptive experimental work.

Atomic Couple! // dir. Rodrigo Espinosa // 15′ // narrative // USA // 2016 // F // International team: Mexico, Brazil, India, Peru
Maggie Adams, a once promising nurse, is forced to confront the realities of her marriage when nuclear war breaks out and sets off a series of unexpected events that offer her a glimmer of hope to returning to who she yearns to be.

Symptoms // dir. Marianna Dean // 15′ // narrative // UK // 2016 // F // First-time Filmmaker // International team: Slovakia, USA, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Poland
A trainee doctor, Sam, faces his final practical examination. Set in the world – known well to most actors – of fake illness and playing a part, not all of Sam’s patients are who they seem.

Microscopia // dir. Nikolaus Jantsch // 05′ // experimental // Austria // 2016 // International team: Austria, Belgium
The code that surrounds us, building the chains of life: the code that is the source of all living and non living structures. Is there a relation between the macro and the micro world? Does a bug have a similar surface to the moon?

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PART II

Morning After // dir. Patricia Chica // 15′ // narrative // Canada // 2017 // F // International team: Canada, El Salvador, Ukraine
A young man returns home from a long time abroad and reunites with friends. A sensual game between his group forces him to confront deep conflicts within himself that lead to a powerful awakening.

The 12 Project // dir. Hadi Moussally // 12′ // fashion video // France // 2016 // International team: France, Lebanon, Ukraine, USA, Vietnam, Senegal, Canada, Italy, Hong Kong, South Korean, UK
12 months, 12 films, 12 editorials, 12 fashion designers, 12 models & 12 themes.

Uncle // dir. Fabien Luszezyszyn // 11′ // narrative // France // 2016 // 
A dark comedy about a crazy evening where almost everything gets out of hand, or at least it seems like it. Meet impulsive Tarek, kidnapped Elie, a giant body to a child’s mind Yann, and Marie, a pregnant woman on the edge of a nervous breakdown.

The homegirl // dir. Iván Sáinz-Pardo // 04′ // narrative // Germany // 2016 // F  // International team: Spain, Germany
Open the door, is your best friend. 

dark_net // dir. Tom Marshall // 13′ // narrative // UK // 2015 // 
Alan (comedian Johnny Vegas) searches for answers in all the wrong places and this time he thinks he’s found them…on the internet in the form of a highly trained deadly assassin. But he’s about to learn the true price of entering the ‚dark_net’.

Camrex // dir. Mark Chapman // 14′ // documentary // UK // 2015 // International team: England, Irland, Russia, Poland
Camrex House is a notorious homeless hostel that for 40 years has upheld a fearsome reputation. Its skewed, in-house morality perpetuated by men with complex histories. Based on interviews with hostel residents, CAMREX constructs a series of unflinchingly visceral sequences that reveal a hidden world of untold stories.

Ugly But Good // dir. Jordan Wong // 05′ // animation // USA // 2016 // 
This powerful animation explores learning to be at peace with eventualities and things you know you can’t ever know.

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