SW@POFF: European Film Academy Short Matters I

The Short Matters! programme showcases the best films that were nominated for the European Short Film Award in 2012. The first programme presents 5 films from Greece, Latvia, Estonia, Austria, Turkey and Finland.

TITLOI TELOUS / OUT OF FRAME - Greece, 10 min, experimental

Director: Yorgos Zois

Advertising on exterior billboards has recently been forbidden in Greece. As a result there are hundreds of blank billboards that don’t show any messages. But the empty frames are now the message. And we are out of frame.

VILLA ANTROPOFF - Latvia / Estonia, 13 min, animation

Directors: Kaspar Jancis, Vladimir Leschiov, voices: Juuli Lill, Kaspar Jancis, Nancy Phelps

A man has nothing to lose except his dream. To make his dream come true the man embarks on a dangerous journey. But his destination is not what it seems.

IM FREIEN / IN THE OPEN - Austria, 23 min, experimental

Directors: Albert Sackl, Markus Krispel, Franz Zar

The title "In the Open" should be taken literally as the camera turns to details of a meagre and untouched landscape, which serves as projection surface for exploring the cinematic apparatus, and (de)constructing cinematic space, time, and movement. The human, a foreign body in this place, seeks a relationship to the landscape and the camera.

SESSIZ - BÉ DENG / SILENT - Turkey, 14 min, fiction

Director: L. Rezan Yeşilbaş, cast: Belçim Bilgin, Cem Bender

1984: Zeynep, who lives in Diyarbakır with her three children, wants to visit her husband in prison. Zeynep only speaks her mother tongue Kurdish; however, only the Turkish language is allowed to be spoken in prison, so she’s unable to utter a word there. On the other hand, she wants to bring a new pair of shoes to her husband but it’s forbidden to bring anything to prisoners from outside.

MITEN MARJOJA POIMITAAN / HOW TO PICK BERRIES - Finland, 19 min, documentary

Director: Elina Talvensaari

Visitors from a distant place appear in the misty swamps of Northern Finland. The locals grow restless - things are changing, secret berry spots are revealed and everything is getting uncomfortable. Who is to blame and who is profiting from all this? "How to Pick Berries" is an exploration of the Finnish mind and the absurdities of the global economy.