More Than A Selfie 2020
How many selfies do you take and like? You are so much more than one image could capture. This shorts compilation shares stories of developing or accepting one’s own identity. The stories from around the world include a young woman who is torn wanting to do well at school but at what cost…? A girl who hates her name until she finds out who it’s from and a young man with a talent for photography… with film! These stories (and others) might expand the way you identify with the world around you.
Multi-national / in English or with English subtitles / 74 min / 13+ (profanity, parental alcoholism)

Film lineup is subject to change without notice.

A Million Eyes
A gifted young photographer, grappling with his mother’s alcoholism, sets out to capture something he loves.
USA, 2019 / in English / Richard Raymond / 24 min / Live Action.

Post No Bills
On an urban city wall plastered with posters Noodle Boy must face his fears and make his way through a series of obstacles and challenges in order to save Miss Fortune from the city’s clean up crew.
Canada, 2018 / no dialogue / Robin Hayes / 6 min / Animation.

She Who Wasn’t Tamed
Hanie, a highschool student tries her best to not to disappoint her parents and her teacher at the poetry competition. After meeting Ghazal her priorities change significantly.
Iran, 2019 / in Farsi with English subtitles / Saleh Kashefi / 15 min / Live Action.

Dela
Dela is a beautiful little girl with a mind of her own. She lives with her dad, a cook, on the magical island of Itaparica in Brazil’s Bay of All Saints. Dela does not understand why the kids at school make fun of her name and her hair. But she is determined to sort it out.
Brazil-South Africa, 2019 / in Portuguese with English subtitles / Bernard Attal / 8.5 min / Live Action.

Invincible Boy
A wildly imaginative boy’s mission to become a superhero is challenged when his optimistic view of the world begins to crumble.
USA, 2019 / in English / Julian Park / 20 min / Live Action.

Represent
A young man’s world is turned upside down during a school field trip to the art museum.
USA, 2019 / in English / Chris Heck / 6 min / Live Action.

 

A fairytale-like adventure that feels like part dream, part reality. A young man crash lands on a mysterious island and has to travel across it to find his way out. The challenge is not to get caught by a giant creature that won’t stop pursuing him. Whether the creature is real or just a manifestation of our hero’s inner demons is up for debate. There is  something rather rudimentary about the animation itself but the aesthetic only adds to the film’s strange and absorbing power, creating a hypnotizing atmosphere that, in its best moments, manages to spirit us away. Not a word is spoken but the film score speaks volumes. 

Latvia  / 2019 / no dialog / 75 min / Ages 10+ (malevolent creature that will not stop chasing) 

 

To a stranger, he is  an eccentric Singaporean obsessed with toilets, but to those who know him, he is  ‘Mr. Toilet’. A former entrepreneur, Jack Sim, uses humor to campaign for something no one dares talk about: poo and where it goes. It’s a crisis impacting over two billion people. Having established UN World Toilet Day, Sim plunges into his biggest challenge yet when asked to help resolve the sanitation problem in India. But with few resources and no real governmental support, Mr. Toilet discovers there is a price to pay for being the world’s #2 hero. This is a very thought provoking documentary that will hopefully inspire many conversations. (WARNING: the “s”-word referring to poo is said at least 200 times.)

USA  / 2019  / in English and English subtitles / 86 min / 10+ (mild profanity, visuals of sewerage, mention of rape)

 

Demolishing stereotypes without wrecking their cars, the Speed Sisters are the Middle East’s first all-female car racing team. With high-octane talent and the marketing savvy to draw attention to their camera-friendly lineup, this diverse, engaging, real-life group competes throughout the West Bank in Palestine’s makeshift motor sports circuit. They navigate Israeli checkpoints and restrictive societal expectations to evolve into potential role models for a new generation of young Arab women.

 

Two orphaned siblings (ten-year-old Pari and her brother, eight-year-old Chotu) leave an abusive aunt in search for medical help to bring back Chotu’s eyesight. In a mystical tale they encounter the best and the worst of Indian society on their search for a Bollywood star who offers financial assistance. During their quest you can feel the heat, smell the curries, enjoy the colors and music from the other side of the world.

Winner BEST FILM Generation KPlus Berlin Crystal Bear 2015

Reading the title might make you clap hands with your neighbor in time to the well-known chant. This wonderful documentary explores this rhythmic rite of passage, usually between young girls, in the US and around the world. Contemporary and historical footage are intertwined creating what some admiringly refer to as “hand graffiti,” “jazz of the streets” and “percussive poetry.”   As it swings between games and interviews with young girls, LET’S GET THE RHYTHM has a beat; its incandescent musicality brings this hand-clapping universe to life!

How do children born into poverty find hope? This documentary follows the lives of a garbage picker, a music teacher and a group of children from Cateura, Paraguay. In this slum, they create musical instruments entirely out of garbage: first out of necessity, but the project became so much more. LANDFILL HARMONIC brings us on their journey from local village orchestra to world traveling (internet fueled) troupe whose trajectory of success is enhanced by their trash-into-music message.

Winner of the 2015 Audience Choice Award SXSW
Winner of the 2015 Audience Choice Award AFI

ALMOST FRIENDS is a documentary about two Israeli girls—an Arab and a Jew—who live only 40 miles away but in many ways live worlds apart. Participating in an online program that fosters educational exchange and friendship, the two girls correspond with caution and eventually meet face-to-face. The experience is profoundly moving for them, their families, and the audiences who see this touching film. But when conflict spans generations, change is slow and “almost” anything might be a start…

 

No classroom for these kindergarteners: In Switzerland’s Langnau am Albis, a suburb of Zurich, children four to seven years of age go to kindergarten in the woods every day, no matter what the weatherman says. The filmmakers follow the forest kindergarten through the seasons of one school year to make their documentary film “School’s Out: Lessons from a Forest Kindergarten.” This eye-opening film looks into the important question of what it is that children need at that age. There is laughter, beauty and amazement in the process of finding out.

If there were such things as candy for your eyes, “Tales of the Night” would be it. Your vision will be tempted by the detailed day-glo backgrounds bursting with color and kaleidoscopic patterns. Director Michel Ocelot (“Azur & Asmar,” PCFF 2011) blends history with fairytale as viewers are whisked off to animated enchanted lands full of dragons, werewolves, captive princesses, sorcerers and enormous talking bees. The “tales” are six fascinating and exotic fables woven together, each unfolding in a unique locale, from Tibet, to medieval Europe, an Aztec kingdom, the African plains and even the Land of the Dead.

REVIEWS:

“Instantly timeless! A triumph of intricate craftsmanship!” – Variety
“Stunning! Newcomers to Ocelot’s work will be filled with wonder!” – Screen Daily
“Both a worthy successor to the first four films by Michel Ocelot, and a proposal for an innovative new approach that transcends the boundaries of animation.” – Cahiers du cinema