SHORT RIGA
This includes the International competition and the Baltic student short film programmes, the Baltic music video competition programme and... lots of parties! Because it makes no sense to watch a whole lot of incredible cinema and leave without having a chat about it afterwards. Look for the "S" sign (or is it a snake?) for adventure – cinematic, social and just fun!
Paul Wenninger traces the arc of representational history to representation-critical parable: he straddles the Uncanny Valley with motifs from found footage material from World War I, which he connects to the actors´ performances, to bring them into the image again using techniques from animation and then, with a diorama, to land in a museum-like ambiance.
Breaking the large and symmetrical with the small and singular; and vice versa—a principle continually applied in Josef Dabernig’s art. Here, too, in the film Zlaté Piesky Rocket Launch, which as a whole, can be interpreted as an allegory of the world’s (impossible to end) bipolarity.
Natasha, a middle-aged zoo worker, still lives with her mother in a small coastal town. She is stuck and it seems that life has no surprises for her until one day… she grows a tail and turns her life around.
The final year of the WWI. A German army surgeon is sent to inspect a remote convalescent home for shell-shocked patients. The strange world he encounters in which reality appears more like fiction is quite challenging for his cold rational mind. His fruitless efforts to remodel the place and an unexpected attachment to a mysterious savage boy from the surrounding woods lead Ulrich to discover his one true self. Very soon this turned-out sanctuary will have to make its last stand against the approaching madness of the war.
This film is a story of itinerant circus performers, cabaret acts and vaudeville and fairground attractions. Circus entertainment, freak shows, variety performances, music hall and seaside entertainment are chronicled from the 19th and 20th century accompanied by an original score from Sigur Ros. Director Benedikt Erlingsson takes us back to the days when the most outlandish, skillful and breathtaking acts traveled the world. This rich visual archive has been created with exclusive access to The University of Sheffield’s National Fairground Archive.
A never-before-seen woodsman mysteriously appears aboard a submarine that’s been trapped deep under water for months with an unstable cargo. As the terrified crew make their way through the corridors of the doomed vessel, they find themselves on a voyage into the origins of their darkest fears.
