Thematic Competition
Biography
Joey is a Chinese writer/director based in Beijing and Los Angeles. Graduating from the American Film Institute with an MFA in Directing, she used to attend the Central Academy of Drama in China for her BFA. A lover of magical realism and animation, Joey likes to explore the themes of loss, death, and family. She also aims to create art that empowers minorities in our society and explores the complex nuances of culture, gender, and ethnicity.
Endless Blooming
Estados Unidos da América | United States of America |12’44’’ | 2022
Realizadora | Director: Joey Zhao
Elenco | Cast: Melanie Mason, Kimberly Blair
Produção | Production: Laze Huang, Zitian Zhang, Nancy Xu
Synopsis:
A promising visual photographer prepares for her big exhibition when her sight starts to worsen dramatically, forcing her to face the new reality of her life.
Biography
Ina López is an Uruguayan filmmaker based in Paris. Her works are linked to cinema and its experimentation as well as feminisms, fabulation, and memory. Her master’s degree project at the University of Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint Denis, focused on the construction of a decolonial feminist cinematographic memory in Latin America. In 2021, she created Herstory a feminist curatorial project that connects with artists from various disciplines who identify as women and propose to situate themselves as historical subjects.
Fontis Nympha
França | France | 18'00" | 2021
Realizadora|Director: Ina Lopez
Elenco | Cast: Clara Eon, Jo Prida
Produção | Production: Ina Lopez
Synopsis
Place de la Concorde, between the obelisk and the Eiffel Tower, drops of water flow on the breasts of the nymphs caused by the jets of the Fountain of the Seas. Julie meets up with her friends and tells them she found out about female ejaculation for the first time. A fable emerges and echoes with her words.
Biography
A premiada editora franco-canadense e agora cineasta, Annie Leclair é uma especialista e contadora de histórias conhecida pelos seus filmes poderosos que ressoam com o público em todo o mundo. A estreia de Annie na realização, o curta-metragem Grounded French Canadian award-winning editor and now filmmaker, Annie Leclair is an expert storyteller known for her powerful films that resonate with audiences around the world. Annie's directorial debut, the short film Grounded completed in 2020, has been receiving accolades from all over the world. Passionate and dedicated to filmmaking, Annie has been a documentary film editor for 15 years and is a former board member of the Montreal Women in Film and Television Association. Part of the 11 winners of the 2021 "Still I Rise Films Fellowship Program” by founder Mimi Chakarova, Annie is now completing her second short film Les eaux calmes.
Grounded | Enracinée
Canadá | Canada | 7'15" | 2020
Realizadora|Director: Annie Leclair
Elenco | Cast: Marie-Hélène Bellavance
Produção | Production: Annie Leclair
Synopsis
In painting and dance, Marie-Hélène, a respected figure on the Canadian contemporary art scene, finds an outlet for her creativity and her resilient spirit, after losing both her legs as a child. The arrival of her daughters sparks a new sense of freedom, pushing herself to let go self-censorship and to fully bloom.
Biography
Maaria is an independent writer and filmmaker based between Mumbai and Italy. Her short films Aabida e Chudala screened at over 50 film festivals such as Raindance, BFI Flare, and Busan Int Short Film Festival. Her work deals with loss and the passage of time, explores muted emotions and the spiritual awakening of Muslim women. She is an alumni of Asian Film Academy, Fajr Talent Campus among other labs.
I don’t feel like knowing you | Ancora Non Lo So
Itália | Italy | 15’00’’ | 2021
Realizadora|Director: Maaria Sayed
Elenco | Cast: Amber Dutta, Emanuel Iacono, Nadia Spotti, Amita
Produção | Production: Alessandro Alpini
Synopsis
In a small mountain town, a group of teenagers is making plans for holidays at the seaside. Fatema instead, even after her father’s death, hasn’t yet managed to embrace life as an Italian girl. The arrival of a new immigrant family increases her discomfort in front of her friends: Fatema is now forced to face a part of herself she’s been hiding from for too long.
Biography
Independent polish filmmaker, graduated in culture studies in Warsaw but was sure that their life would be connected with cinema since childhood. Interested in individual stories of people, topics defined as taboo, marginalized, overlooked, or not seen as important in the mainstream.
No Makeup | Bez Makijażu
Polónia | Poland | 50'11" | 2021
Realizadora|Director: Monika Konarzewska
Produção | Production: Monika Konarzewska
Synopsis
During preparations for the evening drag show performers talk about the need for auto-expression, what “drag” means to them, and stereotypes rumored about them. During the intimate conversations they share their struggles, doubts and stories told completely with “no make-up”, through the prism of which we think we know them.
Biography
As a filmmaker and ethnographer, she loves to absorb the stories of others, not only observing the unique, but also daily life. Her films delve into striking personal stories, exploring themes such as identity, gender, and immigration.
Pluma
França | France | 20'00" | 2021
Realizadora|Director: Clelia Goodchild
Produção | Production: Clelia Goodchild
Synopsis
In Barcelona, the Pluma family of Drag Queens and Kings strives to build a community based on freedom of expression, artistic endeavor, and mutual support. With the city as their stage, they share the essence of their duality, while navigating the challenges that life throws their way.
Biography
A fiction and documentary filmmaker, Rosine Mbakam grew up in Cameroon. She launched Caravane Cinéma, which organizes open-air screenings to ensure the exhibition of African films in poor neighborhoods. An van. Dienderen works at the intersection between documentary, anthropology and visual arts. She made several documentaries screened worldwide, awarded with (inter)national prizes. Born in Burkina Faso in 1978, Eléonore Yaméogo turned with determination to a passion that is difficult for a woman to access in Africa: filmmaking. She directed in 2019 Le Cimetière des éléphants. Le Cimetière des éléphants.
Prism
Bélgica | Belgium | 80'00" | 2021
Realizadoras|Directors: Rosine Mbakam, Eléonore Yameogo, An van. Dienderen
Produção | Production: An van. Dienderen, Rosine Mbakam, Natalie Gielen
Synopsis
Among the many ways that racism is deeply entrenched in our film culture is a technical one: the lighting for movie cameras has always been calibrated for white skin. Three filmmakers collectively explore the literal, theoretical, and philosophical dimensions of that reality in this discursive, playful, and profound work of nonfiction.
Biography
Martina Selva was born in Castel San Pietro Terme (BO) in 1994. After graduating in New technologies for the Fine Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, she got her degree in Visual Arts at the IUAV University in Venice, with a thesis on documentary cinema. She studied editing at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome and screenwriting at the Accademia Nazionale d’Arte Drammatica Silvio d’Amico. She’s now working as a director on personal projects.
The Ethologist | L'etologa
Itália | Italy | 13’24’’ | 2021
Realizadora|Director: Martina Selva
Elenco | Cast: Elisa Grilli, Lorenzo Tomba
Produção | Production: Martina Selva, Giulia Sterpin
Synopsis
So what does it take to be human? This is the question Anna raises on a hot summer afternoon while searching for safe answers and her true self. A surreal confrontation with the animal world will inevitably lead her to the acceptance that life comes with no instruction manuals.
