EFA Short Film Nominee Ghent
AMOR
Norway 2009, 14′, fiction
written & directed by: Thomas Wangsmo
produced by: Daniel Henriksbø
Director of photography: Benjamin Loeb
Editors: Thomas Wangsmo & Benjamin Loeb
lights: John-Erling Fredrisken
sound: Thomas Wangsmo & Sindre Skollevoll
music: Clemet Rotevatn
Main Cast: Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen, Mattis Herman Nyquist, Ida Elise Broch, Jenny Skavlan, Anders Rummelhoff
Five minutes. € 1,000. Everybody’s happy. In a city where young, rich people will spend whatever it takes to get what they want, Thomas provides them with a service no one else will.
EFA Short Film Nominee Valladolid
AMPELMANN (Lights)
Germany 2009, 14′, fiction
directed by: Giulio Ricciarelli
written by: Soern Menning
produced by: Sabine Lamby & Cornelia Partmann
Director of Photography: Max Penzel
Editor: Wolfgang Weigl
Production Designers: Sven Gessner & Petra Ringleb
Costume Designer: Jürgen Knoll
music: Alessandro Ricciarelli
Main Cast: Lisa Martinek, Johann von Bülow, Sven Walser, Beat Marti
LIGHTS is a comedy. It is the story of a small-town police officer with big dreams of being a hero. His only problem is that the peaceful village at the end of the world offers no opportunity for heroism. So he decides to take matters into his own hands.
EFA Short Film Nominee Cork
LES ESCARGOTS DE JOSEPH (Joseph’s Snails)
France 2009, 12′, animation
written & directed by: Sophie Roze
Director of Photography: Sara Sponga
Editor: Colombe Nicolas
puppets: David Thomasse & David Roussel
backgrounds: Maëlle Bossard, Fabienne Collet, Jeanne Hadorn & Aurélie Charles
animation: Pierre-Luc Granjon, Gilles Coirier, Elmer Kaan & Cédric Mercier
compositing: Mathieu Brisebras
sound: Loïc Bürkhardt, Julien Baissat & Loïc Moniotte
music: Nicolas Bernard
Joseph is a shy, introverted little boy who collects snails. One day he gets swallowed up by his own tummy-button and discovers the disturbing world of the “navel-gazers”, people who, by only communicating with their navel, curl in on themselves and turn into snails…
EFA Short Film Nominee Angers
BLIJF BIJ ME, WEG (Stay, Away)
The Netherlands 2009, 24 min., fiction
written & directed by: Paloma Aguilera Valdebenito
produced by: Connie Pingen & Ruth Heida
Director of Photography: Menno Mans
Editor: Saskia Kievits
Production Designers: Anna-Anna Soeters &
Sanne van der Hoeven
lights: Robbie van Brussel
sound: Evelien van der Molen
Main Cast: Katrien van Beurden, Raymond Thiry, Caro de Jonge
Five fragments describing the relational problems between three family members, in particular the struggle of the mother, split between her partner and her daughter.
EFA Short Film Nominee Rotterdam
ØNSKEBØRN (Out of Love)
Denmark 2009, 29′, documentary
directed by: Birgitte Stærmose
written by: Peter Asmussen
produced by: Jesper Morthorst
Director of Photography: Marek Septimus Wieser
Editor: Anne Østerud
Sound Designer: Kristian Eidnes Andersen
music: Jomi Massage
Fusing documentary and fiction, OUT OF LOVE depicts the lives of children trying to survive the aftermath of war in Kosovo by selling cigarettes on the street. Through monologues performed by the children against the eerie backdrops of Pristina, the film tells their gripping and sad story of memory, loss and fear.
EFA Short Film Nominee Berlin
VENUS VS ME
Belgium 2009, 27′, fiction
written & directed by: Nathalie Teirlinck
produced by: Xavier Rombaut & Nathalie Teirlinck
Director of Photography: Rik Zang
Art Director: Gert Stas
Editor: Dieter Diependaele
music: Peter van Laerhoven
Main Cast: Sarah van den Berghe, Brit van Hoof, Thomas Ryckewaert, Geert van Rampelberg
Entangled in a realm of thought, 12-year-old Marie has trouble growing up. When her young mother brings home a new boyfriend, questions remain unanswered and communication seems impossible. Frenetic, Marie tries to win back her mother while she silently finds solace in a world of memories.
EFA Short Film Nominee Tampere
LUMIKKO (The Little Snow Animal)
Finland 2009, 19′, documentary
directed by: Miia Tervo
produced by: Mahsa Malka
Director of Photography: Päivi Kettunen
Editor: Okku Nuutilainen
sound: Jussi Rantala
animation: Ami Lindholm
Dramaturgist: Emilia Pöyhönen
It’s not wrong to want love – you just need to look for it in the right place.
EFA Short Film Nominee Cracow
TUSSILAGO
Sweden 2010, 14′, animation
directed, designed & edited by: Jonas Odell
produced by: Linda Hambäck & Niklas Adolfsson
Director of Photography: Per Helin
interviews: Richard Dinter
animation: Jonas Odell, Per Helin, Marcus Krupa, Susanne Sturesson, Martin Nyberg, Johan Sonestedt, Mikael Lindbom, Jakob Bastviken, Lindor Tidäng & Kaspar Christophersen
music: Martin Landquist
Main Cast: Malin Buska, Camaron Silverek
Recent history with a personal angle. A relationship and a string of events seen through one person’s eyes.
EFA Short Film Nominee Grimstad
HANOI - WARSZAWA (Hanoi - Warsaw)
Poland 2009, 30′, fiction
written & directed by: Katarzyna Klimkiewicz
produced by: Bogusław Kisielewski
Director of Photography: Andrzej Wojciechowski
Editor: Andrzej Dąbrowski
sound: Paulina Bocheńska, Kamil Radziszewski & Jarek Wójcik
music: Marzena Majcher
Main Cast: Thu Ha Mai, Le Thanh Hunh, Michał Podsiadło, Klaudia Barcik, Przemek Modliszewski, Viet Dung, Łukasz Pruchniewicz, Tran Thi Thanh Minh, Irwin Wojciechowski
Smuggled across borders, cheated by immoral intermediaries, trailed by police, at the mercy of foreigners – such is the fate of illegal immigrants from Vietnam who try to settle in Poland. Among them is young Mai Anh, whose boyfriend now works at a bazaar in Warsaw. Their meeting in a foreign country will not transpire as they had imagined.
EFA Short Film Nominee Edinburgh
MARÍA’S WAY
UK/Spain 2009, 16′, documentary
directed, produced & edited by: Anne Milne
Director of Photography: Julian Krubasik
sound recordings, translation: Hannah Hüglin
dub mix: Rob Walker
Colourist: John Sackey
MARÍA’S WAY is an observational documentary which allows a glimpse into the ways of the modern pilgrim and a woman who awaits their arrival at her small slice of the Camino de Santiago.
EFA Short Film Nominee Vila do Conde
TALLERES CLANDESTINOS
Austria/Argentina 2010, 40′, fiction
written & directed by: Catalina Molina
Director of Photography: Klemens Hufnagl
produced by: David Bohun
Art Director: Carolina Mardones
Editor: Matthias Halibrand
sound: Juan José Suárez
Sound Designer: Ina Nokolow
music: Patrik Lerchmüller
Main Cast: Juan José Choque, Juana Salgueiro, David Bracamonte, Sandra Rocha
A job as a seamstress tempts Juana, a young Bolivian woman, to neighbouring Argentina. Her husband and child remain behind in their homeland. It doesn’t take long for the illusion of financial gain to burst – Juana is being exploited and must produce textiles for a luxury brand. Her employer’s demands become ever more absurd, working conditions become unbearable. When her son falls ill, Juana starts making plans to return, but as far as her employer is concerned, leaving is not an option.
EFA Short Film Nominee Sarajevo
RENDEZ-VOUS A STELLA-PLAGE
(Rendezvous in Stella-Plage)
France 2009, 18′, fiction
written & directed by: Shalimar Preuss
produced by: Emmanuel Chaumet
Director of Photography: Elin Kirschfink
Editor: Antoine Scannapiego
sound:: Olivier Touche
mix: Frédéric Thery
Main Cast: Anna Lien, Jonathan Heckel, Laure Duthilleul
Volunteers hold funerals for unknown or forgotten deceased.
Stella-Plage. On the beach, a phone booth is ringing. A young couple strolling by picks up the receiver. At the other end of the line, a mother is trying to reach her daughter.
EFA Short Film Nominee Locarno
DIARCHIA (Diarchy)
Italy 2010, 20′, fiction
written & directed by: Ferdinando Cito Filomarino
produced by: Marco Morabito, Luca Guadagnino & Riccardo Scamarcio
Director of Photography: Daria D’Antonio
Editor: Walter Fasano
Production Designer: Francesca Di Mottola
Costume Designer: Antonella Cannarozzi
sound: Ivano Mataldi
Main Cast: Riccardo Scamarcio, Louis Garrel, Alba Rohrwacher
Giano and Luc hardly know each other. They are driving through the woods, about to take shelter from the rain in Luc’s immense villa. After having broken the tension talking, disagreeing, they start wrestling playfully, but suddenly an accident happens. Panic-stricken, Giano doesn’t know whether Luc is dead or unconscious. Luc’s sister arrives home unexpectedly. Giano hides, struck by guilt. Then he works up the courage to talk to the girl, but she virtually ignores him. Taking advantage of her wandering around in the villa, Giano recovers Luc’s body and silently carries it out to the car. He sets off again for the woods they came from and he finds the courage to look at the lifeless body.
EFA Short Film Nominee Venice
THE EXTERNAL WORLD
Germany 2010, 15′, animation
written, directed & designed by: David OReilly
co-written by: Vernon Chatman
produced by: Henning Kamm & David OReilly
animation: Tobias Von Burkersroda, Jim Levasseur, Max Stöhr
sound design & music: Bram Meindersma
A boy learns to play the piano.
EFA Short Film Nominee Drama
ITT VAGYOK (Here I Am)
Hungary 2010, 36′, fiction
written & directed by: Bálint Szimler
produced by: Miklós Bosnyák, András Pires Muhi & Gábor Osváth
Director of Photography: Marcell Rév
Editors: Wanda Kiss & Róbert Gradvolt
sound: Bence Bükki
music: Esclin Syndo
Main Cast: Viktor Vida, Szilvi Murányi, Juli Villányi, Gáspár Bonta, Hans Van Villet, Marianna Szalay, Tamás Lengyel, Kata Wéber, Zsolt Máthé, Dalma Berger, Dániel Eke
Viktor can’t sleep, so he wanders around in the city. He meets various friends as well as strangers. He is looking for something. Just like the rest of us.