All Films

Before Anything Else

2012 • 52 min

Prima di Tutto is the story of a family of Italian gays who became fathers of twins thanks to the help of a donor mother and a surrogate mother, both American. Their journey, begun more than three years ago, is told in first person by Marco, who is not only the father who donated the seed, but also the one who decides to face this particular life experience both as a director and as a father and another man’s companion. Contrary to most of Europe, homosexuals and gay families in Italy do not have civil rights. Without moralism or false prejudice, the adventure explores the difficulties, hopes and changes in perception, of oneself and of the other components of society, which this choice has brought to the life of Marco, his companion Giampietro and his children. And this is where Marco’s journey starts. A journey to discover an uncharted territory even for most heterosexual families.

Footing

2012 • 18 min • France

One winter morning, a father and his son go for a jog. Along the way, we understand that a gap has grown between Marco, a Parisian who has come to spend a few days in the countryside, and Jean-Claude, a retired policeman who doesn't talk much. Their love is present, but barriers and modesty hold them back from expressing it.

Guns Of Chicago

2012 • 12 min • United Kingdom

Tension's between two mob bosses are at an all time high, but when one of them kidnaps the other's son it sets of a bloody chain of events.

Dance Music Now

2012 • 9 min • Sweden

A neurotic recording session releases emotional turmoil.

Life Is

2012 • 25 min • Montenegro

An arable field barely a small room size, mountainous grass sprouting between the stones, a wild pear tree all grown with brush-wood but still so apposite to be engraft, water appearing from the very rocks, a colony of bees fugitives settled into an oak-tree cavity, connection with the world from a high top – all this means the life, all this is a miracle of the life, all this seems to be a God blessed gift in the harsh karst of Montenegro.

People's Front 12

2012 • 10 min • Macedonia

People’s Front is a short animation film that mirrors the contemporary society through interrelated stories, symbols and allegories present in and around the building No 12.

Angola - Nos Trilhos da Independência

2012 • 56 min • Angola

There were 57 months, 900 hours of audiovisual material collected in Angolan and international territory, with about 700 statements from protagonists of the anti-colonial struggle. All of this aimed at preserving the memory of a period in history that concerns Angola and the struggle of all peoples under colonial occupation whose memories still have to be registered and thought through.

Super 8 mon amour

2012 • 52 min • France

The encounters between the almost disappearance of the Super 8 in the 90's and the ones who still love working on it.

509 Films: Volume 7

2012 • 59 min

Volume 7 from 509 takes the snowmobile film industry to a whole new level. Featuring the industries top riders, paired with never before used film techniques, Volume 7 is a visual masterpiece that will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Filmed using multiple RED® cameras and gyro stabilized helicopter cameras, witness what happens when the industry's best riders, wearing the best gear, take to the backcountry and raise the bar!

Mutirão de Limpeza do Rio Carioca

2012 • 10 min • Brazil

Cleaning campaign for the Carioca River carried out by residents of Guararapes and the surrounding areas exposes the fragility of urban rivers in the city of Rio de Janeiro.

Miracle Boy

2012 • 17 min

In rural West Virginia, one boy risks his life to apologize to another.

Three Grams of a Dream

2012 • 47 min • China

In China, Ben & his friend watch a ping-pong competition on a communal village TV, and Ben's dreams begin. Ping-pong is in Ben's heart, but he can't ask his mum for money to buy the balls & paddles.

Killed for Organs: China's Secret State Transplant Business

2012 • 8 min

Prisoners of conscience-especially Falun Gong-are being killed for their organs. Starting in 1999, the number of transplant centers in China increased by 300% in just 8 years, even though China has no effective national organ donation system. 1999 was the year the Chinese regime began persecuting adherents of the Falun Gong spiritual practice, sending hundreds of thousands to labor camps. Many of them were never seen again. Transplant medicine was developed to save lives. But in China, innocent people are being killed for their organs-so they can be sold for profit. Increasingly, doctors, congressmen, international politicians, human rights lawyers, journalists, and people around the world are raising awareness about forced organ harvesting.

ドメスティック！門外不出

2012 • 14 min • Japan

Director Sakiko Kitamura / 2012 / Digital / 14 minutes. I took a secret of my family.

Sf Hitch

2012 • 5 min • United States of America

A wolf dog’s restlessness prompts a pilgrimage from the burly sprawl of Chicago to investigate the myth of San Francisco. A hitchhiking triumph–even with the enormous canine companion, the camera-toting traveler never waited longer than 5 minutes roadside before ‘strangers in the brotherhood of hitchhiking’ furthered the pair down the long road west. The narration showcases the filmmaker’s gift with words as well as images. Viewing the film, we become hitchhikers as well, drawn into the mesmerizing, flickering story. Highlights include encounters with famous beatnik writers and the acquisition of a Holy Grail that has since influenced Renwick’s bright career–a copy of James Broughton’s Seeing the Light, purchased, perfectly, at City Lights Books.

Manu and the Cabbage

2012 • 10 min • Poland, Ukraine

This must be a dream. For Manu this must be a reality. Symbolic story on fear of the greatest dream in one's life. Meeting your other half, together alone and loving that passes away faster than it appeared in the first place. Death and life. And daily bread or... cabbage.

Lucid

2012 • 6 min • Ireland

A man struggles to cope with the loss of his wife. Her restless spirit visits him in his dreams and urges him to move on.

Silbergeier

2012 • 18 min • France

Silbergeier is a long pitch route (8b+ max) built by Pietro del Pra in 1993 and organized by Beat Kammerlander. In this film, Nina Caprez achieves the first female ascent with her then partner Cédric Lachat. A beautiful production by Vladimir Cellier, carried by essential music.

Flying Finns

2012 • 7 min • Finland

A short film about the close-minded but hopeful couple called Koistinen, who should just stay home instead of travelling.

Facing the Music: Eurovision in Azerbaijan

2012 • 47 min • United Kingdom

It's one of the most corrupt countries in the world and widely criticised for its human rights record but this year Azerbaijan is hosting Eurovision - one of the most glitzy TV music competitions in the world.

Kinefaktura

2012 • 3 min • Poland

In 1924, Henryk Berlewi, avant-garde artist affiliated with the constructivist group “Blok”, published his theory of “mechanofaktura” – innovative image-building solution based on the replacement of varied canvas texture with two-dimensional visual equivalents such as the rhythm of lines and planes, schematic combination of geometrical forms, and colour range reduced to black, red and white. By mechanising the means of expression Berlewi sought to arrive at the effect of texture variation without departing from the inherent two-dimensionality of painting. The movement generated by adding rhythm to the image was described by Berlewi as if he was describing a film, which prompted Marcin Giżycki to create this moving image reconstruction.

Children’s Game #12: Musical Chairs

2012 • 5 min • Mexico

The game is filmed from above in a single take, emphasizing the inexorable process of subtraction. Six children place five chairs in a row, facing in alternate directions. When the music starts, the players skip one behind the other around the chairs. When the music stops, everyone scrambles to occupy the nearest chair and one person is left standing. The loser carries a chair away, stomping out of shot to the left. The music starts again, and so it goes on until the winner claims the last chair. Then there is only an empty space.

Arrow

2012 • 8 min • United States of America

Silent abstract video art piece using image processing by Chicago artist Cindy Neal.

Qué gato?

2012 • 18 min • Argentina

Diego is a widower who lives in a deep depression. He receives a call from Rosa, a woman he knew in his youth, who suffers from a terminal illness and is hospitalized. She will give him hope.