International Competition Program #5
The International Competition Programs are the backbone of the entire MIAF mission. Drawn from more than 2,000 submissions they showcase the best, most imaginative animating talent on the planet in a series of programs in which the only rule is diversity.
Right on deadline were sent “Swifts”, the very EKA film by masters student Ada Napiorkowski. Stylistically it’s markedly different than any of the other new EKA films and broadens the scope of what is being produced there by students from all over Europe. It seemed like the perfect way to start the final competition program – and just as perfectly the closing film is the latest high concept, eye-filling, mind-flooding fever dream by Alexander Dupuis.
Swifts
Ada Napiorkowski
Estonia, 5’02, 2024
Like every year, the swifts are returning to their homes in the “sleeping districts.” But this year the humans are gone, leaving nothing but spirits.
Entrebaillée
Alma Rajot
France, 3’55, 2023
There are no rules in the liminal space between sleep and wakefulness, which means anything is possible, and anything could happen.
Le Bruit Du Silence
M. Dutriaux, T. Frantz, D. Özal, D. Rudeaux, V. Talalaeff
France, 7’40, 2023
There is an office for everything in this needlessly complicated, over-organised world, and a thousand arrows pointing the winding path to each one.
Girl In The Water
Shi-Rou Huang
Taiwan, 7’20, 2021
Our hearts work in the most mysterious of ways, and memories can be triggered by the smallest, subtlest, and strangest of things.
Bright Souls
Anastasiia Zhakulina
Russia, 8’00, 2023
Some worlds are made up of big love and little things. Adapted from the short story of the same name by Vasily Shukshin.
Next?
Christel Guibert
France, 9’00, 2023
A quirky menagerie of half-animal, half-human creatures meet at a speed-dating event where they set about exploring their differences.
Octopus Banana Hotchpotch
Milanka Fabjančič
Croatia, 7’40, 2023
A dynamic, beautifully depicted journey through the lives of best friends and soulmates Mila and Mara, whose lives took different trajectories but always veered back to cross paths with one another.
Sweet Like Lemons
Jenny Jokela
Croatia, 5’30, 2023
An intensely coloured, visceral, and hyper-designed visual journey through the emotional minefield being navigated in the retreat from a crashed relationship.
Transmogrified
Alexander Dupuis
USA, 5’20, 2023
In a universe constructed by an imagination cranked to 11, an ordinary man finds himself in possession of an alien device of fantastic power.
This session is classified: Unclassified (M) Mature, not recommended for viewers under 15 years.
Please note that Backlot is NOT fully accessible. There are stairs with handrails, but no lift to the second floor where the cinema is located.