Around the World
Shorts Package
Ala Kachuu - Take and Run
2020, NR, Switzerland, Drama, 39 minutes
Florida Premiere
Kyrgyz with English Subtitles
Director: Maria Brendle
Producer: Nadine Lüchinger, Flavio Gerber
Writer: Maria Brendle
Cast: Alina Turdumamatova, Nurbek Esengazy Uulu, Madina Talipbekova, Jandat Djamanbaeva, Taalaykan Abazova, Aybike Erkinbekova
Sezim, a 19-year-old Kyrgyz woman, dreams of studying in the Kyrgyz capital when she is kidnapped by a group of young men and taken to the hinterland. There she is all but forced to marry a stranger. If she refuses the marriage, she will face social stigmatization and exclusion. Torn between her desire for freedom and the constraints of Kyrgyz culture, Sezim searches desperately for a way out.
The Best Orchestra in the World
2020, NR, Austria, Dramedy, 14 minutes
Florida Premiere
German with English Subtitles
Director: Henning Backhaus
Producer: Lukas Rosatti
Writer: Henning Backhaus, Rafael Haider, Albert Meisl
Cast: Thomas Mraz, Jörn Hentschel, Peter Huemer, Dominic Oley, Helen Hagmueller
Ingbert, a sock, applies for a position as double bass player at the Vienna State Orchestra. Bad idea.
Step into the River
2020, NR, China/France, Animation, 15 minutes
Chinese with English Subtitles
Director: Weijia Ma
Producers: Damien Megherbi, Justin Pechberty
Writer: Weijia Ma
Lu and Wei are two young girls living in a village nestled on the banks of a river. Because the one-child policy and the preference for having boys has led some families to drown baby girls, they both have a special relationship with this river, which looks like a cradle of tragic stories.
Don vs Lightning
2021, NR, UK, Dramedy, 13 minutes
Florida Premiere
Director: Big Red Button
Producer: Sonya Sier
Writer: Johnny Burns
Cast: Peter Mullan, Joanna Scanlan
When Don, an elderly Scottish grump, finds himself the victim of multiple lightning strikes, he begins to worry that his quiet, orderly life may never be the same again. It is hard to tell what he finds more uncomfortable: sadistic persecution by a capricious universe, or the concerned attention of the people in his town.