Be immersed in an eclectic selection of European short films nominated for the European Film Academy Short Film Award at Cork International Film Festival for FREE as part of the CIFF European Film Weekend, Saturday 25th – Sunday 26th March 2023. Consisting of 4 diverse programmes, these films celebrate the variety and creativity of filmmakers from all over Europe.
Want to see even more great European films? Then book your FREE tickets now for the LUX Audience Award Programme, presented by Cork International Film Festival in partnership with the European Parliament Liaison Office in Ireland, featuring five European, feature-length films shortlisted for the LUX Audience Award on the same weekend, Friday 24th – Saturday 26th March 2022.
The EFA Short Film Programme, Saturday 25th – Sunday 26th March 2023
EFA Short Programme 1: Coming of Age
11am, Saturday, 25th March in The Gate Cinema Cork (115 mins)
Pivotal moments in characters’ lives, where momentous change is sought by or imposed upon them.
Dad’s Sneakers / Papyni Krosivky
Directed by Olha Zhurba (2021, 19 mins, Ukraine)
An immersive insight into the last hours of 13-year-old Sasha’s life in a boarding school for children deprived of parental care. He is one of the lucky ones: an American family has finally adopted him. Today he will move to another country forever, although something is holding him back.
North Pole / Severen Pol
Directed by Marija Apcevska (2021, 15 mins, North Macedonia, Serbia)
Misty field, crowded locker room. Margo belongs to neither. Maybe if she loses her virginity, she will finally find her place.
Memoir of a Veering Storm
Directed by Sofia Georgovassili (2022, 14 mins, Greece)
It is a morning in September. A storm is about to break. A mother drives a girl to school in the morning and picks up a woman at the end of the school day. Anna, a fifteen-year-old girl sneaks out of school, and with the help of her boyfriend, they visit a hospital. There, she has to face an event that will jolt her into adulthood.
Snow in September
Directed by Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir (2022, 20 mins, France, Mongolia)
Davka is a teenager who lives in the decaying Soviet buildings in Ulaanbaatar. With his classmate, Anuka, they talk about manga and tease each other about sex. When Davka encounters an older woman, his ideas about intimacy and his view of relationships are forced to change.
Bachelorette Party / Enterrement de Vie de Jeune Fille
Directed by Lola Combourieu, Yann Berlier (2021, 30 mins, France)
Maïa will soon get married. It’s the occasion to get together with her female friends for a weekend in the countryside. But the party gives way to melancholy: Maïa realises how much she is leaving behind as she says goodbye to her life of an unattached young woman.
When I Smile I Close My Eyes / Όταν Γελάω Κλείνουν τα Μάτια μου
Directed by Daniel Bolda (2020, 17 mins, Greece)
A teenage girl believes she never dreams, or otherwise doesn’t remember any of her dreams; apparently, they are too dull to be worth keeping. But in the course of a single day at home, time will pass like a dream. And when she opens her eyes, she will find that her waking life, outside the world of her empty dream state, is a much lovelier place to be.
EFA Shorts Programme 2: Parents
1.30pm, Saturday, 25th March in The Gate Cinema Cork (105 mins)
Parents are the common thread in these five tales, either through their relationships with their sons or daughter, or through their absence in their hour of need.
Cherries / Uogos
Directed by Vytautas Katkus (2022, 15 mins, Lithuania)
A recently retired father invites his son to help him with the cherry picking in the garden. The father is in no hurry to finish the cherry job though, as he tries to catch up with his son. The cherries remain in the background.
Ice Merchants
Directed by João Gonzalez (2022, 14 mins, Portugal, France, UK)
Every day, a father and his son jump with a parachute from their vertiginous cold house, attached to a cliff, to go to the village on the ground, far away where they sell the ice they produce daily.
Techno, Mama
Directed by Saulius Baradinskas (2021, 18 mins, Lithuania)
Nikita loves to listen to techno music and dreams to go to Berlin and visit the famous club “Berghain”. His mother Irena doesn’t know about her son’s dreams and soon enough their mutual expectations will clash.
Dawn / Madrugada
Directed by Leonor Noivo (2021, 28 mins, Portugal)
Maria starts to show signs of wanting to belong somewhere else: scales appear on her skin, roots appear on her legs, and she hears the sound of water – she dreams of being a fish. One day her daughter comes across her disappearance and reconstructs, through the memory of her gestures and meetings with her mother, a possible explanation for her escape.
Will My Parents Come to See Me
Directed by Mo Harawe (2022, 30 mins, Austria, Germany, Somalia)
An experienced Somali policewoman once again accompanies a young inmate through the procedures of the Somali justice system.
EFA Shorts Programme 3: Documentary
11am, Sunday, 26th March in The Gate Cinema Cork (94 mins)
A brilliant range of documentaries using animation, reconstruction and the essay form.
Granny’s Sexual Life / Babičino Seksualno Življenje
Directed by Urška Djukic, Émilie Pigeard (2021, 13 mins, Slovenia, France)
Four old women reflect on their memories of old times when they were young and how different the relationships between men and women were back then. Their voices merge into one single voice, that of grandmother Vera, who tells her story in proper detail. A trip into grandmother’s youth and the memories of her intimate life illustrate the status of Slovenian women in the first half of the 20th century.
38
Directed by Joanna Rytel (2021, 13 mins, Sweden)
Everyone has plans A, B, C and D. My plan is to turn all my plans into reality at the same time. How else do you get pregnant with an infertile guy?
Love, Dad
Directed by Diana Cam Van Nguyen (2021, 13 mins, Czech Republic, Slovakia)
After 15 years, Diana finds the letters her father used to send her. Will what she is going to read now mend her relationship with her dad? Will she forgive him for leaving their family? This story brings back childhood memories: carefree holidays and fun at the funfair to the rhythm of disco music, but also sadness and suffering. The author uses a collage of old letters, archival films and photographs as well as children’s drawings and cut-outs to recreate the past. Apart from the story of a Czech-Vietnamese family, this documentary animation touches upon the problem of socio-cultural differences.
Handbook
Directed by Pavel Mozhar (2021, 26 mins, Germany)
In the days following the presidential election in Belarus in August 2020, numerous protests erupt throughout the country. The special police, OMON, take particularly brutal action against demonstrators, which even spills over onto passers-by. In total, almost 7000 people are arrested throughout Belarus. Hundreds of victims recount their experiences in interviews. Their reports reveal a system of repression, which is reconstructed in detail in the director’s room in Berlin Neukölln in the form of a cinematic guide.
Urban Solutions
Directed by Arne Hector, Luciana Mazeto, Vinícius Lopes, Minze Tummescheit (2022, 29 mins, Germany)
During the colonial period, a European artist travels through Brazil and reports his impressions. 200 years later, a porter stares at the images of the surveillance cameras and reflects on his job and the relationship with his employers. Everything seems to be in its place. Until the pictures of the European artist appear and with them the nightmares of the past. Is it just a nightmare, or is it a call?
EFA Shorts Programme 4: Possible Worlds
1.30pm, Sunday, 26th March in The Gate Cinema Cork (91 mins)
An exciting mix of films comprising zen meditations over future city-scapes, science-fictional views on gender and fertility, comic meditations on history, and weirdo outsiders.
The Sower of Stars / El Sembrador de Estrellas
Directed by Lois Patiño (2022, 25 mins, Spain)
Distant lights reveal the outline of a city. Illuminated ships cross the water with sleeping people on board and the night appears to become liquid. The sower of stars wakes them and travels with them through the city. They talk about this and that – and say goodbye to everything.
Becoming Male in the Middle Ages / Tornar-Se Um Homem Na Idade Média
Directed by Pedro Neves Marques (2022, 22 mins, Portugal)
Mirene and André, and Carl and Vicente, are both couples in their mid-thirties. While Mirene and André struggle with their fertility, Vicente decides to undergo an experimental procedure, implanting an ovary in his body in the hopes of having a child with Carl. A love drama of speculative undertones, BECOMING MALE IN THE MIDDLE AGES is an intimate tale about queer sexuality, bodily autonomy, reproductive desires, and the ghost of normativity.
The Salamander Child / l’Enfant Salamandre
Directed by Théo Degen (2021, 26 mins, Belgium)
At the age of 15, Florian thinks he can communicate with the dead through fire. That belief makes him the weirdo in the village where he lives. One day, by dint of being called a monster… he becomes one.
The Potemkinists / Potemkinistii
Directed by Radu Jude (2022, 18 mins, Romania)
In 1905, the sailors on the battleship Potemkin are given political asylum in Romania – an act of defiance against Russia. In 2021, a sculptor (Alexandru Dabija) wants to create an artwork inspired by the event. “The Potemkinists” is a comedy about art, history, memory and cinema.
Exclusive Coffee Deal with Priory Coffee Co.
We are delighted to offer CIFF audiences a special 15% discount on every coffee in Priory Coffee Co. on North Main Street, next to The Gate Cinema. Simply present your LUX Audience Award or EFA Shorts ticket at the counter to apply the discount and enjoy 15% off any delicious cup of coffee throughout the CIFF European Film Weekend (24th – 26th March). Book your tickets now to avail of this deal.