Sarah Wood
Great Britain
2015 | 00:22:00

It was only in the twentieth century we needed papers to have an identity. Kafka’s Joseph K scrabbled in his pocket for something better than a bicycle license to prove who he was in the brave new world where official documents separate those who belong from those who are not allowed to belong. The borders of the new nation state offered frames for subterfuge. What happened on one side of the border had to be understood on the other. In the century when we invented aviation, when we invented cinema, in an age when we can move more and see more than any other point in history why have we become so watchful and so performative? I Am A Spy is a film that observes this watchfulness.

Aboozar Amini
Neatherland, Great Britain, Afghanistan
2014 | 00:25:00

Afghani refugee Ali and his brother have just arrived in Turkey where, surrounded by many other refugees, his family tries to build a new life. The boys earn their living shining shoes. When one day their spot has been taken, their fragile existence and dreams of a better future hang by a thread.

Satinar Singh Bedi
India
2014 | 00:25:00

In Hindu mythology, Kamakshi is the goddess of compassion. She fulfils all wishes and embodies serenity and peace. Sita, Rama’s wife, after suffering a long journey full of deprivations and false accusations levelled against her by her beloved husband, pleads to be swallowed up by her mother, the earth. In black-and-white and on 35mm, we follow an old woman who digs for water in a dry and barren region. She digs and digs, and the furrows in the dry soil are mirrored in the wrinkles of her spirited face. Almost disappearing in the ditch, a girl suddenly appears at its edge. They exchange looks. The old woman distributes coins from a water-filled boat. The water carriers wield torches in the night. Associative and hallucinatory imagery is interspersed by narrative moments. Towards the end, colour takes charge of the direction and the desire for water is fulfilled at a high price.

Heidi Kumao
United States
2014 | 00:04:00

“Swallowed Whole” is a somber, animated, experimental film about surviving extreme isolation and physical limitations as a result of traumatic injury. After breaking my back in a sledding accident, I was forced to lie supine on the couch for an extended period of time during which my mind often descended into a desolate, disorienting dreamscape. Feeling stifled, I imagined that I was trapped under a frozen lake; life continued on above me while I looked up from below. This sensation became the kernel from which I created this film.

Valentina Carnelutti
Italy
2015 | 00:20:00

When 7 year old Leo and his little sister Annetta wake up in the morning, their mom Emma is sleeping. Or dead? Alone they have breakfast, they mess about, they play. They wait, they try their life without mommy. Until Gabriele arrives, her boyfriend, until grandma arrives. Until with adults and words, ambiguity loosens up, and each one finds his way towards the night.