Shorts

At the crossroads of art and science, this film centers on human beings and robots as their artificial counterparts. Like a series of archival documents detailing the first contacts and exchanges between human beings and a robot, the film studies cognitive dissonance, a minuscule, mysterious relational space lying between them both. A thoroughly exhaustive but at moments frankly alarming - the growth of emotional tech - look at our ever-changing relationships with robots. Yves Gellie’s (…)

A stroll through the present-day municipalities of Vincennes and Saint Mandé, once home to Madame Baurès, a woman and Communist. The filmmaker’s voice-over recounts the memory of the story that Ray­monde had entrusted to him. (Cinéma du Réel) This is a very moving film about memory and legacy, as we are given a glimpse into Madame Baurès’s life as it is now, in a world that seems to have forgotten and openly turned its back on everything she spent most of her life fighting for. Through (…)

Two German tourists travel around Georgia and encounter the country’s culture, traditions and some more conservative attitudes. A brave film in which the director’s passion for the subject and anger at the prejudices faced by many gay people in his home Country certainly come to the fore. An interesting and timely festival run, ahead of the general release of Georgian filmmaker Levan Akin’s And Then We Danced, a film centered on the growing feelings between two gay students of a Georgian (…)

Logan is a sci-fi obsessed awkward teenager who often finds himself the butt of his friends’ jokes. One day, he’s visited by an older man who claims to be him, 39 years from now and asks him to join him on a mission to save humankind. A sci-fi enthusiast himself, Noël Fuzellier’s passion for space travel and Mars in particular shines through this optimistic, unpretentious yet ambitious short. He deftly mixes low-key family dynamics typical of French cinema with zany space travel sequences. (…)

Olla responded to an advertisement on an Eastern women dating site. She moves in with Pierre, who lives with his old mother. But nothing happens as planned. First time director but seasoned actress Labed brings us a visually distinctive look at sexuality and modern relationships. Trailer More on the film... Olla’s character is particularly interesting. Far from being a victim, she reinvents herself, constantly surprising the viewer. How did you create this character? I wanted to (…)

On the edge of the forest of Saint-Jean, near the village of Corte, nature has taken over the abandoned military base. Today, it is a place where families and sportsmen spend their time in relaxation, though in the 1970s it was the worst fear of the soldiers of the French Foreign Legion. More on the film... Where did you get the idea of making a film about this particular military prison that punishes disobedience and desertion? Sometimes, a chance meeting upsets your plans. That’s (…)

Why does "Little Red Riding Hood" give Jamie nightmares? It’s been fifteen years, and the girl in the hallway still haunts him. This is a testament to locked doors. A lullaby sung by wolves with duct tape and polaroids. Not all girls make it out of the forest. There are stories children shouldn’t hear. A remarkably effective, inventive and haunting animation about a real-life case of child abduction. Trailer More on the film... How did this retelling come about? I’m a big poetry (…)

One day Ahmed, employed at the public baths and nearing retirement, encounters Mike, a teenager adrift. Between the bath house walls, in a place on the point of disappearing, a strange relationship will develop between these two fractured souls. A lovely, heart-warming short subtly exploring a growing relationship between the central characters and finding the beauty in the mundane. Available thanks to Univers Cine until 28 January! Here’s our interview with director Fouad Mansour from (…)

Avant de réaliser le long métrage documentaire L’époque (2018), Matthieu Bareyre a posé sa caméra à l’hippodrome de Vincennes. Loin des représentations de Degas et Manet, l’hippodrome est devenu un lieu devenu anonyme, voué à la fabrication et à la diffusion d’images. Sous les lumières blafardes et au milieu des chaises en plastique, Mehdi, Jimmy, Safir et Kader réalisent leurs pulsions par procuration : derrière une large fenêtre en verre, à distance de la course, ils font corps avec (…)

"Gaza is unfortunately not a nightmare. Gaza is a horrifying reality. Farah Nabulsi’s short film, Nightmare of Gaza, presents that reality in an artistic way and reminds all of us of the ongoing tragedy." Gideon Levy, Israeli journalist. A haunting, abstract and experimental narrative of a woman in the streets of Gaza surrounded by the devastation after the bombs have stopped. She has been helping others, but revelations show it is she who now needs help. Our short of the week has just (…)