Shorts

A crane operator working in a construction site in Beirut, finds his freedom when he is away from everyone’s eyes. How did you come up with the character? Is he based on someone you know? In 2017, I was sitting on my balcony in Lebanon overlooking all of Beirut and I saw a man standing on top of one of the tallest construction cranes. I was afraid thinking the man was going to jump. It all looked so dangerous and unsafe. As he kneeled down and put his forehead to the floor, I realized (…)

On the North East Coast of Scotland, an extraordinary family have turned the previously derelict Bayview hotel into a place of respite for international fishermen when they come to land. This film is a glimpse into this unlikely home and the transient guests who pass through it. Tell us more about the Bayview. How did you come across the place? How familiar are you with the area? The Bayview sits on the edge of a traditional fishing village called Macduff in the North East Coast of (…)

Guided by his grandmother’s haunting Sumerian lament, 9-year-old orphaned mute Ali takes his favourite sheep for sacrifice. Over a 400km journey they bear witness to the beauty and unravel the ills of Iraq. Can both boy and sheep survive the hardship and accept their fate? A lyrical tale about the loss of childhood against the harsh realities of adult life. How did you come across Ali and learn about his fate? In 2018, I was shooting in Iraq an ongoing film and photography passion (…)

Vibol and his brother Kea sell noodles on a motorized cart every night on the streets of Phnom Penh. They often face troublesome threats from gangsters and thieves, even if these very people are their only customers. As the city is growing around them, they consider their unstable income and imagine a different future. Kongkea Vann, can you tell us a bit about your inspirations and the story behind Somleng Reatrey? First, I met Chanrado Sok, who is the co-director of Somleng Reatrey. He (…)

On the day of the Egúngún festival, Salewa returns to Lagos to bury her Mother. At the funeral, she encounters an acquaintance who forces her to confront old wounds. Egungun is a meditation on memory, identity and duty, on the many versions of ourselves that haunt and heal us. How was Egúngún born? Egúngún was born from a desire to investigate my own feelings about the idea of “Home”. As a wanderer, who has lived in many identities, this is a question I often grapple with: this sense of (…)

Four old women reflect on their memories 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 the 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. How did the idea of asking old women to speak about their sex life come to you and Urška? How did (…)

Alone in her apartment, Liv is counting the days until she is reunited with the woman she loves. Accompanied by her audio-tapes, she thinks back on her relationship as the solitude slowly begins to test her mental strength. How was Ensom cowgirl born? It started with a feeling and a mood, more than an actual plot or idea for a character. During a long and dark Copenhagen winter, I moved into a new apartment which had a quite dystopian view from the living room window. I did most of my (…)

Residents of La Rouguière talk about their life in this unique district of Marseille which welcomed returnees from Algeria in 1962. As they testify, they summon the memories of a memory haunted by history and by loss of loved ones. Where did your desire to make a film about the Rouguière neighborhood in Marseille come from? That part of Marseille comes out of a very specific context: 1962 when Algeria gained its freedom. At that moment, the repatriates from the war became la Rouguière’s (…)

17 October 1961, "Algerian workers" get down the streets to manifest against the mandatory curfew imposed by the Police prefecture. Was the choice to focus on the demonstration of 17 October 1961 generally agreed upon, or was it the subject of discussion within the group? As we were discussing what sort of film we were going to make, Yanis proposed the idea of a film on that event. What struck him was that most of us had no idea about the event, even though it’s a piece of our country’s (…)

In 1927, filmmaker Oskar Fischinger traveled for three weeks along the side roads between Munich and Berlin, filming frame by frame the people he met along the way and the places he passed through. In 2020, the director did a remake of this film during a month-long walk between Paris and Brest. What led you to give this film an “old-fashioned” effect, bringing it closer to your inspiration Walking from Munich to Berlin by Oskar Fischinger, with this series of short shots interspersed with (…)