Professional Competition 5

1. Sun 04:43 Algeria 2019
   Created: Boukef Med Taher Shawki
   Screenplay: Oussama Henada
   Production: Boukef Med Taher Shawki
   Dialogue Language: English
   
   

   A group of scenes of frustration and misery simulate the relation between the president and the ordinary citizen in systems that glorify individuals. This old man stands in the midst of a crowd of citizens ready to hear the president's speech. His imagination tells about his

2. The Wrong Rock 13:21 United States 2018
   2nd Place - Professional Short Animation - Audience
   Created: Michael Cawood
   Production: Julie Pifher
   Dialogue Language: English
   
   

   Martin the Mushroom was born on the wrong rock. The mushrooms on his rock look like him, but they don’t share the same enthusiasm. When he notices another rock across the sea and realizes that although those mushrooms look different, they share his passion for life. Martin journeys to the other rock, but is rejected by a native mushroom because he looks different. And so begins Martin’s epic journey to find his place in life.

3. the GRAY and the BLUE / le GRIS et le BLEU 09:00 China 2020
   Created: Benjamin Barthélémy
   Screenplay: Benjamin Barthélémy
   Production: Lin Chen
   
   

   Abandoned by his unit, which is running away in the morning of the D-Day, a young german sniper has to find a high spot, hide there and wait for the allies arrival. His mission is to slow their progression down.

4. Natural Selection 09:40 Bosnia and Herzegovina 2019
   Created: Aleta Rajic
   Screenplay: Aleta Rajic
   Production: Sanja Rajič-Banjac
   
   

   Woman-Doe works as a professional exhibit at the museum in which she hangs from a wall as a dead animal alongside the rest of the trophies of the same kind; deer and doe heads. The life she lives is a definition of a routine; she spends her free time walking about and cleaning her apartment. One morning, after a terrifying nightmare, she notices that small horns grew out on top of her head. This makes it impossible for her to pull her head through the hole in the wall at the museum. She knows she will be punished in one way or another, and her only way out is towards freedom...

5. Apple Tree Man 10:43 Russian Federation 2020
   Created: Alla Vartanyan
   Production: Boris Mashkovtsev
   
   

   An instructive humorous tale about the power of kindness and mutual assistance, based on English traditions. In some parts of England and Scotland, the oldest apple tree in the garden was called the Apple Tree.

6. Snakes and Ladders 02:12 Iran, Islamic Republic of 2020
   Created: Maria Niazmand, Mandana Niazmand
   Screenplay: Maria Niazmand, Mandana Niazmand
   Production: Maria Niazmand, Mandana Niazmand
   
7. The Juggler / O Malabarista 10:55 Brazil 2018
   Created: Iuri Moreno
   Screenplay: Iuri Moreno
   Production: Lara Morena
   Dialogue Language: Portuguese
   
   

   An animated documentary about street jugglers who bring color to the monotonous day of the big cities.

8. Jebeer 09:55 Iran, Islamic Republic of 2019
   Created: Reyhane Mirhashemi
   Screenplay: Ashkan Rahgozar
   Production: Ashkan Rahgozar
   
   

   The wildlife ranger is patrolling the protective area, while his soul is intertwined with the nature and all the creatures he is protecting. He runs freely and lives with the animals, surrounded by beauty. But, as fate would have it, he is confronted with some poachers.

9. COVID BLUES 06:30 Portugal 2020
   Created: João Bettencourt Bacelar
   Production: João Bettencourt Bacelar
   
   

   The invisible gigantic (or not) threat of the Coronavirus moving around the empty streets of Lisbon. The background scenes are a selection of the pictures taken during lockdown from February to June of 2020.

10. The Echo Of Time 07:07 Iran, Islamic Republic of 2018
    Created: Mahmoud Atashi
    Screenplay: Mahmoud Atashi
    Production: Mahmoud Atashi
    
    

    The story is about a man who trys to find the truth, and as he goes along the path, he finds himself in different situations in parallel times.

11. KATATUMBO 08:32 Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of 2019
    Created: RICARDO JABARDO
    Screenplay: RICARDO JABARDO
    Production: Paula C Jackson
    Dialogue Language: English
    
    

    A shaman has a precognition. A world at war. With esoteric wisdom, he revives the stilt houses of the abandoned village and faces the newcomers. The wood giants destroy the invading ships. But such is the strength of the spell, that without control, they are all sent into the apocalyptic future.

12. FLY / VUELA 15:00 Spain 2020
    Created: Carlos Gómez-Mira Sagrado
    Screenplay: Rossana Giacomelli
    Production: Rossana Giacomelli
    Dialogue Language: Spanish
    
    

    Fly is the story of a bird that has a deformed wing that prevents it from migrating. Abandoned by his flock, he sinks in despair. Everything changes the day Pio-Pio appears. This defenseless chick gives him joy and a sense of purpose in life. Until one day destiny makes him do things that he would?t even do for himself, such as flying.

13. A Couple on the Rooftop, the Cellular Antenna and the Metal Birds 05:00 Israel 2020
    Created: Eyal Oren
    Screenplay: Yoav Talmor
    Production: Yael Ozsini
    Dialogue Language: Hebrew
    
    

    An animated adaptation for a spoken-word poem by Israeli poet Yoav Talmor.

14. Freeze frame 05:00 Belgium 2019
    Created: Soetkin Verstegen
    Screenplay: Soetkin Verstegen
    Production: Soetkin Verstegen
    
    

    Freeze frame: the most absurd technique since the invention of the moving image. Through an elaborate process of duplicating the same image over and over again, it creates the illusion of stillness. In this stop motion film, identical figures perform the hopeless task of preserving blocks of ice, like archivists. The repetitive movements reanimate the animals captured inside.

15. PANDÆMONIUM 04:16 France 2020
    Created: Nicolas Dufoure
    
    

    Pandæmonium is an animated triptych based on original compositions by Syl Kougaï. Inspired by Rodin's sculpture "La Porte de l'Enfer", this film divided into 3 pieces describes a dreamlike vision of the brutal condition of man. In a sharp relationship with the music, we follow the struggle of this central character against himself. Between life and death, wakefulness and sleep, flight and paralysis, this film expresses the paradox of human passions and anxieties through the pain of his heavy body.

16. NOISE 03:48 United Kingdom 2019
    Created: David Torre
    
    

    A short CG animated film that aims to make the viewer aware of how much useless stuff we go through while using the internet both at work and during our free time: Gary has had too much of the internet’s endless stream of useless content. It has all blended into a noise that has driven him crazy and taken him into a strange world where he is now on a quest to liberate his brain from the abuse. Unexpectedly, you, were part of it all along. Noise is a commission part of New Creatives: a talent development scheme supported by Arts Council England and BBC Arts, delivered in the South West by Calling The Shots.

17. TRACES 07:40 Estonia 2018
    Created: Andres Tenusaar
    Production: Andres Tenusaar, Liisa Kuusik
    Dialogue Language: Estonian
    
    

    The traces of those who move record themselves and remain on hold. The recording can be copied, modified and deleted. It's like a dream that perpetually keeps on rewriting itself.

18. Pace 11:34 Germany 2019
    Created: Kai Stänicke
    Screenplay: Kai Stänicke
    Production: Kai Stänicke
    
    

    A man tries to keep pace in front of the hand of a clock, turning ever faster, until he's overtaken by time itself. PACE is an animated short film exploring our modern relationship with time and today's constant feeling of not having enough of it.

19. Shopping Trip 03:15 United Kingdom 2020
    Created: Barry Wilkinson
    Dialogue Language: English
    
    

    Created in and inspired by Covid-19 lockdown - Shopping Trip tells the story of a long man who braves the outside world to go shopping.

20. layered love 02:40 Austria 2020
    Created: Julia Alice Ostermann
    Screenplay: Julia Alice Ostermann, Benjamin Schroeder
    
    

    It's a day just like any other - Sergei leaves his dusty studio in the attic, the massive door closes loudly behind him and brings his latest work of art, a carved matryoshka, to life. The woody young man is confused and wants to look around first ... but ... without eyes that’s rather difficult - and as fate desires the doll stumbles into an enchanting lady. After a short and intensive “getting to know one another” their destiny comes true. The two fall in love, their affection grows and turns into burning passion. Layer by layer, the lovers lose themselves forgetting time and space, but instead of getting closer, they gradually drift apart. In the end, the space between them seems almost insurmountable. But where there is a will, there is a way - and our wooden dolls will probably be able to lie in the non-existent arms of each other in a few hours.