After receiving over 1400 submissions we are pleased to announce the 65 Official Competition Selections. Categories include Narrative, Non-Narrative, Graduate, Undergraduate, and Commissioned Shorts.  

NARRATIVE COMPETITION SELECTIONS

  Peripheria David Coquard Dassault France – 12 min – 2015

A journey into the heart of a large and abandoned council estate. Peripheria portrays an urban environment becoming wild: a modern Pompeii where the wind blows and dogs roam, tailing the remains of human life.

  Waves ’98 Ely Dagher France – 15 min – 2015 Disillusioned with his life in the suburbs of segregated Beirut, Omar’s discovery lures him into the depth of the city. Immersed into a world that is so close yet so isolated from his reality, he eventually loses track and finds himself struggling to keep his attachments, his sense of home.   Yùl et le Serpent Gabriel Harel France – 13 min – 2015 Yùl, 13 years old, goes with his big brother Dino to conclude a deal with Mike, a thug escorted by his Argentinian mastiff. When things go wrong, a mysterious snake appears.     Leftover Sarolta Szabo & Tibor Banoczki France – 14 min – 2014 What does it mean eating alone in human society? Showing moments of six different lives, this animated anthology film seeks answer for this question. Remains of food, remains of human relationships.   Oripeaux Sonia Gerbeaud & Mathias de Panafieu France/Belgium – 10 min – 2014 In a remote village, a little girl befriends a pack of coyotes. But the villagers brutally put an end to this relationship, unaware of the revolution that awaits.     Teeth Holbrooks – Tom Brown & Daniel Gray UK/Hungary/USA – 6 min – 2015 Things of worth are often neglected in favour of that which is more immediately gratifying. Unfortunately, things that are neglected are often lost forever. The life of a misguided and intensely focused man, chronicled through his oral obsessions.   The Master Riho Unt Estonia – 18 min – 2015 This is verity, more phantasmal than a dream and more dreadful than truth.     La Chair de ma Chère Calvin Antoine Blandin France – 12 – 2014 After a tragic event, a child takes refuge in an alternative reality, where his mother is still present.     Life with Herman H. Rott Chintis Lundgren Estonia/Croatia/Denmark – 11 min – 2015 Herman is a rat who lives alone in his messy apartment. One day a very tidy cat decides to move in.     House of Unconsciousness Priit Tender Estonia – 11 min – 2014 A psychedelic drama about a chimney sweeper and a burning woman.     Haircut Virginia Mori Franc/Italy – 8 min – 2015 A teacher and her pupil linger in an empty classroom. Through their looks and gestures, a strange confrontation begins.     Maku Yokiro Mizushiri Japan – 5 min – 2015 Kyogen Stage/Eye Examination Room/Sushi Bar Counter. Two people face each other in each space.  Each pair keeps a few distance between their partners and find some fearful, tender, and comfortable feelings that fascinate them.   Monkey Love Experiments Ainslie Henderson & William Anderson UK – 9 min – 2014 Inspired by love, a misguided monkey believes he is destined for the moon.     Mynarski Death Plummet Matthew Rankin Canada – 8 min – 2014 A completely hand-made historical micro-epic about the final minutes in the life of Winnipeg’s doomed Second World War hero, Andrew Mynarski (1916-1944)   Snowfall Conor Whelan Ireland – 5 min- 2015 Snowfall is the story of an anxious young man who has a moving experience at a friend’s house party. It’s a story of fleeting love, of mixed emotions, and of how we interact with each other.   Swallow Xi Chen China – 5 min – 2014 Three women, three generations, this is a Chinese family without love in 1940s.     We Can’t Live Without the Cosmos Konstantin Bronzit Russia – 15 min – 2014 Two cosmonauts, two friends, try to do their best in their everyday training life to make their common dream a reality. But this story is not only about the dream.  

---

 

NON-NARRATIVE COMPETITION SELECTIONS

L’Œil du Cyclone Masanobu Hiraoka Japan – 4 min – 2015

      With Joy and Merriness Jeanne Boukkra Belgium – 5 min – 2014   Dark Mixer Hirotoshi Iwasaki Japan – 5 min – 2014 A short loop animation that concept is “transformation.” The idea behind the title is to take everyday things and dump them into the Mixer to create something that is unfamiliar to us. It may lead us to look at everyday life in a different way.   Five Minute Museum Paul Bush UK – 7 min – 2015 This is a romp through the museums of England and Switzerland in which the objects on display come to life and reveal the stories of their creation. It is a celebration of the chaotic diversity conjured by the human hand and mind, and the eccentricity of museum collections.   Sonambulo Theodore Ushev Canada – 4 min – 2014 A surrealist journey through colours and shapes inspired by the poem Romance Sonámbulo by Federico García Lorca. Visual poetry in the rhythm of fantastic dreams and passionate nights.     Goodbye Rabbit, Hop Hop Caleb Wood USA – 4 min – 2014 A mind in the city looks inwards, and escapes to the rabbit’s domain.     A Place I’ve Never Been Adrian Flury Switzerland – 5 min – 2015 By sourcing multiple digital images of the same place from different archives this experiment in film makes use of frame by frame montage to discover hidden forms, patterns and references thereby giving new meaning to the prevailing redundancy of these pictures.   Happy Bogeys – Episodes 10-12 Kurihara Takashi Japan – 5 min – 2015 Mysterious creature has appeared, it issues a message of mystery, go away.     Unhappy Happy Peter Millard UK – 7 min – 2015 I get up and have breakfast. Don’t get old. Im so Unhappy Happy.     Here There Alexander Stewart Croatia/USA – 5 min – 2015 Here There is a travelogue that is at once strange and familiar, abstract and real.     Sunday Lunch Celine Devaux France – 13 min – 2015 Sunday. At lunch, James observes his family. They ask him questions and don’t listen to his answers, they give advice but don’t follow it, they stroke him and slap him, but it’s ok, it is the Sunday lunch.   Three the Peehood Kapie Eipak Singapare – 4 min – 2015 one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, one, two, …   Lucy Evert de Beijer The Netherlands – 9 min – 2015 Lucy takes a boy on an excursion into prehistory.       Metropolitan Triangle Garden Rui Hu USA – 4 min – 2015 Museum statues participate in a destructive performance triggered by software glitches and misused simulation, turning the museum into a madhouse theater with classical beauty and digital chaos, provoking the sense of history, turmoil, and sublime.   Retro Future Mirai Mizue Japan – 7 min – 2015 The world of the future that I have imagined in childhood, different from the world of the future to visit now.     Rhizome  Boris Labbe France – 11 min – 2015 From the infinitely small to the infinitely large, all things in the universe are tightly connected: they interact and restructure in a combination of movements and perpetual metamorphoses.   Under the Sun Luisa Cameron USA – 2 min – 2015 A girl begins to feel overwhelmed at the beach.      

---

GRADUATE COMPETITION SELECTIONS

Arcadian Fever Tea Stražičić Croatia – Academy of Fine arts, Zagreb – 7 min – 2015  “Arcadian Febra” is a short film about the life cycle of parasitic alien species. The film follows the last day of life of the parasites on the planet which are occupied, their migration and invasion of a new planet. The film includes a love story.   Bär Pascal Flörks Germany – Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg – 8 min – 2014 My grandpa’s past was always very present. It would break through in something he’d  say or do, but he’d never talk about it. Only now, by revisiting his life and personality as I knew him, do I feel the weight of his inheritance.   Cosmoetico Martina Scarpelli Italy – CSC Animazione – 5 min – 2015 What was it like, before the birth of the universe? Does reality exists just because we are able to perceive it? A girl searches for an answer to the big questions.   Flaws Josh Shaffner USA – CalArts – 3 min – 2015 ‘Flaws’ is a hand drawn animated short about a service industry worker and the bitterness that stews in the under stimulated and over worked.     Hopkins & Delaney LLP Sean Buckelew USA – CalArts – 5 min – 2014 An important client visits the law offices of Hopkins & Delaney LLP to discuss his copyright infringement suit.     Indra/Net Josh C. Simmons USA – UC Irvine – 7 min – 2015 What would an artificial intelligence unit see while rapidly learning in its first few picoseconds of life? Insect Bite Grace Rhee USA – CalArts – 2 min – 2015 A tiny bug tries to figure out what he wants to be.       Loop Ring Chop Drink Nicolas Menard Canada/UK – RCA – 11 min – 2014 The mundane story of a heartbroken man, an online gambling addict, an alcoholic kleptomaniac and an anxious loner living in the same apartment building.   Lucky Kirsten Carina Geisser, Ines Christine Geisser Germany – University of Art and Design Halle – 11 min – 2015 “Lucky ” is looking for happiness. This animated short is questioning our search as well as its aim: What does luck mean for the individual? Is failure the only possibility?     My Dad Marcus Armitage UK – RCA – 6 min – 2015 A short film depicting a Dad’s influence on a young boy’s life. His judgmental character mixed with the boys fondness for his dad prove to be a toxic mix that tears away at a world of opportunity and experiences.   Nothing You Need to See Keigo ITO Japan – Osaka university of arts – 4 min – 2015 What are we seeing every moment? Are we seeing the truth? Don’t we shut our eye,ear and heart to unconscious inside? Nothing we need to see? Is there what we have to see?   Que Dalle Hugo de Faucompret, Eva Lusbaronian, Caroline Cherrier, Johan Ravit, Arthus Pilorget France – Gobelins – 3 min – 2015 Steven, Sandrine, joel & Thomas are pretty bored. From the soccer stadium to the garbage dump, passing by the playground & the supermarket parking, nothing seems to amuse them.   Roadtrip Xaver Xylophon Boehm Germany – Kunsthochschule Berlin Weißensee – 19 min – 2014 Julius can’t sleep. To get his head empty he decides to go on a road-trip, but somehow he can’t manage to leave.   Small People With Hats Serina Nihei UK – RCA – 7 min – 2014 There are small people wearing hats in the society.     Still Life Kevin Eskew USA – CalArts – 4 min – 2015 Et tu doggy?     Velodrool Sander Joon Estonia – Estonian Academy of Arts – 6 min – 2015 An addicted biker runs out of cigarettes. He joins a race to get more, but has to take help from some peculiar people in the audience to stay in the competition.   Wildfire Hugues Opter, Pierre Pinon Nicole Stafford, Valentin Stoll, Arnaud Tribout, Shang Zhang France – Gobelins – 4 min – 2015 Ena, a passionate firefighter and wife, is very involved with her profession. Her fascination with fire reveals itself as it impact her family life.    

---

 

UNDERGRADUATE COMPETITION SELECTIONS

  Eye You Nick Simpson Austrailia – RMIT University – 5 min – 2015 The uninspired tenants of an apartment block are seedily spied upon by a voyeuristic satellite.       Goodbye Tyler Russo USA – CalArts – 8 min – 2015 A dead man has a job interview.     Lazy Daze Brian Smee USA – CalArts – 4 min – 2015 Dog in the land where the good life takes you.     Made in China Vincent Tsui France – Gobelins – 3 min – 2015 Figurines try to imitate the human everyday life but they are facing limitations due to their toy situation.     Master Blaster Sawako Kabuki Japan – Tama Art University – 4 min – 2015 A girl would like to hide in sweetheart’s anus. Thinking you might dedicate yourself completely to the other person, you become tempted to devour him.   Ripple Conner Griffith USA – RISD – 3 min – 2015 The shapes we make. An advertisement for planet earth. TPJ Grace Mi USA – USC – 3 min – 2015 A boy experiences mortality salience as an encounter with his doppelgänger deteriorate his sense of self.     uuuuuu David Delafuente USA – RISD – 4 min – 2015 Thoughts at 3 A.M.      

---

 

COMMISSIONED COMPETITION SELECTIONS

  Delorean ‘Crystal’ Joan Guasch Spain – 4 min – 2015         If You Go Away Ashkan Rahgozar Iran – 5 min – 2015 In a cyber punk kind of world, a man who has lost his girlfriend tries to upload the memories he carries of her into a female-shaped robot.     Paradise Awaits Tomek Ducki Poland/UK – 4 min – 2014 Adam and Eve’s sinful story like an underground party.     Owen Pallett ‘The Sky Behind the Flag’ Eno Swinnen Belgium – 5 min – 2015 Set to the music of Owen Pallett, this video is about a couple having to spend time apart. The woman wonders wether she’ll be missed or not.     Vampillia ‘Lilac (bombs Jun Togawa)’ Toshikazu Tamura Japan – 4 min – 2015 Music video for Vampillia’s “lilac (bombs Jun Togawa)”. An animation showing the passing time as a girl dies and is resurrected.     YUKI ‘Sukitte nandarou…namida’ ShiShi Yamazaki Japan – 6 min – 2015