ÉCU – The European Independent Film Festival was delighted to screen its Official Selection at its 12th edition. ÉCU 2017 showcased 73 films from 28 countries April 21st to 23rd in Paris, France.
European Dramatic Feature
European Dramatic Short
European Documentary
Non-European Dramatic Feature
Non-European Dramatic Short
Non-European Documentary
Student Film
Arab Special Section
European Comedy Film
European Music Video
Experimental Film
European Animated Film
Much More Than A Script Competition
European Dramatic Feature
B&B
Director: Joe Ahearne
Country: UK
Gay Londoners Marc and Fred plan for a weekend of mischief, baiting the Christian owner of a remote Christian B&B. Events take a deadly turn when another guest arrives, who they think might have something more sinister in mind. Trailer here.
RE-EVOLUTION
Director: David Sousa Moreau
Country: Spain
Doni, David, Max and Jack lives inexorably cross….The World has changed them all…Now it’s time for them to change the World. Trailer here.
Eho
Director: Dren Zherka
Country: Germany
Loss and loneliness linger on a thread that connects two aging parents far away from each other through a fatal accident. A woman in Germany starts a journey to explore the life of an illegal immigrant and finds her loneliness, and an old man in Kosovo whom loss has brought him to the end of his journey. Trailer here.
Rage
Director: Michał Wegrzyn
Country: Poland
After a quarrel with his wife, Adam spends time with his mistress at the gym. Once he’s home he takes a phone call:he’s promoted. But Adam doesn’t know he’s world will soon collapse. He has 90 minutes to patch up his life. Trailer here.
European Dramatic Short
A Little Help
Director: Daniel Halsall
Country: Netherlands
Oath is a 8 year old girl in quest for sweets!
The Crossing
Director: Jack King
Country: UK
Battling infertility and failing to cope with the breakup of his relationship, Terry is plagued by recurring nightmares and a profound uncertainty about his future. When a chance encounter with his ex reveals he’s been permanently left behind, Terry is forced to confront his anxieties head on. Trailer here.
Cubs
Director: Nanna Kristín Magnúsdóttir
Country: Iceland
A single father wants to fulfill his young daughter’s wish to throw a slumber party for her friends, but it turns out to be more of a challenge than he thought due to the rules of modern society. Trailer here.
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The Dog And The Elephant
Director: Mike Sharpe
Country: UK
The compelling story of the unlikely kinship between young boxer Bendigo Barlow and ‘Ina’, an elephant from a travelling menagerie. Bendigo’s fractured life leads him on a brutal journey of destruction, retribution and ultimately revenge. Trailer here.
Echo
Director: Courtney Hope Thérond
Country: Italy
At the intersection of child’s play and reality, Echo explores an unfortunately common occurrence in the United States. The lines of what is real and what is imagined are blurred in this short film.
The Elusive*
Director: Ely Chevillot
Country: Belgium
When Catherine looks for her son Clément at the swimming pool, she finds out that he’s been aggressive with a girl of his age. This news troubles her and arise questions.
*This film comes from our Festival partner CinAlfama Lisbon International Film Awards
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Emily must wait
Director: Christian Wittmoser
Country: Germany
When Europe turns to chaos, Emily must hold out in her apartment in hope of reuniting with her loved one. The promise to wait becomes increasingly difficult to keep, as desperation grows and hope dwindles. Trailer here.
Eviction
Director: Marcel Glauche
Country: Germany
The Coco Banana Company GbR, is a german film production company based in Hamburg and Berlin. The Company now debuts in the field of short film production of ‘Eviction’ which was produced independently with a budget of 14,000 euros and completed in may 2016. Trailer here.
The Oracle
Director: Nan Feix
Country: France
In his escape after committing a murder, Dave is stuck in a village from a parallel world, threatened by the Oracle taking the form of a jukebox.
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Second Skin
Director: Charlie Manton
Country: UK
The story of a girl in a cardboard box.
Soldier Bee
Director: Alex Hardy
Country: UK
Jodie Baxter is a Captain returned home from Afghanistan after being injured in a rigged booby trap that has left her scarred both physically and psychologically.
Son
Director: Konstantinos Sampanis
Country: Germany
Mr. Schwamm, an indulgent husband and caring father, who wants to save his depressed son is paired up by destiny, with an insensitive stranger, in whom he confides his troubles.
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Yellow Cab 267. A Musical Hell
Director: Patricia Venti
Country: Spain
A chef and his exotic dishes, a health inspector who works for mafia, two couples speculating about death and life, a producer tempting an actress with a job in exchange of some love. All these stories intertwine in a New York restaurant. Trailer here.
European Documentary
I Go Back Home – Jimmy Scott
Director: Yoon-ha Chang
Country: Germany
Grieving the loss of his wife and driven by the search for meaning in his life,the German composer Ralf Kemper risks his fortune and sanity by realizing his life-long dream to produce a jazz record for the ailing jazz icon Jimmy Scott.
Promises Halimo Can’t Keep
Director: Paula Palacios
Country: Spain/Qatar
An intimate portrait of a Somali refugee mother who has fled the conflict in her country leaving her two young daughters behind with her mother. Trailer here.
Refugee Blues
Director: Stephan Bookas, Tristan Daws
Country: Germany/UK
Inspired by W.H. Auden’s work, Refugee Blues is a documentary poem from the jungle in Calais. Trailer here.
Non-European Dramatic Feature
Groom’s Block
Director: Ilker Savaskurt
Country: Turkey
Groom’s Block is slang in Turkey for prison sections holding those accused of serious sex crimes, where men judge each other and lash out justice daily. Trailer here.
Selling Isobel
Director: Rudolf Buitendach
Country: USA
Selling Isobel, a thriller based on true events, featuring the real victim in true life playing the main charter. It’s a film about her fight for survival all the way to the gruesome end. Trailer here.
The Rainbow Kid*
Director: Kire Paputts
Country: Canada
Eugene, a young man with Down syndrome, embarks on a life altering journey to find the end of the rainbow.
*This film comes from our Festival partner Around International Film Festival
Non-European Dramatic Short
A Beautiful Day
Director: Phedon Papamichael
Country: USA
Gene gets up day after day and follows the same monotonous routine that he has lived since the death of his wife ten years earlier. Today, however, he awakens with a new determination to end the life he has known. Trailer here.
Black Box
Director: Aviv Maaravi
Country: Israel
Solo performer Shamel Pitts employs spoken word, evocative lighting and video to construct a personal, poetic narrative about search for identity and striving for survival amidst impermanence. Trailer here.
Le Clochard*
Director: Erfan Shafei
Country: Iran
A weird life of two loners who suddenly realize that the world is gonna end.
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Cork Man
Director: Dawn Han
Country: USA
Set in industrial noir-esque city, CORK MAN is about a man with a hole in his head tries to hide his deformity until one day he crosses path with a mysterious stranger.
Island
Director: Wang Heze
Country: China
The film respectively represents the two facets of a woman in the eyes’ of men. The old woman is the spirit and girl is the body. Trailer here.
Lucy in My Eyes
Director: Megan Park
Country: Canada
On the eve of her wedding, Lucy has a conversation with her six year old self.
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Mon Dernier Été
Director: Claude Demers
Country: Canada
During a heat wave in Montreal Tom, 11 years old, meets Edith, also 11. He soon discovers that Édith carries a terrible secret. Tom eventually loses his innocence at the dawn of this first love, which becomes the symbol of his last summer. Trailer here.
Reunion
Director: Ruya Koman
Country: USA
A 25-year-old boy is on the path to exploring love with a much older woman. But who is she really?
Scrabble
Director: Merve Gezen
Country: Turkey
Four socially and economically different women come together to play scrabble. They are shouting their destinies with the power of words and using the game to reflect their tragic endings. Trailer here.
Non-European Documentary
El Buzo
Director: Esteban Arrangoiz
Country: Mexico
Julio César Cu Cámara is the chief diver in the Mexico City sewerage system, he job is to repair pumps and dislodge garbage that flows into the gutters to maintain the circulation of sewerage waters.
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Part Of Me Now: Living With Breast Cancer
Director: Emily Gerhardson
Country: USA
“Part Of Me Now: Living With Breast Cancer” targets the hardships and struggles those who have gone through Breast Cancer endure beyond their treatments. The film highlights a side to cancer that has yet to be focused on- the aftermath. It centers around the personal stories of individuals who will live with cancer in their bodies or as a lingering threat for the rest of their lives. Trailer here.
Fragments Of Love
Director: Estelle Fromentin
Country: Argentina/France
Argentina. A musician who raises goats, an experimental filmmaker, a ceramist, and a businessman tell us about a love story, sharing their philosophy of love. Carried by images of their worlds marked by the diversity of the Argentine territory, we embark with them on an introspective journey, a poetic wandering.
Mind Landscape
Director: Niu Zi
Country: China
See the images of the world, using the heart as a mirror. Photographer Yang wants to use his camera to record and preserve, trying to show the world his journey in Tibet and capturing the images of the mind of decades of enlightenment. Trailer here.
Student Film
Eliza
Director: ZI Gao
Country: USA
‘Eliza’ centers on a caged phenomena in modern society, where people follow the social rules and their daily routine. Amid a lower middle class family in North America, the film presents an estranged relationship between a single father and his daughter. Trailer here.
Fleur
Director: Oliver Beaujard
Country: Czech Republic
A fairy-tale frame carries the viewer into an alternative reality. We follow the story of little boy and his father, a gardener who conceals his grief in constant work. Over time, through the stadium from the stereotype of a father and son find again the way. Trailer here.
Forest Of Echoes
Director: Luz Olivares Capelle
Country: Austria
A teenager finds the bodies of three drowned kids on the shore of a lagoon. During summer holidays, three kids are playing around a lake when they find a drowned woman drifting in the water. Who is dreaming and who is being dreamed? Trailer here.
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Head Above Water
Director: Eric Shahinian
Country: USA
A devoted husband is forced to confront his doubts about remaining the caretaker of his wife suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
My Little Older Brother*
Director: Iris Hogendoorn
Country: Belgium/Netherlands
Fien is experiencing a lot of problems with the fact that she is overgrowing her mentally handicapped brother Mees in several ways. However, in the end she realises she cannot imagine a life without him.
*This film comes from our Festival partner Around International Film Festival
Der Narr
Director: Korinna Herzig
Country: Germany
Every night, the peaceful streets of Stuttgart are being plagued with the sudden appearance of a dark figure wearing a clown’s mask. Nobody knows what the anonymous person could be up to. Trailer here.
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Omar
Director: Noa Gottesman, Asaf Schwartz
Country: Israel
18 Years old Omar, woke up one day with a thick beard and discovers that he turned out to be Omar, an Arab. His metamorphosis takes place on Israel’s Independence Day. This impossible situation forces Omar to keep his new identity undercover. Trailer here.
On Paper
Director: Nicholas Nazari
Country: UK
Hamilton is a bureaucrat in charge of scrutinizing newly weds applying for a spouse visa. He has to demonstrate the true or false nature of the applicants’ love. The precision of a state-run apparatus, is pitted against the imperfections of Hamilton’s unsatisfying life and relationships.
Rabbit Blood
Director: Yağmur Altan
Country: USA
Just an ordinary day at an old mysterious Turkish country house where its residents have an extraordinary way of brewing tea. Trailer here.
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Standby
Director: Charlotte Regan
Country: UK
A comedy about friendship and routines entirely set in a police patrol car. In a comedic traffic cops style, we watch the capture of different criminals from Micky the Irish gypsy to Tyler the gangster rapper. Trailer here.
The Wheels On The Bus
Director: Joshua Long
Country: Australia
A bus breaks down in the North Korean countryside. The two drivers must put their differences aside and overcome a series of setbacks to get their bus back up and running and cargo delivered on time.
Y
Director: Nicolas Auzeine
Country: France
Pauline, 19, spends her life hanging out with friends and piling up one-night stands. She’s decided to avoid love to stop suffering. Trailer here.
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Zaar
Director: Ibrahim Nada
Country: USA
Zaar is a suicide bomber who enters a random diner in a terrorist attack but after listening and interacting with the innocent people around him, he questions his intent. Trailer here.
Arab Special Section
The boy who cried fish!
Director: Dalia Musaad
Country: USA
Miranda’s life falls into pieces when her son, Adam, wouldn’t take off her blue bra. As a single mother of a child on the spectrum, she finds a way of coping when she understands how the personal intertwines with the universal.
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Sing For Me
Director: Sama Waham
Country: Canada
A personal journey that departs from loss and follows a river to meet Baghdad, the film travels through shared family memory, a collage of stories and archival footage that provide a glimpse of Iraq’s modern history and its defeated dreams of a modern and just society. Trailer here.
Last Seen*
Director: Hassanein Khazaal
Country: Iraq
A short-film about psychological conflicts of every Iraqi young man in recent time, what he could possibly do in these inconvenient circumstances…what would he decides to do? Heads to demonstrations or goes the other way? Trailer here.
*This film comes from our Festival partner NDU International Film Festival
Night-Shift*
Director: Hisham Sharafeddine
Country: Lebanon
Two thieves, one mini-market; bad timing.
*This film comes from our Festival partner NDU International Film Festival
European Music Video
Back On My Feet
Director: Theo Papadoulakis
Country: Greece
Director Theo Papadoulakis gave the song a political dimension commenting on the Greeks’ feelings towards the financial and political crisis in Greece. Trailer here.
Creta Kano
Director: Manuel Lebriez
Country: France
Between short film & music video, a magical tale of loneliness, lost identity and flying origami cranes on Lorca’s beguilingly minimal thread. Trailer here.
Fade
Director: Ainhoa Rodríguez
Country: Spain
Conchita, a conservative and septuagenarian woman, returns home after cremating her husband. She is fed up with the suffocating social norms that have surrounded her, so she decides to break free. Meanwhile, a menacing shadow roams the house as the only companion of her solitude. Trailer here.
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I Got Myself A Finish – Tom Rosenthal
Director: Thomas Vernay
Country: France
A girl who is going through different kinds of feelings. Trailer here.
Where Is God?
Director: Nadine Keil
Country: Germany
I dedicate the Song and the Video “Where is God?“ to our inner child. The innocent part in all of us, that remained through the years of ignoring our natural born sense for what is wrong and what right!”. Trailer here.
European Comedy Film
Le Chat Doré
Director: Nata Moreno
Country: Spain
Inside and old cabin, a group of musicians try to create art under the pressure of a mean director. Trailer here.
The Driving Seat
Director: Phil Lowe
Country: UK
Middle aged Martin and Jane decide to put a spark back into their marriage by making love in their car one Saturday morning. When this plan hits a snag, they begin to re-evaluate their relationship and marriage. They do love each other, but is that enough for them? Trailer here.
Le Mécène
Director: Lionel Auguste
Country: France
Antoine gets back home and finds out that his girlfriend Mélanie is sleeping with a man. His revenge will have bittersweet taste.
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Señor O Señorito?
Director: Cristina Piernas, Victoria Ruiz
Country: Spain
In a world dominated by women, Bernardo will have to get through a singular interview to access to the secretary’s position that he wishes. Trailer here.
The Temp
Director: Ben Mallaby
Country: UK
Experimental Film
Don’t Forget About Singapore
Director: Julien Thiry
Country: France
Francois works in a large banking company by day. At night, he becomes a sex worker on the pavement of Paris. Trailer here.
Rhythm Of Being
Director: Giada Ghiringhelli
Country: UK
For an instant, I am. The light touches me gently and I live, burst and shine. This constant, irreversible, rhythmic drift from being to not. Only the memories left. Escaping desires. The love. The pain. I only have an instant of life. So please. This film is an ode to the rhythm of being.
Three Rooms
Director: Andrés Klimek
Country: Mexico
By crossing through three rooms AVE will pour sounds and ink into the VOID giving it back the essential content which will transform it into ADAM and AVE into EVE. A mutation generating the force to break the circle which allows both lovers to fly into the endless spiral.
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What Happens In Your Brain If You See A German Word Like…?
Director: Zora Rux
Country: Germany
A surreal trip into the world of an extremely long German word.
European Animated Film
The Bridge Over The River
Director: Jadwiga Kowalska
Country: Switzerland
A man on a bridge, separated from the love of his life. Wanting to be with her one last time, he decides to go and seek her in the thereafter. Trailer here.
Child
Director: Iring Freytag, Linus Stetter, Viktor Stickel
Country: Germany
A child has to leave its hut to collect wood for the fire that went out. The search for suitable wood becomes a life’s work. Trailer here.
Define Intervention
Director: Sean Cunningham
Country: Ireland
Father J. Priestly, a priest struggling with his faith comes face to face with God. Trailer here.
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How Long, Not Long
Director: Uri Kranot, Michelle Kranot
Country: Denmark
A visual journey that challenges us to think about a universal belonging that doesn’t confine itself to a city, region or national boundary in an age where xenophobia, nationalism and intolerance are ubiquitous.
Late Season
Director: Daniela Leitner
Country: Austria
We see framed photographs of the young, happy couple… probably dancers. The same couple, now visibly aged,don’t seem to talk to one another anymore. Excited by crabs, the couple is seen interacting in a choreographic, passionate dance. Trailer here.
Sore Eyes For Infinity
Director: Elli Vuorinen
Country: Finland
An optician grows tired of seeing the world too clearly and her inevitable involvement in its defects. Trailer here.
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Much More Than A Script Competition
SHORT SCRIPTS
– Going Home by Nir Shelter (Australia)
– Edna’s Dearest Possessions by Ozge Gozturk (United Kingdom)
– Popular Fiction and The New Weird: One Writer’s Perspective by John Burdeaux (USA)
FEATURE LENGTH SCRIPTS
– Hunters Pointe by Scott Liapis (USA)
– Tantalum Mass by David Garrett (USA)
– Stillstehen by Elisa Mishto (Germany)