ÉCU 2017 Official Selection

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

*This film comes from our Festival partner Rural FilmFest 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.