After a two-year absence from cinemas, the Athens Short Film Festival organised by HF Productions is back on this Friday, December 2 and screening at the Mikrokosmos Cinema in Athens.
The festival promisesa rich screening program of short films from around the world, and invites invites audiences on a journey through the eyes of 13 talented filmmakers.
Aiming to promote independent cinema and at the same time serve as an open platform of expression for emerging Greek and international artists, the Athens Short Film Festival presents both fiction and documentary films. The 13 films of this year's Festival focus on social, political and gender issues or deal with the personal dilemmas of ordinary people.
Through a rich program of music videos, animation and experimental short films, ASFF 2022 spans a wide range of cinematic genres and at the same time showcases creations of eccentric aesthetics.
"Our aim is that the 5th Athens Short Film Festival will be the starting point for the expansion of the Festival to more days, as well as artistically, growing, even more, our cinephile audience." said ASFF.
SCREENING SCHEDULE:
Block 1: 18:00- 19:25
At the first part of the Athens Short Film Festival will be screened 6 short films.
Shark ⬦Duration: 14' ⬦Director: Nash Edgerton, Australia 14'
Completing the trilogy of wickedly dark comedy shorts that began with Spider and Bear, Nash Edgerton finds a perfect match in Rose Byrne as Sofie, a woman who loves pranks just as much as Jack, Edgerton’s on-screen alter ego. Alas, the couple’s quest to outdo each other may lead to the most outrageous calamity of all.
Elevator Alone ⬦Duration: 4' ⬦Director: Anastasia Papadopoulou, Greece
Four people and the time they spend in an elevator. Inspired by everyday life and by the difference in people's behaviour when they are alone, in contrast to the socially acceptable behaviour that individuals adopt when in public space and especially in the confined and always awkward setting of an elevator.
Primal Therapy ⬦Duration: 19' ⬦Director: Santtu Salminen, Finland
A middle-aged man on the verge of burnout seeks new energy through a very special form of self-help therapy.
August Sky ⬦Duration: 19' ⬦Director: Jasmin Tenucci, Brazil
As the Amazon burns for the seventeenth day, a nurse in Sao Paulo finds herself drawn to a neo-Pentecostal church.
The Cookie Cutter ⬦Duration: 8' ⬦Director: David Rocco Facchini, United States
With bathing suit season just around the corner, Steve needs to put his sweet-tooth cookies in check! But when an ambitious Cookie Scout darkens his doorway, dead-set on the sale, it becomes the ultimate battle of the bulge!
POPS ⬦Duration: 20' ⬦Director: Lewis Rose, United Kingdom
How would you react if your father's last wish was to send his ashes to a - very - eccentric place? For siblings Roz and Elli, there is no consensus on the answer.
The end of the Festival’s 2nd part screening will follow a short award ceremony by the jury.
Cruise ⬦Duration: 6' ⬦Director: Sam Rudykoff, Canada
We’ve all received scam phone calls, but what about the person making the calls? Cruise is a dark workplace satire about a hapless telemarketer trying mightily to give away a free cruise. And if he fails, there will be dire consequences.
Dajla: cinema and oblivion ⬦Duration: 15' ⬦Direction: Arturo Dueñas Herrero, Spain
Life is going on in Dakhla, one of the Sahrawi refugee camps in southern Algeria, forgotten for 45 years. The celebration of a film festival, the Fisahara, breaks the monotony. The event ends, life (and oblivion) continues.
Vlada Goes to London ⬦Duration: 22' ⬦Direction: Arti Savchenko, Israel
Vlada is a pizza delivery girl who lives in Haifa and dreams of becoming a famous DJ. Within a five-hour shift, we get a glimpse into her world full of pressure where she's willing to do whatever it takes to find the money for a flight to perform at a festival in London.
The Big Tomato ⬦Duration: 18' ⬦Direction: Christos Adrianopoulos, Greece
This film is an experimental documentary exploring the director's memories of Astoria before and during the coronavirus. The main character is a 73-year-old man named Iason. Iason has experienced a painful past, and he is trying to connect his life with the one that Jason from Greek mythology had. Just like Iason, Astoria acts in the same way. It tries to tie herself to the city of Athens and to the Ancient Greek world.
Girlhood ⬦Duration: 30' ⬦Direction: Vania Turner & Maria Sidiropoulou, Greece
Three teenage girls find refuge in their friendship as they struggle with gender expectations, eating disorders and an addiction to social media amid a long, emotionally stifling quarantine in Greece. "Girlhood" follows Vera, Christina and Nefeli, three seventeen-year-old girls in Athens who come of age during the pandemic. From the first frame, we’re invited into their worlds as they talk about their frustrations and dreams. These intimate, sometimes painful conversations are threaded with Instagram, YouTube and TikTok videos shaping their self-image in quarantine. Tough, responsible, and mature beyond her years, Christina shares a room with her brother, helps her mother with the housework, and yearns more than anything to leave home and gain her independence. Brave Vera is insecure about her weight and longs for acceptance, while also yearning for a more inclusive world. And strong-willed Nefeli, a competitive dancer, discovers feminism and stops hanging out with boys. This coming-of-age story shows teenage girls trying to figure out how to love themselves as they transition from girls to women in a society that remains deeply patriarchal. Even as their faces are glued to a screen during quarantine, they find refuge in their friendship as they finish school and begin the road to adulthood.
Stop it ⬦Duration: 30' ⬦Direction: Lingxi Zhang & Tom Chegaray, France
It’s a normal day for a normal family in this normal, repetitive, boring pandemic time, while objects take revenge as a consequence of their overconsumption...We're gonna stop it right now!
Snorrie (Mustachio) ⬦Duration: 12' ⬦Direction: Victoria Warmerdam, Netherlands
Absurd tragicomedy is about thirty-something Freek, who is reuniting with his imaginary friend from the past, who is looking for closure.