Shorts 8+: Courageous, Charmed, Colletively

Six stories about courage, sticking together, and the magic of the unknown – new places, secret troubles, magical encounters – the young heroes of these shorts rise to every challenge. Leptir / Butterfly Croatia, DK 2024, 8 min., no Dialogue, 8 years and older R: Sunčana Brkulj B: Sunčana Brkulj K: Sunčana Brkulj P: Drasko Ivezic, Adriatic Animation, Late Love Studio W: Bonobostudio A well supplies a quirky community garden with water. What looks at first like bustling chaos proves to be a finely calibrated dance of give and take. Everything is in flow. Each creature has something to contribute. When a butterfly causes the well to run dry, the garden’s inhabitants must come together to find new ways to bring life in the garden back into balance. Brouillarta / Brouillarta Norway 2023, 14 min., norw., fren. ov, engl. st, german overdub, 8 years and older R: Ingvild Søderlind B: Ingvild Søderlind K: Trond Høines D: Elliot Greenberg Søderlind, Ivy Sansoz Greenberg, Noa Sansoz Greenberg P: Fabien Greenberg, Bård Kjøge Rønning, Antipode Films Ten-year-old Elliot is spending the summer holidays with relatives who live in a Basque village. Everything is strange and unfamiliar to the boy from Norway. His cousins are quickly bored by their reticent guest and Elliot is left to fend for himself. Which becomes all the worse when the area is visited by a mysterious creature: Brouillarta. Will Elliot make its acquaintance? Hjemmekontor / Home Office Norway 2023, 9 min., norw., engl. ov, engl. st, german overdub, 8 years and older R: Endre Lund Eriksen, Daniel Damm B: Endre Lund Eriksen D: Milla Fischer Yndestad (Lilly), Trude Øines (Mum), Dagny Hansine Strøm (Molly) P: Endre Lund Eriksen, Fabelfjord During the pandemic, the residents of the crowded high-rise housing estate stay home. School is held online. For 10-year-old Lilly it gets harder and harder to hide her mother’s alcoholism, especially from the nasty classmate who lives across the way. But then the audience gets to experience, alongside Lilly, how liberating it can be to actually be seen. Fugler / Birds Norway 2023, 11 min., no dialogue, 8 years and older R: Liv Runesdatter K: Joakim Hauge Vocke D: Jakob Hidle Høgeli, Ingvald Aagenæs, Ella Søndenå, Edith Victoria Ødegård Dahle, Daniel Dam Elnan, Carmen Elvira Aspøy P: Joakim Hauge Vocke, Bjarte Mørner Tveit, Von Mørner German premiere Birds chirp, warble, and chatter. The camera moves slowly through a moss-green forest. Six children listen closely, immersing themselves in the nature surrounding them. In improvised dance movements, they become one with the forest. Liv Runesdatter’s experimental short grew out of an art project with schoolchildren. Together with them, we too discover humankind’s deep connection to nature. Beromut / Beromut Germany 2024, 15 min., germ. ov, engl. st, 8 years and older R: Pola Rader B: Pola Rader K: Max Schlehuber D: Leta Rader (Lona), Rafaela Schwarzer (Lonas Mutter), Fride Hippel (Inga) P: Pola Rader, Kleinformat Pro German premiere Lona's ninth birthday is everything that she could possibly imagine – a colourful party populated by fantastic creatures with fabulous names. But when her friends begin questioning the existence of a creature called Beromut, Lona's belief in magic and wonders is shaken. Can she prove that Beromut exists? Or has the time come to leave behind the world of her imagination? Pilt, mis öösel liigutas / The Photo That Came to Life Estonia 2023, 12 min., estn. ov, engl. st, german overdub, 8 years and older R: Mikk Mägi B: Mikk Mägi D: Mikk Jürjens, Mari Jürjens, Jan Uuspõld P: Kristel Tõldsepp, A Film Eesti Even the bus ride to the countryside is a nightmare for Peter. He’s never been to this place, and his parents prove unable to teach him the secrets of country living. That job falls to a wild group of local kids. Will they also help him to deal with the photo in the attic? Because at night it comes alive and threatens to eat him!