Eye For Film >> Festivals >> BIFF >> 2009 >> Berlinale Shorts
Since 1955, the Berlinale has awarded a Golden and Silver Bear to the best short film. Since 2003, short films have had their own international jury and since 2006 their own section. The international jury awards, alongside the Bears, also the Prix UIP for the best European Film and a DAAD scholarship award. With the introduction of a dedicated section, the festival has expressed its commitment to raising the profile of short films in terms of film production.
Every year the Berlinale presents roughly 60 short films, not only in Berlinale Shorts, but also in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino, Generation and Forum expanded sections. They are presented in programme blocks of up to two hours, and are guaranteed to take audiences on a special journey.
For shorts screening in specific programmes, the programme name is shown in italics.
View other Berlin International Film Festival Films by strand: Berlinale Special, Competition, Generation, German Cinema, International Forum of New Cinema, Out Of Competition, Panorama, Perspektive Deutches Kino, Retrospective: 70mm - Bigger Than Life
Akbulak and Slaves
16-18-4
(Country: Japan; Year: 2008; Director: Tomonari Nishikawa)
Forum expanded Mix: Sensory Spaces
This film was shot by a still camera with 16 lenses, which takes a series of 16 pictures within 1.5 seconds. It shows scenes of Tokyo Racecourse, when it was holding the biggest race of the year, Japanese Derby.
26.4
(Country: Belgium; Year: 2008; Director: Nathalie André; Stars: Da Boit Lisa)
Berlinale Shorts III & Sunday Mix II
A young woman clad in bike leathers looks for her mobile in the brambles.
Akbulak
(Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: Tatiana Korol; Writer: Tatiana Korol; Stars: Janina Rudenska, Sergey Vidrashku, Milla Kaminskya)
Eight years after moving from Russia to Germany, 17-year-old Olja spends her summer holidays with her grandmother in a Russian village.
Generation Mix & Short Films 2 14plus
Ali And the Ball (Ali & The Ball)
(Country: Australia; Year: 2008; Director: Alex Holmes; Writer: Alex Holmes; Stars: Ali Soummaka, Camilla Ah Kin, Luci Hughes, Rayan El-Saghir)
Short Films 2 Kplus
Eight-year-old Ali lives with his mother and sister Fatima in a refugee camp.
When the guards take away the knitting needles that are so very important
to his mother Ali just has to do something. He hatches a plot involving a ball and a girl on the other side of the barbed wire fence.
Aphrodite's Farm
(Country: New Zealand; Year: 2008; Director: Adam Strange; Writer: Peter Force, Adam Strange; Stars: Ashley Hawkes, Geneva Alexander-Masters, Cherie James, Rod Lousich, Serai Te Kani, Tayla-Lee Griffin, Maiya Collins, Merv Smith)
Short Films 1 14plus
The milk from Aphrodite’s Farm is truly a dream. What is the secret of the
milk’s legendary creaminess? Mother knows the answer and protects her
three enchanting daughters with a shotgun under her arm. But you can’t
extinguish a smouldering heart.
Netherland Dwarf and Jerrycan
Birth
(Country: Italy, US; Year: 2009; Director: Signe Baumane; Writer: Signe Baumane; Stars: Clyde Baldo, Kim Gatewood, Kimmy Gatewood, Karen Gilliam, Rebecca Honig, Kamala Sankaram, Eileen Stevens, Anne Thibault), Official Site
Berlinale Shorts II & Sunday Mix II. In Competition
Amina, 17, is pregnant. She is afraid of giving birth. She asks her friends and aunts for more information, sympathy and support. She receives quite the opposite.
Block B
(Country: Malaysia, Canada; Year: 2008; Director: Christopher Chan Fui Chong; Writer: Toni Kassim; Stars: Shanthini Venugopal)
Forum expanded Mix: Sensory Spaces
A building becomes a living painting.
Blooming In Spring (Bom-e Pi-eo-na-da)
(Country: South Korea; Year: 2008; Director: Jung Ji-yeon; Stars: Gim Ye-ri, Gwon Ji-won, Bang Eun-ju, Kim So-suk)
Short Films 2 14plus
Sometime during spring Yeon-ah discovers that her body doesn’t only
smell – it actually stinks. She lets her classmates know immediately. Class
representative Seong-eun takes an interest in this strange phenomenon... but it isn't long before they are both victimised.
Bric-Brac
(Country: Romania; Year: 2008; Director: Gabriel Achim; Stars: Paul Ipate, Ioana Blaj, Gabriel Achim)
Berlinale Shorts I & Sunday Mix I
A director tries to convince his leading man to take on the main role in a
film about the Romanian revolution. But the actor is having problems with
his girlfriend and, before long, the borders become blurred between fact and fiction.
Bronx Princess
(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Yoni Brook, Musa Syeed; Stars: Rockyatu Otoo, Yaa Otoo, Chief Nii Adjedu)
Generation Mix & Short Films 2 14plus
Rocky Otoo lives with her mother in the Bronx in New York. She has just finished
high school and wants to study. She is always arguing with her mother,
a Ghanaian immigrant, who expects her daughter to start working in her
hairdressing salon. But before she obliges her mother Rocky wants to visit
her father, a tribal chieftain, in Ghana.
Buddha's Smile (Ulybka Buddy)
(Country: Russia; Year: 2008; Director: Bair Dyshenov; Stars: Lkhasaran Tangatov)
Short Films 2 Kplus
Gombo lives in the Buryat Republic in a tiny village on the banks of Lake
Baikal. Dawdling on his way home from school, the boy doesn’t get back to
his house until nightfall. Nobody is at home and there are some sweets next
to Buddha on the family shrine on the wall. Does he dare to steal one of the
goodies? But then, just as Gombo reaches for the grub, he hears a voice…
Cathrine
(Country: Denmark; Year: 2008; Director: Mads Matthiesen; Writer: Mads Matthiesen; Stars: Helena Wagn Ivansdottir, Mads Riisom)
Short Films 1 14plus
Sixteen-year-old Cathrine has fallen in love with Lars. She met him while out
shopping at the local mall. But Lars is 33. And that’s why she’s keeping her
relationship hidden from her parents...
Cocoon Child
(Country: Germany; Year: 2009; Director: Sonja Rohleder)
Short Films 1 Kplus
A poetic film about the imagination of an autistic child showing the moment where the inner world connects with the world at large.
contre-jour
(Country: Germany; Year: 2009; Director: Christoph Girardet, Matthias Müller; Stars: Elisabeth Masé, Ralph Kostrzewa)
Berlinale Shorts III & Sunday Mix I. In Competition
Blurs, flashes and stroboscope montages disintegrate reality into shadowy images
that inflict pain on the retina, apparently... needless to say this comes with a warning that it is not suitable for epileptics.
Diagnosis (Diagnoz)
(Country: Ukraine; Year: 2009; Director: Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy; Stars: Karina Belova, Maksym Kushov, Olexandr Semyshkur, Volodymyr Gubernachuk)
Berlinale Shorts III & Sunday Mix I. In Competition
Tragic story of a pregnant woman.
Dish
(Country: USA; Year: 2009; Director: Brian Krinsky; Writer: Brian Krinsky; Stars: Matthew Monge, Jeffrey Martinez, Octavio Altamirano)
Berlinale Shorts II
Two emos in eastern Los Angeles chat about the sexual escapades of others.
Dive Into Mankind
(Country: Belgium; Year: 2008; Director: Ria Pacquée)
Forum expanded Mix: Sensory Spaces
From East to West and West to East. Between clean and dirty water.
Five Miles Out
(Country: UK; Year: 2009; Director: Andrew Haigh; Writer: Andrew Haigh; Stars: Dakota Blue Richards, Thomas Malone)
Shorts 3 Kplus
A few carefree days away from depressing thoughts at home are what
Mum has in mind. But at the beach Cass doesn’t feel in a very holiday-like
mood. She just wants to fall off the face of the earth.
Good Will (Buenas Intenciones)
(Country: Mexico; Year: 2009; Director: Ivan Lomelí; Stars: Jorge Adrián Espíndola, Andree Magali, Armando Hernández)
Berlinale Shorts V
Felipe learns the hard way that good will is not always welcome.
Grown Up (Yalda Gdola)
(Country: Israel; Year: 2008; Director: Dana Neuberg; Writer: Dana Neuberg; Stars: Lia Philosof, Roni Tal, Shimon Mimran, Ariela Rubinowich)
Short Films 2 14plus
Ami arrives at their rendezvous with a bottle of wine and hopes of a quiet evening in with Dalia. But their meeting turns out to be nothing like they expected as the border between childish flirting and seduction begins to blur.
Hocus-Pocus (Hokus-Pokus)
(Country: Germany; Year: 2008; Director: Anna Samoylovich)
Short Films 1 Kplus
Story of a lonely magician.
The Illusion
(Country: Cuba; Year: 2008; Director: Susana Barriga)
Berlinale Shorts II & Sunday Mix II. In Competition
After having spent the past 26 years imagining what her father is like
Susana sets out from Cuba to England to meet him for the first time.
Invisible Loneliness
(Country: Taiwan; Year: 2009; Director: Lin Jung-Hsien)
Generation Mix & Shorts 3 Kplus
Combining computer animation and hand drawings, this film explores the
fears and loneliness faced by ‘latchkey children’.
The Island
(Country: Canada; Year: 2009; Director: Trevor Anderson)
Berlinale Shorts III
After receiving a letter which asks: ‘why don’t all gays just go and live
together on an island and infect each other with Aids?’ filmmaker Trevor
Anderson sets out across the ice and creates a gay scenario with a happy
end.
Jade
(Country: UK; Year: 2009; Director: Daniel Elliott; Writer: Daniel Elliott; Stars: Aisling Loftus, Jonathan Phillips, Michael Socha)
Berlinale Shorts IV
Jade is pregnant. She has to make a decision. Which path will she take?
Jerrycan
(Country: Australia; Year: 2008; Director: Julius Avery; Writer: Julius Avery)
Shorts 3 Kplus
A young boy is bullied into making a life or death decision, but can Nathan prove himself to his mates?
Kaïn
(Country: Belgium; Year: 2009; Director: Kristof Hoornaert; Writer: Kristof Hoornaert; Stars: Bart Desloovere, Kevin Plet)
Berlinale Shorts I. In Competition
Two young men are walking in the woods. They begin to argue and this
escalates into an archetypical situation. A young man runs for his life.
Kehua
(Country: New Zealand; Year: 2008; Director: Wiremu Grace; Stars: Arama Vincent-Wihapi, Nicola Kawana, Grant Roa, Api Taylor, Nelson Solomon)
Generation Mix & Shorts 3 Kplus
This is the first time that Caleb, a young Maori, has ever been to a Marea, a
Maori public gathering place and ritual site. His mother, Sarah, has never
explained much about his ancestors’ culture and he senses that his initial
fears are more than justified. But it seems as though supernatural powers
are at work because the boy appears to have very special talents.
Laitue
(Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: Nicholas Brooks)
Berlinale Shorts V & Sunday Mix I
A hand-drawn animation film that describes a short journey of loss and
reunification.
Lint Lent Land
(Country: Germany; Year: 2009; Director: Isabell Spengler)
Forum expanded Mix: Sensory Spaces
Rather cryptically, the programme says: "does that mean "Dust has temporarily given this land its form"?"
The Little Crow With The Naked Bottom (De Kleine Kraai Met Blote Billen)
(Country: Netherlands; Year: 2008; Director: Raimke Groothuizen)
Short Films 1 Kplus
No sooner does the little crow hatch from her egg, than feathers begin
sprouting all over her body – except, that is, for her bottom which is quite
bare. This worries her mother a great deal. Together the two birds set out to
find a solution for the problem.
Maggie And Mildred
(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Holly Klein)
Short Films 1 Kplus
Mildred is left to look after Maggie and the two of them now have the whole house to themselves. It doesn’t matter if they are discovering old furniture, saving a young prince or baking huge cakes – every room is full of adventures.
Maima Long-awaited (Maima dolgozhdanniy)
(Country: Russia; Year: 2008; Director: Inga Korzhneva)
Short Films 2 Kplus
It’s spring again and grandmother is explaining a few things about life to
Maima. He comes to a decision: the evil Sikhircha must be conquered. That
is the way it should be, says grandmother. Maima is to receive some assistance
in the shape of a pair of wings, some courage, and a horde of cunning
mice.
Mama, L'Chaim! (Mama, L'Chaim! (To Life!))
(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Elkan Spiller; Stars: Chaim Lubelski, Nechama Lubelski)
Berlinale Shorts V
A non-judgemental look at the way in which the Holocaust continues to affect the lives of
the children of survivors.
A Mango Tree In The Front Yard
(Country: France; Year: 2008; Director: Raveendran Pradeepan)
Berlinale Shorts II. In Competition
The programme says: "This film was inspired by the dreams of a generation that have been dashed by the barbaric oppression of the Sri Lankan government and a 25-year-old
struggle for liberation."
Man Of The North (Karai norte)
(Country: Paraguay; Year: 2009; Director: Marcelo Martinessi; Stars: Lidia Vda. de Cuevas, Arturo Fleitas)
Berlinale Shorts IV & Short Films 1 Kplus
An old woman in the pampas of the Paraguayan hinterland. A tiny hut. A
rider on horseback. A cowboy. The woman is startled. He wants something
to eat. She has next to nothing, but she shares it with him. He returns what
was taken from her.
The Mouse (Musen)
(Country: Denmark; Year: 2008; Director: Pil Maria Gunnarsson; Stars: Eva-Theresa Jermiin Anker, Magnus Wettendorff Dyring, Frederikke Hjort Arentz, Christine Exner)
Shorts 3 Kplus
Ten-year-old Liv has fallen in love with her classmate, Mike, who gives her
his beloved white mouse. Shortly afterwards, Liv observes Mike talking to
her girlfriend, who is top of the class, and, for the first time, she feels something
she has never felt before – jealousy.
My Very First Wedding (Meine erste Hochzeit)
(Country: Germany; Year: 2008; Director: Ralf Kukula)
Generation Mix & Short Films 1 Kplus
A young girl asks her mother: “Why doesn’t anybody marry me?” Her mother looks at her daughter, wide-eyed in amazement. “But you’re only five!” she retorts, “Isn’t that a bit early to get married?”
Netherland Dwarf
(Country: Australia; Year: 2008; Director: David Michôd; Writer: David Michôd; Stars: Jack Egan, Ewen Leslie, Mirrah Foulkes, Justin Rosniak)
Short Films 2 Kplus
Harry really wants a rabbit. Harry's dad really wants his wife back. And somehow in the middle of all this wanting, they both seem to have forgotten that they already have each other.
Nine Stairwells Together (Devyat prolyotov vmeste)
(Country: Russia; Director: Alexander Karavayev; Stars: Anna Goryushkina, Yuriy Tarabanov, Mariya Ryvkina)
Berlinale Shorts IV. In Competition
Short evoking the French New Wave.
Oh, My God!
(Country: Norway; Year: 2008; Director: Anne Sewitsky; Stars: Ebba Tangen, Julie Solberg, Ella Victorie Henriksen Haagensen)
Generation Mix & Shorts 3 Kplus
OH, MY GOD!
It’s pretty exciting, all the stuff you have to find out in order to keep up with
your girlfriends. And it’s good to know that, when it comes to sex, the
others don’t always know everything either.
Out In The Light
(Country: Germany; Year: 2008; Director: Martin Ebner, Katja Eydel, Klaus Weber)
Forum expanded Mix: Sensory Spaces
Experimental video "follows the elusive line between human consciousness and trustingly giving in to a possible loss of control".
Please Say Something
(Country: Ireland; Year: 2008; Director: David O'Reilly)
Berlinale Shorts I & Sunday Mix I. In Competition
Set in the far-off future, this is the story of the difficult relationship between a very emotional cat and her husband, a tedious mouse.
Point Of View (Eynayim Sheli)
(Country: Israel; Year: 2008; Stars: Efrat Aviv, Rivka Michaeli, Alex Salucov)
Short Films 1 14plus
Noa’s parents are away and so this seventeen-year-old girl has to stay with
her grandmother. The old lady is way into her seventies and is a pretty
tough cookie to boot. Granny’s slowly going blind and this is why, at four
o’clock in the afternoon, Noa has to read her the subtitles on her favourite
television series. The task is no easy one for Noa – because Granny Herta has
plenty to moan about when it comes to her granddaughter.
The Prince (Der Prinz)
(Country: Germany; Year: 2009; Director: Petra Schröder; Stars: Jytte-Merle Böhrnsen, Paula Kalenberg, Hannes Hellmann)
Berlinale Shorts V & Sunday Mix II
It’s summertime. Two young girls are on their way to Rome, by InterRail.
They are looking for adventure – and find a prince.
Princess Margaret Blvd.
(Country: Canada; Year: 2008; Director: Kazik Radwanski; Writer: Kazik Radwanski; Stars: Tim Braddock, William Forrest, Declan McCarthy, Julie McCarthy, Gina Sylvester), Official Site
Berlinale Shorts I & Sunday Mix I
Isabelle Rodarte is out in the snow, looking for her house. The beginning is
the middle is the beginning.
Pure
(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Jacob Bricca)
Berlinale Shorts IV
Deconstruction of the action film.
Ralph
(Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: Alex Winckler)
Short Films 2 14plus
Showing as part of UKFC Completion Fund Shorts at EIFF 2008.
Renovation (Renovare)
(Country: Germany, Romania; Year: 2009; Director: Paul Negoescu; Stars: Simona Bondoc, Clara Voda, Andrei Runcanu)
Berlinale Shorts III
A watermelon runs through a family story of a house renovation.
The Sea (Havet)
(Country: Germany; Year: 2008; Director: Jöns Jönsson; Stars: Lennart Jähkel, Ann Petren, Per Lasson)
Berlinale Shorts V
Pella and Agneta are both around 60 years of age; they’ve been a couple for
many years. Although Pelle is not in the best of health they are both
delighted to accept an invitation to a birthday party.
Nevertheless, Pelle decides to get up and boogie – and it’s not jealousy that
forces Agneta out onto the dance floor.
Slaves (Slavar)
(Country: Sweden, Norway, Denmark; Year: 2008; Director: David Aronowitsch, Hanna Heilborn)
Animated documentary sees two Sudanese children recall time they spent as slaves.
Short Films 1 14plus
Spot And Splodge In Snowstorm (Prick och Fläck snöar in)
(Country: Sweden; Year: 2008; Director: Lotta Geffenblad, Uzi Geffenblad)
Short Films 1 Kplus
Spot is spotty and splodge is splodgy. They enjoy snowball fights together
and making angels with arms, legs and ears. And when they cuddle up on
the couch inside their warm house everything is just as it should be.
The Suffering Of Mr Karpf The Birthday (Die Leiden des Herrn Karpf Der Geburtstag)
(Country: Germany; Year: 2008; Director: Lola Randl; Stars: Rainer Egger)
Berlinale Shorts IV & Sunday Mix II
It’s Mr Karp’s birthday and nobody phones him.
Summer Breaks
(Country: Australia; Year: 2008; Director: Sean Kruck; Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Jake Allen, Cash Weijers, Richard Wilson, Emily Wheaton)
Generation Mix & Short Films 1 14plus
A day in the lives of two teenagers during the summer holidays.
Toads (Kröten)
(Country: Germany; Year: 2008; Director: Milena Gierke)
Forum expanded Mix: Sensory Spaces
Images of a stream in southern France: it's the toads' mating season.
Tomorrow
(Country: Australia; Year: 2009; Director: Simon Portus; Writer: Simon Portus; Stars: Leah Purcell)
Short Films 2 14plus
When Kirsten, a teenager from a small town in Australia meets Laura, a businesswoman on the way to Brisbane, she makes a discovery that makes a deep impression on her in spite of their differences.
Top Girl
(Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: Rebecca Johnson; Stars: Rumbi Mautsi, Naomi J. Lewis, Alexis Rodney, Jay Brown, Kerron Darby)
Short Films 1 14plus
Donna is fifteen and fearless – the hottest babe in the whole of Brixton. She
and her best friend Felicia are looking for Legz, a cool guy of around 20
who has a sound studio – in the bedroom of his mother’s flat. But Donna’s
date with him doesn’t exactly go as she expected...
Triangulum
(Country: Germany, Egypt, Brazil; Year: 2008; Director: Melissa Dullius, Gustavo Jahn)
Forum expanded Mix: Sensory Spaces
Past, present and where they meet.
Trip To The Wound
(Country: Indonesia; Year: 2007; Director: Edwin; Stars: Ladya Cheryl Baharrizky, Carlo Genta)
Berlinale Shorts III. Special Screening.
Shila meets Carlo on a bus one night.
Shila is a collector. She collects stories of wounds.
Shila is constantly pining for the wound’s existence.
This is a trip that Carlo will never forget.
Varmints
(Country: UK; Year: 2008; Director: Marc Craste)
Short Films 2 Kplus
Dark clouds appear on the horizon, burying the untouched landscape in
grey towers of steel and concrete. A small creature refuses to give up hope
of saving this world.
Vostok'
(Country: France; Year: 2008; Director: Jan Andersen)
Berlinale Shorts V
A slant on the Soviet space missions of the 1960s and what could have been.
Vu
(Country: Belgium; Year: 2008; Director: Leila Albayaty; Writer: Leila Albayaty; Stars: Hana Al Bayaty, Leila Albayaty)
Berlinale Shorts I & Sunday Mix II. In Competition
A young woman who has lost her memory following a car accident meets
her sister in Rome. The beauty and lightheartedness of the summer is tainted
by painful memories of a beloved dream/man.
Wanderers (Musafir)
(Country: Indonesia; Year: 2008; Director: Bagus Wirati Purba Negara)
Berlinale Shorts IV & Sunday Mix I
The film portrays a couple living on the steps of a mosque that scrapes a living together by selling things that can be recycled.
A Way Out (BaDerech Hachutza)
(Country: Israel; Year: 2008; Director: Elad Pankovski; Stars: Arthur Marchenko, Oksana Peshin)
Berlinale Shorts II
A story of immigrant Russian Jews in Israel.
When Apples Roll (Kad aboli ripo)
(Country: Latvia; Year: 2009; Director: Reinis Kalnaellis)
Short Films 1 Kplus
A cat lives with a devoted mouse. It’s autumn and, as usual, the cat would
like to pick apples in an orchard on the outskirts of the old town. But the
plan is interrupted when a strange egg suddenly rolls into the field of fruit.
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