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Edinburgh International Film Festival · 2014

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2014

Shorts

The shorts are split into the programmes are listed below. Which programme a short falls into is listed in itallics.

  • Bridging The Gap - Five new short documentaries from the four corners of Scotland.
  • City And Wilderness - An interrogation of the artistic and political context of the cities and landscapes of our everyday lives.
  • Commonwealth Connections - In celebration of Commonwealth 2014, EIFF has partnered with a selection of Commonwealth nations to provide a platform for showcasing some of the best animated short films from around the world.
  • Ethics - Experimental documentaries that oscillate between intellectual objectivity and discomforting proximity.
  • For The Family - Selection for all to enjoy.
  • Light In Flux - An alchemical showcase of works in which atmosphere and narrative are evoked through the ingenious and unexpected organisation of colour, light and shadow.
  • Phantom Landscapes - A journey that leads the eye evocatively through landscape and characters that suffuse strange, wondrous and dreamlike elements.
  • Restless Memories - Memories and archival material are refracted to create a rich pilgrimage through personal reminiscence and fragments of the past.
  • Scottish Shorts - Showcase from across the country.
  • Shorts From The Film Academies: Pieces Of Me, A Bit Of Us - Six works that gently explore the fragile sensation of the “I” through different stories and unique perspectives.
  • Shorts From The Film Academies: The Heart Of The Matter - Films that examine the comforts and challenges of life through various modes of filmmaking.
  • Shorts From The Film Academies: Unspeakable Secrets - Stories that are hidden behind the facades of normal life.
  • Small Revolutions - Four striking examples of short-form cinema emerging from contemporary Germany.
  • Teen Spirit Shorts - Challenging stereotypes of young people.
  • Ways Of Seeing - Exploring the raw, visceral and cerebral experience of orienting oneself as an individual amid complex personal landscapes.
  • Youth In Flames - Five explosive representations of youth burning a bright trail through the adolescent wasteland.

Programme

83 films · 5 reviews

Jump to a film

0.25

(Country: UK; Year: 2014; Director: Conxita Fornieles, Mario Cruzado)

Shorts from the Film Academies: Pieces Of Me, A Bit Of Us.

Adeline for Leaves

(Country: UK; Year: 2014; Director: Jessica Sarah Rinland)

Phantom Landscapes.

Aquarium

(Country: UK; Year: 2014; Director: Gordon Napier, Liam Callander, Francesca Challis-Thompson)

Shorts From Film Academies: The Heart Of The Matter.

As He Lay Falling

Review preview for As He Lay Falling

This short film's theme - of the errant quest for dignity and labour - represents a timeless European tale.

Anton Bitel · 4 out of 5
Tensions simmer after a Greek emigre takes work at a Highland croft.

(Country: UK; Year: 2014; Director: Ian Waugh; Writer: Ian Waugh; Stars: Christopher Greco, Simone Lahbib, Bill Fellows) , Official site

Full review

Scottish Shorts.

Autonomous

Musing on the transition to a future in which virtual reality and robotics fundamentally change human experience.

(Country: Sweden, Japan; Year: 2014; Director: Per Eriksson, Alexander Rynéus; Writer: Per Eriksson, Alexander Rynéus; Stars: Bernadina Duse)

Ethics.

Avenida Progreso

(Country: Mexico, Germany; Year: 2012; Director: Mauricio Guillén)

Ways Of Seeing.

Bahar In Wonderland

A little lost girl approaches a city like a playground.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Bernhard Strubel; Writer: Alexandra Petkau; Stars: Korkmaz Arslan, Julia Kahl, Kani Mohammadi)

Small Revolutions.

Batavia

(Country: UK; Year: 2014; Director: Niall MacDonald, Krystof Kubik, Syed Aziz)

Shorts From Film Academies: The Heart Of The Matter.

Beach Boy

Danish filmmaker Emil Langballe describes what appears to be a budding romance between the young Kenyan boy Juma and the 50-year-old, overweight British woman Lynn, in a real-life version of the feature film by Ulrich Seidl Paradise: Love, set in Kenya, whose sex tourism trade promises women a romantic idyll, but all they hear are compassionate lies.

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Emil Langballe)

Shorts From Film Academies: Unspeakable Secrets.

Bear With Me

A young woman fleeing an abusive boyfriend makes a heart-rending decision.

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Colin Healy; Stars: Jasmine Main, Dom Watters, James Watson)

Shorts From Film Academies: The Heart Of The Matter.

The Bicknell

(Country: UK; Year: 2014; Director: Genevieve Bicknell)

Shorts from the Film Academies: Pieces Of Me, A Bit Of Us.

Big Game

(Country: South Africa; Year: 2013; Director: Jarrod Hasenjager)

Commonwealth Connections.

Blur Blue

Short film

(Country: Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Sonja Polligkeit)

Small Revolutions.

Borne By The Birds

(Country: Finland, Croatia; Year: 2013; Director: Marko Tadić)

Phantom Landscapes.

Breakup

(Country: UK; Year: 2014; Director: Igor Slepov)

Bridging The Gap.

Broken Tongue

An ode to freedom of movement, association, and expression.

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Mónica Savirón; Stars: Tracie Morris)

Ethics.

Burger Burger

(Country: Singapore; Year: 2010; Director: Huang Shicong, Gavin Tan Jun Jie)

Commonwealth Connections.

Cailleach

Review preview for Cailleach

Beautifully shot, aided by beautiful country, there's mist and rain, birds on a wire, and real humour too.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
Portrait of a crofter.

(Year: 2014; Director: Rosie Reed Hillman)

Full review

Bridging The Gap.

Catawampus

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Ryan Hooper)

Youth In Flames.

Chasm

(Country: UK; Year: 2014; Director: Nelisa Alcalde, George Spyris)

Shorts from the Film Academies: Pieces Of Me, A Bit Of Us.

Chocolate Man

A vending machine supplier who supplies chocolate bars for a hospital finds a piece of paper from an ill girl and decides to help her make her dreams on paper come true.

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Sarah Eke)

Shorts From Film Academies: Unspeakable Secrets.

Christmas With Chávez

(Country: USA, Venezuela; Year: 2012; Director: Jim Finn)

Ways Of Seeing.

Cocoons

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Joasia Goldyn)

Shorts from the Film Academies: Pieces Of Me, A Bit Of Us.

Cyborg Chicken

Born from chemicals of a smelter plant, a brave chicken sacrificed his life to rescue the stolen eggs from the hungry Corbeauxs and saved the planet from global warming using his ultimate secret weapon.

(Country: Trinidad and Tobago; Year: 2011; Director: Kelsey Noel; Writer: Kelsey Noel)

Commonwealth Connections.

Directed By Tweedie

Review preview for Directed By Tweedie

Affectionate, engaging, and a great indicator of talent.

Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
The filmmaker's grandfather learns about films by making one.

(Country: UK; Year: 2014; Director: Duncan Cowles)

Full review

Bridging The Gap.

Elisabeth

Drama about an isolated writer.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Katharina Woll; Stars: Pascale Schiller, Julian Härtner)

Small Revolutions.

Emo (The Musical)

Can love blossom between an emo kid and a good Christian girl?

(Country: Australia; Year: 2013; Director: Neil Triffett; Writer: Neil Triffett; Stars: Harry Borland, Kristen Cunningham, Zak Marrinan, Charlotte Nicdao, Gary Samolin, Robert Tripolino, Stephen Wainrib, Will Weatheritt, Jonathan Wells)

Teen Spirit Shorts.

Exchange & Mart

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Cara Connolly, Martin Clark)

Scottish Shorts.

Feu De Bengale

(Country: Canada; Year: 2014; Director: Olivier Godin)

Ways Of Seeing.

The Fish Tamer

(Country: Spain; Year: 2013; Director: Roger Gómez, Dani Resines)

Restless Memories.

Flying (Fliegen)

A small boy's imagination is set free when he encounters a travelling circus.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2014; Director: Katharina Woll; Writer: Katharina Woll; Stars: Elvis Perales, Aninna Butterworth)

Light In Flux.

Fresno

Trees used to explore transcience and permanence in nature.

(Country: Argentina; Year: 2014; Director: Leandro Listorti)

Light In Flux.

Graminoids

A dreamlike look at the grass growing on Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh.

(Country: UK; Year: 2014; Director: Demelza Kooij, Lars Koens; Writer: Demelza Kooij, Lars Koens)

Light In Flux.

Grand Union

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Roger Hyams)

Phantom Landscapes.

Half Sour

A group of skateboarders start a pickle firm.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Sean McGing, Mary Anne Rothberg; Writer: Jonathan Mann)

Teen Spirit Shorts.

Here I Am, Here I'm Not (Aqui Estoy, Aqui No)

A depressed hack is hired to write the biography of a rock idol.

(Country: Argentina, Chile; Year: 2013; Director: Elisa Eliash; Writer: Elisa Eliash; Stars: Juan Pablo Correa, María José Siebald, Constanza Alemparte, Carla Casali, Hugo Eliash, Elvis Fuentes, Alessandra Guerzoni, Valeria Jara, Victor Montero, Marcelo Pertier, Jorge Rodríguez)

Phantom Landscapes.

Holy She*p

Achilles is a sheep who lives under the strict regime of Agnes in her monastery at the top of a Greek island. One day he escapes for a more fun life on a cruise ship with sexy girls and good food. But Agnes will not let him go that easily...

(Country: UK; Year: 2012; Director: Katerina Patela, Magnus Krävik; Writer: Katerina Patela, Magnus Krävik)

Commonwealth Connections.

Into the Innards

(Country: Germany, Switzerland; Year: 2013; Director: Nicole Vögele)

Phantom Landscapes.

I Am Tom Moody

Review preview for I Am Tom Moody

A confident and assured portrayal of a distinct lack of confidence and assurance.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
A peek inside the mind of a singer with musician's block.

(Country: UK; Year: 2012; Director: Ainslie Henderson; Writer: Ainslie Henderson; Stars: Mackenzie Crook, Jude Crook)

Full review

Commonwealth Connections.

I Was Five When I Became A Woman

A story of childhood lost, and of lifelong suffering.

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Maryam Tafakory; Writer: Maryam Tafakory; Stars: Maryam Tafakory)

Ethics.

Laborat

Observations of experiments on mice in an oncology lab.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2014; Director: Guillaume Cailleau; Writer: Guillaume Cailleau, Hanna Antonina Wojcik Slak)

Ethics.

Letter From An Old Boy

Letters home from young soldiers in the First World War.

(Country: UK; Year: 2014; Director: Michael Ferns; Writer: Meg Campbell, Michael Ferns; Stars: Kathryn Howden, Lorne MacFadyen, Sean Brown, Daniel Cameron, Martin Donaghy, Terence Rae, Brendan Hellier)

Teen Spirit Shorts.

Liam + Lenka

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Michael Keillor)

Youth In Flames.

The Library Of Burned Books

An elderly headmaster tries to protect a girl who has refused to join in with her school's book burning ceremony.

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Alasdair Beckett-King; Writer: Alasdair Beckett-King; Stars: Jessie Wills-Taylor, Angie Fullman, Timothy Block, Elliot James, Ryan Epps)

Shorts From Film Academies: The Heart Of The Matter.

Little Black Fish

Three women must migrate in order to regain control of their lives.

(Country: Turkey, France; Year: 2013; Director: Azra Deniz Okyay; Writer: Azra Deniz Okyay; Stars: Andac Sahan)

City And Wilderness.

Léthé

(Country: Frnce; Year: 2014; Director: Harald Hutter)

Shorts from the Film Academies: Pieces Of Me, A Bit Of Us.

Miss Todd

The first female aeronautical engineer in history faces her big day.

(Year: 2013; Director: Kristina Yee; Writer: Frances Poletti, Kristina Yee; Stars: Lucie Jones, Tristan Chenais, Joy McBrinn, Peter Marinker)

Shorts From Film Academies: The Heart Of The Matter.

Mona Blonde

(Country: Italy; Year: 2014; Director: Grazia Tricarico)

Ways Of Seeing.

Monkey Love Experiments

Review preview for Monkey Love Experiments

Monkey Love Experiments uses a multitude of techniques to good effect.

Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
A misguided monkey believes he is destined for the moon.

(Country: UK; Year: 2014; Director: Ainslie Henderson, Will Anderson; Writer: Will Anderson, Ainslie Henderson)

Full review

Scottish Shorts.

Moritz And The Woodwouse (Moritz und der Waldschrat)

A boy makes a dark bargain as he struggles to cope with his ill brother.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Bryn Chainey; Writer: Bryn Chainey; Stars: Kai Oliver Böhne, Ben Litwinschuh, Tim Sander, Anna Thalbach, Jens Winter)

Teen Spirit Shorts.

The Muse

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Tim Walker)

Restless Memories.

News Of The Queen

(Country: Brazil; Year: 2013; Director: Ana Johann)

Restless Memories.

Noema

An encounter with a painter who is losing her eyesight.

(Country: Auustria; Year: 2014; Director: Christiana Perschon; Writer: Christiana Perschon)

Light In Flux.

Onions For Vampires

A docudrama questioning what it would mean if everything imagined turned out to be real.

(Country: UK, Norway; Year: 2013; Director: Anita Norfolk)

Shorts From Film Academies: The Heart Of The Matter.

Out Of The Ash

A man who successfully fights back against a mugger is crippled by the childhood memories the incident reawakens.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2013; Director: Sandy Garfunkel; Writer: Sandy Garfunkel; Stars: Ani-Inang Anthony Ani, Amy Barbour, James Edward Becton, Bryan Fitzgerald)

Shorts From Film Academies: The Heart Of The Matter.

The Palace On The Sea (Hai Shang Huang Gung)

(Country: Taiwan, Burma; Year: 2014; Director: Midi Z; Writer: Midi Z; Stars: Shin-Hong Wang, Ke-Xi Wu)

City And Wilderness.

Perennial Plants (Plante Perene)

A widow prepares for her final journey.

(Country: Romania; Year: 2013; Director: Roxana Stroe; Writer: Diana Mereoiu, Roxana Stroe; Stars: Anca Bajenaru, Ada Navrot, Gabriel Spahiu)

Light In Flux.

Pifuskin

Animated fantasy.

(Country: Singapore; Year: 2014; Director: Tan Wei Keong; Writer: Tan Wei Keong)

Commonwealth Connections.

Pink Out

John, the owner of Sauna Sensations is at a crossroads in his profession when one of his employees decides to leave. The recycling is also really starting to pile up.

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Keith Haitkin)

Shorts From Film Academies: Unspeakable Secrets.

Port Nasty

In the midst of a world where every person, every action must be held accountable, a young man must prove his worth - not only to the ship's crew he dreams of joining, but to himself.

(Country: UK; Year: 2014; Director: Rob Zywietz; Writer: Rob Zywietz)

Shorts From Film Academies: The Heart Of The Matter.

Pride

Drama.

(Country: Bulgaria, Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Pavel Vesnakov)

Small Revolutions.

Rectangibles

(Country: USA; Year: 2013; Director: Colleen Kwok)

Restless Memories.

Redemption

(Country: Portugal, France, Germany, Italy; Year: 2013; Director: Miguel Gomes)

Restless Memories.

Rewind

A young woman is pulled through a wormhole after opening a mysterious letter.

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Cristina Wolf)

Shorts From Film Academies: The Heart Of The Matter.

Rift

The story of a lonely man and his father's dog.

(Country: UK, Norway; Year: 2013; Director: Rolf Heldal)

Shorts From Film Academies: Unspeakable Secrets.

Rippled

(Country: Australia; Year: 2011; Director: Darcy Prendergast)

Commonwealth Connections.

Schoolyard (Proavlio)

A water fight... but in this game, it's play till you drop.

(Country: Greece; Year: 2014; Director: Rinio Dragasaki; Writer: Rinio Dragasaki; Stars: Kritonas Doris, Giorgos Fragkos, Kleio Papatzanaki-Hrysovergi, Lambis Smailis, Stamatis Tountas, Thalia Tsakalou, Stavros Tsantes, Olga Tsantiri, Avra Vordonaraki, Giorgos Vordonarakis, Michaela Zahariou)

Teen Spirit Shorts.

Seagulls

(Country: UK; Year: 2014; Director: Martin Smith)

Youth In Flames. Scottish Shorts.

Sightlines

(Country: UK; Year: 2014; Director: Genevieve Bicknell)

Bridging The Gap.

Slap

(Country: UK; Year: 2014; Director: Nick Rowland)

Youth In Flames.

Subconscious Password

Forgetting a name leads to a desperate search through the unconscious.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2013; Director: Chris Landreth; Writer: Chris Landreth; Stars: Don McKellar, Ron Pardo, Patrice Goodman, Tony Daniels, Ray Landry)

Commonwealth Connections.

Sugarcoated Arsenic

A 16mm cinematic exploration of African American intellectual, social, and political life at the University of Virginia during the 1970s.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Claudrena Harold, Kevin Jerome Everson; Writer: Vivian Gordon, Claudrena Harold; Stars: Erin Stewart, Vivian Gordon, Maya Allicock )

Ethics.

Thirteen Blue

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Jacqueline Lentzou)

Shorts from the Film Academies: Pieces Of Me, A Bit Of Us.

Three Stones for Jean Genet

Patti Smith travels to the Moroccan grave of Jean Genet, taking with her three stones collected long ago.

(Country: Germany, Morocco; Year: 2014; Director: Frieder Schlaich; Writer: Frieder Schlaich, Patti Smith; Stars: Patti Smith)

Light In Flux.

Tongues

A young man looks for hope in a strange church.

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Nathan Deming)

Shorts From Film Academies: Unspeakable Secrets.

Touch Life

(Year: 2014; Director: Leo Bruges, Marcin Knyziak)

Bridging The Gap.

Tryouts

A Muslim American girl tries out for her school's cheerleading squad.

(Country: US, Spain; Year: 2013; Director: Susana Casares; Writer: Susana Casares; Stars: Kimya Marefat, Marissa Clifford, Joey Naber, Johanna Trujillo, Azzie Amani, Rajia Baroudi, Stacy Jorgensen, Katelyn Statton, Tim Trobec, Jennifer Jolliff, Eastynn Chadwick, Noland Ammon, Madisson Bellisimo, Nick Saso, Cassidy Ann Shaffer)

Teen Spirit Shorts.

Waterproof

(Country: Canada; Year: 2013; Director: Charles Grenier)

Ways Of Seeing.

We Are The Mutants

(Country: Austria; Year: 2013; Director: Konrad Wakolbinger)

Ways Of Seeing.

Winter (Zima)

A journey through North Russia and Siberia, looking at how people survive in this unforgiving land.

(Year: 2013; Director: Cristina Picchi)

City And Wilderness.

With & Without (Sans Dehors Ni Dedans)

A boy takes care of his ailing opera singer mother under a railway bridge.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2013; Director: Joëlle Desjardins Paquette; Writer: Joëlle Desjardins Paquette; Stars: Marie Brassard, Josquin Beauchemin, Jasmina Lukanovich, Dorothéa Ventura)

City And Wilderness.

Wyld

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Rory Alexander Stewart)

Youth In Flames. Scottish Shorts.

Xenos

The story of Palestinian refugees who sought a better life in Europe only to find themselves caught up in social collapse in Greece.

(Country: UK, Greece, Denmark; Year: 2013; Director: Mahdi Fleifel; Writer: Mahdi Fleifel)

Ethics.