Berlin Lift-Off Film Festival 2021 - Network Round Shorts

Friday 5th March - Friday 19th March

1.

Circle of Salt
Dir. Kirill Novikov
Russian Federation
Logline: An intense, psychological thriller tackling themes of rebellion and police violence, the video tells the tale of an antihero whose troubled personality stems from a suppressed childhood. As he becomes an adult, the protagonist, played by Russian actor Alexander Kuznetsov begins taking the anger out on the people around him.

2.

Earth to Heaven
Dir. Ali Azhari
USA
Logline: This music is talking about the sorrow of losing. We tried to make this music video happen to describe this sorrow.
This video art is the story of a mother who is captivated by her lost son’s memory and living with him in her imagination and does not want to face reality. At the end, she realizes some so many other mothers are sharing the same grief, pain, and nightmares.
She is portraying all the mothers’ sorrow and heartache who lost their kids during 42 years of the Islamic regime in Iran, from the Iran-Iraq war to all the recent civil rights movements in Iran.

3.

False Teeth
Dirs. Lee goni, Mun bong seob
Korea
Logline: Han Young Soon, an old woman, loses her false teeth, Her grandson has taken them. She is going to take profile pictures at a picture studio. Her grandson runs to return her teeth to her before she arrives at the photo studio.

4.

Good and Better
Dir. Gil Alkabetz
Germany
Logline: "It's hard to think it's gonna be good, much easier to think it's gonna be bad": A song in waltz rhythm is combined with absurd animated loops to express a feeling of concern and uncertainty about the future.

5.

Happy New Year
Dirs. Morten Jensen, Sabine Thun, Tobias Lunn Nielsen
Denmark
Logline: "Happy New Year" is a dark, poetic drama about a dysfunctional relationship, addiction between young adults and love that "does not consider".

6.

Isolation
Dir. Justin MacGregor
Canada
Logline: Set in a world running parallel to our own pandemic-gripped reality, ISOLATION dips into the life of John (Alexander Johnson), a young man sequestered in his high-rise apartment, waiting in tandem with a paused outside world swept up in illness. Even locked doors in the sky can be knocked upon, however, and when his past comes knocking, his isolation is rocked.

7.

Jump
Dir. Natalia Curea
USA
Logline: Alfred, a middle-aged party clown leads a somewhat artistic life in New York City, but it’s not quite what he imagined in his youth. As he gets older, Alfred begins to question whether he has failed to achieve his dreams, and compare himself to a former college friend who seems to have it all./em>

8.

Maternal Love
Dir. Ari Allansson
Iceland
Logline: A Kurdish woman has come to Iceland with her teenage daugther as an asylum seeker. The mother works as an interpreter for the Red Cross in Reykjavík and the daughter has been going to an icelandic school for the past year. The mother has a meeting with the immigration office and finds out that she and her daughter do not get a prolongated residential permit in Iceland and will be sent out of the country within the next 48 hours. In the main role is Didar Farid, who herselfis kurdhish, seeking residential permit to live in Iceland in her real life. The film is based on real events.

9.

Raphael
Dir. Aretha Iskandar
Germany
Logline: Fred, an introverted young man, was peacefully living his life without asking himself too many questions. This all changed the day he met and got with Raphael - who's vision, energy and sensuality constantly leaves him breathless... A few month after they part, Fred, still fascinated and compelled to Raphael, decides to meet him to express how he feels. This is a love story between two completely different protagonists. Will Fred be able to surpass his boundaries to express how he feels?

10.

RE:MEMBER
Dir. Nino Vincenzo Valpiani
Germany
Logline: A Berlin locksmith’s heavily burdened life takes a sudden turn when he is struck by an electric shock. Obtaining a superpower that allows him to open doors with nothing more than a slight touch, he starts to question his whole existence as a craftsman. Though not being able to cope with it at first, a young friend encourages him to look at the newly won power from a child’s perspective.

11.

Seizure
Dir. Ramon Buerki
USA
Logline: After the unpleasant event of a seizure during a night out, right in presence of his crush and other school companions. DAVE is quite concerned about how other schoolmates might react to what happened, as he insecurely attempts to get back to his normal daily life. Throughout his recovery he will eventually discover the unexpected role in the lives of those he learns to truly call his friends.

12.

The Birth Of Valerie Venus
Dir. Sarah Clift
UK
Logline: A selfless vicar’s wife is possessed by a strange force, unlocking a mischievous (and pleasurable) side she never knew she had.

13.

The Snow Maze
Dir. Sam Cadman
UK
Logline: 10-year-old Adam is an isolated boy tormented by the school bully, until the arrival of a new girl and the discovery of an old key changes everything.

14.

Under the Skin - In Conversation with Anish Kapoor
Dir. Martina Margaux Cozzi
Italy
Logline: "Under the Skin - In conversation with Anish Kapoor" is an experimental art film that presents in an unconventional and emotional way the creative universe of one of the most iconic artists of our century.
Anish Kapoor returns to the emblematic city of Rome for a timeless conversation about art, presenting an astonishing exhibition of his latest work: intimate, shocking and dialectic between terror and sublime. The narration investigates, confronts and explores the conditions of matter, the dynamics of perception and the power of ritual throughout art.

15.

Zwitte Manzig
Dirs. Stefan Pecher
Austria
Logline: Music Video

16.

IRIDESCENT
Dir. Kathryn Carmichael
UK
Logline: Today is Elise’s 21st Birthday. Elise suffers from Tourette's syndrome; she has done since she was 13 years old. Elise’s tics don’t involve her shouting or swearing. Brought up in a loving slightly kooky family, with a natural acceptance of all, Elise thrives within her home.
But school life has not been kind, picked on for being different and often the popular girls that have given her the hardest time.
Her has been musician father has taught Elise to play and sing, and within this she finds the freedom of her voice as her tic’s disappear.
But Elise has a crush on Mr. Popular Aaron Clark, and he has the prom queen girlfriend to match. Can Elise ever believe he will see her for her? Or will he only see the tics