Berlin Lift-Off Film Festival 2022 - Network Round Shorts

Wednesday 9th March - Tuesday 16th March

1.

Little Berlin
Dir. Kate McMullen
France
Logline: When the Iron Curtain cuts his tiny German village in half, Peter the bull gets separated from his 36 cows. Based on a true story, narrated by Christoph Waltz.

2.

Breakfast
Dir. Suad Gara
Azerbaijan
Logline: As a married couple goes through their usual morning breakfast the rifts in their relationship become apparent. When the young wife voices her decision to visit her mother she finds herself testing boundaries of family hierarchies and societal norms.

3.

War Paint
Dirs. Justin Eade, Keelan Walker
New Zealand
Logline: "A young British soldier is shot and dying before the ramparts of a Pa during the 1864 Invasion of the Waikato in New Zealand. He has given up all hope and resigns himself to death, when a young Maori woman mysteriously comes to his aid. "

4.

Pitbulls (2021)
Dir. John Monahan
UK
Logline: A rising boxer must hide a secret from his best friend and get out from under his cruel manager's thumb before his next big fight.

5.

In Late Summer
Dir. Alexei Liss
Sweden
Logline: A chance encounter in Stockholm's historic Old Town blossoms into a fleeting romance.

6.

The Forbidden Zone
Dir. Zach Tolchinsky
USA
Logline: The Forbidden Zone is a stop-motion short film about Dumont, a botanist, who has quarantined in an abandoned train station. The world has become saturated by a toxic fog that destroys all life forms and replaces oxygen with poison. He spends his days fighting to survive, as his resources quickly dwindle. On a night when all seems lost, a nymph crashes outside Dumont’s bunker. In a sudden act of bravery, he dons his final tank of oxygen and leaves the safety of the station. Gathering the wounded Nymph in his arms, Dumont risks his life to return the glowing creature to the peak of the red mountain. In his quest to save his new charge, Dumont risks his life and, in doing so, discovers hope beyond the fog.

7.

Sonate Tableaux: Mouvement 1
Dir. Carlos Ferrand
Canada
Logline: From the inspiration of a black and white music score entitled "Sonate Tableaux" by Montreal-born composer Alain Payette, this short film, featuring the solo piano performance by Canadian pianist Minna Re Shin, embraces the interaction of art forms as well as explores the theme of beauty, the dynamics of the female body and its movement quality. The visual musical rendition of the first movement of this neo-romantic composition interweaves with the imaginative interplay of cinematic applications inspired by the music and the artwork associated with this particular musical excerpt or "tableau," evoking a timeless narrative of human experience suggested in Payette's music which transcends place, era, and culture.

8.

Liebesträume
Dir. Lucien Emile Frick
USA
Logline: Sam is an average American office worker. A pandemic has forced all his coworkers to stay home. The monotony is amplified when he is left alone to run the office’s daily operations. Sam’s mind unravels as he starts down an existential path, leaving him to grapple with the question: what is most important in life?

9.

Unexpecting
Dir. Adam Isla O' Brien
UK
Logline: A rift emerges between a new couple, as they search for a way forward.

10.

Servus Karl
Dir. Thomas Bischof
Austria
Logline: SERVUS KARL is an evil fictional reflection of a milieu in the face of its downfall. The observation of a world at a standstill, and of its characters that want to break out of it.

11.

Echo Park - Music Video
Dir. John Monahan
UK