Berlin Lift-Off 2026

Network Round Shorts

Monday 16th – Sunday 22nd March 2026

Festival Programme

2. CHAIN

1. ONCE

Director // Philip Neuer

Writer/Producer// Max Reiners

Producer: Horst Müller 
Country of Origin // Germany
Synopsis // Lasse (Richard Kipp) has had enough of online dating once and for all. Only reluctantly does he decide to go on a date with Nina (Lea Mahler) in order to escape the endless questions from his work colleagues and especially his best friend Janosch.

2. FOXBODY

2. Foxbody

Director, Writer & Producer // Cameron Monaghan
Producers // Nika Burnett, Maya Donato, Grant Rosenmeyer, Maria Prieto, Sara Eklund, Lily Darragh Harty
Country of Origin // USA
Synopsis // When a career-criminal (Cameron Monaghan) returns wounded to his wife (Kelli Berglund) and 6-year-old son after a failed robbery, what follows is a hallucinogenic thrill-ride where stakes are high, and bodies are piled even higher.

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2. CHAIN

3.  niemandsland

Director, Writer & Producer // Aaron Karls

Producers // Karl-Friedrich Groß, Leopold G.,Paul Rositzka

Country of Origin // Germany

Synopsis //“Niemand” (Nobody), a young, nameless character trapped in a cycle of self-doubt, stagnation, and inner overload.

2. CHAIN

4. The oldman and his dream 

Director, Writer, Producer // Duško Mazalica
Producer // Jovan Narančić
Country of Origin // Bosnia and Herzegovina
Synopsis // Nikola is an elderly man who lives alone in the village and maintains the cemetery. All his relatives are buried in the cemetery and he has not been able to walk to it for a long time. The road is steep and there is snow. He decides to buy a horse so that, when harnessed, he can go to the cemetery with it. In his search for the horse, he encounters many obstacles and interesting situations.

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2. CHAIN

5. True Love & Wormholes

Director // Annabel Vine

Writer//Dave Florez

Producer//Kate Cook
Country of Origin // United Kingdom
Synopsis // Maggie’s from the West Country; Craig’s from the Future – and together they might just save the planet. He’s funny, intense, and impossible to resist… but the closer Maggie gets, the more she suspects his story hides something darker. As their bond deepens, the danger escalates, smashing the boundaries between reality and delusion, monotony and wormholes, betrayal and True Love.

2. CHAIN

6. Psychopomp

Director, Writer, Producer// Kit Harington
Producers // Nick Howard, Daniel West
Country of Origin // United Kingdom
Synopsis // Harry’s a desperate man who’s decided to end his own life with the help of hired assassin Liam. This black comedy follows the unlikely pair’s road trip to what will be Harry’s ultimate resting place, taking in a series of significant locations from Harry’s past. The events of Harry’s final day don’t go exactly as planned, but a budding friendship develops and Liam begins to sense that Harry’s making the wrong choice. As Harry weighs his existential crisis, has he left it too late to realise that his past doesn’t have to dictate his future?

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2. CHAIN

7. Sea Taxi

Director // 博予(BOYU) 邓(DENG)

Writer//嘉愉(JIAYU) 潘(PAN)
Producer // 诗琪(SHIQI) 张(ZHANG)
Country of Origin // China
Synopsis // A protagonist who is frustrated in life and feels depressed tries to come to a seaside town to find spiritual comfort. As a result, he encounters a typhoon. He gets into a dilapidated taxi and embarks on a journey full of accidents and troubles with weird carpool passengers and taxi drivers. But in the end the protagonist still finds his own happiness in this imperfect journey.

2. CHAIN

8. San Esteban: Freedom, Mysticism and Nopales

Director, Producer // Francisco Herrera
Producer // Salvador Villaseñor
Country of Origin // Mexico
Synopsis // San Esteban follows this turning point, portraying the encounter between two worlds: the ancestral rhythm of indigenous life and the arrival of new outsiders — city dwellers, eco-tourists, and adventurers — drawn by the region’s dramatic landscapes. For some, these changes threaten fragile traditions; for others, they carry the promise of renewal.

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2. CHAIN

9. The Other Half

Director/Writer // Ritajit Raychaudhuri
Producer// Rajesh Chaudhary
Country of Origin // India
Synopsis: Animesh, an ordinary man from Kolkata, is thrust into the unimaginable when he discovers that his shadow has gone missing. In disbelief, he files a missing diary with a skeptical police force, only to find his life spiraling out of control. What seems at first to be an absurd anomaly quickly becomes a public spectacle as the media swarms him like a sideshow curiosity.

2. CHAIN

10. Honour, Fame and Glory

Director/Writer/Producer// Fabrizio Fenech
Country of Origin // Malta
Synopsis //‘Honour, Fame and Glory’ tells the story of Pawlu, a former boxing coach who is forced to confront overwhelming grief, guilt, and loss after a tragic accident during a championship boxing fight.

 

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2. CHAIN

11. SIRENS

Director/Writer/Producer // Lisa Jane Albrecht
Country of Origin // Germany
Synopsis // SIRENS is an essay film exploring the pervasive issue of everyday sexual harassment. Through a blend of real experiences, dance, and montage, it creates a powerful audiovisual experience designed to evoke emotions, raise awareness, and highlight the urgent need for change in our society.

2. CHAIN

12. Goodbye To God

Director/Writer/Producer // George Jonathan Jenkins
Producer // George Jonathan Jenkins
Country of Origin //United Kingdom

Synopsis //  “Goodbye To God” follows an Astronaut through the universe, grappling with loss and existential dilemmas. Amidst the beauty of the stars, he questions reality and searches for meaning. Through live action, animation, and music, the film delves into themes of death, identity, and the search for truth.

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2. CHAIN

13. Think About Me

Director/ Producer // Júlia Caroline Silva

Producer// Ryan Sacker

Country of Origin // Germany
Synopsis //Think About Me is a nostalgic love story about a love that, although intense and sincere, could never be. Knowing their fate, they decided to go forward anyway. Now Korbi is left with the bittersweet memories of what it was. This is why the video contrasts his reminiscing feeling with the happy highlight memories they shared together. This was also heightened by the warm clips together inside contrasted with the cold shots of Korbi alone.

 

2. CHAIN

14. The Alchemy of Strangers

Director/Writer/Producer // Joshua Longfellow Wright
Writer// Cat Masterson
Country of Origin // United States
Synopsis // After an unexpected encounter with a mysterious stranger named Reaper, Tanya Tartarian – a weary, overlooked woman stuck in the grind of everyday life – is handed a choice that could rewrite her story. What begins with baby vomit on her shirt turns into an uneasy partnership, as Tanya’s wit, nerve, and quiet desperation are tested against Reaper’s ominous charm. In the shadow of a popular ice rink, a dangerous game of trust and transformation unfolds.

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2. CHAIN

15. 3/4

Director// Baptiste Leydecker
Country of Origin // Switzerland
Synopsis // This innovative production reimagines Maurice Ravel’s La Valse (1919–1920) through the gothic lens of Edgar Allan Poe. Inspired by Poe’s The Philosophy of Composition and The Masque of the Red Death, the project explores powerful dualities—beauty and horror, control and chaos, grace and destruction—as both structural and thematic forces. These opposing yet interdependent elements converge to create a strikingly unified artistic vision.

2. CHAIN

16. The Straw Lady

Director/Writer // Liam Arnold
Producer// Amelia Violet Prouse
Country of Origin // United States
Synopsis // After the death of their father, brothers Leonard and Clyde clash when Clyde decides to leave the family cult

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