Manchester Lift-Off Film Festival 2024
Network Round Features
Monday 8th - Sunday 14th April
1.
Letters from the Blue
Dirs. Nick Calori, Nico Sersale
United Kingdom
Synopsis: A documentary investigating how inmates, from their cells on Death Row, help penpals outside in their daily struggles. Through the words of the protagonists and their letters, we experience these meaningful, intimate relationships where dramatic, blood-drenched life stories mesh with every day domestic trivialities.
2.
The dry fable
Dir. Zhengchao Xu
China
Synopsis: The dry fable" is a movie composed of three stories: "Liar", "Superstition", and "Evildoer". One woman and two men become three characters with completely different identities and personalities in different spaces at the same time, but their love and destiny lead to the same goal by different routes, which is sad and absurd.
3.
Switched at Death
Dir. David Merry
Canada
Synopsis: After his wife kicks him out, a self-centered computer analyst moves into the retirement home of the only person he hasn't pissed off, his wife's grandma. As he starts learning how to play well with others, he uncovers a sinister enterprise, forcing him to try and save his marriage and his new friends without getting himself killed.
4.
Detour
Dir. Tim Shaughnessy
Denmark
Synopsis: When Oliver learns that his girlfriend, who disappeared without notice 7 months ago, has appeared on the other side of the country, he decides to leave immediately in search of answers and perhaps to save their relationship. The only problem is that he has to look after his no-bullshit 8-year-old brother, whom he then has to force along on the trip.
5.
Spy Capital: Vienna
Dir. Boris Volodarsky
Austria
Synopsis:It is a commonly accepted fact among professionals that Vienna, Austria, is and has long been the world capital of espionage. A team of documentary filmmakers asked internationally renowned experts to prove or disprove this claim. The results exceeded all expectations.
The experts: Dr Boris B. Volodarsky, Intelligence Historian and writer, Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, London; Gert Rene Polli, former head of the BVT, the Austrian equivalent of MI5; Professor Gerhard Mangott specializing in International Relations and Security in the post-Soviet region; General Oleg Kalugin (ret.), former head of foreign counterintelligence of the KGB’s foreign intelligence arm; Christo Grozev, leading investigative journalist, 2023 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature ‘Navalny’, and others.
Filmed in a modern style with many computer effects and meticulous re-enactment of spy episodes in real places based on original documents and footing, the documentary traces the 150-year-long history of international espionage between 1873 and the present using Vienna as a hub. The original musical theme ‘Undercover’ composed by Peter Sax was written especially for this film.
6.
Gary, Barry, Larry and Countess of Noral
Dir. Valerii Nevin
United States
Synopsis: On the way to his mother's birthday, Gary Briggs inexplicably stumbles into a parallel world devoid of familiar logic. Absurd events unfold, surreal characters materialize, and Gary continuously teleports to new locations. Soon, Gary discovers that he inadvertently created this world during his displacement. The world will vanish, along with all its inhabitants, once Gary leaves it. Faced with a complex decision, he must choose between staying and immersing himself forever in the chaos of this illogical realm or departing, thereby destroying it and everyone within. Determined to explore the unknown universe, Gary embarks on a journey to understand if there is a way to return home while preserving the newly formed world.
7.
.Raw_File
Dir/Writer. Aaron Dobson
United Kingdom
Synopsis:Following up on a questionable suicide, a reporter and her cameraman venture into an apartment complex looking for answers but instead find something terrifying roaming the hallways with them.
