Sydney & Melbourne Lift-Off Film Festival 2021 - Network Round Shorts

Wednesday 22nd December - Wednesday 29th December

1.

Animal Work
Dir. Zak Marrinan
Australia
Logline: An anxious young man goes to a group therapy session. However, the session takes a strange and unexpected turn when the other attendees get in touch with their wild sides.

2.

The Little Bird
Dir. Neil Hausey
USA
Logline: Two vignettes of a boys life, connected through memory.

3.

The Other Loss
Dir. Hayley Johnson
Australia
Logline: The Other Loss is a dramatic short film about a sudden and unexpected death of a young man and the impact of grief on his two friends Amelia and Sienna. The intense aftermath of his death impacts both girls’ grief and creates a resentment between them as they both struggle to come to terms with what has transpired. The power of friendship will be tested as they struggle with regret and blame. With the ongoing pressures of the reality of life after death, there is no turning back for the friends who will lose more than they ever anticipated. How do you survive when the person closest to you is no longer there when you need them most?

4.

BRAZIL
Dir. Lucie Bourdeu
France
Logline: MUSIC VIDEO for LULU VAN TRAPP
"Brazil" tells the story of wandering of a mysterious heroine, in a current Paris nightmare. In prey to a strange evil, she advances in this environment more and more hostile, until an inevitable metamorphosis occurs in it.

5.

Cheap Rent
Dir. Seb Bardouille-Thompson
Australia
Logline: Busy tidying up for a house inspection, the last thing Charlie was expecting was to find another dead body on his living room floor. He is less surprised to see his housemate, Todd, hovering over the body, knife raised in his gloved hand.

6.

Bloom
Dir. Paul De Cinque
Australia
Logline: Bloom tells the lighthearted comedic tale of Betty, an elderly woman whose rich inner life belies her seemingly conventional appearance.

7.

A Youth
Dir. Giorgio Bosisio
UK
Logline: Peyman and his friends are a group of Afghan teenagers on the cusp of adulthood, who find themselves stuck in Athens. In limbo but armed with a new-found freedom, they kill time by aimlessly strolling around the city, sharing jokes, rap battles, stories of the past and dreams of the future. As Peyman awaits for news that could shake his false state of harmony, he looks for answers amongst his friends and family, trying to make sense of the world around him through his music and poetry.

8.

Tallebudgera Road
Dir. Jonathan Finney
Australia
Logline: A troubled hitchhiker grapples with the imminence of leaving the refuge he's found in a mother and her son amid a harrowing paddock valley.

9.

Deafying Gravity
Dir. Sam Martin
Australia
Logline: Katia Schwartz is a Deaf and Queer professional Aerial performer, and the owner/founder of Sky Sirens dance studio in Sydney, Australia. After an unexpected diagnosis with a profound hearing loss not once but twice, she is compelled to reflect on her identity, life and career. Katia's story is a unique journey through passion, loss and love from a perspective rarely represented on-screen.

10.

Sticks and Strings
Dir. Luke Antoun
Australia
Logline: Casey's only dream in life is to learn the Guitar. But when her brother refuses to teach her, she must go to whatever length possible to connect with him once more.

11.

Other
Dir. Jay Arcansalin
USA
Logline: Other is the story of two half-Chinese sisters forced to work together to save their late father’s American dream. As they experience daily racial comments about their ethnic ambiguity, they discover a way to own their identity and heal.

12.

Enough
Dir. Apostolos Vasileiadis
Sweden
Logline: During a life drawing class, the art model struggles with determining who claims ownership of her body.