Toronto Lift-Off Film Festival 2022 - Network Round Shorts
Thursday 7th July - Thursday 14th July
1.
Snake Trail
Dir. Shicong Zhu
United States
Logline: Urged to complete the traditional Chinese death ritual as her mother’s only daughter, but without the legal documentation to prove their kinship—a girl finds herself in an institutional conundrum.
2.
Heart of Rose Hip
Dir. Rune Abildgaard
Denmark
Logline:Young Tea postpones her summer trip to take care of her dying mother on the island she grew up on. Here she meets the charming Anton who distracts her from realizing something is completely off in her childhood home.
3.
For I Am Dead
Dir. Patricia Delso Lucas
Belgium
Logline: In late-1800s Europe, Oscar, a wealthy but lonely middle-aged man who has lived a decadent, extravagant life in a chateau filled with wine, courtesans and opium, confesses love to his gardener Jude before he dies of his excesses.
4.
The Smell of Mango (El Olor Del Mango)
Dir. Andressa Back
Canada
Logline: The smell of mango provokes a journey of nostalgia in Dolores, a Colombian immigrant in Canada, lost in-between times and spaces, expecting a baby while coping with her mother’s inevitable passing.
5.
Peanut
Dir. Taihra Swaine
Australia
Logline: Odette struggles with her identity and relationship after deciding to terminate her pregnancy, she seeks comfort in the pool, trying to find a way forward.
6.
Amany
Dir. Amr Haitham
Canada
Logline: A nostalgic Amr, the son of a remarkable mother, experiences an inner conflict, challenged by validating his feelings towards his mother in a one-sided relationship. Amr is pursuing a moment of truth.
7.
Daisychain
Dir. Akash Seam
Canada
Logline: A young woman who sees no reason to continue her miserable existence, hires a professional to end it for her. However even for a professional, the job may not be as easy as it looks.
8.
Echo
Dir. Quentin Ferrant
Canada
Logline: Hurt people hurt people. 'Echo' proffers a voyeuristic lens on a picture-perfect facade of 'happy ever after,' exposing the duplicitous nature of a narcissistic woman. An exploration of the cyclical nature of abuse through drama, demonstrating the ways in which domestic violence manifests, and echoes through generations. A counter-narrative that attempts to subvert societal prejudice surrounding perpetrators of abuse, offering a fresh and nuanced perspective on male victims.
9.
Penny and Ramin
Dir. Gilad Lippa
Canada
Logline: Ramin, a wayward aspiring filmmaker in Toronto, conducts a meet-up at a park with an estranged ex-fling, Penny. Penny has begun a new life in New York, well on her way to chasing her dreams of becoming a TV writer. Opposing perceptions of their past relationship and its lasting effects come to a head once Ramin's real intentions for their meeting are revealed.
10.
The broken shoes
Dir. Fernando Riló
Mexico
Logline: Canek is a 19 year-old skater who lives in Mexico City with his grandmother and works in a shoe workshop.Stuck in his bad habits, an unfortunate event makes him question his own pathway.
11.
Ruby
Dir. Gwendoline Laurent
France
Ruby wakes up in a place unknown to her. She hums a rhyme without sounding realize, she doesn't remember where she learned it but the tune she hums reassures. This rhyme is also hummed by a stranger, whom Ruby will try to find. Her instinct tells her that she is the key to understanding where she is.
12.
Chatairene
Dir. Victor Pelletier
Canada
Logline: Chatairene embodies a nostalgic implosion that navigates between the mourning, the abundance, the absurdity and the affection we have for those beings who cross our path. For Irene, it's her cat Styromousse.
13.
Twenty Marks
Dir. Savas Alpaltun
United Kingdom
Logline: In 1940 Nazi occupied France, Maximillian’s church is cursed by the aftermath of a great nearby revolt. The turmoil has left his church devastated, and thereby his priesthood. In these trying times, in fraternising and trading with the anti-Semitic regime, he can either replenish his career or his virtue, but not both.
14.
GooDeed
Dir. Ayelet Vardi
Canada
Logline: A wealthy woman meets a homeless man who makes her feel appreciated. The encounter sends her on a wild goose chase for the one thing she didn’t think money could buy: happiness. The film is based on a short story by Etgar Keret.
15.
No Water, No Village
Dir. Munmun Dhalaria
India
Logline: From the Pamirs in Central Asia to the Karakoram and Himalayas of South Asia - the roof of the world, Earth’s largest repository of ice outside the poles, is melting. Increasingly frequent mountain disasters have put billions of lives at risk. Endangered wild species like the Snow Leopard are suffering suffer and so are the 1.65 billion people dependent on these mountains and some of Asia’s mightiest rivers originating here. In the villages of the upper Indian Himalayas, life revolves around basic survival in an uninhabitable environment. The snow that makes half the year unlivable, is also the lifeblood of the agrarian populations that depends on it for the only harvest of the year. Today, low snowfall and receding glaciers threaten livelihoods in this region forcing them to become climate refugees.
16.
The Flat
Dir. Elina Kurbatova
Russian Federation
Logline: Tragifarce parable about modern Russian reality.
The main character – Kostya (20) - an innocent, enthusiastic simpleton from the Russian sticks comes to Moscow to a protest. Since the protest will take place only the next day Kostya finds the cheapest room in the old apartment in the city centre and heads there for an overnight stay. It turns out that for a long time the tenants of the flat lived in the darkness, as the house seems to be resettled and disconnected from all utilities, but they refuse to move out and stubbornly cling to the remnants of their once flourishing world.