3. tekmovalni sklop kratkih filmov / 3rd short film screening (in-competition)

Few words from the head programmer ...

Sandra Jovanovska

Within its third edition, First Crossings once more pursued a curation of fresh, innovative and eclectic film forms, which strive towards foundation of new cinematic languages. As in the previous festival editions, the thematic approach remained to be the border in the widest sense of the word, with the intention to dissolve all geo-political boundaries into artistic voices. What is more, this year the selection of films was characterized by one more focal point defined through sound in context of film. Hence, whether language, dialogue, sound design, sound mixing or music, this year’s programing was led by the leitmotif of the sonic perspective in film. Films which nourished a curious and inventive application of the audial composition, experimental forms that entwined video with poetry and a special music-video section are this year’s enriched novelties on our film menu. Besides having an homage on sound, we enlarged the film pallet, by introducing the medium of animation in this year’s selection. In the main program, the video poetry section, the music-videos slot as well as in the new children program, short, creative and experimental animated forms were introduced to spice up our diversity in terms of form and content. Continuing to be true to our manifestos, we again encouraged original, brave and underrepresented ideas with social, dramatic and transformative impact to draw attention towards the short audio-visual forms of all genres.

Main program

The main program consists of fiction, documentary, animated, experimental and hybrid film forms that one way or another represent or antagonize borders, be it in their formal, verbal, structural or thematic approach. All thirteen films challenge the traditional or conformist worldview and tend to bring out a perky, weird or curious shades of reality to immerse the viewer in an extraordinary cinematic experience. Exhibited, and multiple times awarded on festivals such as Sundance Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Annecy festival, Toronto International Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Odense Film Festival, and reviewed on platforms such as Variety, this program unifies the voices of notable, recently-established, as well as emerging artists in the film festival scene.

It’s summer (Poland) 15’/ fiction film
Pile (UK) 3’ / experimental animated fiction
All inclusive (Switzerland) 10’ / creative documentary
Daughter (Czech Republic) 15’ / animated fiction
Playing with concrete (Slovenia) 19’ / creative documentary
Where are you now (Albania) 8’ / animated documentary
Dramatic Relationship (USA) 6’ / fiction experimental film
At the other end (Japan) 3’ / animated fiction
The Shepherd (Norway) 17’ / fiction film
Laugh Lines (Switzerland) 6’ / animated fiction
Men are hungry too (Italy) 20’ / creative documentary
Then comes the evening 27’ (Serbia) / poetic documentary
Mrs. Rozgonyi 22’ (Hungary) / fiction film

Video poetry

The video-poetry section represents an experimental fusion of predominantly short film forms that poetically intertwine the cinematic vocabulary with lyrical landscapes, while at the same time merge film into poetry as a narration element. From Inuit throat singing as an unusual form of vocalization to an animated blind person’s view of the world, films in this category transcend the conventional film construct and transform into picturesque symphonies. Light, contemplative and rhythmical this new category showcases unique voices who elevate film to the level of haiku or music on a rather ingenious manner.

Throat singing in Kangirsurk (Canada) 3’ / creative documentary
Perje z vonjem morja (Slovenia) 3’ / animated fiction
Ryba (Poland) 2’ / creative documentary
Words words are decorative sounds (Italy) 8’ / creative documentary
Five hour conversations (Slovenia) 5’ / animated fiction
Sobre Salvajes (Italy/Mexico) 2’ / fiction documentary
Revision (Russia) 4’ / creative documentary

Children/family program

The children program is composed of short animations produced by the students of the local academy, the University of Nova Gorica, School of Arts. The films are selected to be exhibited during the children workshop within the festival days, to brainstorm the creative process of filmmaking to the younger audiences. Most of the films in this program are produced during workshops, courses and studio modules within the program of the School of Arts. This specific format tends to approximate the template of intensive filmmaking where rather than the form, the importance of the idea goes beyond the presentation itself.