Filmfest Dresden: Fully Political
Mother's Child
Netherlands, 2024, 10 minutes, Color, English; Turkish captioned, Turkish dubbed
2024 Nederlands Film Festival; HKU Award
Director: Naomi Noir
Screenplay: Naomi Noir, Maya Devincenzi Dil
Editing: Maryam de Vries
Music: Kris McDonald
Sound: Sietske Brockhoff
Producer: Sanne Versteeg, Naomi Noir
Mary is a mother and caregiver for her mentally and physically disabled son. This means giving care around the clock and so much red tape that a surreal situation is looming. How does Mary keep her head above water?
The Master of the Swamps
Germany, 2023, 5 minutes, Color, English, Russian; Turkish captioned, Turkish dubbed, English subtitled
Director: Sasha Svirsky
Screenplay: Sasha Svirsky
Music: Jessica Moss
Sound: Klim Mint
Producer: Ilya Khrzhanovsky, Mikhail Zygar, Nadezhda Svirskaia
Production: XZ Foundation
In high-contrast images reduced to black, white, and red and with expressive illustrations and computer-generated 3D sculptures, Sasha Svirsky formulates his outcry against the war in Ukraine, thus giving a voice to the many Russians who oppose it. He portrays Peter the Great, the first emperor of the Russian Empire, as a ruthless man of power who has lost all respect for human life.
I Died in Irpin
Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, 2024, 12 minutes, Color, Ukrainian; Turkish captioned, Turkish dubbed, English subtitled
2025 Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival; Best Animation, 2024 Ottawa International Animation Festival; Best Script Craft Prize, Ukrainian Film Critics Awards; Best Animated Film
Director: Anastasia Falileieva
Screenplay: Anastasia Falileieva
Music: Petr Marek
Producer: Marcela Vrátilová, Mira Dittrich
Production: MAUR film, Artichoke, Plastic Bag Studio
On the morning of 24 February 2022, Anastasia and her fiancé decided to travel from Kyiv to Irpin to visit his parents. Fled away from the attacks in Kyiv, they would end up in the centre of the Battle of Irpin, which went down in history as one of Russia's fiercest attacks. Through a hazy memory, Falileieva portrays the days and hours she hardly recall the chronology of with stop-motion art.
Land of Mountains
Austria, Germany, 2023, 29 minutes, Color, German, Serbian; Turkish captioned, Turkish dubbed, English subtitled
2024 Filmfest Dresden; Award of the Youth Jury, Audience Award, 2023 Ljubljana International Film Festival; Best Short Film, Linz International Short Film Festival; Best Austrian Film, Best Screenwriting
Director: Olga Kosanović
Screenplay: Olga Kosanović
Cinematography: Simone Hart
Editing: Sebastian Schreiner
Sound: Flora Rajakowitsch, Theda Schifferdecker, Rudi Pototschnig
Producer: Deniz Cooper, Rupert Kasper, Olga Kosanović
Cast: Vladimir Vulević, Filipa Gregec, Julia Edtmeier, Gabriele Roller, Noah Kaufmann, Clemens Berndorff
An insurance scam and the left thumb of the single father Vladimir find themselves in a low-key tragedy about the kafkaesque barriers of the Austrian immigration law.
A Single Incident
Germany, 2023, 20 minutes, Color, German, Kurdish; Turkish captioned, Turkish dubbed, English subtitled
2025 Landshuter Kurzfilmfestival; Isarkies DOK Jury Prize, 2024 Filmfestival Dresden; Special Mention, Deutscher Kurzfilmpreis; Film Best Documentary Film Under 30 min.
Director: Constanze Wolpers
Screenplay: Constanze Wolpers
Cinematography: Jonas Eisenschmidt
Editing: Constanze Wolpers, Jonas Eisenschmidt
Producer: Constanze Wolpers, Jonas Eisenschmidt
Production: Radpaar Films
A young refugee is stabbed to death in Celle in northern Germany. The police question, interrogate, perform an autopsy, search, take evidence, record: 1,700 pages. An approach to structural racism via files, soccer and growing up.