Category: Films in Competition

What will you think about Tokyo in April ? 
Maybe the April’s Sakura ? 
How about the ACG Culture ? 
Or the Japanese Shrine ? 
But this April-Tokyo, I think about diving.
Directed by Kent Yeung (Hong Kong)

When Mack is unhappy with his life circumstances, he summons God to complain.
Directed by Cathrine Hatcher (USA)

An alcoholic actor struggles with his sobriety when a bottle is left in his dressing room.
Directed by Ashley Price (UK)

A couple are clearing plastic on the banks of the Thames, when she decides to take feminist action.
Directed by Geoffrey Breton (UK)

Two people, a boy and a girl on a train. They don’t know each other. Both on their way to tie up loose ends. Is there a place they are running to or is it something that they’re running from? After they meet their lives will never be the same again.
Directed by Jan Pool (Netherlands)

Living in the very populated city of Tehran in Iran since I was a young boy gave me the chance to be confronted by the reality of a lot of people struggling with poverty and homelessness in the streets, some mentally broken down and living without shelter. My parents were divorced when I was a child so I’ve always felt a connection between them and myself. This connection always gave me a sense of responsibility towards the issue of “having no home”.

At the end of the year 2003, an earthquake shook the city of Bam, in one of the southern provinces of Iran, with a death toll of more than 26,000 and 30,000 casualties. As a photographer, along with one of my colleagues, I traveled to Bam to cover the earthquake aftermath. After reaching there, the terrible pain of those who had lost their homes got to me in a heartbeat. I tried to get back home as soon as I could, as I could not handle the tragedy. Eventually, I ended up in an army airplane with a lot of causalities who were sent to other cities of Iran to be hospitalized. I was placed beside an injured girl who had lost a leg. I spoke to her and she began to express her loss and feelings to me. She had lost her home, her loved ones and a leg but could still find it in herself to smile. I could not begin to describe the beauty of her soul and her optimism. During the time in the airplane, I took a photo of an old man which was published and sold later on; and the money was donated to those affected by the disaster. I wanted to do more since I had some experience in writing, I saw an opportunity to write a story, trying to express what I had witnessed. That is how “Home & The Homeless Man” was initially born.

It took 14 days to be written but 15 years to be finalized in a solid form that I was happy with. The first version of the work was a solo street performance that I performed in Vienna in 2005 and in Paris in 2008. Although I did not receive a lot of productive feedback from my audiences, I believed in the work and thanks to my instructors in the TV & Film Department of Eastern Mediterranean University and with the help of my friend Zack Peyman, it stayed alive long enough to be made into a film for a new audience today; and for the memory of the people who initially inspired it. 
Directed by Nima B. Djavidani (Cyprus)

Directed by Jianxing Chen (China)

K-drama addict friend-zones her hopelessly-in-love roommate, only to realizes she loves him and must win him back when he goes out with another woman.

Anna and Shaun have been friends since childhood, and now, as college roommates, she takes him for granted. When Shaun tries to break out from the friend-zone and goes out with another woman, Anna suddenly realizes her feelings for him, surprising even herself as she has always fantasized a happily-ever-after with her favorite K-drama star.
Directed by Ta’ltosh (USA)

Eight months after the Chernobyl disaster, a Chernobylite woman that stayed behind to care for her sick mother gives birth to a deformed baby. She wakes up after giving birth to find her mother gone. Masha, isolated and suffering from cataracts from the radiation exposure, becomes fearful that soldiers will take her contaminated baby. While attempting to reunite with her family in Kiev, the blinding mother and infant become lost in a forest. Masha sees a figure chasing her and believes it’s a soldier that wants her child.
Directed by Alexander Shuryepov (USA)

In a metaphorical dystopian future, Robin’s life consists of meaningless and purposeless work. He yearns for a human connection and a way out of his minitonas life. When Alex, a mysterious co-worker starts appearing in his dreams, He realizes the world may be larger than it seems. But will Robin have the strength to step through the door to an uncertain future? Or will he remain a cog in the wheel in the world that is breaking him down?
Directed by Bee Langs (Canada)