23rd Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival
Landline
director: Matt Houghton
original title: Landline
country: United Kingdom
year: 2017
running time: 12 min.
East European Premiere
synopsis
There’s a helpline just for gay farmers. Through authentic recordings and reconstructed situations, the film offers a glimpse into the issue of British gay men from rural areas. For farmers it’s difficult enough to admit their orientation to themselves, let alone to their not-so-gay-friendly surroundings.
biography
Matt Houghton (1985) is a British short filmmaker and winner of numerous awards. His film Dear Araucaria (2015) was well-received and won the audience award at the Sheffield Doc/Fest.
more about film
| producer: | Alistair Payne-James, Rupert Williams |
| photography: | James Blann |
| hudba: | Noah Wood |
| sound: | Alex Bingham |
other films in the section
An essay filmed against the backdrop of lyrical images of feather plucking or drawing with chalk presents the clerical orders of Islamic women and how they rein in their impure desires. As a subversive element of Islamic fundamentalism, the director recites a poem by Iranian feminist writer Forough Farrokhzad.
I Have Sinned a Rapturous Sin
Maryam Tafakory
United Kingdom, Iran / 2018 / 8 min.
section: Short Joy
Czech Premiere
During the day, Oxana paints frames as a man; at night, she puts on her female skin. Oxana is a transsexual living in Moldova, where even expressions of tolerance towards sexual minorities can be dangerous. This short film is an intimate look at gender and at the social isolation of people denied to right to their own identity.
In the Frame
Ion Gnatiuc, Artiom Zavadovsky
France, Germany, Romania, Moldova / 2018 / 17 min.
section: Short Joy
Central European Premiere
Using simple animation with outline figures and objects against a dark background that evokes nightmares, an anonymous 16-year-old youth, a repeat offender at a correctional facility for juveniles, recounts his criminal past caused by traumatic experiences with domestic abuse within his family.
The Holiday Inn-Side
Charby Ibrahim
Australia / 2018 / 20 min.
section: Short Joy
European Premiere
The only things they left behind were their personal belongings. They speak volumes about what kind of people they were. What they liked. Who was close to them. What hobbies they had. A film without words. Footage of objects belonging to people who drowned in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of the island of Lampedusa in 2013 and 2015 - people whose lives were extinguished for good.
Mum, I'm Sorry
Martina Melilli
Italy / 2017 / 17 min.
section: Short Joy
International Premiere
After a dam flooded a village in northern Iran, one island remained. There’s a grave on it. On a hill above the new lake, an old woman looks out at it. An intimate look at the daily routine of an Iranian woman who has survived modestly for twelve years alone in a house at the base of the mountain. She waits for permission to visit the island.
Lotus
Mohammadreza Vatandoust
Iran / 2018 / 13 min.
section: Short Joy
European Premiere
During the Soviet era, Ukraine was a difficult place for members of the LGBT community, and even today the country remains less than welcoming to sexual minorities. Working with archival interviews of women from the past thirteen years, the film brings together two eras and thus contributes to a discussion of today’s situation.
The Wonderful Years
Galina Yarmanova, Svitlana Shymko
Ukraine / 2018 / 9 min.
section: Short Joy
International Premiere
Dawson City in Canada’s Yukon Territory abounds in goldmines and lack of sunshine. This portrait of the town is an audiovisual collage on the search for the sun and gold, history, and the everyday realities of its inhabitants. The atmosphere of cold, snowy Canada infuses the film with a dark mood reminiscent of Twin Peaks.
Optimism
Deborah Stratman
Canada, United States / 2018 / 15 min.
section: Short Joy
East European Premiere
Director Zaina Erhaim has decided to explore her Syrian hometown of Idlib, which is controlled by anti-regime forces. Original footage captures familiar neighborhoods in ruins, where Erhaim leaves what is perhaps the last human footprint. This secretly-filmed documentary presents a visual experience of the loss of home and of meeting loved ones in a new reality.
I Was Here
Zaina Erhaim
Syria / 2017 / 11 min.
section: Short Joy
European Premiere
“(Where) do the places we remember exist?” asks Camila Ausente in the opening of her ten-minute documentary search for an answer to this question. The film combines repeating images from Mexico with oral memories of her father's childhood in Argentina.
Pampa del Istmo
Camila Ausente
Mexico, Argentina / 2018 / 11 min.
section: Short Joy
World Premiere
An observational look at the interaction between two elderly women: 100-year-old Ema and her six years younger sister Zosie. The camera sensitively documents how these two once famous hostesses try to bake a cake at their advanced age. In so doing, it offers a perceptive portrait of their personalities and their relationships.
The Cake
Małgorzata Goździk
Poland / 2017 / 18 min.
section: Short Joy
Czech Premiere
They are happy together, but she gets a job offer in another country and he doesn’t want to go. He tries to sway her decision in his favour by offering to marry her… In its format, the film perhaps most closely resembles a music video, but besides music it also uses poetry and dance to tell its story. Shot on an iPhone 7 Plus.
time and love and I
J Ashlee
United States / 2017 / 5 min.
section: Short Joy
World Premiere
A pagan custom takes place alongside the traditional Easter Sunday celebrations in the Polish village of Sternalice. Rough-looking men set aside their work tools, saddle wild horses, and set off on a pilgrimage, filled with humility before God. The documentary’s visual and aural cacophony captures the ancient tradition, creating a stunning visual myth.
Horse Riders
Anna Gawlita
Poland / 2018 / 19 min.
section: Short Joy
International Premiere
