24th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival
In the Frame
synopsis
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.
biography
Moldavian filmmakers Ion Gnatiuc (1990) and Artiom Zavadovsky (1987) presented their debut film at this year’s goEast showcase OPPOSE OTHERING! Section focused on films exploring queer issues, and also at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
more about film
| director: | Ion Gnatiuc, Artiom Zavadovsky |
| producer: | Raisa Răzmeriță |
| script: | Artiom Zavadovsky, Ion Gnatiuc, Raisa Răzmeriță |
| photography: | Ion Gnatiuc |
| editing: | Ion Gnatiuc |
| sound: | Roman Bordei |
other films in the section
Nearly twenty years ago, a Muslim refugee whose face we don’t get to see crossed the border of Myanmar, a country plagued by ethnic-religious conflict. He has since been unsuccessfully applying for asylum in Japan. Deprived of the opportunity to work and live outside a refugee facility, the now-40-year-old man turns to Allah as his last hope for human dignity.
My God Never Dies
Daichi Amano
Japan / 2019 / 17 min.
section: Short Joy
World Premiere
In the Western Sahara desert, large cars disintegrate into the sand, surrounded by a refugee camp. Against a yellow backdrop of sand, two small boys play in one of the wrecks. A static shot like a moving photograph of time, which flows slowly in the refugee camp.DETAIL:Hamdi and Ali are playing in a rusty car wreck. They take turns in singing songs that sound almost as if they were sang by grown men and not by two kids from a refugee camp.
Yellow Brick Road
Eloy D. Serén
Sweden / 2015 / 14 min.
section: Short Joy
World Premiere
A look at the Balkans migration route in December 2015. Throngs of refugees make their way to Dobova, Slovenia. They get on the waiting buses in an orderly fashion and enter the system. The Slovenian government has had the journey under control for a month. Confined to a single file line, the migrants go through checks, inspections, and wait for the next step.
Stop and Go
Ralph Kronauer, Giovanni Pannico
Germany, Italy / 2017 / 15 min.
section: Short Joy
Central European Premiere
The director revises a TV report which a local TV station shot with him and his family on the Rosh hashanah holiday in 1974. In the footage which seemed as an expression of interest in the Jewish culture at the time it was created, the author discovers antisemitic and racist tendencies. The title refers to a zoo where domesticated and tame animals can be fed and petted by the visitors.
Petting Zoo
Daniel Robin
United States / 2019 / 11 min.
section: Short Joy
World Premiere
This film is the video diary of a Ukrainian mother from Mariupol, a city close to the turbulent Donetsk Region. A series of several-minute long records of commonplace views from a window, following tracks in the snow, and strolls in the surroundings form a loving visual message for her daughter in Kyiv.
Ma
Maria Stoianova
Ukraine / 2017 / 17 min.
section: Short Joy
Central European Premiere
What happens to women who mysteriously disappear? Are they ever seen again? Do state authorities investigate as they should, or are the only ones truly searching for the women the ones they left behind? A compilation film that reveals several periods in history during which scores of women disappeared without a trace under various circumstances.
Into Thin Air
Cristina Motta
Argentina / 2018 / 15 min.
section: Short Joy
World Premiere
An unusual animated documentary of the experiences of young Vietnamese who have spent their entire lives in the Czech Republic, living between two cultures. The drawn animation style allows the filmmaker to give the film a natural emotionality, intimacy and poetic stylization.
The Little One
Diana Cam Van Nguyen
Czech Republic / 2017 / 10 min.
section: Short Joy
World Premiere
What happens when the Chinese government builds a French village in Sichuan province? A detached camera floats among local figures and brightly coloured facades, creating a portrait of a space where kitschy idyll maintained by an authoritarian regime mixes with bizarre situations and brutal everyday life.DETAIL:“Bailu, a small village in Sichuan province, was destroyed by an earthquake in 2008. The Chinese government decided to build a French village in its place.”
Bailu Dream
Nicolas Boone
France / 2013 / 12 min.
section: Short Joy
East European Premiere
This surreal journey through a desolate mountain village, where an unknown danger hangs over the last surviving inhabitants, combines contemplative static shots of nature and animals taken from unusual angles, which are fascinating, yet, at the same time, raise uncertainty as to whether the mysterious landscape can be logically understood.DETAIL:We observe a silent mist-filled forest from whose depths an unrecognisable figure slowly emerges. As it comes nearer, we sense that it is not human, but rather an apparition embodying the incomprehensible magical nature of the location.
Beyond Marão
José Fernandes
Portugal / 2014 / 7 min.
section: Short Joy
East European 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
The filmmaker tracks one aspect of life in a diverse Muslim community: prayer. This standard daily activity may take place even in the hustle and bustle of a busy street. This single-take short documentary focuses on people as they walk in front of the camera and uses details to classify them into different castes.
Interiors & Exteriors
Ashique Mostafa
Bangladesh / 2017 / 8 min.
section: Short Joy
World Premiere
This film about the life of Cubans without a roof over their heads shows how they go about their everyday activities: preparing food, discussing politics, singing songs, reading old texts by Fidel Castro, and sleeping off a hangover. Fourteen minutes of detailed observation of people overlooked by others.
Notes on the Shore
Luis Alejandro Yero
Cuba / 2018 / 14 min.
section: Short Joy
European Premiere
