Genius Party

The seven short films making up GENIUS PARTY couldn’t be more diverse, linked only by a high standard of quality and inspiration. Atsuko Fukushima’s intro piece is a fantastic abstraction to soak up with the eyes. Masaaki Yuasa, of MIND GAME and CAT SOUP fame, brings his distinctive and deceptively simple graphic style and dream-state logic to the table with “Happy Machine,” his spin on a child’s earliest year. Shinji Kimura’s spookier “Deathtic 4,” meanwhile, seems to tap into the creepier corners of a child’s imagination and open up a toybox full of dark delights. Hideki Futamura’s “Limit Cycle” conjures up a vision of virtual reality, while Yuji Fukuyama’s "Doorbell" and "Baby Blue" by Shinichiro Watanabe use understated realism for very surreal purposes. And Shoji Kawamori, with “Shanghai Dragon,” takes the tropes and conventions of traditional anime out for very fun joyride.

Glory Hole

"Glory Holes" are mostly found in the basements of sex shops, sex clubs, or what are commonly referred to as whore bars. The pleasure is blind, anonymous. He delights in this blindness. "She" is the engine of his fantasies, his fears, his uneasiness and her naive and vain generosity. "He" will be waiting for her every Wednesday. This short film is the first fiction film directed by Guillaume Foirest as part of his graduation thesis at ESRA Nice in 2005. The film was distributed by DVD Pocket and has made many festivals around the world .

Blacksmithing Scene

Three men hammer on an anvil and pass a bottle of beer around. Notable for being the first film in which a scene is being acted out.

Multi-Facial

Through a series of auditions, a young actor in New York City struggles with his identity.

The Mills in Joy and Sorrow

A hobo takes revenge to a miller who didn't give him something to eat.

Anna

Mairy, a thirty-year-old woman from Philippines, works in a village in Cyprus. She takes care of Mr. Michalis, an eigthy-five-year-old man with arteriosclerosis. Mr. Michalis spends his days in front of the television, watching time and again a soap opera with a heroine named Anna. He soon becomes obsessed with this heroine, to the point of calling Mairy 'Anna', despite the remarks of his daughter Melpo. When Mairy finds some old photographs she makes an important discovery...

Nocturna

A middle aged woman is desperately wondering in the streets looking for her daughter. A man finds her before she does.

Carne

After a dreadful incident coupled with an ungovernable paroxysm of violence, a butcher will fall into a downward spiral that will burn to the ground whatever dignity still remained in him.

Six Shooter

Overwhelmed by grief following the death of his wife, Donnelly shares a train carriage home with a troubled young man identified only as the 'Kid'. As the Kid becomes more agitated and foul-mouthed, the journey takes on a violent and dangerous hue – for the bereaved Donnelly and for other hapless passengers on the train. Academy Award Winner: Best Live Action Short Film – 2005

Richelieu; or: The Conspiracy

Directed by J. Stuart Blackton.

Lola

It's Christmas time, and a grandmother spends a quiet afternoon tending to the family chores. But the arrival of an unexpected visitor brings with her some deadly consequences.

Nani

Oscar got caught spraying graffiti. Now doing community service at a nursing home, he meets Isabel who is suffering from dementia. At 84 years old, Isabel may be a little old school, but soon the entire block is covered with her pink tag.

Isolation

This is one of the four "animated comics" taking place in the same universe as the film "I Am Legend". ADX Florence, Colorado, USA, is the most secure prison facility in the United States. During the early stages of the Krippin Virus Pandemic, John Edward Lord, an imprisoned terrorist is deliberately left behind at the prison to die, with no information on the outbreak.

Sacrificing the Few for the Many

This is one of the four "animated comics" taking place in the same universe as the film "I Am Legend". In the early stages of the KV Pandemic, a refugee camp has been opened somewhere in central America, and is taking in patients infected with Krippin Virus for treatment. As a young boy and girl watch from the outskirts of the camp, a military convoy arrives.

Shelter

This is one of the four "animated comics" taking place in the same universe as the film "I Am Legend". In New Delhi, India, during the Krippin Virus Pandemic, Vatsala and her family are preparing to evacuate to a shelter. That night, Vatsala sneaks out of her home and into the chaotic streets of the city to find her boyfriend, Pritam.

The Secret of Wendel Samson

A young man's struggle with his sexuality overtakes his life, driving him deep into his subconscious where guilt and fears of physicality chase him still further. Cornered by an intangible terror, he realises he must either break out or break down.

La Cerca

Edward James Olmos narrates this multi-fest winner about an immigrant who recalls a vivid and momentous memory where he discovered his boundaries.

Estação

Ines is 21 years old and dreams of becoming an actress. In order to fulfil that dream, she decides to leave Brasília for São Paulo to appear as an extra in a popular soap opera. However, with no place to stay, she ends up staying at the Tiete Bus Terminal, the second largest in the world.

Entre lui et moi

Guillaume is getting ready to meet his wife in the maternity ward where she has just given birth. But an unexpected phone call plunges him back into bitter childhood memories: his father, whom he has not seen for years, wants nothing more than to see his daughter-in-law and the newborn child.

Padam...