A queer, colourful, experimental galaxy of new filmmaking. Join us for a voyage into alien aesthetics, cosmic glamour, genderfluid and pluralistic futures. Curated by Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian (Doppelgängers³, Frameline48) in partnership with the London Short Film Festival.
Short films showing in this program:
Arctic Diva (Dir. Federico Barni, 17 Minutes)
An up-and-coming experimental musician is invited to perform at a remote arctic research outpost for the resident scientists, an unwelcoming world which tests her resolve but expands her audience beyond the atmosphere.
Director expected to be in attendance.
Between Mars and Earth (Dir. Diego Murzuil, 11 Minutes)
During the Christmas holidays, a mysterious extra-terrestrial force bursts into the life of a suburban couple on the brink of divorce. However, neither of them notices this otherworldly presence, so this entity will just have to live with them in their grey, sad, and lifeless home, watching their relationship finally disintegrate.
Br00dm0ther's e-Fable (Dir. Zijing Zhao, 8 Minutes)
Br00dm0ther's e-Fable is a short film that combines simulation and performance. The film is a deconstruction and reimagining of the female monster character Broodmother in video games. The Broodmother is a new species of fully digitised, slimy spider-like creature with the ability to devour, vomit, scream and breed demons. In this work, the Broodmother transforms into a powerful avatar that tells a scientific myth about life, nurture, ecology, and technology. Combining a long history of research into mythological narratives and ecology, the artist reinterprets the story of the Broodmother in a compelling visual language that seeks to evoke the power of the female monster and challenge the violence of emerging media technologies against the female body.
The Burden (Dir. Tish Arana, 15 Minutes)
When culture vultures apply for citizenship on a new planet founded by Black people three judges must decide how to handle folks who want everything but the burden.
Director and star expected to be in attendance.
But wait… there’s more! (Dir. Kialy Tihngang, 3 Minutes)
This is a short excerpt from Kialy Tihngang's larger art piece Lean Six Sigma (2023), which looks at opulence as a display of oligarchic overindulgence from a privileged few, distorting and multiplying the shapes of extractive industrial machinery, and the interior aesthetics of dictators’ homes and private jets.
The Last Story on Earth (Dir. Aaron Immediato, 18 Minutes)
Facing angry protesters, a determined drag queen does her best to finish a fairy tale reading at the local library — but an alien invasion puts her skills to extraordinary new tests.
PRIMALDIAL MAGMA _ ZYGMUTROPHOOZE (Dir. mirrored fatality, 7 Minutes)
Nonlinear disentanglement invocation channeling the hybridity of animals + cyborgs + transhumans.
REDMAN (Dir. Edith Morris, 1 Minute)
Edith Morris went to Lofoten, Norway and captured this giant red man on super 8.
Space Plug (Dir. Marcus Anthony Thomas, 14 Minutes)
In the middle of space, a baby human is raised in a blank white room with everything that they need but nothing they want.
Director expected to be in attendance.