12:00 min
Momoko Seto, France

The universe in all its infinitude. On planet Sigma, enormous creatures are trapped inside the ice. And then, all of a sudden explosions erupt from subterranean volcanoes. The ice begins to melt; a global warming concludes the giants’ deep slumber and new life begins. The creatures crawl forth, out of the ice. With the aid of slow motion, Seto fictionalises the unfolding of events. Liberated from time and space, she draws ever closer to the proceedings, in extreme close-ups. PLANET ∑ is the third part of her planet series.

Momoko Seto: Born in Tokyo, Japan in 1980, where she attended the Lycée Français before studying art at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Marseille and at Le Fresnoy Studio National des Arts Contemporains in Tourcoing in northern France. She works as a filmmaker for the Asia Network (Réseau Asie, CNRS) alongside regularly making short films which have screened at numerous international festivals. PLANET Z screened in the Berlinale Shorts Competition in 2011. She currently lives and works in Paris and Tokyo.

25:00 min
Republic of Korea, NA Young-kil

Hosanna is an ancient cry of jubilation and entreaty, which according to the New Testament, was used by the crowds greeting Jesus when he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. In a remote village in Korea lives a boy with the power to heal. He can resurrect the dead. And that is exactly what he does. Curing people of death, he gives them back life. However, the new life doesn’t cure them, on the contrary. Rejecting the chance proffered by rebirth, the fighting, killing and murder continue. They punish, spit upon and antagonise the boy. Refusing to be deterred, he goes his own way. The boy and the villagers move about in rigorously framed shots, practically devoid of emotion. There is no cry of jubilation.

NA Young-kil: Born in South Korea in 1983, he studied at the Calvin University in Yongin, South Korea, and then from 2005 at the Korea National University of Arts where he began making short films. He graduated in 2014.

18:00 min
Vibeke Bryld, Denmark

“If we all lived in paradise, there wouldn’t be any tears or separation, no hunger and no waiting, no suffering and no oppression, no war, no death. We’d no longer need hope. We’d lose all those hopes we so dearly love. We Koreans call hope ‘Han’.” (Park Kyong-Ni) Harmonia lived a happy life in North Korea, until one day in her early twenties when she realised the truth. A truth, she says, that she did not want to accept for many years: that which surrounds her is a fractured paradise. Late, but not too late she hopes, she sets out on the solitary path into the unknown, to the world beyond the narrow borders of the North Korean regime. She flees via China to South Korea. It takes almost a year before she arrives. She comes too late. But there is no returning. Director Vibeke Bryld uses photographs and postcards to piece together Harmonia’s life.

Vibeke Bryld: Born in Denmark, she is a filmmaker and writer. She studied in London and Copenhagen and has a BA in Literature and an MA in Documentary Filmmaking. She has directed short documentaries for Al Jazeera English, a few experimental documentaries and TV series. Her last film, BEDTIME STORIES, was nominated for best short documentary by the Danish Film Academy. Until September 2014 she was editor in chief of DOX, the European Documentary Magazine.

15:00 min
John Skoog, Sweden

Desolate landscapes are the protagonists. Sound fragments dictate the direction. The drama could begin at any moment. During his travels through America’s West, filmmaker John Skoog discovered a new country. In SHADOWLAND, one view of a Californian landscape chases another. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the landscapes flow into each another. Deserts become forests become water, the street from a car, the river from a boat. Shot on 16mm and in black and white, the montage induces an analogy that recalls the photographs of Ansel Adams and Alfred Stieglitz. SHADOWLAND is an experimental arrangement in which the shift of perceived understanding occurs on a visual and auditory plane. The places visited in the film were once used by Hollywood as substitutes for entirely different locations in the world. The journey is accompanied by a collage of sounds taken from early Hollywood films.

John Skoog: Born in Malmö, Sweden in 1985, he graduated from the Städelschule, Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Kunst in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

17:00 min
Till Nowak, Germany

What is reality and what is imagination? Who defines the boundaries? A gifted pianist plays piano. The piano reflects the pianist’s emotion, exploding every dimension. As does the emotion: the man misses his daughter, is no longer allowed to see her. Had the man seen a doctor however, he would most likely have been diagnosed with a psychosis. Would, should, could. He lives on the street. The mother is worried, as the man who was once her husband sinks ever deeper. What kind of world is this, that puts a smile on his face, while inspiring nothing but fear in her? The daughter has no fear. All that remains is longing. In Dissonance, reality and fantasy merge, flow into one another. 3D animation and live action become one. An odyssey through time and space. A modern fairytale.

Till Nowak: Born in Bonn, Germany in 1980, he founded his own studio, frameboX, whilst studying media design at the University of Applied Sciences in Mainz. Since then he has designed numerous light installations for buildings including the Castel dell’Ovo in Naples, the water tower in Neumünster and Osaka Allee at the HafenCity Hamburg. His computer animated projects, which include the 3D-animated short film DELIVERY and the mockumentary THE CENTRIFUGE BRAIN PROJECT, have won numerous prizes worldwide including the 2012 German Short Film Award.

30:00 min
Matt Porterfield, USA/Germany

A journey through day and night, night and day. Lilly has been living in Berlin for a while. She is a US American passing through. She has a lover and no penthouse. The relationship is vague. “You come and go as you please”, he says. “What do you mean?”, she asks. “Nothing.”, he says, “I’m happy when you’re here.” – “I’m also happy when I’m here.” Then he plays guitar and she embraces him from behind. Only briefly, then she packs her suitcase. Lilly drifts between worlds and places. Looking for people and connections but remaining in the external. During rehearsals with the performance group Gob Squad, her thoughts and wishes thrive: words become actions. Back at the apartment, a letter from her home awaits her. Matt Porterfield calmly tells of the longing to arrive in quietly composed scenes.

Matt Porterfield: Born in Baltimore, USA in 1977, he studied film at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. In 2006, he directed his debut feature, HAMILTON, and participated in the Whitney Biennial in New York in 2012. In the same year he was awarded a Creative Capital scholarship and was artist in residence at the Wexner Center of the Arts in Columbus. Alongside his work as a director and screenwriter, he teaches screenwriting and film production at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Porterfield’s feature films PUTTY HILL (2010) and I USED TO BE DARKER (2013) were both represented at Berlinale Forum.