SHORT EXPORT 2019
Once again and already in its 14th edition SHORT EXPORT travels the world with a selection of current German short films. The cooperation between AG Kurzfilm, German Films, Goethe-Institut Lyon, KurzFilmAgentur Hamburg and the International Short Film Festival Clemont-Ferrand resulted in yet another colourful short film programme. SHORT EXPORT 2019 presents seven entertaining films that illustrate the German short film scene’s vast artistic and stylistic variety. They wittily tell about identity, searching and finding. Without a doubt will they stir your appetite for more!
Biotope (2018)
12:00 min / dialogue
Paul Scholten, Germany
Life in Neuperlach, a Munich suburb, is tranquil. It is a safe neighbourhood where people know and greet each other. Everybody has their own backyard; single car garages line the narrow footpaths and everything is nicely groomed. However, this peaceful existence has been troubled for some time now: refugees are set to move in next door. Some of the residents are worried that their peace will be disturbed, so they are putting up a noise protection wall. Biotope shows the life of the locals and gets to the bottom of the reason for building that wall.
Paul Scholten was born in 1996 in south Germany. He started filmmaking when he was 17. His films were screened at various festivals. Since 2017, he studies Documentary Film at the University for Film and Television.
Cat Days (2018)
11:00 min / dialogue
Jon Frickey, Germany/ Japan
Little Jiro feels sick. His father takes him to see the doctor. She diagnoses a harmless condition, but it shakes the boy’s identity to its core.
Jon Frickey lives and works in Hamburg, Germany, as an animator and illustrator.
Tracing Addai (2018)
30:00 min / dialogue
Esther Niemeier, Germany
“A true story about a war and the tragic impact it has on the lives of three people.
The story of a young man who leaves his life behind in Germany and sets off to help people. In 2013, Addai joins a Salafist group in Syria. A few years later his mother meets Ilias, a returnee from Syria. Their personal stories paint a clearer picture of Addai’s story.”
Born 1981, Esther Niemeier is a director and producer working in both the UK and Germany. She is currently enrolled in the MFA Documentary Directing at the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, TRACING ADDAI is her graduation film.
Am Cu Ce – Pride (2019)
19:00 min / dialogue
Hannah Weissenborn, Germany
Romanian trucker Stancu has given his nephew Dragan a second driver card which enables him to stretch his legal driving time. But when Dragan falls into microsleep at the wheel and almost causes an accident, Stancu suddenly feels responsible.
Born 1993 in Leonberg, Hannah Weissenborn gains first experiences at film sets during her time at school. Since 2015, she studies directing at the Film Academy Baden-Wurttemberg and spends a guest semester at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne and at La Fémis in Paris.
Chinese Checkers (2017)
15:00 min / dialogue
Betina Kuntzsch, Germany
The film uses animated objects discovered in the family archives to recount the life of my mother. It is a 20th century biography: growing up in the Nazi era, teenage years in post-war Germany, the building of the Wall and life in the GDR and then reunified Germany. It is a story of escaping and adapting, challenging and conforming.
Born 1963 in Berlin, Betina Kuntzsch studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig,1988 and gained a diploma with a video I SAT UPON A STONE; she worked at the GDR TV station, and since 1988 exhibited her videos and installations, print graphic, animation and documentaries. She lives and works in Berlin.
Fest (2018)
3:00 min / no dialogue
Nikita Diakur, Germany
Footage from a suburban block party. Rave, drone, BBQ and ice cream. Then a stunt. Youtube inspired and simulated.
Nikita Diakur is a Russian-born filmmaker based in Germany. His most distinguished project “Ugly” has received multiple awards at international film festivals. The signature technique used in his films is dynamic computer simulation, which embraces spontaneity, randomness and mistakes.
Carlotta’s Face (2018)
5:00 min / dialogue
Frédéric Schuld and Valentin Riedl, Germany
As a child, Carlotta didn’t expect the people around her to have faces. She doesn’t even recognize her own face. Years later, she learns about a rare, untreatable deficiency in her brain. In the end, it is art that gives her the chance to finally recognize herself.
Valentin Riedl studied Medicine in Germany, France and Poland. In 2009, he received an M.D. degree from Technische Universität München, and a PhD in Systemic Neuroscience from Ludwig-Maximilians Universität in 2012. Today, he aims at merging both fields, science and art, into unique ways of storytelling.
Frédéric Schuld is an author, director and animator. He founded the studio “Fabian&Fred” with Fabian Driehorst in 2011. Frédéric works with a strong focus on animated documentaries.”