About the Event

This two-day mini film festival features a curated selection of films tied to the 2024 Canal Convergence theme: “Reflections.” The mini-series will screen short films that explore the concept of physical and psychological reflections and address Canal Convergence’s annual themes, including the perennial themes of water + art + light, sustainability, and interactivity. We hope this experience will inspire self-reflection and dialogue within our audience. 

Dancing Cloud 

Drama | PG | 16 minutes and 31 seconds  

Director: Platon Ogarev (Poland)

Description: Aniela visits her sister in Berlin. On her way back to Poland, she gets off the train at one of Berlin’s stations. A night journey through colorful, dangerous, and fascinating Berlin will prove to be a lesson in growing up for teenage Aniela.

 

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Dawn 

Animated fantasy | G | 1 minute and 47 seconds 

Director: Camila Messari (Canada)

Description: A celestial being falls from the clouds onto Earth for reasons unknown to them. As they wonder about the purpose of their descent, they must find the courage to embark on a journey of discovery.

 

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Fatih the Conqueror 

Nature documentary | PG | 15 minutes  

Director: Onur Yagiz (France)

Description: This Saturday is a Turkish wedding day at Espace Venise (France). Huddled in a car in the parking lot, Fatih, 21, wants to get married. He has set his sights on Ipek, Recep’s sister. But neither Murat, his best friend, nor Recep, nor even Ipek are aware of this yet.

 

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understorey  

Nature documentary | G | 7 minutes and 6 seconds  

Director: Claire Riverland and Lily Newcombe (Australia)

Description: Capturing the passion of Sarawak’s driven conservation community, understorey explores the adversity and hope in this field. The short documentary encapsulates the constant uphill battle to preserve the magnificent rainforests of Malaysia and its array of creatures, big and small, which inhabit them.

 

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When We Meet Again 

Romance/fantasy | PG-13 | 30 minutes  

Director: Colin Huang (Taiwan)

Description: While on vacation with his fiancée, Ben realizes that time has started to loop in the village they are in. Nobody seems to realize that they are stuck in the loop except for one other person: his ex-girlfriend June, who happens to be an artist-in-residence in the same village.

 

Director’s Note:  The ability to face your past and to accept what has already happened is important to one’s personal growth. The characters are forced to face each other and their past through a fantasy premise, only then can they let go of their burdens and move on.

 

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Peregrinus 

Animated fantasy | PG | 8 minutes and 42 seconds 

Director: Alice Moschini, Andrea Mulas, Myrta Dell’Oro, and Martina Gammino (Italy)

Description: The son of the king has fallen ill, and no one can heal him. As a last resort, the king and his people go on a journey to ask for their god’s help. Their plea will have a tragic and unexpected response.

 

Director’s Note:  The film addresses the fall of an idol and losing faith in what or who someone once believed.

 

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Pan y vino

Comedy | PG | 1 minute and 10 seconds 

Director: Ignacio Rodó (Spain)

Description: Loneliness is better when shared, like bread and wine.

 

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Varanus 

Drama | PG-13 | 14 minutes and 59 seconds  

Director: Kiaresh Bekaian (Iran)

Description: Varanus is a drama about a hearing-impaired teenage boy, who is forced by a man to participate in secret and illegal competitions. He is unwilling to do this and tries to get rid of the man.

 

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The Streetlight 

Drama | PG-13 | 6 minutes and 48 seconds  

Director: Sophia Parella (United States)

Description: A man gains a deeper understanding of purpose after helping a talking streetlight through its existential crisis.

 

Director’s Note:  A man discovers what it means to serve one’s purpose while talking to a streetlight. The streetlight helps him find the inner light within himself.

 

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Bird Drone 

Animated romance | G | 8 minutes and 55 seconds 

Director: Radheya Jegatheva (Australia)

Description: Bird Drone is a heartfelt story of unrequited love explored through a lonely seagull struggling to accept that his newfound object of affection is a human-operated drone with limited battery life.

 

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Lamia 

Drama | PG | 17 minutes and 37 seconds 

Director: Martina Claudia Selva (Italy)

Description: Lisa, 30 years old, has a husband, a job, and many friends. Yet, it’s not enough; she doesn’t have a child. The pressures of delayed motherhood torment her, causing insomnia and a mysterious itching until a doctor reveals that she has snake venom in her body, and she’s preparing to undergo a metamorphosis.

 

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Beautiful Eyes 

Drama | PG-13| 6 minutes and 25 seconds  

Director: Abraham Jacintos Duarte (Mexico)

Description: David does not know how to help his girlfriend anymore, so he goes to his mom for advice, learning the meaning of love.

 

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The Little Stranger

Comedy | PG | 9 minutes 

Director: Shakila Moezi (Iran)

Description: A little girl goes to her grandmother’s house with a small black fish, and there she meets a strange boy who also has a fish in the pond. They disagree over dividing the pond for the fish.

 

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The Right Vintage

Sci-fi | G | 4 minutes and 13 seconds 

Director: Trace Winter (United States)

Description: A conman reaches his 100th birthday and is released from prison to enjoy the time he has left, starting with a dram of his favorite whisky.

 

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Shopping Day 

Drama | PG | 13 minutes and 32 seconds 

Director: Fernando Charry (Columbia)

Description: María and Ramiro are a young couple who live in a rural area of a city. A new day begins, but this will be different. They must collect money by selling and buying different products and then go back and forth across the Magdalena River, with silence amid the sounds of existence itself. They carry things and come back empty.

 

Director’s Note:  Shopping Day largely takes place next to the river and the sea. It is a short film, where there is little dialogue, and the sound makes up the emotional concept and social context of the moment experienced by the protagonists. In this way, the film reflects life, humanity, and society.

 

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Aevum

Experimental | PG-13 | 5 minutes 

Director: Tashi Emma Nicola Higgins (Australia)

Description: Isaac journeys through his dream landscape, encountering different manifestations of himself: the Naked Man and The Seer. Whilst his consciousness aims to reveal to him that part of himself he has ignored and suppressed for too long, it also tries to provide him with an antidote. Does he accept what is offered?

 

Director’s Note:  This film explores Plato’s allegory of the cave, which references the “inconspicuous reflections” we authorize and embody: The Joker, The Shadow, and The Child Self. Much of the story is rooted in dreams as a form of communication between the unconscious and conscious self. Aevum is about understanding the internal reflections we cast upon ourselves and to the world.

 

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The Red Bike

Drama | PG | 14 minutes and 46 seconds 

Director: Torben Bech (Denmark)

Description: When Jack receives a red bike as a birthday present, no one could have predicted what it would lead to. In Pharr, Texas, a father builds a racing bike for his son Jack’s birthday. But when the bike disappears only a few days later, stolen by classmate Brian, the duo confronts Brian, only to be met with denial. Determined to get the bike back, they stake out Brian’s house to reclaim what’s theirs.

 

Director’s Note:  The circumstances that lead the main character to discover that all good intentions might not be perceived the way he thought encourages him to reflect on fatherhood.

 

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The ultimate attempt at self reflection 

Experimental | PG-13| 2 minutes and 34 seconds 

Director: Paul Bezuijen (Netherlands)

Description: The ultimate attempt at self reflection is short film about self-reflection.

 

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Conversations with a Monster 

Fictional Documentary | PG-13 | 7 minutes and 53 seconds 

Director: Jonah Bergman (United States)

Description: This short is a fictionalized documentary on the life and troubles of a Hollywood Boulevard busker who has a strong affinity for classic horror.

 

 

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