EDINBURGH SHORT FILM FESTIVAL 2019 PROGRAMME
THURSDAY 24th OCTOBER: PRE-LAUNCH NETWORKING WITH CINETOPIA
BREWDOG LOTHIAN ROAD 6:00-8:30pm
We’re kicking off our 2019 programme with a free, pre-launch networking event with our partners, Cinetopia at Brewdog bar in Festival Square, a short walk from the Filmhouse. Come along and meet Edinburgh-based film-makers and film practitioners and find out more about this year’s ESFF!
THURSDAY 24th OCTOBER: FILMHOUSE
Programme starts 8:45pm
OUT OF FRAME – TICKETS
From conspiratorial conversations in windowless rooms, to a fighter pilot plunged into hostile waters, these films will keep your mind ticking over with questions. With film-makers cleverly selecting which slices of life to include, and which to omit, this is a programme that explores the motivations and reasons behind our actions, and the importance of that which remains unseen.
From outstanding and original Vietnamese drama to thoughtful Swiss Animation and off-beat Italian Sci-Fi: Including the Cannes 2019 Best Short winner, the BAFTA Scotland 2019 winner and the winner of Fantoche Animation Festival 2019.
MOTHS TO FLAME Luca Jankovic/Marco Pellegrino UK PREMIERE Best Short Film Genoa Film Festival 2018
ON Jelena Sinik UK PREMIERE Winner ATOM Awards 2018
MY LONELINESS IS KILLING ME Tim Courtney Winner Best Short Fim, BAFTA Scotland Award 2018
WITHOUT Enni Red
TURNING TIDE Andrew Muir People’s Choice Award, Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2019
THE TAIL OF CAT BALLOU Stuart Hubbard
STAY AWAKE, BE READY Pham Thien An Winner Cannes Film Festival 2019 Award for Best Short
STARTING OVER Russell Davidson
CIRCUIT Delia Hess Winner Fantoche International Animation Festival
FRIDAY 25th OCTOBER: SUMMERHALL
Doors Open 7:00pm – Programme starts 7:30pm
LOVE BE DAMNED – TICKETS
‘Love is patient, love is kind’. Whoever said that certainly hadn’t seen love through the lens of this evening’s stars. With a sprinkling of gothic folklore, surreal animation and zombie horror, love is a hopeless endeavour for all concerned. Whether damned in love, or love for the damned, the pain of affection can be a bitter pill to swallow.
Featuring the winner of the Canal+ prize at Europe’s biggest short film festival, Clermont-Ferrand, and the 2019 Cannes best student film winner. There’s also Poe-inspired Brazilian animation, Dutch and French drama, outlandish Spanish animation and Indian rom-com horror.
TIGRE Delphine Deloget UK PREMIERE Canal+ Winner Clermont-Ferrand Int. Short Film Festival 2019
FANTASTIC PLASTIC Sarah Tafel UK PREMIERE Nominated for the Shocking Short Award 2019
MANO A MANO Louise Courvoisier UK PREMIERE Winner Cinefondation, Cannes Film Festival 2019
ACCIDENT David Cocheret UK PREMIERE Winner of the Month, Shortcutz Amsterdam March 2019
LA LLORONA Harold Leonard UK PREMIERE Winner Best Foreign Short, Things To Fear Film Festival 2019
THE NIGHT Martín Romero UK PREMIERE Special Jury Mention, Short of the Year 2019, Spain
HORS SAISON Stella di Tocco UK PREMIERE
THE FEATHER PILLOW Joseph Specker Nys UK PREMIERE
FRIDAY 25th OCTOBER: AN TALLA, ISLE OF TIREE
*Satellite Event – Hosted by Screen Argyll*
Programme starts 6:30pm
Each year, we hold an official ESFF satellite event with Screen Argyll on the beautiful Isle of Tiree; and
we’re looking forward to entertaining the Isle with our 2019 batch of outstanding international short films.
The screening will bring some of our favourite short films to audiences on Tiree, from award-winning
Turkish & Irish animation to Argentinian sci-fi and Middle Eastern drama.
SATURDAY 26th OCTOBER: SUMMERHALL
Doors Open 7:00pm – Programme starts 7:30pm
COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS – TICKETS
Modern life is fast-paced, complicated, and too often focused on individualism. This programme is a cautionary tale of dystopian extremes, touching drama, and documentaries that hit close to home. Featuring award-winning Irish, Turkish, Taiwanese & Swiss animation, Ghanaian and Belgian drama, and some powerful and deeply moving Australian and UK documentary.
Hosted by Cyrenians homelessness charity, panel discussion follows the screening with guest Jamie Robson (Actor, Writer & Producer) Stephan Pierre Mitchell (Film-maker) and Ali Kerr of the Cyrenians; exploring the power of film to change society and to highlight how social policies and personal actions can combat exclusion.
For over 50 years Cyrenians have been delivering sustainable solutions for the causes and consequences of homelessness.
QUI VIVE Anaïs Debus UK PREMIERE
THE PEOPLE UNDER THE BRIDGE Andrew Seaton UK PREMIERE
THE BIRD & THE WHALE Carol Freeman Winner Best Animated Film, Young Director Awards, Cannes
UNREGISTERED Sophia Banks UK PREMIERE
SELFIES Claudius Gentinetta UK PREMIERE Winner Best Animation, San Francisco Film Festival 2019
AVARYA Gokalp Gonen UK PREMIERE Winner Best Short, Istanbul International Film Festival 2019
LIFE! Ramesh Jai Gulabrai UK PREMIERE Winner Best Drama, Topshorts 2019
GOLD FISH Fish Wang
DELETED Stephan Pierre Mitchell
FIRST ANIMATION SUNDAY 27th OCTOBER: EDINBURGH COLLEGE OF ART
O!PLA FESTIVAL (POLAND) Programme starts 14:30pm
O!PLA – TICKETS
A programme of Polish animation curated by O!PLA and featuring the winners of the
O!PLA National Polish Animation Festival.
With over 22,000 jury members, O!PLA is the world’s biggest grass-roots animation festival.
*Enter via Main Reception Entrance at the ECA*
ROUTINE Valeria Molchanova THE LORD OF THE EARTHWORM Mariusz Włodarski
HUNTING FOR A TIGER Maciej Buchwald DAD! Piotr Baranowski
25/25 Aga Jarząb, Maciek Bączyk WOOLWORLD Joanna Polak
CHRIST OF NATION Ewa Drzewicka CREATION Paweł Kleszczewski & Katarzyna Zimnoch
RHYTHM AND ARRHYTHMIA Jakub Rybak MARBLES Natalia Spychała
THAT NIGHTMARISH SUNDAY Kamil Wójcik DEITYS Łukasz Rusinek
BREAKFAST Bartosz Zarzycki YEAR Małgorzata Bosek-Serafińska
SUNDAY 27th OCTOBER: EDINBURGH COLLEGE OF ART
CEE ANIMATION FORUM (PRAGUE) Programme starts 19:30pm
CEE ANIMATION FORUM – TICKETS
Based in Prague, CEE Animation Forum, showcases the most talented animation
filmmakers from Central and Eastern Europe.
The programme focuses on extraordinary talents whose works promise successful future careers.
Brilliant 2D animations from across Czech Republic, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia and Slovakia.
TAKE ME PLEASE Olivér Hegyi CLOUDY Zuzana Čupová & Filip Diviak
DANCE OF LOVE Leo Černic APART Diana Cam van Nguyen
TWO FOR TWO Jelena Oroz UNSAFE LAND Marcell Szénási
I AM NOT PLAYING ANYMORE Matej Babic POETIKA ANIMA Kriss Sagan
BLESS YOU! Paulina Ziółkowska
FRIDAY 1st NOVEMBER: FILMHOUSE
Programme starts 8:45pm
EUROPEAN FILM FESTIVALS BEST FILMS NIGHT – TICKETS
We’re excited to welcome a magnificent 7 European Film Festival Directors and their award-winning short films!
Braving Brexit with their best films for Edinburgh’s very first post-Brexit European arts event (possibly!)
We’re delighted to welcome the Sardinia Film Festival, Shortcutz Amsterdam, Adriatic Film Festival, Florence’s FilmCorti, Balkans Beyond Borders Film Festival, hosted by Aidan Stanley of RTE.
Screening followed by a panel discussion.
SATURDAY 2nd NOVEMBER: SUMMERHALL
Doors Open 7:00pm – Programme starts 7:30pm
COPING MECHANISMS – TICKETS
With times as they are, we could all do with some tactics for getting by. Our programme looks at how people cope with trouble and strife, and explores the ways we find to overcome whatever life throws at us.
Strong Scottish talents are joined by award-winning offerings from Finland and Turkey, New Zealand’s best animation winner, along with outstanding documentary from Somalia, US comedy, dance from Scottish Ballet, and award-winning LGBT drama from Australia.
MIRO’S JOURNEY Zeynep Kececiler UK PREMIERE
CHIN UP Joanne Salmon Winner Best Online Production, Royal Television Society Award
THE NARRATOR Julia Trofimova UK PREMIERE
IN THE FALL Tom Gentle Winner Hilton Earl Memorial Award, Glasgow Short Film Festival 2019
TREMBLE Jessica Wright & Morgann Runacre-Temple
YOVARAS Ahmed Khadar UK PREMIERE
TRAP Paul James UK PREMIERE Honourable Mention, Los Angeles Animation Festival 2019
BUNNY Shaun Hughes Winner of the Celtic Media Festival Torc Award 2019
Si Sospetta Il Movente Passionale Con L’aggravante Dei Futili Motivi Cosimo Alemà ADRIATIC FILM FESTIVAL GUEST FILM
JOY BOY Stef Smith UK PREMIERE Winner Best Director/Best Screenplay/Audience Choice, Freshflix Film Festival 2019
SUNDAY 3rd NOVEMBER: SUMMERHALL
Doors Open 7:00pm – Programme starts 7:30pm
IN ? WE TRUST – TICKETS
Featuring a priest in Croatia with a sacrilegious desire for ice-cream, and a young girl who’s battling with the patriarchal structures of Catholicism. We explore the choices and internal tensions between religion and LGBT protagonists, and a modern nativity with much more swearing than the original.
Faith truly has hit the fan!
Including the 2019 Oscar winner for Best Short film, Winner of Best Short Animation at Paris Aniwow 2019 as well as Danish comedy-drama, German fantasy, US LGBT drama, and Croatian comedy.
WHEN FAITH HITS THE FAN Luna Hartvigsen & Thea Juul Blay UK PREMIERE
BAVURE Donato Sansone UK PREMIERE
TOMORROW MIGHT BE THE DAY Josefa Celestin
BLACK HAT Sarah Smith UK PREMIERE
CHAOS Samuel Auer UK PREMIERE
IN THE NAME OF THE STRAWBERRY, THE CHOCOLATE
& THE HOLY SPIRIT Karla Lulic UK PREMIERE Winner Best Int. Short Film, RIFF Rome Independent Film Festival 2018
PECCATRICE Karolina Porcari UK PREMIERE
BULLET TIME Frodo Kuipers SHORTCUTZ AMSTERDAM GUEST FILM
AFTER THE RAIN Valérian Desterne,Rebecca Black,Juan Olarte,Juan Pablo De La Rosa Zalamea, Carlos Osmar Salazar Tornero,
Lucile Palomino UK PREMIERE Winner Best Short Film Award, Aniwow Paris 2019
SKIN Guy Nattiv Best Live Action Short Film, 91st Academy Awards 2019
FRIDAY 8th NOVEMBER: FILMHOUSE
Programme starts 8:45pm
TEXAN NIGHTS – TICKETS
We’re delighted to present Texan Shorts, curated by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Prof. Paul Stekler.
Winner of 3 Emmy Awards and a special jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival, Prof. Stekler curates a programme of outstanding
short films from Texas for the 2019 ESFF. Including the Cannes award-winning drama ‘Skunk’, the moving and powerful documentary ‘219’
and a fine batch of some of the best short films this side of El Paso!
Interview with Prof Stekler follow the screening.
THREE AUGUST DAYS Madli Lääne UK PREMIERE Winner, International Short Festival 20minimax
SKUNK Annie Silverstein UK PREMIERE Winner Cinefondation, Cannes Film Festival
219 Ed Hancox BBC top ten most streamed on demand
JUNE Huay-Bing Law UK PREMIERE HBO APA Visionary Award
AT ARM’S LENGTH Dana Reilly UK PREMIERE Winner, Fastnet Film Festival
DEATH BY SCRIPT Jason Kessler UK PREMIERE Winner, LA Indie Film Festival
SATURDAY 9th NOVEMBER: SUMMERHALL
Doors Open 7:00pm – Programme starts 7:30pm
CONVENTIONALITY ISN’T ME – TICKETS
Why do things the convential way – when the opposite can be wildly more fun? Surrealist feminist artists with a story of global sisterhood,
a resourceful young woman kicking about junkyards in Tennessee; and a football team eschewing the traditional idea of identity. Leave your judgments at the door.
Time to go off-piste, with a programme that includes award-winning US and Scottish documentary, droll Dutch comedy, multi award-winning Italian animation, Scottish drama and experimental film. There’s uproarious Belgian comedy (and Brussels Short Film Festival award winner) and the Spanish Claymation winner at the Florida Animation Festival.
GLORIA’S CALL Cheri Gaulke UK PREMIERE Winner Grand Jury Award. Newport Beach Film Festival 2019
ON THE ROAD Blomme Molenstra UK PREMIERE
IL MONDIALE IN PIAZZA Vito Palmieri UK PREMIERE Winner Best Short, Settimo Short Film Festival 2018
MERCURIO Michele Bernardi UK PREMIERE Winner Best Short Film, Imaginaria Film Festival 2019
THE GLORIOUS PEANUT Fred De Loof UK PREMIERE Winner Le Prix Be Tv, Brussels Short Film Festival 2018
SLINGSHOT Robin Haig
SELF/CONSCIOUS Christina Webber
MUEDRA Cesar Diaz Melendez UK PREMIERE Winner Audience Award, Florida Animation Festival 2019
RETCH Keir Siewert
BOY AND THE SEA Sarahjane Swan & Roger Simian
WHAT IT FEELS LIKE Steven Fraser
MUNE Catalina Jordan Alvarez UK PREMIERE
AWARD CEREMONY & AWARDS NIGHT PARTY
Following the screening we’ll be presenting our Best Film, Best Animation and Best Scottish Film awards, while our infamous closing night party begins straight afterwards until 1am. Programme Tickets also valid for ceremony and party.
AWARDS CEREMONY & PARTY FOLLOWS THE SCREENING
Music by Brimstone & Blake
SECOND ANIMATION SUNDAY 10th NOVEMBER: EDINBURGH COLLEGE OF ART
BEST NEW SCOTTISH ANIMATION – Programme starts 18:30pm
BEST NEW SCOTTISH ANIMATION – TICKETS
The last day of a packed 2019 ESFF is at the Edinburgh College of Art for our second Animation Sunday.
We’re delighted to launch a new, annual strand of the ESFF focussing on the best in contemporary Scottish animation.
Some of the best new Scottish Animation talents, curated by the ECA Animation School & the ESFF.
*Enter via Main Reception Entrance at the ECA*
THE TANNERY Iain Gardner
FOX FIRES Keilidh Bradley
SHORT CHANGED Zoe Hutber Winner Best Picture, St Andrews Film Festival 2019
MONKEY LOVE EXPERIMENTS Ainslie Henderson and Will Anderson
“4:3” Ross Hogg
RODERICK Ania Leszczyńska
CLEANING IN PROGRESS Grant Holden
SPINDTHRIFT Selina Wagner
ALL SCREENINGS RECOMMENDED AGE 18+