About Women<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
From the harrowing experiences of girls on the cusp of womanhood, to middle-aged women trying to redefine themselves, and older women reflecting on their youth — this year’s International Short Film Competition presents a number of moving stories about femininity across generations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1950s America, schools routinely screened “educational” films that promoted an idealised image of womanhood. A capable and well-groomed housewife whose chief aspiration was to marry well. Jan Krawitz has woven fragments of these films into her short documentary essay<\/span> Nice Girls Don’t Ask<\/i><\/b>, a work that feels disturbingly pertinent at a time when women’s rights are once again at the centre of political debate. In <\/span>Beyond Eden<\/i><\/b>, we meet women who skipped class or whose rebellious spirits made them immune to the propaganda of such patriarchal imagery. In the 1970s, a group of American lesbians sought to create a world without men. Over fifty years later, Al Johnstone visits their commune with a camera in hand, offering a glimpse into an ageing community of women supporting one another. The mother depicted in the animated documentary <\/span>Mama Micra<\/i><\/b> might have become friends with them. Before marriage, the protagonist of Rebekka Blöcher ’s film travelled the world and lived a rather unconventional life. Even after starting a family, she couldn’t stand being stuck at home and soon took off again — her absence leaving a void in her daughter’s life. The protagonist of<\/span> The Pool or Death of a Goldfish<\/i><\/b> seems to be a total opposite.<\/span> The girl has long played the role of the obedient daughter — the metaphorical goldfish — fulfilling her parents’ wishes, suppressing her own desires, and gradually erasing herself. But long repressed emotions begin to pour over her like water in a pool, making her face with a dilemma: do you drown in your own tears and unspoken sorrow or kill the “goldfish” within and reclaim your freedom? <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n The story of animator Kate Nartker’s own great-grandmother inspired her unique woven short <\/span>Whose Woods Are These<\/i><\/b>. Barefoot walks on the grass, berry picking, the eerie hoot of an owl, quietly observing a wolf — nothing foretold what was to come. The woman entered the forest and never returned. The young patient in <\/span>Living Stones<\/i><\/b> steps into a metaphorical darkness.<\/span> Plagued by nightmares, she confides in her therapist, each session taking her deeper into increasingly darker recesses of her subconscious. Jakob Ladányi Jancsó skilfully interweaves the present with the protagonist’s troubled past in a story that will feel painfully familiar to countless young women. The 17-year-old Moroccan girl contending with depression and the suffocating constraints of patriarchy and tradition could end up on a similar therapy couch. <\/span>Aicha<\/i><\/b>, directed by Sanaa El Alaoui’s, is a moving portrait of women living in a dangerous world. Here, the violence is presented with great subtlety through animation made by Tomek Popakul and Kasumi Ozeki. Rein Maychaelson is much more direct in portraying violence against women in <\/span>Sammi, Who Can Detach His Body Parts<\/i><\/b>. <\/b>A mother learns of her son’s death. The young man had a unique ability to detach his limbs, and, moved by compassion, he would share parts of his body with those in need — one of whom was his beloved. The girl ultimately uses his “gift” to exact revenge on her abuser. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Danger, however, may come from places you least expect – a notion explored in Lea Favre’s animated short. A young Swiss filmmaker embarks on a “hunt”, in search of the perfect subject for her next project. She eventually “captures” a compelling figure, and the titular <\/span>Hunting<\/i><\/b> seems a success — until, of course, it isn’t. Appearances can be deceiving, as underscored in Daria Kopiec’s film. The provocative <\/span>It’s All Because Of Her<\/i><\/b> follows a controlling mother and widow who has never recovered from her husband’s death and is desperate to forge a bond with her teenage son. Under the cloak of online anonymity, she assumes the identity of a young girl – and boundaries are soon going to be crossed. In her short project <\/span>Wassupkaylee<\/i><\/b>, Pepi Ginsberg questions whether any boundaries still exist, especially in the world of online influencers. Her protagonist finds herself in a house tailor-made for people like her – for whom likes and shares are everything. It is precisely such a world that the titular heroine of Laura Thomassaint’s <\/span>Amelia Starlight<\/i><\/b> seems to have fled. The film stars French cinema icon Emmanuelle Béart as the eponymous singer. She has retreated from public life years ago. The terminally ill star decides to make one final television appearance. Perhaps one of the two protagonists in Rongfei Guo’s documentary <\/span>Becoming a Film Director<\/i><\/b> might one day make a film about her. <\/span>The director follows their journey from initial concept to production, asking questions about the meaning of creation and revealing the everyday struggles women striving to reconcile artistic ambition with the burdens of daily life must face<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n About Men<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Complex family and social relationships, traumas that cast long shadows over relationships, and passions that offer respite in the darkest hours of life. This year’s contenders for the Golden Dragon are exploring masculinity and its snares in unexpected ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Joel tears through the city on a motorbike like a hero from an ’80s action film. He only ever wanted to fix cars, but instead he’s “cleaning up” the mess his clients leave. When he leaves a family celebration to take on yet another dirty job, he starts having second thoughts. Esteban Azuela and Luce Grosjean’s animated film <\/span>Aferrado<\/i><\/b> pulses to a disco beat. It’s an animation set in a dystopian, glitch-infused world about a man crumbling under the weight of a world filled with violence. Cruelty and killing are familiar territory for Nadav, the protagonist of <\/span>Elephant in the Desert<\/i><\/b>, directed by Yael Nivron<\/span>. <\/b>He refuses to share the horrors of his past with the woman he loves. She can only begin to imagine the things he did in the Israeli military. Unspoken sentences and unaddressed traumas begin to erode their relationship. Jay Rosenblatt stands at the other end of the spectrum from Nadav. A master of avant-garde cinema, he once again turns the camera on himself. Together with his partner <\/span>Stephanie Rapp, he shares a profoundly intimate moment from their life<\/span>. Filmed 25 years ago,<\/span> Heartbeat<\/i><\/b> is a raw recording of a couple navigating the emotional turbulence of impending parenthood. But what happens when the children arrive – and the relationship is falling apart? Winter vacation in the Alps, family competitions, fooling around on the slope and a father with a camera to record their last holiday together. <\/span>Last Snows<\/i><\/b> by Sarah Henochsberg is a subtle film where the issue between the parents do not dominate the emotions of their adolescent daughters.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Two next films focus on talented dancers. In the fiction film <\/span>The Prince<\/i><\/b>, Alex Sardà tells the story of Artur, a talented performer from a wealthy family. Right before an important performance, his father is accused of serious financial crimes, which may jeopardise the future of the entire family. Artur becomes their last hope, expected to let go of his own integrity and remain loyal to his corrupt relatives. On the other hand, the documentary <\/span>A Quiet Storm<\/i><\/b> by Benjamin Nicolas introduces us to a loving family. The 14-year-old <\/span>Maïto is exceptionally gifted, and his skills become not just an outlet for stress but a means of communicating with his deaf sister. Raised in a home where the needs of his disabled sister had always come first, his dancing became a way of reminding his overworked mother that he, too, was there. A completely ordinary 11-year-old boy is the focus of <\/span>Nurlan Hasanli. <\/span>The kid from <\/span>Early Feelings<\/i><\/b>, like all his friends, lives for football and takes every opportunity to play with his buddies. Their routine is interrupted by the sudden death of a neighbour and funeral ceremony where he notices a certain beautiful girl. Kaali, the teenager in the Greenlandic film <\/span>The Thief<\/i><\/b>, found the love of his life in his dog. When she goes missing, he’s desperate to find her – was she caught by animal control? Or, perhaps, someone stole her? Christoffer Rizvanovic Stenbakken offers an unexpected answer.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n There are more and more towns like this. Most residents have already left, those who remain are strongly considering doing the same. Lenz refuses to dwell on it. He’d rather pine for his colleague and watch the local men burn tyres and drink. <\/span>The Last People<\/i><\/b> by Nicolás Pindeus is a melancholic portrait of a vanishing world, where even alpha males have no chance of survival. Themes of departure also echo through <\/span>Mother’s House<\/i><\/b>, a Korean animation by Changsoo Kim<\/span>. <\/b>Young-soo places his mother, suffering from Alzheimer’s, in a care home. Driving back home, he runs over a bizarre pair of sheep – a mother and son who resemble humans. As he tries to help the mother-sheep, he begins to understand the difficulty of his current situation. That kind of awareness is entirely absent in <\/span>Sweden<\/i><\/b>, directed by Nik Azad, where a man finds himself in an office filled with documents and inhabited by weary clerks. His papers are missing the essential identification number, his case grinds to a halt, and he himself ends up trapped in the office for good. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n About the World Around Us<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n There are topics you simply cannot escape from. The war just beyond our border, growing economic inequality, the climate disaster, and the resulting refugee crisis. To survive, we seek help – though it doesn’t always bring the results we expect. June 2023. Over a year since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, war is still on the streets. Yet Kyiv’s Natural History Museum grants children a brief respite. A teacher guides them through a world that existed millions of years ago — one untouched by war — offering a fleeting moment of life without fear. In <\/span>Paleontology Lesson<\/i><\/b>, Sergei Loznitsa asks whether escaping into the past can help us face the present. In the same city, a bakery employs people with disabilities. Director Sofiia Buhrii’s film <\/span>I<\/b>n 769 km, New York<\/i><\/b> captures their daily work and how their bread reaches those in greatest need – the people living closest to the front line. <\/span>The protagonists of <\/span>Look Homeward<\/i><\/b> by Artem Rachkelyuk, now living in Poland, have a different perspective. By sending Vlad and his younger sister abroad, their parents wanted to keep them safe, but the ongoing war give them peace of mind. After more than 80 years Maja Górczak returns to other tragic memories in the documentary <\/span>As Long As They Don’t Find Us<\/i><\/b>.<\/span> Composed of archival footage, it’s a portrait of Stefania Świeca, one of the first female film directing students at the Łódź Film School, whose promising career was cut short by World War II.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n The tense documentary <\/span>Citizen-Inmate<\/i><\/b> sees director Hesam Eslami<\/span> expose the mechanisms of digital surveillance inside Tehran’s prisons. The film poses a universal question: in a world of constant monitoring, is it still possible to reclaim control over one’s own life? A potential answer comes in the animated <\/span>World at Stake<\/i><\/b> by Susanna Flock, Adrian Jonas Haim, and Jon Kleinlein. Borrowing footage from popular video games like FIFA, PGA Tour, and Dirt Rally, the animation addresses issues far beyond the sporting arena. It’s a story about pressure and powerlessness against a world that requires constant victory and making the right decisions all the time. It’s the latter that the protagonists of <\/span>Tears<\/i><\/b> have to face<\/span>. <\/b>In this collage animation, director Paulina Ziółkowska shows a carousel of people, opportunities, and destinations, and making a choice is inevitable. The freedom to choose becomes a heavy burden. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Oppositions lie at the heart of <\/span>Urban Duo<\/i><\/b> – a supermarket or a corner grocer? Plastic egg trays or wicker basket? Lift or stairs? Two protagonists, worlds apart in wealth, live in the same town but their everyday lives could not be more different. The animated film by HongYu Yue contemplates urban design, ecology, and our place in a world that is only going faster. But for the elderly woman in <\/span>The Granny and Fishes<\/i><\/b>, there’s no choice left. Living near a dried-up, deserted area near Hamun Lake in Iran, she is waiting for water promised by Afghanistan. It never arrived. In consequence, 300 villages were evacuated after the lagoon disappeared entirely. The titular granny in <\/span>Maria Mavati and Eshan Farokhi Fard’s<\/span> documentary remains the region’s sole inhabitant. Perhaps there are others displaced by the same drought among the refugees at the Poland-Belarus border. In <\/span>Bloodline<\/i><\/b>, Wojciech Węglarz draws an unexpected parallel between the plight of people separated from their families and that of a solitary bison. What begins as background detail soon becomes just as important as the central narrative. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Thank You Dr. Farsi<\/i><\/b> takes the audience on a psychedelic trip deep into the uncharted territory of the human mind. Mino, calmed down by a doctor’s recommendations, begins to see that mental health struggles affect everyone, not just her. On her birthday, she takes a closer look at her guests’ inner battles – traumas, anxieties, depressions. Her “diagnoses” in the animated film appear as bold, hallucinatory visions. Swirling figures, pulsing neon colours, and a voiceover combine to form a crazy and introspective tale about our psyche and attempts at finding balance. <\/span>Perhaps Dr Farsi would also have some advice for the mother and daughter in <\/span>Still Moving<\/i><\/b> by Rui Ting Ji. <\/span>In the midst of moving house, the older woman reassures the younger that they are going to settle in at the new place soon. But the journey itself is not the only difficulty they have to overcome — tension builds between them, too. Maybe they’d be better off in the muddy dreamscape of <\/span>Dea Tcholokava’s documentary. In the film <\/span>What Does The Mud Whisper<\/i><\/b> a small girl becomes a guide through a mythic and mysterious place where you can breathe freely. There’s refuge too in the swamps of Suresh Eriyat’s <\/span>Croak Show<\/i><\/b>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.krakowfilmfestival.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/konkurs-krotkometrazowy-5.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.krakowfilmfestival.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/konkurs-krotkometrazowy-4.jpg\")
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![Kadr z filmu \"Rozdarcia\" przypominający swego rodzaju abstrakcyjny kolaż głównie w kolorach czerwieni, niebieskiego oraz bieli. Po lewej stronie widzimy postać opierającą się wysoko uniesionymi rękoma o ścianę. Odrobinę dalej przedstawiona jest dwójka postaci - jedna z nich trzyma drugą na rękach.](\"https:\/\/www.krakowfilmfestival.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/konkurs-polski-8.jpg\")
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![Kadr z filmu \"Bloodline\" w bardzo jasnych odcieniach. Uwagę przyciąga widoczne w oddali stado żubrów.](\"https:\/\/www.krakowfilmfestival.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/konkurs-polski-33.jpg\")
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