The Smortlybacks

Freight

March 2019 •Serbian

An alien being fights to complete an impossible task. A metaphor for the emotional weight one carries within, and the hardships when striving to rid oneself of it.

Gu

January 2016 •Chinese

On a gloomy day, Gu takes a train back to his hometown for the first time in years to reunite with his wife and son, in court.

Trip to Australia

January 1989 •Greek

After 11-year-old Petros loses his father in a car accident in Melbourne, Australia, his mother decides to move the family to her homeland, Greece. Petros has been planning to run away from home ever since the big move. After persuading his classmate, Adonis, to join him, the two boys decide to make the journey to Australia together. Their parents look for the children all over Greece to no avail. The only one who knows the boys' whereabouts is their best friend, whom nobody believes. Petros and Adonis' pictures are published all over the press, but no one comes forward with any information. Meanwhile, the boys continue on their journey...

Birthday Wish

August 2014 •English

Starring Mike Brayden, Yvette Angulo and directed by Ryan Casselman. Birthdays can be tough. Often a reminder that our lives are moving at rapid speed, and while you may have aged a year older over night, you realize that not a whole lot else has changed. That is certainly the case with Jeff, a greeting card creative who has the 'birthday blues' and struggles to find someone to share his birthday with.

Revenger

January 1958 •

A film about an unhappy man who catches his wife with a lover. He leaves to buy a gun, while plotting to kill the wife and the lover. Based on a short story by Anton Chekhov.

Sir Ludwig's DuClaudian Twins are Alive & Well and Living in the Same Building

March 2019 •English

Sir Ludwig must keep the DuClaudian twins apart in order to stop the bloodline from ending.

Black and White Sylva

December 1962 •Czech

A character from a musical film falls into the real world in this short, predating similar films by Woody Allen (The Purple Rose of Cairo) and Wojciech Marczewski (Escape from the 'Liberty' Cinema).

Abel's Island

June 1988 •English

One summer afternoon in 1907, Abel and his wife (both mice) are picnicking, when they become separated during a violent rainstorm. After flying some distance, Abel discovers himself alone on a river island, unable to swim due to the powerful current. Abel periodically attempts to leave the island by various means: flying on a leaf, rowing a crudely fashioned boat, etc. Meanwhile, he tries to create a normal life of sorts, even learning to enjoy a new hobby: sculpture. Still, Abel's goal is to escape the island and rejoin his wife in the city.

The Runt

September 2006 •German

Hykade's third and final part of The Country Trilogy. The once dead father of "We Lived in Grass" returns. "I give you the runt," he says. "But you take care of it and you kill it next year."

Osamu and Musashi

April 1994 •Japanese

The animation was produced for the Tezuka Osamu Manga Museum, thus it features scenes from the "life and nature" of Tezuka Osamu's childhood, themes that are central to the museum as a whole, through exchanges between the boy Osamu and the carabid beetle (Osamushi) who provided the origin for the artist's name.

Stained Smell

February 2022 •Japanese

The film expresses the sense of being left behind. It stems from the realities of my childhood and how they did not match up with what I was feeling back then.

Fourth Period Swimming Class

February 2022 •Japanese

The fourth-grade protagonist is going through physical and emotional changes and feels awkward as she can't help but compare herself to her friends. One day, she is blown away by her classmate Aya's swimming and realizes that she has feelings for her.

nowhere

February 2022 •Japanese

Even though I feel like I'm living in the now, here, I think I just end up being in nowhere all the time. And in the nowhere, I find the now and the here.

The House of Loss

February 2022 •Korean

The elderly at the nursing home have their heads shaved. The protagonist who works there sees them but can't read their expressions. However, from one instance, he finds himself looking closely at their faces.

The Dream Report

July 2019 •English

A deadpan sci-fi, interweaving moments of familiar routine with esoteric messages from deep space.

Francis

September 2013 •English

Francis is a short story written by american novelist Dave Eggers. This is the story of a young boy growing up in the suburbs of chicago. He spent his vacations in Quetico Provincial Park, up on the border of Minnesota and Canada. But he won't be going back any day soon, not after what happened to a girl called Francis Brandywine.

Bliss

January 2001 •French

Marie, a pretty young woman, wanders through the aisles of a futuristic supermarket where everything, from the miracle pill to the virtual man, is for sale. Tonight, she's having a birthday party. She's invited a few old friends and their virtual companions. Everyone is young, beautiful and meek.

Before Dawn

February 2022 •Japanese

One cold and damp morning, two weasels were wandering the quiet streets. They get separated at one point but are reunited. Just then, bells and alarms began to ring through the city, and dawn came.

Xiao Lin

May 2021 •Chinese

Every gay person goes through a process of discovering their own identity. Caught between their truest self and the family and societal pressure around them, which should a college student still in the middle of this process choose? Details

Un

January 1974 •French