Elevator Alone

Nominated for Best Animated Film

Director: Anastasia Papadopoulou

4' • Greece • 2021 • No Dialogue

Four people and the time they spend in an elevator. Inspired by everyday life and by the difference in people's behavior when they are alone, in contrast to the socially acceptable behavior that individuals adopt when in public space and especially in the confined and always awkward setting of an elevator.

A quiet neighborhood

Nominated for Best Hungarian Film

Director: Varga Gábor

12' • Hungary • 2020 • Hungarian

András spent his whole life trying to build a stable home for his son, but when he stumbles upon Kristóf's deepest secret, their relationship is tested. Can they connect with each other for the first time in their life now, when they only have a few months left?

Full Circle

Nominated for Best Animated Film

Director: Yeow Su Xian (Shu)

11' • Singapore • 2021 • English

Full Circle is an animated short film that presents the Moon and Earth’s relationship through a narrative medium. It journeys through a sleepless night, conquering the semi-conscious moonlit world and the retrospective nature of the night. The personal stories of twenty experts and enthusiasts in astronomical fields construct the narrative and its landscapes — coffee tables, paper planes, corridors, among other things. This anecdotal format seeks to present science through the eyes of humanity, prompting the audience to experience scientific information through the familiar mundanity of life. The humanistic vision of science acts as a launchpad for curiosity and allows the audience to access science through their own experiential libraries.

The Swap

Nominated for Best Comedy

Directors: Chloé Dumond & Ananda Henry-Biabaud

11' • France • 2021 • French

Sonia, 40 years old, single, decides to exchange sperme for a thesis correction in order to have a child.

27 STEPS

Nominated for Best Documentary Short

Director: Andrea Schramm

21' • Germany • 2021 • German

On the first day of the Corona lockdown, the director's father is picked up by an ambulance. He dies shortly thereafter. Mother and daughter mourn in the parental apartment, isolated on 49 square meters — and connected to the outside world only by telephone. With painful intimacy, these phone calls exemplify the loneliness of the mourners in pandemic times. Photographic images of the desolate apartment are marked by an intense geometric strictness, which, in spite of the confinement, also creates a certain distance to the inevitable. “27 STEPS" thus leaves room for interpretation and deals with a universal question: How does isolation affect us when we are dependent on solace and help?

Primal Therapy

Nominated for Best Comedy

Director: Santtu Salminen

19' • Finland • 2021 • Finnish

A middle-aged man on the verge of a burnout seeks new energy through a very special form of self help therapy.

Letting go

Nominated for Best Animated Film

Director: Cécile Brun

7' • Switzerland • 2019

"Lah gah" lets us dive into sunny childhood memories, when a girl is singing and cooking with her father. An intimate moment, so simple. But they’re swept along by the wafting mass of dough into the emotional depths of loss and disappearance; Helpless, the child is trying to grasp what is not tangible.