RULE THE W(NaN)

Lolita ou le Bréviaire des Simulacres(fr)

The Science of Sleep(fr)

A man entranced by his dreams and imagination is lovestruck with a French woman and feels he can show her his world.

Hisser(en)

The story told in Hisser was inspired by a true occurrence. In 2013, a young man in Florida was literally "swallowed up by the earth" when a cesspool suddenly opened up under his bedroom. The film's main setting is a bedroom by night. From the way it was shot, the viewer has the feeling of peering into an abandoned life-size dollhouse. Other sequences show close-up views of a young man lying on a bed with a tormented look on his face or cowering in a corner. The scene is accompanied by an exaggeratedly romantic song whose refrain – "It took me so long to get my feet back off the ground" – alludes to the loss of a loved one and a sense of abysmal loneliness. The song's emotionality contrasts starkly with the artificiality of the scene. The boundary between reproduction and reality grows fluid, and the virtuality – which the artist has carried to a near- perfect extreme – begins to crumble in view of the protagonist's physical and emotional frailty.

Outside The Box - Short(en)

Xing, a young artist struggles to balance his passion for art with the expectations imposed on him by his single mother. Personal aspirations and family are put into question when despite her disapproval, Xing participates in an art contest in an attempt to change his mother's mind.

Sztuka umierania(pl)

Hannah and Her Sisters(en)

Between two Thanksgivings, Hannah's husband falls in love with her sister Lee, while her hypochondriac ex-husband rekindles his relationship with her sister Holly.

Naked Times(en)

Made for straight 8's 2019 competition on one cartridge of super 8mm film with only in-camera edits and no post-production. This film follows two naked people who meet at a café, fall in love, and decide to dress each other in clothes.

As Dreamers Do(en)

The early life of Walt Disney is explored in this family film with an art house twist. Though his reality was often dark, it was skewed by his ever growing imagination and eternal optimism.

Notes on a Scandal(en)

A veteran high school teacher befriends a younger art teacher, who is having an affair with one of her 15-year-old students. However, her intentions with this new "friend" also go well beyond platonic friendship.

Ask This of Rikyu(ja)

Sen no Rikyu (Ebizo Ichikawa) is the son of a fish shop owner. Sen no Rikyu then studies tea and eventually becomes one of the primary influences upon the Japanese tea ceremony. With his elegant esthetics, Sen no Rikyu is favored by the most powerful man in Japan Toyotomi Hideyoshi (Nao Omori) and becomes one of his closest advisors. Due to conflicts, Toyotomi Hideyoshi then orders Sen no Rikyu to commit seppuku (suicide). Director Mitsutoshi Tanaka's adaptation of Kenichi Yamamoto's award-winning novel of the same name received the Best Artistic Contribution Award at the 37th Montréal World Film Festival, the Best Director Award at the 2014 Osaka Cinema Festival, the 30th Fumiko Yamaji Cultural Award and the 37th Japan Academy Film Prize in nine categories, including Best Art Direction, Excellent Film and Excellent Actor.

Inspiration(en)

Leia can't seem to find anything in her surroundings that would help her get some inspiration for her drawing. She feels stuck and burnt out until she has a dream that finally gives her the motivation she needed. She then realizes that you can't force art, it comes unexpectedly and naturally.

Semi Colin(en)

Challenging all notions of genre, Semi Colin is a living, breathing art installation. Part performance, part art, part social comment, Colin philosophizes on his life's obsessive work as an erotic artist.

Poison Ivy 2: Lily(en)

A young and naive college art student becomes obsessed with assuming the identity and personality of a departed coed who used to live in her room, and in so doing causes complications that result in two men, a student and her art professor, lusting after her.

Hidden Away(it)

The film tackles the life journey of Toni Ligabue, visionary naïf painter who used to draw tigers, lions and jaguars while living among the poplar trees of the boundless Po valley. A harsh life that is a fairy tale too, as a lonely and marginalized kid finds redemption in his art, and a way to express himself and be admired by the world.

The Perfect Guy(en)

An illustrator can't find the perfect guy, so she draws her own.

Night Before the Morning Sun(en)

Suzanne is waking up. In the fleeting moments before she forgets her dreams, she searches her subconscious for an answer to the question on the tip of her tongue. But can Suzanne learn to break free of her suspended state of being? Inspired by the Edward Hopper painting 'Morning Sun.'

Dragons Forever(cn)

A hot-shot lawyer is hired by a Hong Kong chemical plant to dispose of opposition to their polluting ways. But when he falls for a beautiful woman out to stop the plant, he is torn in a conflict of interest and asks his trusty friends Samo and Biao to help out at least until they discover the true purpose of the plant.

KATHARSIS(pt)

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters(en)

A fictional account of the life of Japanese author Yukio Mishima, combining dramatizations of three of his novels and a depiction of the events of November 25th, 1970.

Downtown '81(en)

The film is a day in the life of a young artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat, who needs to raise money to reclaim the apartment from which he has been evicted. He wanders the downtown streets carrying a painting he hopes to sell, encountering friends, whose lives (and performances) we peek into.