Couch Destruction: Angel Release(2017)

Ten Canoes(en)

A story within a story within a story. In Australia's Northern Territory, an Aboriginal narrator tells a story about his ancestors on a goose hunt. A youngster on the hunt is being tempted to adultery with his elder brother's wife, so an elder tells him a story from the mythical past about how evil can slip in and cause havoc unless prevented by virtue according to customary tribal law.

The Secret of Roan Inish(en)

Ten-year-old Fiona is sent to live with her grandparents in a small fishing village in Donegal, Ireland. She soon learns the local legend that an ancestor of hers married a Selkie – a seal who can turn into a human. Years earlier, her baby brother was washed out to sea and never seen again, so when Fiona spies a naked little boy on the abandoned Isle of Roan Inish, she is compelled to investigate.

The Snow Walker(en)

A bush pilot in nothern Canada who with the aid of modernity thinks he can handle it all & knows it all. After reluctantly agreeing to transport a local indian girl to a medical facility his light plane crashes & they have to survive whilst finding their way back to civilization. Along the journey the man finds a new respect for the native ways as they battle to survive the elements.

The Fall(en)

In a hospital on the outskirts of 1920s Los Angeles, an injured stuntman begins to tell a fellow patient, a little girl with a broken arm, a fantastic story about 5 mythical heroes. Thanks to his fractured state of mind and her vivid imagination, the line between fiction and reality starts to blur as the tale advances.

Sanning/Lögn(sv)

Names Live Nowhere(fr)

A Senegalese storyteller travels to Belgium and observes the lives of African expatriates in Europe. Dreams and struggles great and small are explored.

Last Film Show(gu)

A 9-year-old boy in a remote village in India begins a lifelong love affair with cinema when he bribes his way into a rundown movie palace and spends a summer watching movies from the projection booth.

Who Killed Mrs De Ropp?(en)

On a train journey, Saki meets Mrs De Ropp, an oppressive aunt and guardian to an unruly brood. Inspired by the meeting, he imagines a tale of repressed children who find solace in their childish wonder, and are saved by their imagination.

The Brown Spider(pt)

Lydia (Giuly Biancato) is an aspiring writer kidnapped by Zikto (Renet Lyon), a giant Brazilian brown spider. Every night, she must tell a different story in order to get back her freedom. After many attempts, one story will remain: her own.

Sita Sings the Blues(en)

Utilizing the 1920s jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw, the epic Indian tale of exiled prince Ramayana and his bride Sita is mirrored by a spurned woman's contemporary personal life, and light-hearted but knowledgeable discussion of historical background by a trio of Indian shadow puppets.

The Opening(pl)

A gallery owner is opening an unusual exhibition: An artist who is terminally ill wishes to die in front of an audience.

House of Flesh Mannequins(en)

A loner artist with a history of abuse meets a beautiful woman who takes an interest in his life and work; leading to a chilling path of tragedy.

Live!(en)

A mockumentary following an ambitious TV network executive trying to produce a controversial reality show where contestants play Russian Roulette.

Ashes(en)

Christian, a young man from the city, travels to a town in Zaragoza, Spain of his recently-deceased father to throw his ashes and give a final farewell. He arrives to find the town abandoned years ago by everyone, leaving their houses to slowly crumble into memory, in search of better opportunities. Yet, one resident remains. An eccentric and wild man who has chosen to live alone in nature, to protect the remains of the village from the pillagers that often drive by in search of valuable artefacts. Their encounter will force Christian to confront his father's identity and perhaps finally understand why his father was the way he was.

Cracks(en)

Jealousy flares after the headmistress of an elite boarding school for girls becomes obsessed with a new student.

On a Paving Stone Mounted(en)

An impressionistic look at Irish emigrants in London, representing the emigrant's journey, a confusion of anticipation, memories and experience.

Travellers and Magicians(dz)

A young government official, named Dondup, who is smitten with America (he even has a denim gho) dreams of escaping there while stuck in a beautiful but isolated village. He hopes to connect in the U.S. with a visa out of the country. He misses the one bus out of town to Thimphu, however, and is forced to hitchhike and walk along the Lateral Road to the west, accompanied by an apple seller, a Buddhist monk with his ornate, dragon-headed dramyin, a drunk, a widowed rice paper maker, and his beautiful daughter, Sonam.

Vanitas(pt)

"Vanity of vanities, everything is vanity" says the bible. The word flows from the tongue naming the pleasure of earthly life and judging it as beautiful, but shallow and useless; vanity is a deadly sin. A female sin. The man painted the woman, put a mirror in his hands and called it vanity. The woman in representation admires herself, but the one who really admires her body is the artist. Whose vanity? In VANITAS, we re-divide the woman in our bodies, showing the depth of what is palpable. If the Father's temple hides after death, clean and perfect, we reject them. We welcome Mother Nature in us, life-death in a perpetual sacred cycle, also honoring her dark face. You may wish to reach heaven, but it is on earth that your knees fall.

White Rabbit(en)

A dramatic comedy following a Korean American performance artist who struggles to be authentically heard and seen through her multiple identities in modern Los Angeles.

All Smiles and Sadness(en)

McGuire constructs a murky black and white soap-opera world of endless, timeless, and placeless limbo, where the characters talk to each other entirely in clichés, bad poetry, and other contrite forms of speech — a short TV show in which nothing is resolved. The video culminates in an absolutely stunning monologue performance by legendary underground film and videomaker George Kuchar.