Prelude 14

The Apple(en)

A man's repeated attempts to retrieve an apple off a high tree branch all prove fruitless. What does he want the apple for? That would be telling.

Ad Astra(hu)

An impressive parable where the artist’s creativity is paralyzed by the dull crowd can be seen as a metaphor for a totalitarian system. Cleverly designed animation shows the artist as a tied man whose creativity is hindered by the crowd. A visually attractive film with very interesting editing won an award at the Annecy festival in 1983.

Golden Bird(hu)

Whispered to by an ancient tree, a young shepherd dreams of more than his simple existence among grass and sheep. The journey he embarks on brings him into contact with golden birds, a dragon and a fair damsel.

A Grand Day Out(en)

Wallace and Gromit have run out of cheese, and this provides an excellent excuse for the duo to take their holiday to the moon, where, as everyone knows, there is ample cheese. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive.

A Close Shave(en)

Wallace's whirlwind romance with the proprietor of the local wool shop puts his head in a spin, and Gromit is framed for sheep-rustling in a fiendish criminal plot.

Manivald(et)

Manivald is a fox in his early 30s. He is still living at home with his mother. One day a young hot wolf called Toomas comes to fix the washing machine. A love triangle develops between the three of them. Things get out of hand and Manivald realizes that it is time to move out.

Listen To Me Sing(en)

In a bleak hillside hotel, strange events are afoot, as something surprising drifts in on the mist… In this gorgeously made stop motion Animator, a lonely performer falls in love with a walrus. But her dreams of singing success may prove hopeless, as the audience has other plans. A deeply surreal but profoundly heartfelt film about finding your inner voice.

The Pocket Man(fr)

A little man lives in an old suitcase. One day he finds a new friend - an old blind man. The little man jumps into the blind man's pocket. With music, the pocket man helps the blind man walk and see things in the street. Both are very happy together.

Divisional Articulations(en)

Repetition and distortion drive this audiovisual collaboration between composer Lux Prima and visual artist Max Hattler, where fuzzy analogue music and geometric digital animation collide in an electronic feedback loop, spawning arrays of divisional articulations in time and space.

Mickey's Christmas Carol(en)

Ebenezer Scrooge is far too greedy to understand that Christmas is a time for kindness and generosity. But with the guidance of some new found friends, Scrooge learns to embrace the spirit of the season. A retelling of the classic Dickens tale with Disney's classic characters.

Belarusian Sayings(be)

This lively piece uses the traditional Belarusian vycinanka (papercut) style to illustrate eight well-known proverbs through humorous visual vignettes. To complement the folklore-based storytelling, it features music by ethno‑trio Troitsa.

Pilipka(be)

The Dream Merchant(en)

A dance of eclectic objects. A play of demented dolls, wheels, and geriatric clocks.

Rubato(en)

A street musician who lives in poverty and loneliness. After an encounter with a stray dog, his life is about to take another turn.

Clocky(fr)

A little clock is eager to ring for the first time. Will it arrive on time?

Napoleon: The Ticket(xx)

Follow Napoleon Bonaparte, everyone’s favorite vertically challenged dictator, as he learns to interact with the modern day world. When his trusty stead gets a parking ticket, Napoleon is forced to come to grips with his new stature in society.

Pow!(en)

A Native American kid scrambles to charge his dying video game console at a bustling intertribal powwow.

The New Species(cs)

Stumbling across a mysterious bone sparks the imagination of three kids, who decide to seek scholarly wisdom from a palaeontologist and see what clues they can dig up.

Yellow Fever(en)

What does beauty look like? In this award-winning short, Kenyan filmmaker Ng’endo Mukii combines animation, performance, and experimental techniques to create a visually arresting and psychologically penetrating exploration of the insidious impact of Western beauty standards and media-created ideals on African women’s perceptions of themselves. From hair-straightening to skin-lightening, YELLOW FEVER unpacks the cultural and historical forces that have long made Black women uncomfortable, literally, in their own skin.

Trip!-Trap!(ja)

In the darkness of a cave, one man who had never seen even his own figure found a hollow flooded with light. An expression of a chaotic world. This experimental graduation film is a mixture of different animation techniques

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - Tsuzumi Mansion Arc(ja)

Tanjiro ventures to the south-southeast where he encounters a cowardly young man named Zenitsu Agatsuma, a fellow survivor from Final Selection. His sparrow asks Tanjiro to help keep him in line. A recap of Kimetsu no Yaiba episodes 11–14, with new footage and special end credits.

The Wild Soccer Bunch 2(de)

An unsupervised junior soccer team loses its ace player to the leader of a rival gang. Since only an entire team can win, they must have her back to be able to win the game against the national team. The existence of The Wild Soccer Bunch is at stake ...

Gasping for Air(tl)

When his sister disappears after leaving their home in hopes of singing stardom, Luis tracks her down and discovers the grim reality of her whereabouts.

Kingdom III: The Flame of Destiny(ja)

To defend their kingdom against a sudden invasion, a mighty general returns to the battlefield alongside a war orphan, now grown up, who dreams of glory.

DFK6498(en)

Cameron Duncan wrote, directed and starred in this short film, the same year a lump in his knee turned out to be cancerous. Aged only 16, Duncan had already showcased his filmmaking talents on a series of award-winning short pieces made for Fair Go's annual programme devoted to commercials. With DFK6498, he channels his recent experiences into a short, stylishly-shot memoir of incarceration, frustration and freedom lost. The film went on to win a trio of awards at Wanganui's River City Film Festival and win praise from director Peter Jackson.

Ip Man: Kung Fu Master(zh)

Ip Man’s promising career as a Policeman is ruined after he is framed for murder and targeted by a mob boss’s daughter.

12(ar)

not there yet

Patriots Time(ru)

The brothers Sultan and Bekzat Ibrayev are serving faithfully in the Armed Forces of Kazakhstan, and at the same time they are in family disagreement. Sultan is a valiant intelligence officer and Bekzat is a talented fighter pilot. While an international terrorist organization prepares a carefully planned attack on the country's strategically important facilities, the brothers have to face not only a mortal threat, but also face a family confrontation related to their dead father. Circumstances force them to unite in order to save human lives, and the brothers eventually understand that their homeland and family are the most valuable thing they have.

Three Bedrooms, One Corpse: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery(en)

While Aurora "Roe" Teagarden searches for her piece of the American dream, she decides to test the waters of the family business - real estate sales. Only thing is there's a dead body in the first house she shows. When a second body shows up in another home, Roe realizes there's more to real estate than she thought.

Man(en)

An experimental film through the eyes of a man

13 Exorcisms(es)

After participating in a séance, young Laura begins to behave strangely. Alarmed, her parents ask Father Olmedo, one of the few exorcists authorized by the Vatican to intervene in cases of demonic possession, for help.

Mavka: The Forest Song(uk)

Mavka, a Soul of the Forest, faces an impossible choice between love and her duty as Guardian of the Heart of the Forest when she falls for a human, a talented young musician named Lukas.

Home(en)

An ex-felon returns home from prison and must confront the demons of his past.

Man(en)

Maggie and her sister form an unusual bond during an encounter with a young man.

Beast(ta)

A former RAW officer, who is among the hostages in a mall taken over by terrorists, has to foil their plans and prevent the government from releasing a dreaded terrorist, who he had helped put in prison at great personal cost.

12(tl)

Anton and Erika started out as friends for five years and got into a romantic relationship for seven years. Anton is a commercial director while Erika is a former band member and becomes his stay-at-home partner. The day finally comes when he asks her to marry him.

Scooby-Doo! Haunted Holidays(en)

Scooby-Doo and the gang participate in a toy store's holiday parade where they discover the abandoned haunted clock tower with a troubled past. A sinister snowman haunts the streets and accompanied with a large blizzard, threatens to close down the toy store for good.

12(xx)

An old Finnish athlete travels alone through eastern Europe with his van.