16.04. ‐ 21.04.2024
INternational SHorts Liebe

International Shorts - Love

“LOVE is a losing game” is a good song and may contain some truth. In our LICHTER INTERNATIONAL SHORTS LOVE/LIEBE we will present short films that deal with the reality and fantasy of love in romantic, familial and social relationships which can have both happy and painful consequences for the people involved.

Curated by Saul Judd

More information Lichter FilmfestLichter Filmfest

Country Germany, Sweden, Ukraine, Greece
Year 2022 - 2023
Duration 60 min
Language German, Greek, Swedish, Urkainian with English subtitles

2gether by Kim Ekberg: Sweden, 2022, 14 min

2gether is a “Semi-abstract youtuber-breakup feelgood short film” with a poetic and funny take on relationships’ fortunes and misfortunes. 2gether has been screened at several international festivals among them the 39th Kasseler Dokfest and 41th Uppsala Kortfilmsfestival. Kim Ekberg is a director, artist, colorist, editor, composer and film critic. Very much interested in analog media, hand developing, 16mm in particular. He established and runs PostPost film productions with Hannah Wiker Wikström & Sawandi Groskind.


IT’S A DATE by Nadia Parfan: Ukraine - 2023, 5 min.

How much risk you are willing to take for a date. A car races at breakneck speed through Kyiv at dawn. Filmed from a subjective camera angle in a single unedited shot It’s a Date is a contemporary remake of Claude Lelouch’s film C’était un rendez-vous, which captures the emotions in a state of emergency caused by the war.

Nadia Parfan studied cultural studies, anthropology and urbanism. From 2014 to 2015 she took a documentary directing course at Wajda School. Her student film REVE TA STOHNE ON TOUR premiered at Warsaw IFF and her film HEAT SINGERS (2019) premiered at Visions du Réel and both were selected at festivals around the world. She is a creative producer of the MyStreetFilmsUkraine series and a co-founder of the 86 Festival and the Phalanstery Films production company. IT'S A DATE has its premiere at the 73th Berlinale.


AIRHOSTESS-737 by Thanasis Neofotistos: Greece - 2022, 16 Min.

Airhostess-737 is about the life journey of a 39-year-old flight attendant, Vanina, who tries hard to hide her obvious discomfort. Everyone seems genuinely worried about her while she goes on complaining about her new braces. She blames her mother for not taking care of her teeth when she should have.

Thanasis Neofotistos is a film director, writer and architect from Greece. He is a member of the European Film Academy, a Berlinale Talents alumnus and Head Programmer of Student Int’l Competition of Drama International Short FF. His short films have premiered and won awards amongst others at Venice FF, Locarno IFF, Toronto TIFF and Clermont-Ferrand. Airhostess-737 (2022) had its World Premiere at 75th Locarno FF 2022 - Official Competition and was selected at TIFF.


Sonic Reverbs by Sarnt Utamachote: Germany - 2022, 22 Min.

With Sonic Reverbs the director, writer and queer activist Sarnt Utamachote ask and successfully answer the questionWhat does it mean to listen while being vulnerable? Taking the concept "music as a gift", four Berlin-based migrant queer musicians surprised their close friends or relatives with a special song, which then triggered a moment of deep appreciation between them.” This short film documentary shows through conversations and very intime images the real possibility of togetherness for a community. And "reverberations" (physical phenomena) can play a very important part in it.

Sarnt Utamachote (ษาณฑ์ อุตมโชติ) is a Southeast Asian nonbinary filmmaker and curator based in Berlin. They are a co-founder of un.thai.tled, an artist collective from the German-Thai diaspora, and have curated many film events and exhibitions regarding postcolonial histories, the Southeast Asian diaspora and activism. This includes the recent research-based exhibition “Where is my karaoke? Still, we sing” (2022) in Leipzig, “Beyond the kitchen: Stories from the Thai Park” (2020), and the annual Celestial Festival in Berlin. Sonic Reverbs (2022), ‘I Am Not Your Mother’ (2020) and ‘Soy Sauce’ (2020) have been screened internationally.



International Shorts

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