The Other Side of Despair (Switzerland) by Varsy Buchmann

"The Other Side of Despair" is a moving portrait of a young Armenian artist, Art Petrosyan, who sets fire to his own paintings. Shot during a time of profound loss and upheaval in the aftermath of the forced deportation of 110,000 people from Artsakh, it provides a unique and thought-provoking perspective on the relationship between art, identity, and the struggle for survival.

Running time: 00:08:30

First Night (United States) by Haneol Lee

A newly immigrated Korean father goes into a deli trying to order food for his family– only with the help of a dictionary.

Running time: 00:11:43

The Cascade  (Mexico) by Pablo Delgado

A man discovers he's been crying for several months without even noticing. Strangely, his tear ducts have decided to work in an inverse manner, transforming his interiors into a waterfall. The man will have to find a way to stop a cry that he can't even feel.

Running time: 00:20:00

The Core (Romania) by Robert Obert

This short animated film illustrates a common consciousness from which materialized instances of feminine and masculine emerge, only to morph again into a single core. It is a metaphor of a love connection between two partners, fueled from the same source, but also for the power of creation that consciousness holds. This  also collects and shows sections of each partner’s transformation process, revealing and underlining that everything begins and ends from and into a single point, it shows the nucleus of narratives from each individual,  their symbiosis and eventually their exit. The author considers this animation a meta frame where we can be spectators to a process of creation and emotion.

Running time: 00:01:11

The Light (Hong Kong) by Angus Wong

A middle-aged man and a young girl meet at the seaside in Hong Kong and they share their thoughts on different things in life.

Running time: 00:21:15

F**k-a-Fan (Netherlands) by Muriel d'Ansembourg

Chloe Cam, the hottest porn star on social media, launches a “F**k-a-Fan” contest to blow up her following and let one lucky fan live out his dream. That turns out to be Thomas, an awkward young man from Amsterdam whose heart was recently crushed. In his loneliness and desperation, he can’t help projecting something deeper onto her than porn-star thrills. When the lights go on and the camera starts rolling, Thomas and Chloe find themselves as they never expected: vulnerable, and accountable to each other.

Running time: 00:24:12