Shortcutz Berlin – Session #42 (March 1st)
Short #1: “Echo und Narziss” by CC Steinmetz
2011, 3.42 min
Synopsis: Taken directly from Ovid’s vast world of myth and re-imagined in Kreuzberg’s Spreewaldbad, the short film Echo & Narcissus follows Narcissus, the handsome son of a river god and a nymph as his arrogance sparks the ire of the shy Echo. In a faithful adherence to the original text, Echo follows him and finally confesses herlove only to have her advances thwarted. Preferring instead to swim, Narcissus arrives at the starting block where he discovers and is transfixed by his own reflection in the window. Unable to resist the temptation to admire his own beauty, the previously scorned Echo ensures that the swoon of his self-love becomes a fatal attraction.
Short #2: “Schwarz Weiß Deutsch” by Nico Sommer
2011, 10 min
Synopsis: A quite normal German couple sitting on a german sofa. However, what is, actually, German?
Click HERE for more info about “Schwarz Weiß Deutsch” on Nico Sommer´s website!
And click HERE to watc the trailer!
This Week’s Guest Short: “Der Mann mit dem Mikroskop” by Johan Carslen
Germany, 2006, 16 min
Synopsis: A cleaning lady at the technical university of Berlin and a scientist looking through a microscope at a cell. He falls in love with her and she falls in love with science. She wants to be a scientist. Her boyfriend is terrified.
Click HERE to access Johan Carlsen´s website!
And our Special Guest for this week is filmmaker Antje Boehmert, who will be sharing some of her work experience with us. Here you can check out Antje’s website.
We hope to see you this Thursday at the Filmkunst Bar Fitzcarraldo in Kreuzberg (Reichenberger Straße 133). The session begins at 8:30 pm and the screenings start at 9 pm. Entrance is as usual free. Come and join us for a nice evening of screenings and drinks in good company.
Pictures from the February Winner Session (February 23)
Session #41 on February 23, hosting by Milena Leszkowicz. Pictures by Enrique Freaza Viera.
Dörring, director of the Guest Short: “Am anderen Ende”
Watching the excerpts of the monthly nominees..
And watching the February Winner Short: “MPU – Medizinisch Psychologische Untersuchung” by Robert Bohrer.
The Special Guest of the night, producer and director Robert Cibis.
Shortcutz Berlin – February’s 2012 Winner
We are very happy to send out our congratulations to Robert Bohrer, as his film : “MPU – Medizinisch Psychologische Untersuchung” was elected by our Jury as the Best Short Film of the month of February.
Synopsis: Two years of MPA preparation, preparation for the Medical Psychological Assessment to get back the driver’s license – and two years of being sober. Well…not really, but today is the final test and the most important conversation with the psychologist. Hold on: today? TODAY??? Frankie totally forgot about it as he leaves a club with his girlfriend Lanka on a Monday morning. So they go there and try to deal with it but Lanka keeps thinking that it is a casting Frankie has to go to…
All the best to Robert and his team!
We hopefully see you all next week, when we will be staring the March competition.
Shortcutz Berlin – Session #41 (February 23)
This Thursday we will already announce the Winner of the month of February!
The February competition shorts :
Short #1: “MPU – Medizinisch Psychologische Untersuchung” by Robert Bohrer
Short #2: “Die Sammlerin” by Tom Wiedemann
Short #3: ”Letzes Licht” by Kevin Schmutzler
Short #4: “Die Fähre” by Katharina Zimmerhackl
This week’s Guest Short: “Am anderen Ende” by Philipp Döring
Germany 2009, 20 min.
Synopsis: Marianne works for the crisis line night after night; no one is able to help all the lonesome people at the other end of the line as good as she does. But in this night she will have to face her own problems – she cannot hide behind the telephone any longer …
You can visit the film’s website here.
Our Special Guest for this week is producer (Oval Film) and director Robert Cibis. Robert will be showing us the trailers for two of his projects “Disgustingly Healthy” and PIANOMANIA.
Please join us at the Filmkunst Bar Fitzcarraldo, Reichenberger Straße 133 in Kreuzberg. The session starts as always at 8:30 pm and the screening at 9 pm. Entrance is and will remain free. See you all on Thursady!
A small selection of Pictures: Session #38 (February 2) and Session #39 (February 9)
Our Session #38 on February 2nd, hosting by Milena Leszkowicz. Pictures by Rita Guerreiro.
Watching “MPU – Medizinisch Psychologische Untersuchung” by Robert Bohrer
Tom Wiedemann, director of ”Die Sammlerin” explaining..
The Special Guest of the night, producer Sebastian Storm.
Actress Nici Nathan (left) , director Rolf Teigler (centre) and editor Angel Cano (far right) of our Guest Short: “Nachtweyhs Nacht”
Session #39 on February 9, hosted by Rita Guerreiro. Pictures by Luca Urpi.
Francisco Saco, director of the Guest Short: “Paseo por la Tarde”
Bryn Chainey, director of “Jonah and the Vicarious Nature of Homesickness”
Jana Richtmeyer, director of: “Repitu”
Our Special Guests, Cory and Jason of Network Awesome.
Shortcutz Berlin – Session #40 (February 16)
Short #1: “Letzes Licht” by Kevin Schmutzler
2011, 4.35 min
Synopsis: He originates from Western folklore. It is said that he visits people at night and sprinkles sand into their eyes. But doing so for hundreds of years have taken their toll on the sandman. While at night people can fall asleep and dream thanks to him, he is trapped in his own destiny – and resistant to his own drug.
Please click HERE to watch “Letzes Licht”!
Short #2: “Die Fähre” by Katharina Zimmerhackl
2011, 5 min
Synopsis: A short moment on a late summer evening: a young ferryman is sitting on a shore, dreaming of a girl. A girl, that arrives shortly afterwards and wants to be taken to the other side – but the ferrymen declines. Die Fähre (engl. The Ferry) is a story about love and hope, dreams or wishes but also about distance and isolation.
You can watch “Die Fähre” HERE!
This Week’s Guest Short: “Leave to Remain” by Anna Byrne
Ireland, 2011, 12.32 min
Synopsis: All over the world, children are trafficked by “agents” away from their country of origin. Very often these children do not know where they were going. They are known as separated immigrant children. In Leave to Remain, a young man remembers his time spent in Irish residential care as one of these children.
And our Special Guest for this week is actor, director and producer Christopher Buchholz. As part of his intervention, Christopher will be showing us two short he directed ”Happy Birthday” (4.17 min) and “Bad Boys’ Garden” (12 min).
We hope to see you this Thursday at the Filmkunst Bar Fitzcarraldo in Kreuzberg (Reichenberger Straße 133). The session begins at 8:30 pm and the screenings start at 9 pm. Entrance is as usual free. Come and join us for a nice evening of screenings and drinks in good company.
Shortcutz Berlin – Special (February 9)
In these days of biting cold, snow and Berlinale, Shortcutz Berlin, for its 39th Session, is coming back for you with a very special program.
On that day, don’t expect to see any Competition Shorts. As always, our program will include a Guest Short (Paseo por la Tarde by Francisco Saco) and a Guest Speaker (the Network Awesome) but also much more.
If you had the misfortune to miss them last year, you will be lucky this Thursday, as we will screen two movies that were distinguished in the Shortcutz Berlin Awards with two Awards each one.
Shortcutz Berlin Awards 2011 – Best Art Direction & Best Visual/Special Effects
Jonah and the Vicarious Nature of Homesickness by Bryn Chainey
2010, 10 minutes
Synopsis: One day Jonah left his wife and child. He gave no explanation, only a telephone number, before blasting to outer space with his homemade spaceship.
Jury Statements:
- “The surreal story concentrates on its character, who’s inner world is emphasized by the creative setting, a whole universe, where hardly anybody else seems to fit.” Alec Crichton
- “Outstanding creative, beautifully shot and narrated fairytale.” Florian Rosenbauer
Shortcutz Berlin Awards 2011 – Best Animation Short & Best Original Music
Repitu by Jana Richtmeyer
2010, 6 minutes
Synopsis: One moment of inattention and the race against time, whether and technology begins.
Jury Statements:
- “The surprising affective power of fabrication implicit in all animation is foregrounded in Jana Richtmeyer¹s 5-and-a-half-minute film. By celebrating the simplicity of its means, based mainly in the contrast between line-drawing and the constructed miniature paper spaces upon which those drawings are superimposed, the film allows those two levels of creation and (im)materiality to interact in a charming and even moving way to tell the story of a beloved pet that gets away, is lost, and then is saved against all odds.” Robin Curtis
- “Andreas Lange’s score in ‘Repitu’ supports the main character’s feelings, underlines the atmosphere and creates suspence. The music opens a window to the spectator’s emotions and invites one into the world of the short film”Alice Flotron
And also, as Guest Short we will have:
Paseo por la Tarde by Francisco Saco
Cuba, 2009, 9 minutes
Synopsis: An overcast afternoon in usually sunny Miami, Florida acts as the backdrop for a pleasant drive with my grandmother, Ruth Saco. Though not usually one to talk at length about the past, she opens up to me about her childhood growing up in a pre-Castro Cuba and her eventual immigration to the United States. Driving under the sleepy willows that populate the Coral Gables neighborhood, she talks to me about a bygone era while I drive her around with no particular destination in mind.
Our Special Guests this evening will be Jason Forrest and Cory Vielma, from the Network Awesome. Time to learn more about this awesome project!
See you Thursday for this, that and more, much much more! Come, it’s free!
The biggest announcement of all time!
Mesdames and Messieurs, Damoiselles and Damoiseaux, time has come for us to finally reveal the identity of our Winners for last year’s competition. We know tension has been terrible and climbing and climbing and climbing. But now, it is time for the drums to roll…
Best Editing: Beatrice Babin for “Success“
Best Screenplay: Petra Lüschow for “Der kleine Nazi“
Best Experimental Short: “Beine Brechen” by Florian Krautkrämer
Best Animation Short: “Repitu” by Jana Richtmeyer
Best Art Direction: Max Eichenlaub for “Jonah and the Vicarious Nature of Homesickness“
Best Actor: Christoph Glaubacker for “Reif“
Best Actress: Marina Weis for “Hinterhof“
Best Photography: Max Preiss for “Manolo“
Best Original Music: Andreas Lange for “Repitu“
Best Visual/Special Effects: Felix von Seefranz for “Jonah and the Vicarious Nature of Homesickness“
Best Director: Zubin Sethna for “Wie Immer“
Best Short of the Year: “Zwischen Himmel und Erde” by York-Fabian Raabe
Our thanks go to all and each and every one that made our first year what it was. We had a great time together and hope to have some more on the years to come! Enjoy, smile and laugh, come around again and, please, don’t hesitate to submit your movies!
