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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

Now that we celebrated our first Anniversary we can start with the February 2012 competition!

Short #1: “MPU – Medizinisch Psychologische Untersuchung” by Robert Bohrer
2011, 5 min
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…

MPU – almost a comedy.

Short #2: “Die Sammlerin” by Tom Wiedemann
2011, 5 min
Synopsis: In the pre-christmas time a collector randomly bumps into a young boy. With a infantile idea she tries to help him with his problems.

This Week’s Guest Short: “Nachtweyhs Nacht” by Rolf  Teigler
Germany, 2009, 15 min
Synopsis: Felix Nachtweyh starts his daily shift as a night watchman at the empty Mall. As the goes by in his everyday duties, Nachtweyh enters into a fantastic world that takes him into a place where a special encounter awaits him. The film tells the tragedy of Nachtweyh in a magic form and leaves it open what is real and what is not.

And our Special Guest for this week is producer Sebastian Storm (Pipelinefilm). Sebastian will be showing us an excerpt of his medium length drug prevention film Der Pendler.

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.

Synopsis: Four field researchers want to go home. Unfortunately, one of them apparently lost his mind. Since the return is not possible as long as he remains in this state, they start a controversy about what to do with him. Where do they come back from and what was the object of their research, becomes a more and more important question.

All the Best to Robert and his team!

As announced, we will gather at .HBC Berlin on Friday the 27th of January to give away some prizes and recognition to a few of Berlin’s very talented film people and to celebrate Shortcutz Berlin’s first anniversary.

So be prepared for a night of celebration and happy partying!

PROGRAM:

9.00 pm, low key gathering, time to get into the mood with a few drinks and to the tunes of Hanno Leichtman.

Between 9.00 and 10pm, DJ RWM (Shadowcast.Organization) and Aerosol Light Textures will take over our ears and eyes for an electronic performance and an all analog slide show.

10pm will be a most critical hour. At this point, the party will move up to another grazing ground and the beginning of our Award Ceremony, which will feature the deep voices and natural humor of our two hosts, Milena Leszkowicz and Rodrigo von Horn, but also the unveiling and the rewarding of our 12 Winners for the year of 2011 and some other goodies, like the screening of the Best Short of the Year 2011.

From 12pm and onward, like Cinderella, come midnight the Shortcutz Berlin Awards 2011 will magically turn into our anniversary PARTY! With more music by DJ RWM and the Litening Molts (Italo-Disco vs. cold electronic beats) and more drinks at the bar.

Please note, during the complete duration of the Awards, the .HBC’s bar will be open and sonorized by Hanno Leichtman. No need to wait midnight to turn yourself into a pumpkin, you are more than welcome during the entire evening.

As always, this is a free entrance event, if you wish to party and celebrate us turning 1 year old, simply show up and dance.
If you wish to attend the Awards Ceremony itself, please be kind to rsvp us at shortcutz.berlin@shortcutznetwork.com Seats might come in short supply.

We’ll for sure be waiting for you all!!!