Pragueshorts: International Competition 2
The remarkable cinematic essay Les chenilles, which mixes a sense of longing with a forgotten past, a complicated present, and women’s themes, won the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at last year’s Berlinale. Also in 2023, the Short Film Palme d’Or at Cannes was awarded to the unusually open and provocative (self-)portrait of a generation, the Hungarian animated film 27. Bogotá Story, which was shown in Venice, is a delicate and highly personal snapshot of someone’s memory. By comparison, Spain’s Women Visiting a City, which tells the tale of three retired women who have decided to try something that they have heard people talk about all their lives – a package tour – is a wry take on the worldwide issue of mass tourism. And finally, the enchanting Swiss film Heart Fruit breaks down several relationships into smaller fragments to debunk the usual clichéd ways in which movies depict love and offer a fresh perspective on contemporary relationships.
The international jury will present one award for Best Film, which comes with a financial prize of 3,000 euros; it will also name two Special Mentions.
Les chenilles / Michelle Kaserwany, Noel Kaserwany / France, Lebanon, 2023 / 30 min. – Asma and Sarah, two women originally from the Levant, find themselves working at the same restaurant in the city of Lyon in France. Both carry the weight of having been forced to leave their home behind. Initially wary of each other, they gradually discover a common thread that binds them – one that dates back to when the Silk Road connected Lyon to their home countries.
27 / Flóra Anna Buda / France, Hungary, 2023 / 11 min. – Alice is 27 years old today. Even though she is suffocating a bit, she still lives with her parents and tends to live in her dreams in order to escape her dreary everyday life. After a psychedelic party on a factory roof, she has a serious drunken bike accident. Will this give her the courage to become an adult?
Bogotá Story / Esteban Pedraza / Colombia, USA, 2023 / 16 min. – Pilar, a young mother from Bogotá, receives an internship opportunity in the United States, but her husband, Alejandro, is not willing to leave the country. Set in 1992, as Colombia faces an era of drug violence, car bombs, and daily power outages, the story follows Pilar and Alejandro as they contend with their opposing desires and the danger and darkness around them.
Women Visiting a City / Enrique Buleo / Spain, France, 2022 / 15 min. – Three retired women travel by bus on their way to discover Europe. They have recently lost their husbands, and now it’s time to start living. Having heard people talk about the wonders of tourism all their lives, they are dying to experience them firsthand.
Heart Fruit / Kim Allamand / Switzerland, 2023 / 20 min. – City people set off into a warm late-summer night. Glances meet in a library. Two men discuss where to buy love. A couple kisses intimately. She bites him. A better offer calls. Doubts arise.
