Thirteen films from Brazil, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Japan, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and the United States, have been selected to compete in the 21st edition of Nest, San Sebastian Festival’s international competition for shorts by film students.
Nest, one of the most important sections of the San Sebastian Festival within its strategy to promote new talents, celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. Since its creation in 2002, it has hosted more than 1,000 young moviemakers, around a hundred masterclasses and conversations with industry professionals (Céline Sciamma, Albertina Carri, Alexander Payne, Bertrand Bonello…), as well as having selected more than 350 short films. Considered to be the place where it all starts, Nest has shown the work of filmmakers including Jerónimo Quevedo, Kiro Russo, who have gone on to premiere their later works both at the San Sebastian Festival and at other events in the international circuit.
ALLEN ZWEIFELN ZUM TROTZ / AGAINST ALL ODDS
Short film
LAURENZ OTTO (INDONESIA)
Country(ies) of production: Germany
Cast: Johannes Degen, Daniel Michel
ifs internationale filmschule köln (Germany)
Younus won’t give up! The fascination for a strange yet familiar father figure mix with a growing longing for real intimacy. Cautiously testing and pushing boundaries, Younus plays a risky game. When the tension finally explodes, he questions the deeper foundations of this fragile relationship.
ANABASE
Short film
BENJAMIN GOUBET (FRANCE)
Country(ies) of production: Switzerland
Cast: Mina Squalli-Houssaïni, Robin Belluard
HEAD – Genève (Switzerland)
Geneva, at night. The guards patrol the city and the soldiers train. Sony is a security guard, Ana is a bank receptionist. Around them, the city sinks into melancholy as two stars meet.
APRÈS LE ROUGE / AFTER THE RED
Short film
MARIE SIZORN (FRANCE)
Country(ies) of production: France
Università di Corsica Pasquale Paoli (France)
In Corsica, the inhabitants of a village witnessed a gigantic fire. A memory leads the filmmaker to this event that changed the course of their lives and left its mark.
BUXIAODEMA / PASS IN SITU
Short film
ZHANG FENGYI (CHINA)
Country(ies) of production: China
Cast: Zihao Tang
Academy of Film HKBU (Hong Kong / China)
In a town that is being demolished, a young man named Feng Hao tries to find Jian, who owes him money, so that he can pay for his girlfriend’s abortion.
ERRO BI
Short film
NAGORE MURIEL LETAMENDIA (SPAIN)
Country(ies) of production: Spain
Cast: Ibone Ajuria Fondado, Sonia Villamor
Gizarte eta Komunikazio Zientzien Fakultatea (UPV/EHU) (Spain)
It’s a year since Ainhoa’s father died. Since then, mother and daughter live in the farmhouse they shared with him. Ainhoa would rather leave the place, a space that reminds her of her father. The mother, on the other hand, wants her daughter to stay with her. When a cow dies on the farm, her mother will use it as an excuse to stop Ainhoa from going to the city.
HEART FRUIT
Short film
KIM ALLAMAND (SWITZERLAND)
Country(ies) of production: Switzerland
Cast: Sofia Borsani
Zurich University of Arts (Switzerland)
City people set off into a warm late summer night. Glances meet in a library. At a workout, two men discuss where to buy love. A couple kisses intimately. She bites him. No sooner has he bought a match than a better offer calls. Doubts arise.
ILANGA ALIKHO / THE SUN IS MISSING
Short film
ADVIK BENI (SOUTH AFRICA)
Country(ies) of production: South Africa
Cast: Maqhawe Junior Madonsela
California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) (USA)
The son of a professional mourner has now taken up the mantle of his father. He is confused -he does not want to mourn anymore, but it is all he knows how to do. Soon enough he is traversing the vast mountainous landscape of Kwa-Zulu Natal as he struggles to find a place where he belongs.
LES HOMMES DE LA NUIT / MEN OF THE NIGHT
Short film
JUDITH AUFFRAY (FRANCE)
Country(ies) of production: France
Cast: Gérard Dousseau
Le Fresnoy, Studio national des arts contemporains (France)
At night and in the darkness of day, an explorer with binoculars and a notebook makes his way through the jungle of Borneo in search of orangutans.
MONTAÑA AZUL / BLUE MOUNTAIN
Short film
SOFÍA SALINAS BARRERA (COLOMBIA), JUAN DAVID BOHÓRQUEZ TRIANA (COLOMBIA)
Country(ies) of production: Colombia
Universidad Central (Colombia)
After filming his father’s exhumation, Juan comes across a series of videos he had made on his rounds while working as a teacher and syndicalist. Juan visits different parts of his hometown following these images in search of memories of his father, murdered during one of the most violent periods in Colombia.
NOIZKO BASOA / WHEN DOES A FOREST BEGIN
Short film
MIKELE LANDA EIGUREN (SPAIN)
Country(ies) of production: Spain
Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola – EQZE (Spain)
A forest starts over. A town recalls the landscape it never saw. Hands, hoes, and boots that stir up the dry earth to bring to the surface the trees that once inhabited Ulla. Here the river is constantly born and murmurs an already forgotten language. Who will live in this forest when it exists? Can a forest be planted? Will someone give it a name? Where does a town begin?
QUEM DE DIREITO / THE RIGHTFUL
Short film
ANA GALIZIA (BRAZIL)
Country(ies) of production: Brazil
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
Summoning documents, images and sounds from the archives to connect the past with the present in the struggle for land and water in the Guapiaçu valley region, Brazil.
TROPICALÍA
Short film
RODNEY LLAVERÍAS (USA)
Country(ies) of production: Dominican Republic
Columbia University (USA)
Dolores, a strong and detached woman tasked with taking care of her deranged, ailing mother, is suddenly torn from her everyday life when a wounded dog falls from the sky onto the rooftop of her home. Through this newfound friendship, Dolores finds a way out of her monotony and embraces her wild side.
TSUKI NO YORU / MOON NIGHT
Short film
MANAKA NAGAI (JAPAN)
Country(ies) of production: Germany
Cast: Manaka Nagai, Katsuya Abe
HFBK Academy of Fine Arts Hamburg (Germany)
A young woman loses her mother. Life goes on despite the huge loss. She distracts herself from the grief and flies to the moon. A surprise awaits her when she comes back home.