Louis le Prince International Short Film Competition 4
The final programme in our major international competition for short films, with selections from Austria, Ukraine, China, Malaysia and Slovenia.
These five captivating films in our closing Louis le Prince programme each employ a unique visual language and emotional tone, and weave threads across geographies and histories to bring the weight of expectations to the fore. A Summer’s End Poem deals with disappointed expectations on the threshold between childhood and adolescence. In The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent, different cinematic and humanistic gazes are at play to challenge the viewer’s perception. Intimate yet universal, these shorts will resonate within you long after they’ve ended.
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Late at night, in the bathroom stalls of the Malaysia National Service Camp, a group of teenagers are ordered to handwash sanitary pads from disposal bins. Mounting pressures ignite fissures in the teenagers' comaraderie, bringing to light the silencing, shame, and misconceptions around menstruation.
Mickey Lai | Malaysia | 2024 | 23 mins | UK Premiere
A Summer's End Poem
In the hopes of making a good impression on his last first day at elementary school, a village boy takes his savings and travels to Chaozhou for a cool haircut. But the simple journey reveals more about the distance between rural and urban life, childhood and adolescence, and the joys and sorrows of attaining independence.
Lam Can-zhao | China | 2024 | 15 mins | Yorkshire Premiere
The man who could not remain silent
The Štrpci massacre (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1993) is brought to light in this year’s gripping Palme d’Or winner. A passenger train is stopped by paramilitary forces in an ethnic cleansing operation. As they haul off innocent civilians, only one man out of five hundred passengers dares to stand up to them.
Nebojša Slijepčević | Slovenia | 2024 | 14 mins | England Premiere
MOTHER' aka 'MOEDER'
Vitaly Ivanov, a miner on the Ukraine/Russian border, discovers a ringing phone in his backyard belonging to a victim of the MH17 disaster. Mother brings to light the heartbreaking realities faced by civilians when countries are at conflict with each other.
Salomon Ligthelm | Ukraine | 2023 | 20 mins | Yorkshire Premiere
Die Letzte Wette
Elderly couple Ernst and Leni regularly place a bet on the last piece of chocolate. At one point, the ultimate gamble inevitably arises: who will die first? An irreverent and heartfelt comedy which shows us that life can be a thrill until the very end.
Meike Wüstenberg | Austria | 2024 | 15 mins | England Premiere
Content Guidance
Contains scenes of violence.