BEST OF FILMSCHOOLFEST

ESSAY FOR THE MEMORY
Ensayo para la memoria

Where are those memories preserved that cannot be captured in a photograph? This essay film explores this question in an investigative and poetic way as it contemplates how memory is constructed around the persons who disappeared under the Argentinian military dictatorship. As a collage of archival images, conversations with survivors, and the director’s own memories, this film also addresses its own constructedness. The result is a puzzle made of pieces that do not fit together and can thus be combined in an endless number of ways.

Duration: 12 min.


THE OTHER END OF THE STREET
DAS ANDERE ENDE DER STRAßE

Nine-year-old Ábel is systematically bullied and even physically attacked at school by his classmate, Bence — or so Ábel claims. Reason enough for his father to confront Bence and his parents and thus put an end to the bullying. The underlying tension, which is also one between social classes, rises steadily. As the truth gradually comes to light and the situation escalates, Ábel and his father face a moral dilemma.

Duration: 22 min.


TO DIE BEFORE DYING
MORIR ANTES DE MORIR

In a village in the Extremadura province of Spain, where bullfighting and the Catholic faith have long been a way of life, 16-year-old Tristán is training to become a bullfighter. His mother silently but anxiously observes his preparations. He practices graceful moves and posture, but he is plagued by insecurity and fear of the fight to come. TO DIE BEFORE DYING tells a personal story about a controversial reality of the 21st century.

Duration: 19 min.


TODAY'S SUNLIGHT FALLS WEAKLY ON YOU

The cause might be noise from the newly built highway, which the neighbors, too, blame for their own eerie dreams as they move away. In the woman’s narration, consolation and grief alternate in equal measure, while the chirping of crickets settles over the silence of the night. A dim reflection on loss and transience.

Duration: 15 min.


THE VOICE OF OTHERS
LA VOIX DES AUTRES

Rim is an interpreter at asylum hearings, where she translates the dramatic stories of escape told by people hoping to start a new life in France. Day after day, she sees how a careless answer to a skeptical query can ruin a person’s chance at having a better future. Rim, who is from Tunisia, knows the right answers, and the procedure brings back memories of her own story. But as an interpreter, she lends nothing more than her French voice to those affected and is not allowed to speak for them – well, not really. THE VOICE OF OTHERS shows how harsh laws are confronted by an even harsher reality.

Duration: 30 min.