Undeniably, in the past few years we have been living in a downright science fiction film. Between viruses, people walled up at home and conspiracy theories, what not so long ago could have worked as the setting of one of our favourite science fiction novels or films has suddenly become our daily life. But if reality has turned into science fiction, what can science fiction still tell us?
The Fantastic Shorts selection tries to give an answer to this question, offering multiple points of view that will become, for those who will welcome them, an invitation to imagination, to wonder and to the future.
Space
Travelling always begins with a dream, with a project. We always say that it’s not the destination that captures our interest, but the route towards it. Between points A and B anything can happen.
Ligeia Mare – European Fantastic Shorts
by Adam Zimny
Germania, 2021, 28′
Sad – The Movie – European Fantastic Shorts
by Guilherme Gehr
Italia, Brasile, 2020, 9′
We Choose to Go – European Fantastic Shorts (Melies)
by Marlene Emilia Rios
GB, 2020, 15′
Pale Blue Dot: A Tale of Two Stargazers – Spazio Corto
by Matteo Scarfò
Italia, 2021, 15′
Virus
In the past years we have experienced events at a close angle, events which we had seen in films, or which we had only heard about. Our home, our shelter, at a certain point became our cocoon: for some of us tight and unbearable, for others comfortable and welcoming. Someone tried to break free, someone walled himself up in it. We should have changed, and spread our wings; we told ourselves that everything would have changed, that we would have changed.
While We Stayed Home – Fantastic Shorts
by Gil Vesely
Israele, 2020, 5′
Z – European Fantastic Shorts
by Caroline Branders
Belgio, 2021, 19′
Home Sweet Home – Spazio Corto
by Andrea Zuliani
Italia, 2021, 15′
Weird
There is not a definition for everything. And yet, we stigmatise what we don’t understand as wrong. But it’s a question of context and perception. Still, there are certain things that simply disturb us. Inexplicable circumstances, attitudes, the talking and dreams of children. Hyperbolic imagination attracts and repulses, creating a playground where rules can change from one moment to the other.
Sweet Mary, Where Did You Go? – Fantastic Shorts
by Michael Anthony Kratochvil
Australia, 2021, 16′
Phlegm – European Fantastic Shorts
by Jan-David Bolt
Svizzera, 2021, 6′
The Repeater – European Fantastic Shorts
by Grete Suarez
Spagna, 2021, 18′
Sad – The Movie – European Fantastic Shorts
by Guilherme Gehr
Italia, Brasile, 2020, 9′
Splendor – European Fantastic Shorts
by Maximilien Gomes
Francia, 2021, 8′
Dharma Bums – Spazio Corto
by Francesco Catarinolo
Italia, 2021, 15′
Dorothy Non Deve Morire – Spazio Corto
by Andrea Simonetti
Italia, 2021, 20′
Dystopias
Disturbing dystopias should force us to rethink our everyday life. However, what for some of us is the future, for others is already the present. Remote futures are contemporary threatening presents, in some parts of our planet. And yet we carry on, uninterested, maybe mesmerised by what they used to say to calm us down: it’s just a film… it’s just a film… it’s just a film…
Zealandia – Fantastic Shorts
by Bruno du Bois
Nuova Zelanda/Belgio, 2020, 15′
Electric Bodies (Les corpos Electriques) – European Fantastic Shorts
by Antoine Janot
Francia, 2020, 15′
The Exit Plan – European Fantastic Shorts
by Angus Wilkinson
Gran Bretagna, Australia, 2020, 14′
Pluto – European Fantastic Shorts
by Ivan Saudelli
Italia, 2021, 15′
Technology
Technology should help us live a better life, but all too often we become our gadgets’ slaves. A quiet revolution of the machines, that silently affects our reactions and relations. And hiding in the creases of time and memories becomes easier than facing our everyday failures. The latest innovations on the market have given life to a new form of obsolescence: ours.
Toto – Fantastic Shorts
by Marco Baldonado
Canada, 2020, 13′
Aria – European Fantastic Shorts
by Christopher Poole
Gran Bretagna, 2021, 13′
Ligeia Mare – European Fantastic Shorts
by Adam Zimny
Germania, 2021, 28′
Naik – Spazio Corto
by Mauro Russo
Italia, 2021, 20′
TOB.IA – Spazio Corto
by Sana Emanuele
Italia, 2020, 15′
Time travels
A Man Falling – Spazio Corto
by Teho Teardo, Orazio Guarino
Italia, 2021, 10′
Sweet Mary, Where Did You Go? – Fantastic Shorts
by Michael Anthony Kratochvil
Australia, 2021, 16′
The Repeater – European Fantastic Shorts
by Grete Suarez
Spagna, 2021, 18′
