The fourth week's program of the 2020 UniFrance Short Film Awards, offered exclusively to movie industry professionals, features seven short films from the selection, including two animated films and five fiction films.
Normal by Julie Caty is an upbeat comedy that also delivers a biting social critique. Dany is a young heir who squanders his fortune on compulsive acts. One day, an error made on one of his orders from the delivery company "Amazoom" gives him the opportunity to change his life. Transformed from a capitalist into an anti-capitalist, Dany embarks on a hilarious adventure in his mission to destroy capitalism.
Les Tissus blancs by Moly Kane tells the story of a young woman in the lead-up to her wedding. Getting married is not simple for Zuzana, as she puts all her energy into erasing her past. As we follow her journey, we wonder if she will ever manage to dodge all the dangers that show up in her path.
Baer Xiao is the director behind Fleur de pavot, in which the young Lu Han learns that he must leave his village and move to Shanghai. During rehearsals for his dance class' end of the year show, a power cut leaves the entire village in darkness. Lu Han does not want to leave without saying goodbye to his friend Tian Xi, the girl he is in love with. A moving and sensitive portrait of a young boy and his first love.
Mahmoud Salameh is the director of the animated film Freedom is Mine. This very short short film shows us how it is possible to attain freedom beyond borders. The protagonist's story is one that is shared by many of those who flee their homeland in search of a better life.
In Dissonant Notes by Anne-Camille Charliat, Artemisia, a renowned pianist, is at the pinnacle of her career. Yet she has an aching sense of inner emptiness that leads her on a quest to reconnect with her past in order to face the truth and move on in her life with ease.
The strength of willpower is the central theme of Hüseyin Aydin Gürsoy's film Turning to Dust. Elif is an illegal immigrant living in France with her husband and son. She works tirelessly, but her boss refuses to pay her. She will need to muster all her courage to stop her family from being forced to return to Turkey.
Two young boys take part in an open theater event organized in their small village. Léo and his buddy are crazy about dance, makeup, and dressing up, and turn up on stage dressed in drag. Beauty Boys by Florent Gouëlou tells the painful story of the reconciliation between the lead character Léo and his brother.
Normal (2020)
Animation – Social comedy – 11 mins
Language: French with English subtitles
Themes: Society – Human nature
Producer: Sacrebleu Productions (Ron Dyens)
Synopsis
When Dany, a rich heir who makes up for his existential emptiness by the unbridled consumption of Magic'Powder—a drug with psychedelic and annihilating effects—meets Karl Marx by chance when going through withdrawal, the latter joins with him to destroy capitalism in order to save the world. For better or for worse, Dany yields to his request and turns into a superhero. But, without him noticing, the mission gets out of control and soon escapes him.
Julie Caty
Les Tissus blancs (2020)
Fiction – 20 mins
Language: Wolof with French and English subtitles
Themes: Education – Freedom – Politics
Producer: Films Grand Huit (Pauline Seigland – Lionel Massol) – Babubu Films – Senegal (Moly Kane)
Synopsis
Tomorrow, Zuzana is getting married. From now on, every minute counts to erase her past and for her to become the woman she is expected to be.
Moly Kane
Fleur de pavot (2019)
Fiction – Comedy – 21 mins
Language: Chinese with French and English subtitles
Themes: Love – Childhood – Poetry
Producer: Nouvelle Toile (Khir-Din Grid)
Synopsis
In a Chinese factory town, Lu Han learns that he must move to Shanghai. He only has a few days to say goodbye to Tian Xi, the girl in his dance class who he dares not approach.
Baer Xiao
Freedom is Mine (2020) – First film
Animation – Drama – 3 mins
Without dialogue
Themes: Exile – Exodus – Prison
Producer: Orok Films (Salam Jawad)
Synopsis
Alone at sea on a makeshift raft, a man trying to flee his country is finally rescued by the coast guard.
Mahmoud Salameh
Dissonant Notes (2020)
Fiction – Comedy – Fable – Myth – 24 mins
Language: Italian with French and English subtitles
Themes: Femininity – Motherhood – Spirituality – Fate
Producer: Arts Premiers (Charles Paviot) – La Sarraz Pictures – Italy (Alessandro Borrelli)
Synopsis
The day after a recital, Artemisia, a professional pianist, receives a new score by a renowned French composer. Its theme is the untold. Artemisia is profoundly moved as it hits on her innermost secret: the abandonment when she was a teenager of her baby daughter. Immediately she rushes away from Rome to a convent in the Abruzzi to seek out the nuns to whom she had entrusted her child.
Anne-Camille Charliat
Turning to Dust (2020)
Fiction – Psychological drama – 20 mins
Language: Turkish with French subtitles – French with English subtitles
Theme: Immigration – Marginalization – Family
Producer: Takami Productions (Karine Blanc – Michel Tavares – Nathalie Landais)
Synopsis
Elif works in France illegally with her husband. Backed into a corner by debts, they're in danger of having to return to Turkey if they can't manage to get the money their boss owes them. Elif doesn't want to spoil her son's chances for a better future and doesn't intend to give in just like that.
Hüseyin Aydin Gürsoy
Beauty Boys (2020) – First film
Fiction – Comedy – 17 mins
Language: French with English subtitles
Themes – Minorities – Identity – Country life
Producer: Yukunkun Productions (Nelson Ghrénassia)
Synopsis
In their small village, seventeen-year-old Léo and his friends are crazy about makeup. Jules, Léo's older brother, doesn't share his sibling's passion, fearing he'll be the laughing stock of his gang of friends. The night of the village's open theater event, against Jules' advice, Léo walks on the stage dressed in drag.
Florent Gouëlou
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