EUROPE IN SHORTS – independent films
01.07.2012
In their long and colourful history the Baltic States have geographically and culturally oscillated between affiliations to the Russian and the Scandinavian sphere of influence. So it is no wonder that Vallo Toomla's stunningly beautiful short film MORBUS seems like a brain-child of both
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01.07.2012
We're staying very close to this old man, as he stumbles through the skyscraper environment of the big city. We instantly get the feeling that he might be lost, which we will find out to be true in more than one aspect. Furthermore: It is exactly what we are supposed to feel at this moment, and
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01.07.2012
Ninety seconds for more awareness about poverty: Writer and director Isabel Prahl is telling an anecdote about social difference that is as precisely observed as it is original. She might just lay to rest the old prejudice that social, economic or political issues need long and complicated
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18.03.2012
The skyline of Manhattan appears. George Gershwin's “Rhapsody in Blue“ sets in. But then the camera pans back and we see: It's all just cardboard cut-outs, posted on a wall. Even more than in Woody Allen's famous opening sequence, it's more the dream of a city than the
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18.03.2012
Great grandmothers tell a lot of strange and exciting tales, if you are so lucky as to still get to know them. Tales of adventure, of hardship and – well, let's face it, these tales never seem to revolve around alien lovers and firefights with giant robots on secret military bases. So
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18.03.2012
One could talk about sociology or philosophy when reviewing Elena Pomares' multi award winning short THE HENHOUSE. One could talk about nature vs. nurture, about destiny and self-alienation, about Rousseau and Marx, about primordial urges and the corruptions of civilization, about the wild
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17.03.2012
We witness a boxing match through the lens of a vintage silent film era style: The material is sepia-toned and yellowed; there are inconsistencies in brightness and speed, as if the camera (or the projector) were cranked by hand; from the soundtrack we hear a vaudeville piano music jingling akin to
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17.03.2012
The situation – as seems only fitting for a story situated in the Middle East conflict – is rather complicated. There's an Israeli settlement in the Palestinian municipality of Hebron, meaning that much like in Northern Ireland the conflicting parties have to live next door to each
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24.12.2011
It all starts out funny enough: A little girl called Cherry paints faces on her fingers and acts out her birthday, which by the way is today, and how she expects it to go down with the members of her family, mom, dad, the baby and her bigger sister. The real experience following her fantasy is then
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24.12.2011
15 minutes of painstaking details, of calm patience, of everyday life in all its pointlessness. DECEMBER 25th, written and directed by Noa Erenberg, is a study of loneliness and being lost in a dark urban cityscape and in hollow, impersonal flats. Filmed matter-of-factly in muted, desaturated
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