Some like it short…
22nd International Short Film Festival

Filmfest Dresden has a long tradition of showing British or English-language films, most notably in its “British Focus” programme.

British Focus

Tue 20:00 | Fri 00:30 | Sun 20:00 (Schauburg, Königsbrücker Str. 55, 01099 Dresden)

This time, eight “Deadly Encounters” take the audience on a trip to meet death and all his friends – not without a streak of black British humour, of course…

But this is not the only programme with British films. Each of the six International Competition programmes (and some of the 25 Special Programmes) includes at least one. See below for just a small selection.

The Filmfest also offers the chance to meet some of the directors, who will be presenting their films and attending the festival events at the Scheune.

If you’re looking for an opportunity to participate in a talk, you may join the English artist and drawer Christian DeVita, who will be talking about his role as the main drawer on the recent animated film “Fantastic Mr. Fox” as well as about his current work on Tim Burton’s film “Frankenweenie”. DeVita is also a member of the jury of the International Competition. The talk will be held in English and is open to everyone, free of charge.
> Sat 15:30 | Staatsschauspiel Dresden – Kleines Haus, Glacisstrasse 28, 01099 Dresden

I Do Air

United Kingdom 2008 Fiction 35 mm 7 min.
Director: Martina Amati
International Competition 1: Wed 20:30 | Thu 11:00 | Sat 20:30 (Schauburg)
A little girl is afraid to jump off the highest diving board at her local pool. Surrounded by expert divers and swimmers, she is embarrassed and ashamed. When she sees two magical figures swimming beautifully underwater, she wonders if she can take the plunge into their magical world?

Kids Might Fly

United Kingdom 2009 Fiction 6 min.
Director: Alex Taylor
International Competition 2: Wed 23:30 | Fri 11:00 | Sat 17:30 (Schauburg)
An off-beat portrait of kids living in East London: an Essex boy sings a Country and Western love song, a young girl with her singing dog, two strange boys on a farm. These portraits hang on the central story of Danielle, a young girl who attempts suicide but finds solace in the animals of a local city farm.

Crossing

United Kingdom/Italy 2009 Fiction 35 mm 12 min.
Director: Silvana Aguirre Zegarra
International Competition 3: Thu 20:30 | Sat 11:00, 23:30 (Schauburg)
It all began with a jingling anklet. Boy meets girl – but their getting to know each other plays out differently to what we expect. How does one discover first love when the eyes are that which is least used?

Bruce

United Kingdom 2009 Animation 35 mm 3 min.
Director: Tom Judd
International Competition 4: Tue 22:30 | Thu 17:30 | Fri 15:00 (Schauburg)
Advances in open-source genetic programming allow a young man to grow his very own action hero.

Strange Lights

United Kingdom 2010 Animation 35 mm 8 min.
Director: Rosie Pedlow
International Competition 4: Tue 22:30 | Thu 17:30 | Fri 15:00 (Schauburg)
On a winter’s night in 1980, American servicemen witnessed “unexplained lights” in Rendlesham Forest. The incident has since become Britain’s most famous UFO sighting. This film revisits the forest thirty years later in search of similarly “inexplicable” events.

September

United Kingdom 2008 Fiction 35 mm 20 min.
International Competition 5: Thu 15:00 | Fri 20:30 | Sun 11:00 (Schauburg)
Director: Esther May Campbell
Caught in an in-between world of flyovers, grass verges and dead-ends, where the motorway hum serves as a constant reminder of the speed of other lives, Marvin is not going anywhere. Into this forgotten corner of the English countryside arrives an extraordinary adolescent, changing his world forever.

Photograph of Jesus

United Kingdom 2008 Animation 35 mm 6 min.
Director: Laurie Hill
International Competition 6: Thu 23:30 | Fri 17:30 | Sat 15:00 (Schauburg)
ANIMADOK: Fri 18:00 | Sat 20:00 | Sun 16:00 (Thalia)
Looking for photographs of Hitler in 1948, Jesus and yetis? Help is at hand with this documentary-fantasy based on true stories of requests for impossible images. Real-life archives become the stage where fact and fiction collide, belief runs amok and unruly images have a life of their own.

My Blood is my Tears

United Kingdom 2009 Animation 35 mm 3 min.
Director: Andy Glynne
ANIMADOK: Fri 18:00 | Sat 20:00 | Sun 16:00 (Thalia)
Addie, Lois and Nicole have burnt themselves with everything from hot metal to cigarettes, they’ve stuck needles into themselves, ran into walls, and thrown themselves down stairs. They’ve struggled with all of these against the inability to cry and express feelings.