In the international competition three Dutch films are competing, all celebrating their world premiere at the festival. A Man in the Light of His Shadow (2021) by Bernard Lier in which a man is simply in a room, The Spirit Is Willing But The Flesh Is Furry (2020) by Vanessa Gal where the artist delved into the world of furry fandom, wherein people adopt a physical or virtual alter ego (a "fursona") in the form of an anthropomorphic animal and Before the Fall There Was No Fall. Episode 02: Surfaces (2020), directed by Anna Dasović, about a genocide that took place 25 years ago at a UN military compound in Srebrenica. Dasović juxtaposes contemporary footage to archival images of the military’s preparatory exercises before troop deployment in the mid-1990s. What do the words and images left by Dutch soldiers tell the viewer about the military doctrine these men were guided by?

New this year is the International Online Competition. In 2021 Oberhausen introduces the International Online Competition, a second international competition that will be shown exclusively online. For this section The Other Garden; Joel’s Garden (2021) by Go-Eun Im is selected, also having its world premiere. There were rumors of another garden hidden among trees. Joel, a gardener, is a protector of the defenseless and a caretaker of many creatures. His gentle blooms are sown in silence, and a frog, a bat, a bird, a snail, and a dolphin grow together with grass in this foreign garden.

In the German Competition a German –Dutch co-production can be found; Lana Kaiser by Amsterdam based multimedia artist Philipp Gufler. The short is a portrait of the singer and entertainer Lana Kaiser who became well known in the first season of the German version Idols, but disappeared from a cruise ship on her way to North America in 2018.

Moreover Nova (2020) directed by Luca Meisters and produced by Marc Bary for IJswater Films is part of the Children’s and Youth Film Competition. Nova was produced in the framework of KORT! and had its world premiere at BUFF Malmö 2021. It tells the story of Nova (15) who exchanges a glance with the new soccer coach Nadia, which results in a feeling she can’t seem to put a finger on. 

In the MuVI International competition for music videos one more Dutch production can be found; The One is a music video for the song of the same name by well-known German actress and singer Sandra Hüller. The video is directed by Leopold Emmen, a collaboration between filmmaker Nanouk Leopold and visual artist Daan Emmen.

And last but not least a selection of recent Dutch films from the Eye Experimental festival distribution will be presented in the Distributor’s program, a showcase for current international artistic moving images and an international platform for screenings by distributors of avant-garde and experimental films from all over the world. In the Eye Experimental program among others Breath to Breath (2019) a dance film by Miloushka Bokma, Kinked (2020) Feline Hjermind’s graduation film from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and Arnold Schwarzenegger – The Art of Bodybuilding Babeth M. VanLoo’s ode to sculpting the body will be shown. 

For more information about the festival visit: https://www.kurzfilmtage.de/en/