Selected for the Short Experimental programme is the short Er Is Een Geest Van mij* by Mateo Vega, who directed and produced this short. Festival distribution is handled by LIMA. The short had its world premiere at IFFR 2021, in the Tiger Shorts Competition. Er is een geest van mij is an attempt at mourning both personal and political futures that never arrived, organised around a broad interpretation of the trope of the ghost. We see depersonalised figures, urban ruins, consuming fires and microscopic images of decaying bodily matter; footage was shot in New York, Washington DC, Lima and Amsterdam between 2016 and 2020. Issues like failed neoliberal promises of progress, the rise of fascism, and self-image and adulthood are intuitively brought together, set to a poem that shifts between Spanish and Dutch.

NAYA - Der Walt Hat Tausend Augen* by Sebastian Mulder is selected for the International Documentary section. Produced by Boondocs, it had its international premiere at HotDocs and was selected for Vienna Shorts - International Short Film Festival, where it got a special mention from the jury of the Fido Fiction and Documentary International Competition. In the short documentary, we follow the life of she-wolf Naya, who walked from East Germany to Belgium with a GPS collar. She is the first wolf in Belgium in a hundred years and is suddenly world news, but then her presence takes a mysterious turn. A voyeuristic collage film from wildlife and surveillance cameras explores the relationship between humans and this iconic wild animal.

Progressive Touch by Michael Portnoy is an Austrian/Dutch co-production, with Dutch The Vleeshal Center for Contemporary Arts being one of the co-producers. It is selected for the Out of Competition Midnight Madness Short Film programme. Progressive Touch was selected for IFFR, Slamdance and London Short Film Festival and most recently for Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal. The goal of Michael Portnoy’s new multichannel video work is to “improve” sex, as he puts it. Exploring and expanding the relationship between human sexuality, choreography, and musical composition, he aims to combat the apparent simplification of rhythm in human movements and gestures.

The Cloudmaker* by Hanna Niekerk is a short animation selected Out of Competition for the Kids in Action Programme. The short is produced by Hazazah Pictures and festival distribution is handled by Kaboom. It had its international premiere at Animafest Zagreb. In The Cloudmaker, an aircraft suddenly gets stuck between the clouds. When little Fabiola looks outside, she sees a bright dot on the horizon, getting closer and closer. It is Hipólito, an old man who has lived in the sky for decades. With the help of his magic gloves, he transforms clouds into wondrous figures. But in the past years Hipólito has grown weary. Shaping clouds is a frustrating and lonely profession. This is why Hipólito wants to retire and return to earth. Will he manage to find a worthy successor?

Minority co-production Easter Eggs* is selected for the official Animation Short selection. Directed by Nicolas Keppens and co-produced by Ka-Ching Cartoons, we follow two teenagers that are looking for something extraordinary in an ordinary village. They decide to catch an exotic bird that escaped from a Chinese restaurant. Sales is handled by Miyu Distribution. The animated short has been selected for many festivals, including Brussels Short Film Festival, IndieLisboa, La Guarimba, Annecy and IFFR.

For more information on Guanajuato International Film Festival, click here.
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*Film is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund