Still: Happiness - Firat Yücel

Selections in competition
In the International Competition is Happiness*by Firat Yücel is selected. This desktop-diary reflects the state of mind of a hypothetical person residing in Amsterdam, watching the horrors of our time on a computer/phone screen. The short film celebrated its world premiere at Visions du Reél. Other festival selections include BFI London FF, Vnacouver IFF and Kaohsiung Film Festival. Later this year the film will also screen at IDFA. Festivals and sales are handled by Kino Rebelde. 

Selected for the Children's Film Competition is Moustache*, written and directed by Idriss Nsangou Nabil and produced by Topkapi Films. According to his best friend Coco, Dalou shouldn’t worry about not having a father. But who should join the 11-year-old for parent-children sports day? Together they set off in search of a replacement father. An uneasy quest which offers them a peek into each other’s lives. Festival selections include Cinekid, Schlingel, Drama International SFF and JEF Antwerp, where it was awarded Best Short Film by Children's Jury. Festival distribution is handled by Kapitein Kort. 

The Swedish-Dutch coproduced short graduation film Hökarängen City by Katarina Holzmann Ekholm for the Gerrit Rietveld Academy is competing in the National Competition. Hökarängen City tells the story of Myra and Stacy, navigating a world devoid of adult presence.

Selections out of competition
In the Dance Not Dance Forward program I Wan’na Be Like You (Broersen & Lukacs) is included. Both The Refusers*(Wiep Teeuwisse) and No Way Forward by Pelle Nijburg are part of the Short Shorts program. And Wander to Wonder*(Nina Gantz) is presented in the program that consists of the 2024 European Film Academy Short Film Nominees.

Retrospectives Barbara Meter and Mattijn Seip
Next to these selections Eye Filmmuseum also presents two retrospective programs. The restored works of Barbara Meter are presented in a program called Found Sounds. In her avant-garde films, Meter pushes the cinematic medium forward with her unique way of repurposing documents and audio recordings, utilizing an innovative, masterful application of optical printing techniques. She manipulates the images and reworks found sounds to find and create a personal expressive mode. This all-celluloid program has been curated by Mónica Savirón and organized in partnership with Eye Filmmuseum. The program was presented at Oberhausen Short Film Festival earlier this year as well. 

Alongside the Found Sounds program, the program Found Forms is presented. A selection of works from the archive of Eye by Mattijn Seip, curated by Martin Grennberger. Mattijn Seip  has since the 1960s been an important actor in Amsterdam's alternative film scene along with Barbara Meter, among others, and this 16mm program looks at Seip's most formally exploratory period spanning experimental animation, the use of extended camera- and shutter techniques and flicker effects. 

Special program Raw Data - the Origins of Digital Film
This joint program is a collaborative effort by the European Short Film Network, of which Uppsala is one out of six festivals. The program presents a diverse selection of experimental audiovisual works that explore the complexity of digital image processing. By combining a wide range of techniques and concepts, Raw Data offers insight into the ongoing development of digital image processing techniques and how artists have explored them over the past decades. The program includes six Dutch productions and is curated by Dutch artist Martijn van Boven. 

For more information about the Uppsala Short Film Festival click here.

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*film supported by the Netherlands Film Fund