A showcase of the best new films from around the world today.
AUDIENCE AWARDS:
Best Short Film: SILENT PLAN
Best Experimental Film: YELLOW DRESS
Best Micro-Short: GRAVITY BOUND
Best Performances: STIGMA
Best Story: BREAKROOM
Best Direction: BLANCA
Best Visual Design: I WISH I WERE PRETTY
Best Student Film: THREE S3CONDS
Yellow Dress, 4min., UK
Directed by Raph Isadora Seymour
What is she doing? Trying to make a garden? Trying to make something…and who or what is trying to stop her? Crude stop-motion makes startling and poetic images and tells a story of resilience and the desire for happiness for both the hero and the villain of the piece.
https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-yellow-dress
Gravity Bound, 3min., USA
Directed by Frankie Lasley
The Man on the Moon is bound to the moon by his job; controlling the tides on Earth with a magical box of gravity. His quiet days are spent longing after a Shooting Star, who is bound to forever orbit him from a distance.
https://www.instagram.com/gravityboundfilm
https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-gravity-bound
STIGMA, 30min., Tunisia
Directed by Dali Mansour
During the Covid-19 lockdown, “Stigma” explores the emotional impact on Bochra, a young woman living alone in France. Through webcam exchanges with her parents in Tunisia, Bochra struggles with painful memories and a dark past. Confronted with solitude in her Parisian apartment, she faces shadows of her past, gradually revealing a deeply buried trauma. The film delves into themes of resilience, the importance of family bonds, and the quest for self in an isolated world, leading to a poignant revelation.
https://www.instagram.com/stigmashortfilm/
https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-stigma
BREAKROOM, 15min., USA
Directed by Ian Wang
A offbeat genre-bending comedy where mundane office tensions often unravel into something far more unsettling.
https://www.instagram.com/redlotusentertainment/
https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-breakroom
BLANCA, 7min., USA
Directed by Carlos Grana
During a coup in 1948, Peru’s First Lady must drive her maid and wounded chauffeur to the hospital down a treacherous road in the Andes.
https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-blanca
I Wish I Were Pretty, 20min., USA
Directed by Hanah Chang
Areum (which means ‘beautiful’ in Korean) is fixated on her physical appearance. She is convinced her monolidded eyes are why she is ‘unpretty,’ especially in comparison with her longtime best friend, Jane (as in plain Jane), who has double-lidded eyes and is so beautiful that she could be mistaken for a K-Pop idol. Areum tries to work through her insecurities with her therapist, Helen. But when a man humiliates Areum in front of Jane, Areum has to decide whether to finally face a long-festering sore spot and see her own value or let her friendship with Jane deteriorate.
https://www.instagram.com/iwishiwere_pretty/
https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-i-wish-i-were-pretty
Three S3conds, 16min., USA
Directed by Diana Shield
Arlo, a 17 year old boy struggles to open up and express himself to his counselor. He is haunted by his past actions due to his inability to control his rage and anger issues.
https://www.instagram.com/galacticbutterflyfilms
https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/audience-feedback-three-seconds
SILENT PLAN, 13min., Turkey
Directed by Omer Yildirim
A groundbreaking new technology offers hope to the deaf: the ability to hear sounds once again. Four young individuals, chosen to be part of this revolutionary step, eagerly await the moment they will finally hear the voices of their loved ones—voices they have been recording for years. But just days before the official launch, they are quietly removed from the project. No explanation is given; their dreams are taken from them.
Chicago FEEDBACK Film Festival 