Movie Summer Shorts: Berlinale Shorts 1

Summer Shorts: Berlinale Shorts 1

In The Theme / B TEME
Russia, 2007
Director Olga Popova
14 min

DAAD scholarship winner – BERLINALE SHORTS 2008

A young couple celebrates their first wedding anniversary. Having both prepared surprises for each other, they crack open a bottle of champagne and, proudly showing each other their wedding rings, they look back on their relationship. With musical accompaniment from Frida Selander, they ponder such questions as marital rows, quarrels with their peers, the desire for children, and their daily lives “in the theme”.

Gigants / Giganti
Italy, 2007
Director Fabio Mollo
24 min

Fifteen-year-old Pietro lives with his father and grandmother in a small town in southern Italy. Alongside his sexual awakening he also begins to comprehend the reality that surrounds him and touches the untouchable: the mafia’s most violent aspect – all-embracing silence.

Scenes From The Suburbs 
USA/Canada, 2010
Director Spike Jonze

“I wish I could remember every little moment. But I can’t. Why do I only remember the moments that I do. I wonder what happens to the others.” A group of suburban youths. Back then, in the summer, so long ago. They couldn’t leave town because outside the country was at war and the military controlled life and all gateways. The teenagers wander aimlessly about town. Winter is a long way off. And love and longing and friendship still mean – everything.

Broken Night / Pu-Seo-Jin Bam
South Korea, 2010
Director Yang Hyo-joo
23 min

Kyoung-pyo earns a living as an insurance fraudster. He and his partner fake car accidents and claim the insurance payments. Their scam works well until one evening after another ‘accident’ he is involved in a real accident when a motorcycle rams into him from the side. The injured motorcyclist is thrown onto the road. Kyoung-pyo decides to escape, leaving the biker behind. But his flight does not go as planned and the night turns out to be never-ending.

Planet Z
France, 2011
Director Momoko Seto
10 min

"Another time of life. Are these the last survivors, or the first ones in a new world? All seeds carry the future The struggle for survival remains.” Momoko Seto