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International Shorts: Nothing Comes Easy

Image: Mira, VIFF 2023

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In this program of short films our protagonists discover that sorting out their lives can be much more difficult to achieve than they realized.

 

This short film program includes the following films:

Far From the Tree
Emma Marková, Czech Republic (23 min)

A woman and her teen daughter live in a small dead end city where both women are trying to break out of their miserable circumstances.

 


Cut
Samuel Lucas Allen, Australia (19 min)

A teenage boy caught in a web of lies is pulled in different directions as he tries to juggle anti-Semitism, his queerness and an orthodox Jewish father.

 


Night Shift
Santiago Lago, Argentina (27 min)

The night shift clerk at a sex hotel, suffering from narcolepsy, is faced with a night when things are unusually busy and housekeeping finds a gun in room 6.

 


Spasm
Sahra Asadollahi, Iran (27 min)

A woman who has never acted in film before goes for an audition that becomes a test of more than just her acting ability.

 


Mira
Eva Louise Hall, USA (12 min)

A struggling accordionist busker gets more than she bargained for when her desire to get noticed attracts the attention of a mysterious and enticing competitor.

 

Community Partner

Director

Various

Country of Origin

Various

Year

2022-2023

Series

International Shorts

Language

Various with English subtitles

18+
108 min
Shorts

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

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The History of Concrete
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The History of Concrete

Dir. John Wilson
101 min

After attending a workshop on pitching saccharine Hallmark movies, John Wilson tries to apply all the same best practices to his documentary about concrete. Frequently absurd and endlessly entertaining detours, asides, and digressions ensue.

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La Bola Negra
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La Bola Negra

Dir. Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo
155 min

A big, old-school historical melodrama gets a thrillingly modern, queer makeover from Spanish duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, who artfully juggle three gay protagonists across stories set in 1932, 1937, and 2017. Winner: Best Director, Cannes. Screening on 35mm.

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NAZA
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NAZA

Dir. Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor
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NAZA is a codeword euphemistically used by Israeli intelligence to indicate the number of civilians it expects will be killed in an airstrike. This chilling documentary exposes the policy and process of state-sanctioned mass killings.

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The Mad Dog of Europe

Dir. Rubika Shah
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The story of an unmade screenplay from the writer of Citizen Kane. In 1932, Herman Mankiewicz wrote a film that foretold the persecution of the Jews and the war in Europe. But Hollywood wouldn't take the risk and The Mad Dog of Europe was never made.

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The Mortal Storm

Dir. Frank Borzage
100 min

In this explicitly anti-Nazi melodrama directed by Frank Borzage (Three Comrades) a year before the US entered the war, Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart fall in love as their friends and family fall prey to the rise of Hitler's Nazi party in Germany.

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Three Comrades
Three Comrades film image; men gathered outside chatting

Three Comrades

Dir. Frank Borzage
100 min

Scripted by F Scott Fitzgerald, Three Comrades (1938) was the first US studio film to chronicle the rise of European fascism in the 30s. Three German veterans open up a repair shop and try to regain a normal life, but political extremists have other ideas.

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