International Competition: Selection #1

ROCK PAPER SCISSORS // 20 min., Franz Böhm, United Kingdom, 2024

BAFTA 2025 Winner (Best British Short Film). Based on a true story – A father and son running a makeshift hospital on the front line of war, face a tough decision when a platoon of soldiers approaches their building. They must find a way to protect both their patients and themselves.

HUN TUN // 15 min., Magdalena Hejzlarová, Czechia, 2024

A young woman measures her strength against the king of chaos himself. The more she wants to win, the less she succeeds. Through a mythological story, the author looks back to the time when she discovered that there are things in life she will never control.

RUTH // 22 min., Sonia Martí Gallego, Spain, 2024

Year 2000. Maya, a young Londoner, travels to the small village of her Spanish girlfriend, Ruth, who has passed away in an accident. She wants to bid her farewell, but the harsh blow, along with the anxiety of presenting herself as the «foreign girlfriend» in front of unknown family and friends who speak another language, turns into confusion when she realizes that nobody knows who she is, and she will find herself completely out of place.

LIVING STONES // 20 min., Jákob Ladányi Jancsó, Austria, Hungary, 2025

Natasa undergoes therapy at an unorthodox rehabilitation center far from the city. Her sessions with her therapist are slow and uneasy, as she is reluctant to trust him. When the therapist introduces her to horse therapy, she finds a fragile sense of connection and acceptance that gives her the courage to revisit her darkest moments. The boundaries between therapist and patient start to blur, their interactions grow increasingly intimate and the chasm between healing and harm widens.

CRUST // 26 min., Jens Kevin Georg, Germany, 2023

In this family, you only truly belong when you’ve gotten your first wound. But Fabi is 12 and still without scars. On Grandpa’s farm, he has to finally prove that he fits in. Fabi’s father knows the boy must face this now – after all, they all had to. And Fabi really wants to belong. But how much of him (and his skin) will be left in the end?