What happens when the light disappears? Seven selected short films from Ukraine, Belgium, the Czech Republic, the USA, and beyond explore the idea of light on every level: as a physical object, a philosophical concept, a cinematographic tool, and a form of togetherness. They reflect on how people adapt to new conditions, how crisis reveals our true values, and how we become a source of light for one another — not in spite of the darkness, but in the spaces between it.
Join us for a warm shorts curated by Wiz-Art!
The screening will take place on December 20 at 18:00 at Lviv Art Palace, 17 Kopernyka Street.
To purchase a ticket, follow this link. Seats are limited.
STONE OF DESTINY // 10 min., Julie Černá, Czech Republic, 2025
The animated musical follows the journey of the anthropomorphized Stone of Destiny. On a path filled with mysterious encounters and hidden symbols, he is driven by a desire for freedom. Singing Stone is accompanied not only by a newfound freedom, but also by a fear of failure.
LOYNES // 25 min., Dorian Jespers, Belgium, France, North-Macedonia, United Kingdom, 2025
A Kafkaesque courtroom drama set in 19th-century Liverpool, recounting the trial of a corpse with neither name nor past. Dozens have gathered for the absurd ceremony — and perhaps to deliver justice.
THE SIXTH CAMPFIRE // 6 min., Tomer Hadad, Israel, 2025
Six friends meet every year to set up a campfire.But what seems to be an ordinary get-together, turns out to be a commemoration ceremony, in which the group comes together to cope with the death of their absent friend.
TEACH US HOW TO FLY // 20 min., Liliya Syvytska, Ukraine, 2025
Maria meets her alter-ego, foreign journalist, with whom she embarks on the odyssey through Kyiv, its past, present and dreams, to re-define her purpose in war time. Film is dedicated to the generation of youth living in times of war. The director reflects on her personal experience of living in constant dichotomy between grief and joy caused by constant attacks on the country.
STREET LIGHT // 15 min., Romain Dumont, Canada, France, 2024
During a documentary shoot, Cheun, a beloved traffic warden, gets into trouble with a local inspector. On Rue Clignancourt, his resignation has the effect of a street light going out. In this new darkness, a filmmaker must rediscover his humanity, while Cheun must continue to invent his cinema. The rest doesn’t matter.
BUTTS // 9 min., Clarissa Jacobson, Shayna Weber, USA, 2024
Butts is an autobiographical piece about Kent’s day-to-day life as a 3’11” man navigating able-bodied surroundings, creatively overcoming all those human-made hurdles and obstacles and giving the proverbial middle finger to death and mortality. Sure, he might be small in stature, but Kent’s big in heart and always puts an entertaining and positive spin on everything.
RARE STONE // 9 min., Jiahang Li, China, 2024
A little bird kept on casting stones forward chasing the light of the sky on a dim and endless rocky beach, until a crack appeared in the rocky beach, and out of it sprang many things that it had never seen before…
This selection is special: it was curated by participants of our Film Curating Workshop. They watched 300 short films from the longlists of Wiz-Art, LINOLEUM, and Mykolaichuk OPEN in search of the very best — come and see what they discovered.
We thank the mentors who supported the participants on their journey to creating their first film program: Alex Malyschenko, Olha Raiter, Myro Klochko, Anastasiia Verlinska.
The project received support through the Resilience Fund of the Goethe-Institut Ukraine. For the fourth year in a row, the program continues to support cultural and educational institutions, as well as civil society organizations that demonstrate exceptional resilience in the face of the full-scale Russian aggression.