European Short Debuts - fiction 1
Never Say Never
An unforeseen event influences the lives of two people, changes their attitudes to life, and casts them in mutual conflict. What may be happiness for one might only be cause for misgivings for the other.
Juan Lahoz Rallo
Juan holds a degree in Visual Communication from the Complutense University of Madrid and a Master of Arts in Communications Arts from New York Institute of Technology. He worked as a copywriter at the advertising agency Contrapunto. He entered as a Computer Graphic Designer at Antena 3 Television, where he made a lot of headers and programs design. A few years later he moved into what he really liked, directing. He became assistant director and later director, of lots of TV programs. Since 2004 he is back in Antena 3 Television as director of the department of self-promotion.
2011 Nigdy nie mów nigdy / Nunca Digas / Never Say Never (short)
Adding up Addiction
A group therapy meeting for anonymous alcoholics held in the home of one of the members awakens the memories of a time when she was helplessly enslaved by her destructive addiction. This short movie interlaces scenes of ongoing therapy with the fragments of an alcoholic past that has left its indelible stamp on a woman’s mind, and which remains with her always.
Matthieu Mares-Savelli
After studying both management (Paris Dauphine University) and cinema (ESRA), Matthieu Mares-Savelli creates in 2005, with two partners, a production company called Camarilla. During five years he directs many Web and TV commercials, as well as short programs for French channels, which enables him to develop a strong technical and artistic experience as a writer and director. In 2009, he directs his first short movie Adding up Addiction. The year after his second short movie Portrait a of Biped with Flexible Morals.
2009 Rachunek za nałóg / Addition d’une addiction / Adding up Addiction (short)
2010 Portrait a of Biped with Flexible Morals (short)
Offside
Hannes Stoll’s film examines the social stigma of homosexuality. The threat of ostracism prevents a football player from coming to terms with his own sexuality and attraction towards the same sex. Hannes Stoll portrays society as an intolerant entity that embraces only those who prove their ‘purity’ by conforming to the standards of the majority.
Hannes Stoll
After finishing school in 2005, Hannes travelled and toured with his band for three years. During that time he decided that he wanted to combine photography and music and try to capture extraordinary moments in life. Therefore he started to study directing at the Medienakademie in Munich in 2008.
2010 Spalony / Abseits / Offside (short)
Arthur
Serge Ramelli’s Arthur has little in common Steve Gordon’s better-known Arthur, in which Dudley Moore drowned his sorrows, but also celebrated his joys, with copious amounts of alcohol. Arthur in this short movie is a picture of health. Any excuse, even being late, is enough for him to run, bounce off walls or jump over any obstacles in his way. The aim of the film was thus straightforward – to show off stunts – but we watch enthralled nonetheless.
Serge Ramelli
Serge was born in 1970 after working in the web advertisement business, he became a photographer in 2005. He was specialize in digital work, HDR photos and retouching. He did a photo series called Paris Cinema, the idea was to represent Paris, retouched in the same way then Hollywood movies. In 2007 serge started directing institutional ads for various companies. In 2010 he directed his first shot Arthur, an action movie with the only idea in mind to be a fun entertaining experience. He is now developing with the production company named Alandra Films a movie a comedy called 40.
2010 Arthur (short)
Exit Road
28 year old Saïd is reunited with his father, Kaddour, who has recently completed a ten-year prison sentence for the murder of his wife. They embark together on the motorway. The reunion between father and son is arduous. Kaddour sees the journey as an opportunity to renew ties with his son. Saïd, however, seems to have a different plan…
Jonathan Hazan
Following his graduation from the ESEC (Ecole Supérieure d’Etudes Cinématographiques) in 2005, Jonathan Hazan spent time working on several film sets, fulfilling a number of different duties – assistant director, stagehand, lighting engineer – before being appointed as feature-film production manager. In parallel to these activities, Jonathan Hazan invested himself in the writing and direction of scripts for short-films. In 2007 he was selected by the open-air festival of Grenoble to take part in the GREC writing workshop. In 2008, he partook in the Moulin d’André Céci workshop with the script for Exit Road. In 2009 he was hired by Les Films du Cygne to run their department of short-films.
2010 Zjazd / Sortie de Route / Exit Road (short)
69, the Story of Illy Lips
This is an experimental short film in three chapters focusing on death, sex and life. The form is independent of content and relies on an amalgamation of interlaced images. Combined with the narrator’s hypnotizing voice (provided by the director herself), the flow of images mystifies our senses as we contemplate the screen.
Miek Hoekzema
Graduated in 1999 at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy (audiovisual department) in Amsterdam winning the Gerrit Rietveld Academy price for her final exam. Got her master degree in fine arts at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam in 2004. Published two poetry books Knakstoelenzolensokkel, 2004, self published at Illy Lips productions, Stroboscoop, 2007, published at publishing-house Holland in Haarlem and now made her first short film 69, the Story of Illy Lips. Is currently working on a second film: 38 Snotnose
2010 69, Historia Illy Lips / 69, the Story of Illy Lips (short)