Every year, young people in the age group of 15-19 years old choose films not only for their peers. They have represented their generation with five short films selected from the best that contemporary European short cinema for young people has to offer. The Young & Short series will then be distributed to Czech cinemas and schools, which will not only be offered a quality film experience, but also a specially created programme with lecturers' introductions, discussions, interesting guests or workshops.
MY NAME IS EDGAR AND I HAVE A COW (dir. Filip Diviak, Czech Republic, Slovakia, 2023, 7 minutes)
Edgar is a naive but kind bachelor. He likes fast cars and his mother. He also likes to eat, so he takes a trip to a food factory. There, he becomes irresistibly charmed by a newly born calf, which he promptly moves into a small apartment in a tenement building. The calf quickly turns into a cow and smashes everything it comes across. The dramatic cohabitation is unsustainable in the long run and calls for a radical solution, which Edgar hadn't even thought of until then. The great Vladimír Javorský lends his voice to the resigned Edgar in Filip Diviak's short animated film.
WAIT (dir. Martin Jenefeldt, Sweden, 2023, 11 minutes)
What a man wouldn't do for another. Especially when he is freshly in love. Under dramatic circumstances, young Sofia quickly learns a life lesson in blind trust when she accidentally gets pulled into an illegal trade. This short Swedish film builds gripping tension in a minimal amount of space, quickly turning a casual encounter between two friends into a Nordic whodunit.
PIG (dir. Jorn Leeuwerink, The Netherlands, 2022, 8 minutes)
The electrification of the animal kingdom with an electrical outlet - i.e., the nose of one sleeping pig - quickly degenerates into unprecedented waste, with animals using electricity unnecessarily for everything. When resources begin to run out, the newly formed city is immediately engulfed in chaos and total collapse. Does this remind you of anything? This tragicomic animated fable sums up the complexity of human civilisation while describing one of the causes of the climate crisis.
HAULOUT (dir. Evgenia Arbugaeva, Maxim Arbugaev, UK, Russia, 2022, 25 min)
The Arctic, wide open plains, a small wooden hut, one marine biologist and 95,000 walruses. Fatigue, crowding, panic and the fight for survival. The oceans are becoming less ice-covered, the walruses have nowhere to rest during their migration and arrive on land completely exhausted. Many of them can no longer continue on. This gripping Oscar-nominated documentary captures one of the devastating impacts of climate change in a minimalist but extremely powerful way.
THE SHIFT (dir. Amalie Maria Nielsen, Denmark, 2022, 18 minutes)
Boom. Milo is angry. She finds it hard to cope with heated emotional situations, living behind the walls of an educational institution for girls with problematic behaviour, and she's also just going through a transition. She finds solace only in an empathetic caregiver who understands the situation and tries to help in any way he can. The right haircut, the sports sweatshirt, the rough music - every detail can help. But just as one change can instantly and harshly disrupt the delicate process of finding one's identity. Bang!