Mr. Hublot

France, 2012, 10 Minutes

In this Oscar winning film, OCD sufferer Mr. Hublot lives in a frightening, fully automated world from which he hides, working from home. One day he spies an abandoned robot dog about to be crushed with the garbage and rescues it. The dog makes Mr. Hublot very happy but it grows to an enormous size, forcing Mr. Hublot to embrace change as they move to larger premises.

Curfew

USA, 2012, 20 Minutes

At the lowest point of his life, Richie gets a call from his estranged sister, asking him to look after his nine-year old niece, Sophia, for a few hours.

Pentecost

Ireland, 2011, 11 Minutes

Ireland 1977. Eleven-year-old Damian Lynch is called in at the last moment to serve as an altar boy at an important mass in his local parish. Following his last appearance as an altar boy when he knocked Father O'Toole off the altar, Damien is serving a three month ban from his only passion in life...football. To make matters worse, Damian's team, Liverpool FC, are playing in their first European cup final in two weeks time. Damien's father offers him a reprieve and a chance to see the European cup final if he serves the mass correctly. Damien now faces a choice: either conform to the status quo or never watch his beloved Liverpool play again...

Tango

Poland, 1981, 8 Minutes

At the 1983 Oscar ceremony, Polish director Zbigniew Rybczynski had possibly the worst night that any Oscar winner has ever had at the Academy Awards. When his short film, Tango, was announced as the winner of the Best Animated Short category, presenter Kristy McNicholmispronounced Rybczynski's name as "Zbigniewski Sky." When Rybczynski accepted the award, his speech was cut off by the orchestra.

After talking to reporters in the press room, Rybczynski stepped outside the auditorium to have a cigarette. When he tried to return, an overzealous security guard refused to let him in. Rybczynski was holding his Oscar, but was dressed in a cheap suit and sneakers because he had been unable to afford better clothes. He tried to explain to the guard that he was an Oscar winner, but his English was limited. Hearing Rybczynski's Polish speech, the security guard assumed the director was drunk and shoved him up against a wall. During the altercation, Rybczynski reportedly yelled, “American Pig! I have Oscar!” and tried to kick the guard in the groin. Rybczynski spent the night in jail before the mess was sorted out.

With a story like that, we must show the film. Don’t you think?

“Thirty-six characters from different stages of life — representations of different times — interact in one room, moving in loops, observed by a static camera. I had to draw and paint about 16.000 cell-mattes, and make several hundred thousand exposures on an optical printer. It took a full seven months, sixteen hours per day, to make the piece. The miracle is that the negative got through the process with only minor damage, and I made less than one hundred mathematical mistakes out of several hundred thousand possibilities. In the final result, there are plenty of flaws ® black lines are visible around humans, jitters caused by the instability of film material resulting from film perforation and elasticity of celluloid, changes of colour caused by the fluctuation in colour temperature of the projector bulb and, inevitably, dirt, grain and scratches.”

                        — Zbig Rybczynski

Intermission

Helium

Denmark, 2014, 23 Minutes

Alfred, a young boy, is dying, but through the stories about HELIUM — a magical fantasy world, told by the hospital's eccentric janitor Enzo, Alfred regain the joy and happiness of his life, and finds a safe haven away from daily life.

Spooners

USA, 2013, 13 Minutes

After convincing his husband to retire their old lumpy futon, Nelson is forced to come out in a spectacular way while shopping for a new bed at Drowzy's Mattress World.

At the 2013 Seattle International Film Festival, Spooners was selected as the audience favorite, taking home the coveted Golden Space Needle Award for best short film.

The Voorman Problem

UK, 2013, 12 Minutes

Doctor Williams is called in to examine the enigmatic Mr Voorman, a prisoner with a peculiar affliction: he believes he is a god.

The doctor must decide on the sanity of Mr Voorman: is he a faker or a lunatic?

George Lucas in Love

USA, 1999, 9 Minutes

It’s 1967. Film student George Lucas has writer's block while trying to finish his “Space Wheat” script, until a beautiful fellow student with a familiar hairstyle teaches him that the best stories are in plain sight.