Masters Competition 2
01 The Graffiti
Director(s)
Ryo ORIKASA
Film info
Year of production: 2025
Country of production: United States of America, Japan
Production: The Yanai Initiative at UCLA, Waseda University
Length: 12' 33''
Synopsis
This hypnotic animated short brings to life a prose poem by Makoto Takayanagi, read here by the poet himself.
02 The Weaver
Director(s)
Yiorgos TSANGARIS
Film info
Year of production: 2025
Country of production: Cyprus
Production: Revolutions in Small Rooms, Cyprus Deputy Ministry of Culture
Length: 04' 20''
Synopsis
Arachne, the masterful weaver, spun tales of the gods’ misdeeds. But for weaving the truth, she was met with divine wrath, cruel and unrelenting.
03 Off-Time
Director(s)
Nata METLUKH
Film info
Year of production: 2025
Country of production: United States of America, Japan, Ukraine
Production: self-produced with the support of the Hiroshima Artist-in-Residence-2022
Length: 10' 45''
Watch the trailerSynopsis
A data engineer rushes through life, believing multitasking saves time—but it only creates chaos. Despite his strict control over time, nothing gets done: his home is a mess, work overflows, and breakfast is always burnt. He discovers joy in life only when time breaks apart.
04 The Dog
Director(s)
Kaspar JANCIS
Film info
Year of production: 2025
Country of production: Estonia
Production: Rebel Frame
Length: 05' 40''
Synopsis
Midnight Student wants to charm a special lady called Moon Orchid, but his physique fails to impress her. Eager to improve his situation, he goes to a miracle doctor. Inspired by ancient Chinese erotic literature, the absurdist and allegorical story serves as a comical mirror to our modern vanities.
05 The Prologue
Director(s)
Marzieh EMADI
Sina SAADAT
Film info
Year of production: 2025
Country of production: Austria
Production: Marzieh Emadi, Sina Saadat
Length: 10' 58''
Synopsis
It begins, as its name suggests, with heaven, and thus the almost biblical beginning of all beginnings. However, it is a man in work clothes who emerges from the cuboid floating through the air, and not a divine being.
06 Ode to Perfume
Director(s)
Maxim LITVINOV
Film info
Year of production: 2024
Country of production: Russia
Production: Studio SHAR
Length: 03' 54''
Synopsis
We see a number of vessels containing various scents, graphically represented as plants, animals or abstract figures. The vessels open one by one and reveal their scents.
07 Arguments in Favor of Love
Director(s)
Gabriel ABRANTES
Film info
Year of production: 2025
Country of production: Portugal
Production: Artificial Humors
Length: 09' 00''
Watch the trailerSynopsis
A couple’s arguments, taken from life, embodied by ghosts.
08 How
Director(s)
Marko MEŠTROVIĆ
Film info
Year of production: 2025
Country of production: Croatia
Production: Kreativni sindikat
Length: 08' 47''
Watch the trailerSynopsis
Through the opening between reality and subtle poetic forms, surreal scenes and thrilling paradoxes reveal endless loops of existence.
09 The Wild-Tempered Clavier
Director(s)
Anna SAMO
Film info
Year of production: 2024
Country of production: Germany
Production: Tiger Unterwegs Filmproduktion, NOVANIMA
Length: 07' 20''
Synopsis
Despite the world’s disasters an artist insists on playing (both as a verb and a noun). A story told through a filmmaker’s art, inspired by Bach’s timeless music and painted on a roll of toilet paper in an homage to the tradition of painting directly on 35 mm film.