Silhouettes Competition 1 – Personal Stories
01 Lost,Winter,Peking
Director(s)
Jiaxi Xu
Film info
Year of production: 2026
Country of production: Japan
Production: Tokyo University of the Arts, Graduate School of Film and New Media, Department of Animation
Length: 08' 55''
Category: Student film
Synopsis
Things that happened in Beijing a few winters ago, things that happened a century ago—they all flicker like film, their shapes impossible to recall. Within my memory, within the flow of time, I only want to find a place called home.
02 Mr. Why
Director(s)
Jan Cechl
Film info
Year of production: 2026
Country of production: Czech Republic
Production: KULI FILM
Length: 08' 00''
Category: Masters
Synopsis
The most important logician in modern world history, Kurt Gödel, was born in Brno, yet he remains virtually unknown in the Czech Republic. He spent most of his life in the United States, where he became the closest collaborator of Albert Einstein. He expanded on Einstein’s theory of relativity and demonstrated that time travel is possible. At the same time, he was a man with a very fragile psyche. Director Jan Cechl presents the most significant logician since Aristotle in a short animated film based on designs by leading Czech visual artist Vendula Chalánková.
03 Tapeworm Alexis & the Opera Diva
Director(s)
Thais Odermatt
Film info
Year of production: 2025
Country of production: Switzerland
Production: maximage
Length: 11' 22''
Category: Masters
Synopsis
How the tapeworm Alexis helped the opera diva Maria Callas to achieve fame and was allowed to spend a turbulent life with her until the bitter end.
04 Biting the hand that feeds you
Director(s)
Chantal Peten
Film info
Year of production: 2025
Country of production: Belgium
Production: Zorobabel, Capitan Coop
Length: 05' 54''
Category: Masters
Synopsis
The contest is called "Payday," and Chantal is in a rush because she clearly has a lot to say on the subject. For once, she ticks all the boxes: director, woman... She's ready to start taking notes, drawing... But very quickly, her everyday reality comes rushing back.
05 The Quinta’s Ghost
Director(s)
James A. Castillo
Film info
Year of production: 2025
Country of production: Spain
Length: 17' 13''
Category: Masters
Watch the trailerSynopsis
In 1819, an exhausted Francisco de Goya retires to “La Quinta del Sordo” to spend his final days away from public life and focused on his work. Unfortunately, in the deep solitude of that modest country house, the painter falls seriously ill. Closer to death than ever before, Francisco de Goya is visited by the ghosts of his past. Tormented by these visits and with his health rapidly declining, Goya paints the Black Paintings on the walls of his home as a last resort to drive the ghosts out of his life—losing almost everything in the process, including his sanity and nearly his life.
06 My Brother Yves
Director(s)
Lili Notteboom
Film info
Year of production: 2025
Country of production: France
Production: Scalaé Productions
Length: 02' 22''
Category: First film
Synopsis
Pierre, a naval officer, notices during the troop inspection on a ship that one of the sailors is missing. Where is Yves? Concerned, Pierre flips through the absent sailor's booklet. From page to page, amid the mundane and impersonal notes, a portrait of Yves and the friendship that binds the two men emerges. A friendship at sea as on land, and beyond any hierarchy. *Film inspired by the first page of the book 'My Brother Yves' written by Pierre Loti.*
07 Family Reunion
Director(s)
Jean Forest
Film info
Year of production: 2025
Country of production: Belgium
Production: Rayuela, Zorobabel
Length: 24' 27''
Category: Masters
Synopsis
At 35, Jean meets his father for the first time—not in the flesh, but on flickering Super 8 reels of long-forgotten family reunions. The director embarks on a journey through memories and missing pieces, weaving together the portrait of an absent father through the voices of those who once knew him. A deeply personal investigation, Family Reunion explores the echoes of inheritance, the weight of absence, and the power of film to resurrect the past.