The third part of the nominations for the Best International Narrative Short Film award screens four thought-provoking narratives about standing up for oneself.
TOUCHSCREEN Director: Arthur Halpern 15 min / 2019 / USA / English
After an unusual online encounter, a lonely man is challenged to step out from behind his computer screen and shatter long-lived inhibitions to claim the touch of another human being.
KIKO'S SAINTS (Les Saints de Kiko / キコの聖なる者たち) Director: Manuel Marmier 25 min / 2019 / France / Japanese
Kiko, a Japanese illustrator on assignment in France, gets suddenly overwhelmed by a strange inspiration, while she realizes she's been spying on a gay couple on the beach next to the chapel where she's working. Obsessed by such a vision, she will spy on those men and draw them secretly. This will slowly push her towards an encounter that will change her life and breaks her social rules.
ENCOUNTER Director: Ivan Löwenberg 18 min / 2019 / Mexico / Spanish
Arcelia and Lulu have been together and away from their families for many decades. Now that they are old, they only depend on each other and no one else. In another part of the city, Julian struggles to explore his identity while living under the umbrella of his conservative mother and macho minded grandfather. A sudden event will draw an unexpected path between Arcelia and the young Julian.
WE ARE DANCERS Director: Joe Morris 30 min / 2019 / UK / English, German
Berlin 1933, the day after the Reichstag fire, drag queen Hansi Sturm, devastated by his lover's betrayal, must come to terms with the violently changing times while facing Nazi persecution.