KASHISH 2021 Student Shorts FILMS in Competition

THE FAIRY TALE
Dir: Seung jae Lee / 15 min / South Korea

Hyun-woo confesses to Eun-jung but gets rejected. Then, Eun-jung handed Hyun-woo a fairy tale book… Hyun-woo gradually learns about the secret of Eun-jung.

College: Chung-Ang University’s film department, South Korea

PILE OF SALT
Dir: Marc Camardons / 17 min / Spain

Mateo is a seminarian who lives a simple life dedicated to God. His vision of the world, his ideals and his beliefs will be upset when he meets Salvador, another seminarian, who shows him the world in a different way.

College: Escola Superior de Cinema i Audiovisuals de Catalunya (ESCAC) Cinema and Audiovisual School of Catalonia, Terrassa, Barcelona, Spain

COMPLICATED
Dir: Isak Kohaly / 22 min / Israel

Itamar, a chubby and depressed young man, returns to his childhood home in the suburbs following a mental breakdown. As he struggles to get better under the care of his quirky and overprotective mother, old tensions about his sexual orientation arise – especially when he meets Ronen, a handsome lifeguard who leads him to confront his body image issues.

College: The Steve Tisch School of Film and Television, Tel-Aviv University, Israel

THE ROOFTOP
Dir: Teng Po-Cheng / 19 min / Taiwan

Does your body belong to you? ” A teenager boy tries to find out the reason why he has difficulties in breathing when he makes love with his girlfriend.

College: Graduate School of Applied Media Arts (Department of Radio and Television from) National Taiwan University of Arts

ELAGABALUS
Dir: Xanthe Dobbie / 17 min / Australia

Burdened by a prophecy that dooms them to a violent death, Elagabalus, a genderqueer Roman Emperor, embraces excess. Much to the dismay of their controlling mother, Elagabalus is enamoured by a dashing charioteer. But as Elagabalus’ habits grow increasingly sadistic, mother and lover must band together to fulfil destiny.

College: Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS)

POLYGRAPH
Dir: Samira Saraya / 20 min / Israel

Yasmine (37), an openly lesbian Arab nurse living in Tel Aviv, finds out that her lover, Or (26), an intelligence officer in the Israeli army have been reporting on their relationship. Their liaison is further strained by the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict and by Yasmine’s sister’s visit who arrives from the West Bank not knowing that she is going to meet the occupying enemy at her own sister’s house.

College: The Steve Tisch School of Film and Television, Tel-Aviv University, Israel with The Blavatnik Student Film Production Fund

This film is geo-blocked to play only in India.

BRIDESMAID
Dir: Tzu-Ting Shen / 15 min / Taiwan

Jean, who is neutral in appearance, is forced to go home and put on her bridesmaid dress for the coming of her sister’s wedding. But things go differently when Jean and her girlfriend meet her drunk father at the stir-fried food restaurant that night.

College: Department of Motion Picture of National Taiwan University of Arts

JULKA AND JULIE
Dir: Gloria Stern / 30 min / Germany

One night, Julka closes a door to follow a path leading to her morose self. At the age of 75 she seems to have come to the end of her life, but a letter coming from her first love changes everything.

“JULKA UND JULIE” is the poetic love story of two women who see each other again after 59 years. Their relationship is now haunted by old memories and questions of guilt. This movie gives courage to start over no matter the age.

College: Film University Babelsberg, Germany

This film is geo-blocked to play only in India.

TODAY
Dir: Francis Chillet / 20 min / France

After three years abroad, Felix returns to his childhood village for Christmas. The memories come flooding back as he meets up again with old friends and he retraces moments which have forged the man he has become today.

College: 3iS – Institut International de l’Image et du Son, Élancourt, France

ON A PATH
Dir: Lihi Lubetkin / 18 min / Israel

Nitzan (16) is an introverted teenager that has always felt invisible to society. One day Neomi (20) the girlfriend of Nitzan’s brother Erez (20), invited her to join them for an overnight trip, an invitation that led Nitzan down a path of self-discovery.

College: The Steve Tisch School of Film and Television, Tel-Aviv University, Israel

DRIFTING
Dir: Hanxiong Bo / 17 min / China

Disguised as a girl growing up during the time of one-child policy in China, Yan confuses about his gender identity and struggles with the conservative world around him now. Drifting his dad’s old taxi becomes his way of expressing feelings. Tonight, He gets on a dreamy journey to find his missing sister back.

College: University of California, Los Angeles

SHIKHANDI
Dir: Sahil D. Gada / 24 min / India

Dev, a 20 year old boy, in love with theatre; lives with his widowed father. Dev explores and discovers his trans-identity through the mythological character of Shikhandi from the Mahabharata.

College: Whistling Woods International, Mumbai, India