We announce the line-up of the Student Etudes Competition of the 27th edition of EnergaCAMERIMAGE International Film Festival .
First held in 1997, Student Etudes Competition supports the development of novice filmmakers and provides unique opportunity to confront cinematic achievements of students from various parts of the world. Each year, a growing number of film schools submit their best etudes for consideration of the EnergaCAMERIMAGE selection committee. The winners are chosen by an international jury of prominent filmmakers and industry professionals.
The author of the best cinematography wins the coveted Laszlo Kovacs Student Award - The Golden Tadpole. Silver and Bronze Tadpoles are awarded for the second and third place respectively. Additionally, Polish Filmmakers Association will award the winner of the Student Etudes Competition a cheque for PLN 10 000.
17 HOURS
A short film based on the last moments of a ten-year-old girl named Julia, who has been trapped under debris from an earthquake in Italy for 17 hours.
Original title: 17ساعت
Polish title: 17 godzin
Director: Pedram Noori
Cinematographer: Aean Irani
School: Soore Art University Of Tehran
Country and year: Iran, 2019
ANIMALS
Su Su Myat, a Burmese child soldier, escapes from battle with her best friend, Tin Min. When they get captured, she must face the most awful of decisions.
Director: Chen-Wen Lo
Cinematographer: Łukasz Dziedzic
School: AFI - American Film Institute Conservatory
Country and year: USA, 2019
BIKE OF A BOY
War is raging. A boy loses his home in an air raid. Disoriented, he flees on his bike- his only possession- through an increasingly disrupted world. The people he meets and tries to connect with mirror his own search for the right path, although there is no set destination.
Original title: Das Rote Rad
Director: Nicolas Ehret
Cinematographer: Dennis Mill
School: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg GmbH
Country and year: Germany, 2019
BITTER HERB
In the past, when mothers wanted to stop breastfeeding, they would rub their breasts with an infusion of wormwood, so that the bitter taste would make the child never want breast milk again.
Original title: Piołun
Director: Maria Ornaf
Cinematographer: Zuzanna Zachara
School: Łódź Film School
Country and year: Poland, 2019
CHAOS
Chaos is a fairy-tale about the devil. What are one jogger, one hobo and two pigs doing in a forest? Chaos is a story about greed and its consequences. It’s a short that should be seen several times as, each time, the deeper meaning reveals itself even more.
Director: Samuel Auer
Cinematographer: Lukas Eylandt
School: DFFB - German Film and Television Academy
Country and year: Germany, 2019
CRU
Jeanne, a young chef, has made it in a top restaurant. With an iron discipline, she tries to convince her chef, known for her brutal work ethic, of her talent, but in this kitchen there is a merciless pecking order. It is only when Jeanne cuts her finger that she accidentally creates the perfect sauce - with her own blood. Now she must decide how far she wants to go for her career...
Director: David Oesch
Cinematographer: Ramón Königshausen
School: ZHdK - Zurich University of the Arts
Country and year: Switzerland, 2019
DAY RELEASE
Single mother Kathi is on day release from prison and finds her three-year-old son, who is living with his unstable grandmother, in a terrible situation. She is forced to find a way to make a better future for him, but time is against her - she has to be back in prison at 6PM.
Original title: Freigang
Director: Martin Winter
Cinematographer: Aram Baroian
School: Filmcollege Wien - VHS Polycollege
Country and year: Germany, Austria, 2019
ENCAGED FLOWER
A girl is lying on her bed, reading a book. This is the moment when she is overcome with a desire to explore. The girl will ask herself who she really is, what her legacy is, what she truly wants, and most importantly, is she free? An intimate and melancholic portrait of a young woman who, trapped within a monotony, determines how her life will be.
Original title: Flor de Invernadero
Director: Daniel Álvarez
Cinematographer: Daniel Álvarez
School: Escola Universitària ERAM - Universitat de Girona
Country and year: Spain, 2019
F FOR FREAKS
A world that is defined by neither time nor space. Nature overgrowing, gaping spaces and human emptiness shape this environment. You can get anything here, for the right price. Cheap staff or slaves, surrogate babies, vital organs, anything and everything is possible. The supposed dream of eternal life is for sale, along with human dignity.
Director: Sabine Ehrl
Cinematographer: Stephan Buske
School: Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF
Country and year: Germany, 2019
GRENADINE
After their parents inexplicably leave them to fend for themselves, three brothers must learn to grow up in a world devoid of authority.
Director: Corentin Leroux
Cinematographer: Rob Schmidt
School: Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University
Country and year: USA, 2019
JAKAB
A young man living abroad visits his home-town to deal with the aftermath of his estranged father's death. The unexpected journey forces him to face feelings and affairs long thought to be gone. A film about the inability to connect, or to find a home.
Director: Attila Dávid
Cinematographer: Péter Lehr Juhász
School: SZFE - Színház- és Filmmûvészeti Egyetem, Budapest
Country and year: Hungary, 2018
LAST CHILDREN IN PARADISE,THE
In the countryside, siblings Leah (14) and Theo (10) live with their grandmother in an isolated farmhouse. But it's when their grandmother suddenly dies, and the two kids find themselves completely on their own, that Leah - on the brink of puberty - has her first encounter with the opposite sex. We watch as Leah struggles to cope with being the woman of the house, and we see her torn between taking responsibility for her brother, and being thrust into womanhood. As a thunderstorm approaches and, along with it, a group of troublesome teenagers, Leah and Theo's paradise is threatened to be destroyed forever.
Original title: Die letzten Kinder im Paradies
Director: Anna Roller
Cinematographer: Felix Pflieger
School: HFF München - Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film
Country and year: Germany, 2019
LEFTY/RIGHTY
The death of a patriarch bridges the gap between a divorced cowboy and his young daughter. What follows is a tale of forgiveness, albeit in few words.
Director: Max Walker-Silverman
Cinematographer: Alfonso Herrera Salcedo
School: NYU - Tisch School of the Arts
Country and year: USA, 2018
