2013 SHORT FILM PROGRAM — Stranger With My Face

Peacock Theatre, Salamanca Arts Centre

Butterflies

Australia | 2012 | 12 min | Animation | DIR: Isabel Peppard

A young artist sits on the sidewalk, struggling to make a living. She makes drawings for the passersby. A businessman recognises her talents and offers her a paying job. The prospect seems inviting but the reality threatens to kill her imagination…

This stunning stop-motion fantasy has screened at festivals around the world including Sitges and the Melbourne International Film Festival.

Isabel Peppard will be a guest of the festival.

For more information visit the OFFICIAL WEBSITE

The Captured Bird

Canada | 2012 | 10 min | DIR: Jovanka Vuckovic

In this dark fable, a little girl is drawn to a mysterious mansion where she witnesses the birth of five horrifying apparitions.

“Jovanka’s vision has been honed to perfection and combines true poetry with savage instinct. Lyrical and brutal. Just what the doctor ordered.” – Guillermo del Toro

For more information visit the OFFICIAL WEBSITE

The Director

USA | 2012 | 1 min | animation | DIR: Destri Martino | Out of competition

A short but sweet addition to the line-up this won the American Cinematheque’s trailer contest and it continues to screen at festivals around the world.

For more information visit the filmmaker’s OFFICIAL WEBSITE

The Jelly Wrestler

Australia | 2013 | 12 min | DIR: Rebecca Thomson | Out of competition| World premiere

Washed up barmaid Eileen was crowned Queen of the Gelatine in the 80s at the peak of her career, but she’s been on a slippery gelatinous slope downhill ever since. When Eileen sees an opportunity to relive her glory days she must put down for the count her jelly wrestling demons…

Rebecca Thomson is a director of Stranger With My Face, so you’ll be pleased to note that this film is screening out of competition.

For more information visit the filmmaker’s OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Nightville

USA | 2013 | 9 mins | DIR: Kate Kaminski and Betsy Carson | World premiere

A romantic disappointment and a routine trip to the market takes Jaye through a landscape of shifting gender identities and nightmarish visions.

Self-Portrait

Canada | 2012 | 2 minutes | DIR: Jovanka Vuckovic

In the process of taking off her make-up, a woman reveals her true face.

For more information visit the filmmaker’s OFFICIAL WEBSITE

The Shed

Australia | 2012 | 22 min | DIR: Megan Riakos | World premiere

An alcoholic man on the hunt for booze stumbles across something frighteningly familiar in his back shed.

Based on the acclaimed short story by Chris Womersley.

Megan Riakos will be a guest of the festival.

For more information visit the filmmaker’s OFFICIAL WEBSITE

The Stolen

Canada | 2012 | 6 min | DIR: Karen Lam

An imaginative young girl is granted a secret wish when she rescues a boy from her bullying brother. Her wish comes true, but at a dark price.

For more information visit the filmmakers’s OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Strange Face

Australia | 2012 | 10 min | DIR: Lynne Vincent McCarthy

Ten year-old Ana spends her time watching people from a distance, separated from her peers by her strange behaviour. But while cradling an animal, she forms a bond that will compel her to take drastic action to protect it.

This is screenwriter Lynne Vincent McCarthy’s directorial debut and has screened in festivals including Palm Springs, Moscow International Film Festival and the Austin Film Festival.

Lynne Vincent McCarthy will be a guest of the festival.

For more information visit the OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Tritch

Australia | 2011 | 15 min | DIR: Natalie James

In modern day Shanghai, a wealthy housewife’s life of luxury becomes increasingly disrupted by the presence of a young ghost. What begins for Mei as a peculiarity slowly creeps into a beautiful terror that may bring life to specters of the past.

This Victorian College of the Arts film has screened at festivals including Palm Springs and HollyShorts. The dialogue is in Mandarin with English subtitles.

For more information visit the OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Foxes

Ireland | 2012 | 16 min | DIR: Lorcan Finegan | Out of competition

A young couple trapped in a remote estate of empty houses and shrieking foxes are beckoned from their isolation into a twilight world. A world of the paranormal or perhaps insanity.

An exploration of female repression in the best Gothic tradition, this film is screening out of competition as it has a male director.

For more information visit the OFFICIAL WEBSITE