13 JUNE 2025 – SUMMER SHORTS (PART 1)

At LusOFest, short films by filmmakers from the Rhine-Main area are screened alongside international productions from the Portuguese-speaking world. In June, we will conclude the festival season with a short film weekend, during which we will show some films from our shortlists that we were unable to screen at the festival, as well as some older works by filmmakers who were featured at the festival this year.

Although the summer short film weekend is not competitive, we do award an audience prize. On Friday evening, 13 January 2025, we will show a selection of documentary and experimental short films at 57Nord. On Saturday, 14 June, we will show short animated and feature films. We will show the short films in an intimate setting and over a shared meal. Both the admission and the meal are free, but we welcome donations and registrations using this form (to help us estimate the quantity of ingredients needed). If you would like to come a little earlier to help with the preparation (in the courtyard, weather permitting), you are very welcome to do so.

Lights, Camera, Activism: Short films (Documentary)

• »Memories of Blackwood and Ivory« (Memórias de Pau-Preto e Marfim), Inês Costa, Portugal 2023, 15’, w/ English subtitles
• »Niki’s Music Shop« Tom Blankenberg, Germany 2024, 30’, w/ English subtitles + Q&A
• »Sublime Ground« (Sublime Chão), Gabriel H. Borges Rolo, Brazil 2024, 15’, w/ English subtitles

Open here to see more details!

‘Memories of Blackwood and Ivory‘ and Ivory is a documentary that uses animated film to bring eyewitness accounts to life. In just 15 minutes, the short film covers many of the key themes of this year’s festival, such as dictatorship in Portugal, colonialism and the independence movements in Lusophone Africa. We showed it as a supporting film to the Angolan documentary ‘Independência’ at the festival and are now bringing it to 57Nord. ‘Niki’s Music Shop’ is a documentary about a music shop in Düsseldorf that seems to have fallen out of time. The film follows the closure of the shop with a camera. Director, musician and label owner Tom Blankenberg will be present. ‘Sublime Ground’ is a music documentary that follows cellist Vinicius and shows the contrast between the highly regarded youth orchestra and the harsh reality of life in São Paulo.

Supercalifragilisticexpiralimental: Short films (Experimental)

• »Als ob« Bernd Thiele, Germany 2014, 5’, no dialogues
• »Falscher Tiger« Balduin Pfeffer, Deniz Kilicarslan, Germany 2023, 5’, no dialogues
• »Confident« (Confidente), Karen Akerman, Miguel Seabra Lopes, Brazil 2016, 13’, w/ English subtitles
• »1,34943x10e4« Juan Lesta, Spain 2020, 12’, no dialogues

Open here to see more details!

‘Als ob’ is an original variation on the theme of crane ballet featuring several familiar faces from the regional scene. ‘Falscher Tiger’ is an excitingly staged and elaborately scored short film by students at the Offenbach University of Art and Design. ‘Confident’ is an experimental short film that uses repetition and archive footage from the 1960s and 1970s. ‘1,34943x10e4’ is a film that straddles the line between experimental film and music video. The title refers to the number of individual shots that make up the film.

We will show the programme in two thematic blocks with a short break. Coming and going between blocks or films is absolutely fine at the low-threshold, free screenings at 57Nord.

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