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Filmhuis, Den Haag | Saturday 30 Nov | 12:30 hours

Discover the new talent that Eastern Europe has to offer during New Talents Competition 1. The public can vote on their favorite short during New Talents Competition screenings #1 and #2. The winner will be announced on Sunday.

This screening includes a Q&A with Michal Toczek, director of Be Somebody, Silvija Woolf, editor of How to be a Human being, and Vladyslav Detiuchenko, director of Rhythms of Resilience – Dance with Daily Risk.

The New Talents Competition 1 consists of the following short films:

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Be Somebody

Michał Toczek, 2023
27 min | Poland

“Be Somebody“ shows us how a common guy and his family go through great lengths to turn their new apartment into a museum, but are forced to confront their values, beliefs and their relationship in the process.

An electrician named Wiktor moves in with his family to a new flat. Soon they find out that the apartment used to belong to Lech Walesa, a former Polish President and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, who started as an electrician. Wiktor’s wife, Sylwia, starts to make money on foreign tourists, turning their new home into a museum and her husband into Walesa’s impersonator. Sylwia’s new obsession leads to Wiktor’s confrontation with Walesa’s legend.

FESTIVALS & AWARDS (SELECTION) – Krakow Film Festival, 2023 | Polish Film Festival, 2023 | Warshaw International Film Festival, 2023 | Cottbus Film Festival, 2023 | Busan Short Film Festival, 2024 | European Short Film Festival of Lille, 2024 | Vilnius International Film Festival, 2023 | Brussels Short Film Festival, 2024

3 MWH

Marie-Magdalena Kochová, 2024
12 min | Czech Republic

Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only altered in form or transferred from one system to another.

A nuclear power plant worker obsessed with counting has set a maximum limit on how much electricity he wants to consume. But the energy that should have lasted him for the rest of his life is slowly running out, forcing him to decide on its final use. “3 MWh” is a film poem about degrowth and shows what it would look like if man stopped putting themselves at the centre of nature. A 16mm analogue footage damaged by digitally recorded electrical discharges based on the protagonist’s voice demonstrates the relationship between man and material reality.

FESTIVALS & AWARDS (SELECTION) – International Film Festival Rotterdam, 2024 – World Premiere | ​Leiden Shorts – Brand New Eyes Award | Karlovy Vary International Film Festival | Andaras Traveling Film Festival – Honourable Mention | Cervino Cine Mountain – Best Short Film Award | Festival Internacional de Escuelas de Cine – Best Fiction Award, Special Mention | BuSho Film Festival – Best Experimental Film Award

How to be a human being

Jorė Janavičiūtė, 2023
15 min | Lithuania

A story about memory, trauma and healing. Two characters are confronted with different recollections of the same experience, but in the confined space of a bathroom have to stay with the trouble. Will they be able to reconnect with each other?

During a conference in a hotel, a woman in her mid-thirties meets a man she used to date in her teenage years. She accuses him of date-rape back then. She works at the conference and must help him prepare for the presentation. They start to talk. It turns out that things were different than she thought for many years. 

Watch How to be a human being Trailer

FESTIVALS & AWARDS (SELECTION) – Vilnius International Film Festival, 2023 | Festival International du cinema Independant de Casablanca, 2024 | Goa Short Film Festival 2023 – Best Short Film | CineFem 11 – Best Script | Beach Film Festival 2024 – Best Short Film

RHYTHMS OF RESILIENCE – DANCE WITH DAILY RISK

Vladyslav Detiuchenko, 2023
20 min | The Netherlands

In war-torn Ukraine, two dancers continue to live through their passion against all odds.

A captivating story of professional dancers Kateryna Kurman and Volodymyr Marchuck—two souls engaged in a connected dance amid the shadows of conflict in Ukraine. Directed remotely from the Netherlands by dancer and choreographer Vladyslav Detiuchenko, this experimental documentary uses digital technologies to convey a touching and authentic narrative. A powerful testament to the unbreakable human spirit and the transformative power of art.

Nederlandse Dansdagen Fest, 2023 – World Premiere | Inspired Dance Film Festival, 2024

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