Discover the nine short films touring around Europe, which aim to win the title of 2024/2025 European Short Film Audience Award.
After winning the favour of their national audience, these short films are on a quest to win the hearts of Europeans, who are invited to vote for their favourite short film. The final award of €3,500 will be presented at the Brussels Short Film Festival, in 2025. The national audience won’t be able to vote for the short film coming from its own country to ensure the fairness of the award.
winner
Les Mystérieuses aventures de Claude Conseil
(The Mysterious Adventures of Claude Conseil)
Marie-Lola Terver, Paul Jousselin, 2023
France, FIC, 24′
Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival – Audience Award 2024
Synopsis
Claude Conseil lives with her husband in a house in the middle of the woods. She spends her time listening to birds. One day, mysterious phone calls break the calm of the forest.
Kafana Na Balkanu
(Balkan, Baby)
Boris Gavrilović, 2023
Germany, FIC, 19′
Interfilm Berlin – International Short Film Festival – Audience Award 2023
Synopsis
Martina is a good immigrant. At least, she has always done her best to be regarded as such in Germany. But then she meets young Dunja during a short vacation at Lake Starnberg. Dunja is self-confident, non-conformist and, above all, she stands by her Yugoslavian origins – unlike Martina. Suddenly, Martina is forced to confront a part of her identity that she has repressed all her life.
Vivir en un mar bravo
(To Live In a Wild Sea)
Guillermo F. Flórez, 2023
Spain, DOC, 24′
ALCINE – Alcalá de Henares Film Festival in the Community of Madrid – Audience Award 2023
Synopsis
Carmen was born in 1935. As a child, she watched how they took members of her family away. After 14 years as a cloistered nun, she managed to get expelled from it. She promised herself to own her life. Today, she is 86 years old, and she is going to take a decision: Carmen is going to commit suicide.
Merci pour votre patience!
(Thank You For Your Patience!)
Simon van der Zande, 2022
Belgium/Netherlands, FIC, 17′
Go Short – International Short Film Festival Nijmegen – Audience Award 2023
Synopsis
From a fixed point of view, we witness a tense bus ride in Brussels, when Samuel – a Congolese immigrant – gets on to voice his discontent with Europe.
Awards and Selections
10.2022 – Filmfest Gent (Audience Award & Special Mention Jury)
12.2022 – Kortfilmfestival Leuven (Jury Award for Best Debut Film)
04.2023 – Go Short – International Short Film Festival (Youth Award & Audience Award)
Motherless Child
Sophie Maréchal, 2023
Belgium/France, FIC, 14′
Brussels Short Fiml Festival – Audience Award 2022
Synopsis
Barbara, 30 years old single female, is the typical example of a modern woman, a “working girl”, living in a fast lane. Barbara is completely hooked on her smartphone, but her routine is about to change when a mysterious balloon, seemingly sent from the sky, floats into her life.
Natureza Humana
(Human Nature)
Mónica Lima, 2023
Portugal/Germany, FIC, 26′
Curtas Vila do Conde – International Film Festival – Audience Award 2023
Synopsis
In an apartment in a city under curfew, a day expands from early Spring to late Summer. A couple’s longing to start a family is shaken by a pervasive feeling of uncertainty.
Awards and Selections
01.2023 – Internacional Film Festival Rotterdam (Ammodo Tiger Short Award)
03.2023 – REGARD – Saguenay ISFF (Grand Prix)
07.2023 – Curtas Vila do Conde IFF (National Audience Award, Best Portuguese Film)
12.2024 – Zubroffka ISFF (Best Live-Action Film
Лелеки завжди повертаються додому
(Storks Always Come Home)
Halyna Koziutynska, 2023
Ukraine, DOC, 28′
Lviv International Film Festival Wiz-Art – Audience Award 2023
Synopsis
Gala and Viktor search for their Heaven on Earth, even during the war. That’s why they bought an abandoned house in the Carpathian Mountains and started repairing it. It’s a place of peace and calmness where they can grow their food, be silent, be defenseless, and drink coffee overlooking the mountains and a stork’s nest. But winter comes, the apple tree in the yard freezes, and the War reaches Heaven.
Nun or Never!
Heta Jäälinoja, 2023
Finland, ANI, 11′
Tampere Film Festival – Audience Award 2025
Synopsis
The nuns live in the monastery in contentment and harmony, fused together. One of the nuns finds a man underground while digging potatoes. The nun begins to dream of the man, goes mad and loses a common rhythm with others.
Awards and Selections
06.2023 – Annecy International Animation Film Festival (France TV Prize, Audience Award)
08.2023 – Turku Animated Film Festival (Best National Film)
10.2023 – Animatou (Grand Prix))
10.2023 – Primanima (Best First Film, Best Sound Design, PrimAlter Prize)
