SHORTS IN COMPETITION
PROGRAM 1
TURNING POINTS, The dark side and the echo that remains after the lightning strike. Eight short films where darkness seeps into the characters’ lives. Their paths are redirected by moments that will mark them forever. Because sometimes it only takes an instant to change everything.
Curated by Ana Tonso & Dani Rodríguez
Welcome
Dirs. Miguel Usandivaras, Martin Jalfen | Argentina/Italia, 2024 | Spanish with English subtitles | 13min
Miguel is 15 years old and a very humble teenager. He has a bright future in football ahead of him. During the welcoming party that his football team organized for him, he will discover to be entering into a homophobic world full of prejudices. He will have to cope with the pressure to achieve his dreams, and still remain true to his feelings.
UNDER LAND
Dir. Sebastián Duque R | Colombia, 2024 | Spanish with English subtitles | 18min
Clara and Amantina have been neighbors for more than fifty years. Their houses are joined and separated by a wall whose ownership is the subject of a historic dispute. They accuse each other of witchcraft and each believes that the other is responsible for the misfortunes of death, disease and misery that their families have suffered for decades.
THE CREST
Dir. Nanichi S Nieves Díaz | Puerto Rico, 2024 | Spanish with English subtitles | 5min
Inside a cold hospital room, a group of doctors attend the birth of a baby. In the doctor’s hands is the fleshy and feathery destiny of the newborn. What will their gender be?
ÜRSULA
Dir. Edison Cájas | Chile, 2024 | Spanish with English subtitles | 17min
Based on real documents from Pinochet’s dictatorship, this story takes place in 1982. A devout and methodical woman kidnaps newborns to hand them over for illegal adoptions to Europe, while struggling to raise her own daughter with autism.
Content Forecast: Depictions of child abuse (physical violence)
THE ABSENCE
Dir. Carmela Sandberg | Argentina/Uruguay, 2025 | Spanish with English subtitles | 8min
The principal and teachers of an elementary school receive devastating news: the mother of a 9-year-old student suffered a terrible accident on their way to pick her up. While they try to find other relatives without success, together they build a space of support and care for Bianca.
HIDE-AND-SEEK
Dir. Vitória Vasconcellos, Brasil, 2024, Portuguese with English subtitles, 10min
In the voracious streets of São Paulo, a woman hides a deadly secret, unaware that her little sister follows her with a video camera.
where do birds go when it rains
Dir. Juan Sebastian Sisa Archila, Colombia, 2025, Spanish with English subtitles, 17min
In the Páramo of La Sarna, Sebastian is getting ready to film a documentary. However, on his journey he is forced to reflect on the connection between his loss of vision and the scars of his territory’s forgotten past.
TO KILL A MAN
Dir. Orlando Mora Cabrera, Cuba, 2024, Spanish with English subtitles, 12min
Javi shows up for the last time at a queer club where he works as an erotic dancer, but he must deal with Castillo, a regular customer who resists the fact that he will never see him again.
Content Forecast: Violence, sexual assault