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Stories beyond borders: A closer look at the “World Shorts” program

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Stories beyond borders: A closer look at the “World Shorts” program

09.03.2025

Text: Burcu Teker

Stories beyond borders: A closer look at the “World Shorts” program

Celebrating its 21st year, the Akbank Short Film Festival continues its mission to introduce more audiences to the world of cinema, support fresh talent that brings new energy to cinema in Turkey, encourage production, and broaden horizons with examples from different corners of the world. By maintaining its tradition of fostering the advancement of short films, the festival remains a vital platform for all cinephiles passionate about the seventh art.

Taking place from March 17 to 27, 2025, under the directorship of Selim Evci, the 21st edition of the festival will be hosted by Akbank Sanat and Kadıköy Cinema. Over the course of 10 days, audiences will enjoy a rich program featuring workshops, engaging talks, and panels with broad participation from film communities in Turkey and other parts of the world.

As part of its commitment to accessibility, the festival’s official selection will also be available for online streaming at filmonline.akbanksanat.com. Viewers can create an account using their email address and reserve free tickets for screenings, which are limited to 500 participants per session. If they miss a screening, films will remain accessible for three days, allowing up to 30 hours of viewing.

The “World Shorts International Competition” section of the 21st Akbank Short Film Festival will be judged by a distinguished panel of film industry professionals. The jury includes director Min Bahadur Bham, actress Yasemin Kay Allen, director Charles Williams, documentary filmmaker Sahra Mani, and film curator and academic Giulia Iannello. Now, it is time to take a closer look at the 14 films competing for the Best Short Film Award in this category.  

Children’s hearts and family matters: Is everything forgettable?

The films competing in this year’s “World Shorts” section of the festival predominantly invite audiences into the world of children with characters who neither rely on excuses nor shy away from expressing their emotions with raw honesty. Alongside narratives that celebrate joy and discovery, the selection also highlights deep-rooted family conflicts, told through the unfiltered directness and brutal honesty of children.

In Hippopotami, Chinese director Lin Jianjie takes the audience on a darkly comedic journey with a curious young girl whose desire to closely observe zoo animals leads to an experience that fundamentally changes her perspective on life.

From the skies of Barcelona, Lucía G. Romero presents Cura Sana, following 14-year-old Jessica and 8-year-old Alma, two sisters who mirror the violence they experience from their father as they embark on a journey to discover love and compassion.

A graduate of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, filmmaker Samir Karahoda condenses the complex political and social transformations in Kosovo into a 15-minute car ride in On the Way, portraying an intimate father-son dialogue.

In My Mother Is A Cow, Brazilian filmmaker Moara Passoni, drawing inspiration from her mother and personal experiences, introduces audiences to 12-year-old Mia, a girl who explores herself and the world through the limits of her imagination. Raised in São Paulo’s concrete jungle, Mia is sent to the wetlands of Pantanal when her mother’s life is in danger. As she struggles with longing and separation, her toys are replaced by cows, jaguars, and crocodiles.

Another Chinese entry comes from young filmmaker Luo Runxiao with The Second Child. The film follows Meng Qin, a mother whose days revolve around caring for her 11-year-old son with a rare genetic disorder. Despite being four months pregnant, she hesitates to tell her son about the arrival of a new sibling.

In Amarela, Japanese-Brazilian director André Hayato Saito explores themes of identity and grief. The film follows 14-year-old Erika’s rebellion against her family’s traditions while struggling with the perception that she is ‘too Japanese to be Brazilian.’ Against the backdrop of the 1998 FIFA World Cup Final, Erika experiences a moment of disappointment.

Another child burdened by family secrets and complex relationships is 11-year-old Yangyang. In The New Red Car, director Yeung Tung explores how a young girl, forced to hide her mother’s new relationship from her father, navigates change in her own unique way.

At the heart of Johannesburg’s gambling world, a child craving attention and love finds himself caught in his father’s web. In Punter, directed by Jason Adam Maselle, young Brett simply wants to celebrate his birthday with his father, but his desperate need for approval and affection draws him into his father’s betting business, shedding light on neglect and broken parent-child relationships.

Following his 2022 film Deer, Tehran-based director Hadi Babaeifar continues his "Animals" trilogy with Sheep. The film follows a young girl determined to rescue sheep awaiting slaughter in her neighbor’s backyard during Eid al-Adha.

Meanwhile, animation filmmaker Maria Trigo Teixeira delivers a heart-wrenching and unsettling exploration of a mother-daughter relationship in It Shouldn’t Rain Tomorrow. The film follows a young woman who returns to her childhood home, believing that her mother, Oma, can no longer live alone due to dementia. As she struggles to adapt, her mother drifts further away each day, making the situation increasingly difficult.

Dilemmas and the human condition

Award-winning writer-director Aisling Byrne’s Turnaround is a short film that follows a cleaning worker facing a moral dilemma after a sudden tragic death. As she struggles with whether or not to reveal a long-kept secret, the audience is pulled into a deep ethical conflict.

Director Nebojša Slijepčević makes the definition, “the story of a man who refuses to stay silent” for his film The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent. The date is February 27, 1993; the location: Strpci, Bosnia and Herzegovina. When a passenger train traveling from Belgrade to Bar is stopped by paramilitary forces as part of an ethnic cleansing operation, only one among the 500 passengers dares to stand against them.

Set in the Northern Irish countryside, Oliver McGoldrick’s Three Keenings is a dark comedy built around the Keening tradition, a form of Celtic mourning. The film follows Ian, a professional mourner, who performs his job with remarkable detachment, until his own deeply buried truths come to light, making sense of everything around him.

In his latest work, Who Loves the Sun, Canadian filmmaker Arshia Shakiba dives into the harsh reality of life in war-torn Northern Syria and follows Mahmood as he navigates a post-apocalyptic landscape, revealing the brutal existence within makeshift oil refineries.

The 21st Akbank Short Film Festival, as a meeting point for new stories, unique perspectives, and emerging talents, continues to leave a lasting impact with its special screenings in its short period of time and awaits cinephiles at Akbank Sanat and Kadıköy Cinema from March 17 to 27. For more details: Please visit www.akbankkisafilmfestivali.com and www.akbanksanat.com.

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