We are able to understand the world we live in thanks to the countless stories told through the eyes of authors from different countries where the socio-cultural and linguistic differences are significant.

For this reason, through programming, La Guarimba tries to establish a dialogue amongst different point of views and by consequence creating an indirect exchange of ideas with the audience.

Starting from this premise, our programmers have carried out a meticulous work of analysis and evaluation of the 1160 shorts that we have received from all over the world, shaping the 2020 edition program with a selection of 165 shorts from 54 different countries and representing all continents.

The official competition is divided into the categories of Fiction, Documentary, Animation, Music Video, Experimental Film and La Grotta dei Piccoli. Our audience will find a mix of genres and styles from both emerging and established authors, coming together into a collage of sensations and visions that are unique and diverse with each other.

The categories of Fiction, Animation and Documentary are the cornerstone of the program since the early editions of the festival, and aim to represent the best of the new audiovisual proposals in the world.

In competition since 2016, with the Music Video section, our goal is to honour a new form of storytelling. This is for us a source of pride for the success that we have encountered, as opposed to the prevailing underestimation that continues to exist within the audiovisual industry, culturally and financially.

The Insomnia category (Experimental Film) was born in 2018 from the continuous desire to grow and expand the offer but also to increase the locations of cinema use.

This exhibition represents for us an opened container to innovative languages with adventurous projects for an adventurous audience.

In addition to the above categories, we have La Grotta dei Piccoli, which this year includes an incredible program of 100 animated short films for children and teenagers created in collaboration with Unicef Italia, with the mission of bringing the cinema to the children and the children to the cinema.

Within this category, we will offer the environmental-themed selection for the second consecutive year, inspired by our Cambur project, where through animation we try to expose the younger ones to delicate issues such as the relationship between man and nature.

In addition, the non-competitive categories have been confirmed. MigrArti, with stories of second generation Italians; AMERICANIA, edited by Sam Morrill, who will this year focus on stories about the city of New York; and KARMALA, a program curated by Keba Danso, which seeks to give visibility to Sub-Saharan African cinema.

Programmers: Sara FratiniGiulio Vita, Alex Spagnolo, Marta Miquel, Jacinta Agten, Valeria Weerasinghe & Sam Morrill

#LaGuarimba2020

FICTION

COMMUNITY GARDENS

Vytautas Katkus | 2019 | 15′ | Lithuania 

A story about a cold relationship between a father and his son. Their bond, plagued by indifference, disintegrates completely.

WATERMELON JUICE

Irene Moray | 2019 | 22′ | Spain

With the support of Pol, in the midst of nature, between tears and laughter, Barbara will heal old wounds and redefine her sexuality.

FISH

Ingrid Liavaag | 2020 | 14′ | Norway

Lost in life and suffering from severe eczema, which turns her skin into fish scales, Sarah travels to see her father whom she hardly knows and who is incapable of helping her.

FROM A DISTANCE

Liang Zhao | 2019 | 19′ | China

During Summer Break, a young woman travels back to her hometown in Guizhou.

TIDE

Manon Coubia | 2019 | 30′ | France

Stopped in the night, Antoine begins a journey in between where the myths of a mountain both feared and venerated are embodied.

CAYENNE

Simon Gionet | 2020 | 11′ | Canada

During her night shift at the remote gas station, a female clerk agrees to help a man whose car broke down.

THE EXPLOSION OF A SWIMMING RING

Tommi Seitajoki | 2019 | 10′ | Finland

A family of three are spending their holiday at a water park.

STILL STANDING

Tan Wei Ting | 2020 | 20′ | Singapore

The film intercuts between 1969 when the Pearl Bank Apartment was first conceived and present-day when the high-rise village faces its eventual demise in capitalistic Singapore.

WARD'S HENNA PARTY

Morad Mostafa | 2019 | 23′ | Egypt

In a regular working day, Halima goes to one of Giza’s local areas to prepare a bride for her wedding with her 7 years old daughter “Ward”.

I'LL END UP IN JAIL

Alexandre Dostie | 2019 | 21′ | Canada

A stay-at-home mom gets into a murderous car crash where nobody wants to take the blame.

RAJÂA, THE RETURN

Charlie Kouka | 2019 | 22′ | France / Tunisia

Tarek is back to Tunisia after 7 years of clandestinity in Italy. He lives this return as a failure.

STAY AWAKE, BE READY

Pham Thien An | 2019 | 14′ | Vietnam

A motorbike crash happening in front of the street stalls on a street corner is embedded in the mysterious story of three young men.

MARTIN FELL FROM A ROOF

Matías Ganz | 2019 | 15′ | France

With his right leg and arm in a cast, Martin can not work anymore but his boss refuses to compensate him after the incident.

MARADONA'S LEGS

Firas Khoury | 2019 | 20′ | Germany / Palestine

During the 1990 World Cup, two young Palestinian boys are looking for “Maradona’s legs”.

DA YIE

Anthony Nti | 2019 | 20′ | Belgium

A foreigner in Ghana gets an assignment from his gang to find kids for a risky job.

STICKER

Georgi M. Unkovski | 2020 | 19′ | Macedonia

After an unsuccessful attempt to renew his car registration, Dejan falls in a bureaucratic trap that tests his determination to be a responsible father.

THE VAN

Erenik Beqiri | 2019 | 15′ | France / Albania

The Van finally stops, the doors open and Ben comes out alive.

DOGWATCH

Albin Wildner | 2019 | 30′ | Austria

Raphael worked his entire life for a successful industrial company but is now forced to take a job as a night-time security guard.

EL PUENTE DE LOS NIÑOS TRAVIESOS

Fabián León López | 2019 | 17′ | Mexico

Jhony’s summer passes slowly as he watches his older brother’s life, who wastes his time along with his friends, obsessed with alcohol, pornography and different women whom they take into the maternal bedroom.

HA HA HA

Samuli Valkama | 2019 | 9′ | Finland

A comic dystopia of a world where genuine laughter has vanished.

ANIMATION

ÄLGEN

Erik Svetoft | 2019 | 8′ | Sweden

Two animals trying to entertain the public at a forest zoo get humiliated and decide to run away in search of freedom.

MOVEMENTS

Dahee Jeong | 2019 | 10′ | Republic of Korea

We are all walking, seeing, working, running, and stopping together.

IN PASSING

Esther Cheung | 2019 | 4′ | Canada / China

A portrait of seventies Hong Kong as the parents of the artist remember it.

WHY SLUGS HAVE NO LEGS

Aline Höchli | 2019 | 11′ | Switzerland

Slugs have a hard time keeping up with the pace of life in the city of insects. When a financial crisis hits, the industrious bees only see one solution.

DAUGHTER

Daria Kashcheeva | 2019 | 15′ | Czech Republic

Should you hide your pain? Close yourself inside your inner world, full of longing for your father’s love and its displays? Or should you understand and forgive before it is too late?

INTERNET EXPLORER

Willem Stessens | 2019 | 15′ | Belgium

“Sci-fi freak” Steve is fed up with his weak biological body and dreams of an eternal digital existence.

ENTROPIA

Flóra Anna Buda | 2019 | 10′ | Hungary

Entropia is a container of three parallel universes where three girls are living in different circumstances.

GRAVEDAD

Matisse Gonzalez | 2019 | 10′ | Germany / Bolivia

In a world where gravity changes constantly, you have to find something to keep you grounded.

URGES

Angela Stempel | 2019 | 2′ | USA

Unleash your urges! Let them take care of you.

SH_T HAPPENS

Michaela Mihályi & David Štumpf | 2019 | 13′ | Czech Republic / France / Slovak Republic

The caretaker exhausted by everything, his frustrated wife and one totally depressed deer. Their mutual despair leads them to absurd events, because… shit happens all the time.

THE LEVERS

Boyoung Kim | 2019 | 9′ | Republic of Korea

A guy accepts a job offer from a stranger on the street.

INÈS

Elodie Dermange | 2019 | 4′ | Switzerland / France

Inès is facing a difficult choice, this evening she thinks one last time about the decision that she will make.

AND YET WE'RE NOT SUPER HEROES

Lia Bertels | 2019 | 12′ | Belgium / Portugal

Carried by the voices of little philosophers, the film depicts the journey of the imagination of childhood populated by extraordinary creatures.

INTERMISSION EXPEDITION

Wiep Teeuwisse | 2019 | 8′ | Netherlands

Once they learn to slow down, they may find some beauty in the here and now.

RAIN

Piotr Milczarek | 2019 | 5′ | Poland

A struggle of an individual with collective hypnosis and its consequences for both the individual and the crowd.

DOCUMENTARY

YEAR OF THE ROBOT

Yves Gellie | 2019 | 31′ | France / Belgium

As a series of archival documents detailing the first contacts between a robot gifted with an artificially created autonomy and human beings.

ETHEREALITY

Kantarama Gahigiri | 2019 | 15′ | Switzerland

Stranded in space for 30 years. How does it feel to finally come home? A reflection about migration and the sense of belonging.

ALGUACER

Samuel Moreno Alvarez | 2019 | 26′ | Colombia

Fernando, a common Kamëntsa who has been elected as a Sheriff, must overcome his own dilemmas and choose between whether he really likes what he does or wants to return to his old life.

SUPEREROI SENZA SUPERPOTERI

Beatrice Baldacci | 2019 | 13′ | Italy

Someone puts a tape in a VHS. As soon as the videotape is played, television images of all kind appear on the screen. The images are blurred: these are Beatrice’s childhood memories.

BROTHER, MOVE ON

Antshi von Moos | 2018 | 9′ | Switzerland / India

Geeta is one of the few female taxi drivers in India.

TRACES

Pablo Briones | 2019 | 14′ | Switzerland / Argentina

Domitila has been an undocumented domestic worker living in Geneva for more than 20 years.

OUR TERRITORY

Mathieu Volpe | 2019 | 20′ | Belgium / Italy

“The same light, the same heat. A summer just like those I remember… Yet, another territory has now appeared on the landscape of my childhood.”

EL INFIERNO

Raúl de la Fuente Calle | 2019 | 23′ | Spain

At the age of 15, Chennu committed his first crime: being a street child.

BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE

Clara Dias & Pedro Petriche | 2019 | 11′ | Brazil

Through filming the official tour at the arena and interviewing Corinthians soccer team supporters that live on its margins, the film shows the dubious relation that takes place between them.

ALL CATS ARE GREY IN THE DARK

Lasse Linder | 2019 | 18′ | Switzerland

Christian lives with his two cats Marmelade and Katjuscha.

MUSIC VIDEOS

HUNGRY CHILD

Saman Kesh | 2019 | 8′ | USA

A couple on the rocks is followed around by a mysterious song as it slowly torments them and their relationship.

Music by: Hot Chip

GHOLÜ

Leo Nicholson | 2019 | 2′ | UK

Stop-motion cannibal animation music video for Oh Sees.

Music by: Oh Sees

BLOW TO THE HEAD

Caleb Wood | 2019 | 3′ | USA

Music by: Lightning Bolt

COLORS

Kristian Mercado | 2019 | 4′ | USA

“Colors” explores the bonds of a young family living in the Bronx.

Music by: Black Pumas

MISSED

Marco Santi | 2019 | 4′

A man dances for his wife to say sorry for all the wrongs of this world.

Music by: Makai

TRAVELER

Raman Djafari & Daniel Almagor | 2019 | 4′ | Germany

Where do they go, the ones that leave? What happens to the ones that stay? For now there’s only the beautiful uncertainty of a choice.

Music by: Lucky Chops

DINOSAURS IN LOVE

Hannah Jacobs, Katy Wang & Anna Ginsburg | 2020 | 1′ | UK

Music video for the viral song sensation by 3 year old Fenn Rosenthal feat Tom Rosenthal. The entire video was made using 2D frame by frame animation in just 24 hours.

Music by: Fenn Rosenthal (feat. Tom Rosenthal)

JOSEPH IN THE BATHROOM

Lucas Hrubizna | 2019 | 4′ | Canada

Through the vacant halls of a small town high school, two faceless outcasts are dragged from room to room by an invisible force.

Music by: Sam Tudor

I'M NOT FEELING VERY WELL

Sunčana Brkulj | 2019 | 4′ | Croatia

Singing skeletons dream about breaking free from their geometric formation, and taking a swim in the great, big, blue sea.

Music by: Crawander

HANA MASH HU AL YAMAN

Omer Ben-David | 2019 | 4′ | Israel

The video shows the young leading Yemeni migrating women in their struggle to belong in their new country of Israel.

Music by: A-Wa

EXPERIMENTAL - INSOMNIA

THE LITTLE SOUL

Barbara Rupik | 2019 | 9′ | Poland

A dead body became stuck by a river bank. Its decaying insides still hide a human soul – a miniature of the deceased.

TERROR FERVOR

Phoebe Parsons | 2019 | 6′ | Canada

A psychedelic non-linear journey through the vices of seven characters.

DON'T KNOW WHAT

Thomas Renoldner | 2019 | 8′ | Austria

With the method of single frame editing, which in the first step focused on the sound, the hyperrealistic film transforms into fantastic, surreal, structural and even abstract film.

FANTASMIA

Luise Fiedler | 2019 | 7′ | Germany

Spasms and cries that echo through the night announce the presence of a new being.

FINDING URANUS

Ivan Li | 2019 | 7′ | Canada

MIGRARTI

SCHIAVONEA

Natalino Zangaro | 2020 | 15′ | Italy

Vincenzo is a young Calabrian man who lives in a little seaside town, Schiavonea, a receiving place for immigrants. On the other hand Ayana is one of this immigrants, just landed there, which found herself temporarily limited into a fish market turned up into a reception center. One day Vincenzo goes to this market to buy some fresh seafood, but the meeting with the girl will seal their fate.

LA GITA

Salvatore Allocca | 2018 | 15′ | Italy

When Megalie is denied the opportunity of taking part in a school trip abroad, a perfect occasion for the girl to reveal her feelings to her classmate Marco, that place in the world will seem unattainable to her. But will it really be so?

MY TYSON

Claudio Casale | 2018 | 15′ | Italy

Alaoma Tyson is the Italian boxe champion in the Youth heavyweight category. While he trains for his next match, his mother Patience tells the story of the family, from her migration journey to the financial struggles she had to face in Italy.

AMERICANIA

NEW YORK NEW YORK

Spike Lee | 2020 | 3’30”

A love letter to the people of New York by Spike Lee.

MOVING

Adinah Dancyger | 2019 | 8′

The act of transporting an old mattress into a new walk-up apartment becomes absurdist, cinematic one-woman choreography.

IN LIMBO / NYC

Tim Sessler | 2020 | 3’25”

An abstract exploration of New York City as a relic, devoid of people.

Hudson Geese

Bernardo Britto | 2020 | 6′

A goose remembers his last migration.

DELIVERED

Law Chen | 2020 | 4’18”

Thousands of invisible front line workers risk their health every day to bring food to New Yorkers in self-quarantine.

Los Angeles Plays New York

John Wilson | 2020 | 18’30”

A documentarian puts it all on the line to investigate the televised performances of justice and New York.

WE ARE GEORGE FLOYD

Julian Micheaux Marshall | 2020 | 6′

On May 25th, 2020, Derek Chauvin, a Minneapolis police officer, murdered George Floyd, a black man, by driving his knee into George’s neck for 8 minutes and 45 seconds until he died. This film chronicles New York City’s overwhelming response.

AFRICAN PROGRAM - KARMALA

This year, La Guarimba will pay tribute to Senegalese Filmmaker Djibril Diop Mambéty.

Djibril Diop Mambéty (1945-1998) was a world-renowned Senegalese film director, composer, and actor. He was known for his distinct surrealist style, and his fascinating portrayal of themes like politics, power and wealth, and social conditions in Africa. He received international acclaim for his experimental and unconventional films, and he still remains an important influence in the present and future of African filmmaking.

Mambéty was born January 23, 1945 in Colobane, Senegal. As he grew up, he studied drama and worked for some time as an actor, but had no formal training in cinema. In the end, he was expelled from the Daniel Sorano National theater for his ‘undisciplined’ behavior. However, despite this rejection, Mambéty refused to give up and instead found only more motivation to pursue his dreams.

LA GROTTA DEI PICCOLI