Directed by: Tomas Woodbridge

SYNOPSIS
Jim’s Retirement is inspired by a variety of cartoons and animations. The story revolves around the life of an ordinary office aide who suddenly goes insane. He begins behaving in a bizarre manner, embarking on a joyous but destructive rampage through his office. The film ends with him escaping the drudgery of his workplace; but the exact manner of his escape is left unclear.

THE FILMMAKER
Thomas Woodbridge is doing his B.A. in computer visualization and animation at Bournemouth University.

Cast: Umer Farooq, Shaista Sanam, Sharjeel Baloch, Maria Tahir
Cinematography: Ahmed Hussain
Editing: Imran Y. Qureshi
Sound: Zafar Mengal
Music: Ali Raza
Screenplay: Qazi Fasih
Producers: Abdullah Badini, Qazi Zain Uddin
Directed by: Abdullah Badini

SYNOPSIS
Everybody in the begging community hates Sona because of his callousness and selfishness. Even his own mother cannot escape his temperament until she dies. The community refuses to help in burying her until Sona provides a kafan. He ventures out to collect money, and by evening he manages to buy one, and proudly heads back towards home. On his way he sees a child shivering in the snow storm.

THE FILMMAKER
Abdullah Badini was born in 1974 in Nuski, Balochistan. He trained under a PTV producer for five years before setting out on his own in 2003. His work has been nominated for awards at Geo and PTV.

Cast: Salim Iqbal, Angeline Malik, Muder Kothari, Ayesha Toor, Munawar Saeed, Nauman Saleem, Ashok Malani, Kiran Khan
Cinematography: Markus Huersch
Editing: Saqib Mausoof
Sound: Billy Wirasnik
Musical Score: Dr. Das and Janaka Selecta
Screenplay: Saqib Mausoof
Producer: Muder Kothari and Danial Mausoof
Directed by: Saqib Mausoof

SYNOPSIS
A fugitive, Arsalan, returns to his native Karachi to investigate the violent death of his younger brother. The murder was blamed on religious fundamentalists. In the ensuing days he discovers that in a post 9/11 world, the gritty megalopolis sits on the fault line of modernity and militancy.

THE FILMMAKER
Saqib Mausoof is a Karachi born writer and filmmaker based in San Francisco, California. His documentaries “Hansot by the Bay” and “Now for Something Completely Different” were previously screened at the Third I film festival and at the KaraFilm Festival. Saqib is on the board of Third I, Access SF TV, and an organizer of the South Asian Film Festival. As an actor he has performed at the acclaimed Berkeley Repertory Theatre as well as the Theatre Artaud.

Cast: Toor Mian, Monica Bertei
Cinematography: Christopher CF Chow
Editing: Fernando Ruiz Romero
Sound: John Perry, Touchy Finger
Music: Touchy Finger
Producer: Rodolfo Coloma
Written and Directed by: Alyosha Saari

SYNOPSIS
Monica auditions for a part to die for.

THE FILMMAKER
After being raised in Ecuador, South America, Alyosha Saari studied Philosophy and Film at the Sorbonne in Paris. He started making amateur films in Hi8 and Super8 before making the first music video for the French band Orakle in Super16. He then came to the LFA, to develop his filmmaking skills and scripts. He made “Kasting” in his spare time. He is currently developing new independent projects.

Cast: Sushant Singh, Dipannita Sharma, Baby Krishi Shah
Cinematography: Hari Vedantam
Editing: Rameshwar Bhagat
Sound: Ali Merchant
Music: Siddhartth Suhas
Producer: Ashish Balram Nagpal
Written and Directed by: Nitin Shingal

SYNOPSIS
Partho Ganguly, professor of history in a small university, lives with his dutiful and loving wife Mishti. Their new born girl Kiki’s invasion of the deep dark recesses of their minds is so disturbing that it threatens to destroy the family. “Kindle” questions the subconscious control of our minds over our actions.

THE FILMMAKER
Nitin Shingal was born in New Delhi in 1978. After the completion of his MBA in 2001, he gave up a lucrative corporate job and moved to Mumbai to start his career with Vinod Chopra Films. Shingal’s first film as an assistant was “Munna Bhai MBBS” (2003), directed by Raj Kumar Hirani, which went on to win the National Award amongst others. He then assisted Pradeep Sarkar in direction on the film “Parineeta” (2005) under the same banner. In 2006 he joined Yash Raj Films and assisted Kunal Kohli on the film “Fanaa” which was a huge box office success. Soon afterwards he got an opportunity to direct his first independent venture and thus “Kindle”, a short fiction film, was born. Shingal is currently working on a feature film story.

Cinematography: Malik Sajid Qayyum
Animation: Abdul Hameed Magsi
Editing and Sound: Meezan Ali Mir
Music: Nikkfurie
Screenplay: Meezan Ali Mir
Directed and Producer: Meezan Ali Mir

SYNOPSIS
“Kiss of Life” is an abstract exploration of life. The process of a human being’s conception is dynamically portrayed using claymation.

THE FILMMAKER
Meezan Ali Mir is a student of Multimedia Arts at NCA Lahore. He has an educational background in computer sciences and has been working in 3-D graphics and animation for the past 3 years. He works mostly in 3-D and 2-D mediums. His main field of interest is the interpretation of darkness and light in life and humanity.

Cast: Chandrashekhar Dutte, Tirtha Milgaonkar, Aashutosh, Meenal
Cinematography: Savita Singh
Editing: Arun Bali
Sound: Ajit Singh
Producer: Tripurari Sharan
Written and Directed by: Amit Dutte

SYNOPSIS
In a small Indian village, a mysterious man in a black coat comes by early every morning when everyone is sleeping. One boy has seen him only in his dreams. In this state of consciousness and unconsciousness, the boy is transported into the hallucinatory world of his mysterious sleepy village, where myths and folklore start taking shape in the form of its people, his family and his childhood.

THE FILMMAKER
Amit Dutte was born and brought up in the small village of Jammu. He studied direction at the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune. His films have been shown at the Tate Gallery of Modern Art. He won the National Award for “X,Y.Z”, his student film. Dutte is currently a Film Studies Lecturer at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad.

Cast: Vincent Lecuyer, Jean-Jacques Rausin, Benoit Verhaert, Fabrice Rodriguez, Magali Pinglaut.
Cinematography: Tommaso Fiorilli
Editing: Julie Naas
Sound: Jean-Francois Levillain
Screenplay: Xavier Seron, Christophe Hermans
Producer: Gilles Morin
Directed by: Xavier Seron, Christophe Hermans

SYNOPSIS
A few minutes before he’s due to perform in a play, Roberto, a thirty-something actor, takes off to attend his father’s funeral. He’s about to cross paths with Bertrand, and everything changes.

THE FILMMAKER
Christophe Hermans was born in Belgium in 1982. Xavier Seron was born in Brussels in 1975. In 2001, they both attended the Institute of the Arts of Broadcasting, in Belgium.

Sound: Christian Conrad
Cinematography: Phillip Kamniak
Editing: Britt Dunse
Music: Lukas and Felix Lonski, Dirk Dresselhaus , Barbara Morgenstern
Producer: Britt Dunse Produktions
Directed by: Britt Dunse

SYNOPSIS
The everyday working life of Holger Prümm, a state-certified forestry engine driver.

THE FILMMAKER
Britt Dunse was born in Lubeck in 1974. She lives and works in Berlin.

Cast: Gerd Lukas Storzer, Karoline Maria Barsch, Nika Solomon, Jeff Caster, Hannes Schlunk, Karin Heine, Sven Dahlem, Angela Altinger, Fabian-Kondziolka, Kiara Melina Hinsenkamp
Cinematography: Benjamin Bayer
Screenplay: Serkal Kus
Producer: HMS, Nicolas Reichelt (Creative Producer)
Directed by: Hannes Treiber

SYNOPSIS
The so called ‘end of the world’ is still not far enough to escape! In an attempt to get over his shattered wedding dreams, Marc flees from Germany to New Zealand. Yet, he somehow manages to find his ex-fiancee there!

THE FILMMAKER
Hannes Treiber was born in 1980 in Riedlingen, Germany. From 2004 to 2006 he studied at the University of Applied Sciences. He has interned at various TV stations and film production companies. He has been pursuing a degree in postgraduate film studies in directing at the Hamburg Media School from 2006.

Cast: Ciro Altabas, Irene Gonzalez Paulos
Cinematography: Pedro J. Marquez
Editing: Emma Tusell
Sound: Jose Tome “Pollo”
Directed by: Ciro Altabas

SYNOPSIS
“My mother admitted to me that the man who I thought was my father, is not my father.”

THE FILMMAKER
Ciro Altabas was born in 1977. He studied audiovisual communication at the European University in Madrid. After graduating, he studied at the London Film School and at the New York Film Academy.

Cast: Akbar Subhani, Muhstaq Siddiqui
Cinematography: Kamran (Kami)
Editing: Syed Adeel
Sound: Odho Productions
Music: Adnan Dawd (Sarab)
Screenplay: Shakil Mallick
Producers: Atiqa Odho, Atiya Nafees
Directed by: Najam Mallick

SYNOPSIS
“Main Naraaz Hoon” is about a man’s love for the simpler things in life.

THE FILMMAKER
Najam Mallick is currently studying at the Karachi School of Art. He has assisted directors Jami and Shakil Mallick on several commercial and music video projects. He has made documentaries, including “Strange Hues”, “Numb”, “Sehwan”, “Holy Crocodile”, “Full Stop” and “A World of Possibilities.” “Main Naraaz Hoon” is Mallick’s first film.

Cinematography: Mark Liedtke
Visual Effects: Stefan Ringelschwandtner
Producer: Astrid Rieger, Rotraut Pape
Directed by: Astrid Rieger

SYNOPSIS
This film tells the story of a mother and son whose relationship has become so close that they are fused into an inseparable entity. As hard as the mother tries to maintain this state, she can’t stop the process of her son breaking away.

THE FILMMAKER
Rieger was born in Brasov, Romania, in 1979. She emigrated to Germany in 1990, and graduated from the Academy of Design, Offenbach, in 2006.

Cast: Leila Mousavi, Ali Sarkhani
Cinematography: Bayram Fazli
Editing: Mehdi Asadi
Sound: Hosein Ghorchian
Producer: DEFC
Written and Directed by: Tahereh Hassanzadeh

SYNOPSIS
A young lady with four children unwillingly becomes pregnant again. She decides to have an abortion.

THE FILMMAKER
Tahereh Hassanzadeh was born in 1974 and graduated from Tehran Medical Science University. She did a short course in filmmaking at the Iranian Young Cinema Society.

Cast: Anneke Kim Sarnau, Navid Akhavan
Cinematography: Jörg Jeshel
Editing: Daniela Boch
Producer: Daniel Saltzwedel, zero fiction film
Written and Directed by: Maheen Zia

SYNOPSIS
Ahmed, a young football player from Iraq comes to Berlin to participate in a FIFA charity match. When he disappears from his hotel, a search for him is mounted as a possible case of defection. Brigitte, a young policewoman is on patrol duty when she comes across him.

THE FILMMAKER
Maheen Zia graduated in Journalism & Mass Communication from Drake University, USA, in 1996. She returned to Pakistan in 1997 to join a post-production facility as editor. In the following year she left regular employment to pursue her own projects and has since directed several short films and documentaries, including the shorts “Baba Snooker” (2001), “Doctor” (2003), and “Eclipse” (2005), and the documentaries “The People vs Lyari Expressway” (2002), “Gwadar - Between Golden Acres and the Deep Blue Sea” (2006), and “Aaj Bazaar Mein” (2006). She is a founding member of the KaraFilm Society and has served as a jury member on several international film festivals.