Ulu Braun
Germany
2013 | 00:11:00

Red rose petals fall on mossy ground. Observed by hunters and gatherers, athletes struggle through the undergrowth. Hikers and nature lovers rest their picturesque bodies while children succomb to the magic spell of modern mythical creatures. The forest has always been the starting point of many fairy tales, myths and legends. In his video collage Forst Ulu Braun draws an artistic trajectory from primeval forest steeped in legends to media-hyped nature theme park. An ecstatic passion play about nature, achievement and human degeneration.

Iván D. Gaona
Colombia
2012 | 0:14:00

It's Sunday, the day to shop at the local market and Grandma Paulina wants to prepare Creole chicken for her husband, but the money is not enough. Without wishing it, she wins a Polaroid camera in a raffle, so, she proposes her husband to take pictures of their lives in the country. But the camera roll ends up, and the hunger persists.

Oksana Buraja
Lituania, Estonia
2012 | 00:27:00

Lisa has to smile and be happy on command; she also has to stop crying when necessary. Consequently, she often escapes from her mother’s home, where she doesn’t feel good. Acquaintances gather there for wild parties, where lots of cigarettes are smoked and alcohol is consumed. Little Lisa dreams of disappearing to a place she will feel good. This Estonian-Lithuanian documentary by director Oksana Buraja follows Lisa’s plight in beautifully stylised images that depict the contrast between a world of childhood innocence and the harsh environment in which Lisa is growing up.

Laure Prouvost
Great Britain
2013 | 00:12:00

Inspired by the aesthetic and sensuous pleasures of Italy and referencing the genre of panoramic painting, Swallow shows fragments of footage, from birds to women bathing in waterfalls. Exploring language and translation, Prouvost plays on the historic idea of visiting the Mediterranean for inspiration. Commissioned as part of the Max Mara Art Prize for Women, in collaboration with the Whitechapel Gallery

Michael Patten
Unites States
2013 | 00:9:45

Roko is an aging man who lives in longing for his aboriginal past. Now surrendered to the entrapment of the modern city, Roko resides in a decaying New York apartment where he eats a diet of microwavable meals and watches pre-recorded tapes of past years’ New Year's Eve countdowns. One evening, while microwaving his dinner and watching a compilation of countdowns across the 2000's, Roko's pet rabbit births a litter of newborn babies. He warms and cleans the naked critters, trying to protect them from the cold concrete world. But despite his attempts at care, a baby from the litter dies.... Desert Hopes is an imagistic poem that speaks to the fragile nature of life and the elimination of the ancient. Realized alongside the relentless trajectory of the decade, Roko represents the last breaths of our world's organic beginnings, a nostalgic time now forgotten amidst the manufactured continuum of culture, time, and progress.

Jessica Bardsley
United States
2013 | 00:19:00

A troubling relationship arises between the character played by Winona Ryder in the film Girl, Interrupted, the genuine depression experienced by the actress, and the shoplifting of which she was accused. Consisting entirely of clips stolen from existing films, this video essay, which ultimately turns out to be profoundly personal, explores possible links between depression and kleptomania.