Mizuko ( 2019, United States, Japan, 15 min)
Directors: Katelyn Rebelo, Kira Dane
In Japanese there’s a specific word for an unborn life: mizuko, which means «water child». Mizuko is used for both miscarried and aborted pregnancies. In addition to the word, there’s a dedicated ritual accompanied by Buddhist figurines that represent the interrupted life and, like a grave, have their own place. Told through Super 8mm footage and stop-motion animation mixed with colourful and fluid watercolour drawings.
The Silence of the Banana Trees (2022, Hungary, Belgium, Portugal, Albania, 24 min)
Director: Eneos Carka
Seventy-something Hungarian Mihály Fekete has filled his house in a leafy suburb of Budapest with artwork made by his daughter Réka, whom he has not spoken to in years. Using abstract imagery and patient observations, documentary filmmaker Eneos Çarka evokes a sense of transience, carrying the viewer off in a maelstrom of recollections and feelings resulting in a film that eventually becomes a go-between in an attempt to restore a lost connection.
I am Trying to Remember (2021, Iran, Czech Republic, 16 min)
Director: Pegah Ahangarani
Pegah talks about Gholam, a man who’s not like her father, mother, uncles, or aunts, yet always present with a camera filming at family gatherings. At the time, Pegah, the film's director and main protagonist, can’t imagine what the purpose of these films might be, but she’s happy to pose before the lens of this family friend, who she’s certainly very fond of. But then comes the chapter about Gholam and the Iranian revolution, heralding a plot twist in the story that comes to symbolise thousands of Pegahs and Gholams inside and outside Iran.
