Synopsis

An audacious, ambitious vision from master filmmaker Bi Gan (Long Day’s Journey Into Night), Resurrection is a whirlwind love letter to cinema unlike any before. Set in a future where society has lost the desire to dream, a clandestine set of rebels called “Fantasmers” continue to indulge in fantasy and imagination. A curious creature, armed with a device able to extract their fading dreams, attempts to catalog these illusions. The result is a mesmerizing, maximalist masterpiece that toggles between a dizzying array of film styles and aesthetic modes—from a Méliès-inspired silent film to a slick story about playing card-toting con artists, as well as a bloodsoaked, red-filtered modern vampire romance.

To watch this layered, daring work is to experience five or six films in one. Replete with eye-popping production design, expertly choreographed long takes, and a constantly shifting rollercoaster of a narrative, Resurrection uses its sci-fi-inflected premise to ponder an art form’s past as it imagines its future.

Synopsis

Some worlds can only truly be conjured outside of physical reality. These eight thrilling shorts unfold in an inventive array of visual and narrative styles that come together to form a vibrant snapshot of contemporary animation. May not be suitable for all ages.

Paradaïz, an abstracted depiction of returning to Sarajevo, hums with absurdist humor and a real longing for home. This is not your Garden uses 3D scan data to capture a ghostly portrait of Bogota’s highland cloud forests, which are currently threatened by climate change and human development. One man’s plans for the future are laid out in Retirement Plan. Every resident chases their own version of happiness in the colorful apartment building at the center of Dollhouse Elephant. In the quiet sepia-toned countryside of Dog Alone, a young woman, her grandfather, and a nearby dog all confront loneliness. In dipolar bipolar, the internal life of a person managing bipolar disorder appears as pulsing, maximalist visions. As eight-year-old Agata boards a full bus from Poland to Belgium by herself in Autokar; she notices that those around her seem different. The present moment sits perfectly still in Ordinary Life.

Synopsis

The busy and whimsical visual world of dipolar bipolar stuffs each frame with elements to mirror the workings of an anxious mind. As the protagonist recounts their experience of bipolar disorder amid inventive transformations of animation styles, a solid metaphor of self acceptance and balance emerges.

This film screens as part of Shorts Program 2: Animation.

Synopsis

A photographer wanders through Taipei as the city braces for a presidential election. Adrift and questioning his chosen vocation, self-doubt begins to creep in as his 30th birthday approaches. What does his future hold? A thoughtful blend of fiction and documentary, complemented by gentle, strikingly composed black-and-white cinematography, distinguish this contemplative urban travelog of sorts that echoes the quiet pulse of life in the city.