One World in Brief

After last year’s premiere, the programme of the “One World” film festival will once again include “One World in Brief” – a section dedicated to the latest exceptional short documentary films. Its unifying theme, as well as the theme of the entire 23rd edition of the festival, which is “home”. The abstract concept of a home is usually associated with a place where one spends time with their loved ones or with a sense of security. For some, it can also represent a prison, a painful memory or insecurity. In 75 minutes, the creators of the five foreign-produced short films will tell stories about home in its various spheres and from different perspectives. They will show how the main protagonists of the selected films try to find a new home, how they cope with its loss, how they try to save their own lives marked by traumatising events, and the study of home in sociological research.

Masks and Men / Paweł Łoziński / Poľsko 2020 / 11 min. – “The passage of time during the pandemic has grown to become my character. The world froze, together with the camera on my balcony. I’m watching a shard of the world in a frame and a unique slice of time we have all found ourselves in. I listen intently to abrupt silence. But life that has slowed down continues under my balcony. New characters are moving along like on the stage. I’m asking people questions I cannot answer myself – what will come next?” – Paweł Łoziński

Peace and Tranquility / Myro Klochko, Anatolii Tatarenko / Ukraine 2022 / 12 min. / Ukrainian – As Russian troops were crossing into Ukraine, Andrii Bondarenko wrote a play that looks back on a life book ended by conflict.

Hammoudiʼs Dream / Els van Driel, Eefje Blankevoort / Netherlands 2021 / 25 min. / Arabic, Dutch – Mohammed – nicknamed Hammoudi – is 14 when he flees Syria. He and his older brother leave their mother and sisters behind and mainly walk all the way from Syria to Europe. It is a long and tough journey on which they encounter dangerous obstacles such as minefields, wild animals and violent border guards. Mohammed’s journey seems like a nightmare. Meanwhile, he continues to dream of a future becoming a doctor. But once he arrives in the Netherlands, it turns out to be difficult to learn the language. And procedures take a long time. He hasn’t seen his mom for over 3 years. Will his dream come true and will his mother and sisters finally arrive from Syria?

Burnt. Land of Fire / Ben Donateo / Switzerland, Italy 2020 / 15 min. / Italian – The documentary captures life on a little village of the southern Italy, Calabria. Hit by the migration of the young people to the north, Burnt. Land of Fire tells about whatʼs left in the country.

We Have To Survive: Fukušima! / Tomáš Krupa / Slovakia 2022 / 13 min. / Japanese – Ten years ago, in March 2011, three reactors went into meltdown at the nuclear power station in Fukushima, Japan, having been damaged by an earthquake and tsunami. Everyone within 20km of the plant was evacuated, but Naoto Matsumura chose to stay – the sole person remaining out of 80,000 residents. Now he continues living there without any symptoms of radiation sickness, taking care of abandoned animals in an area that is being systematically cleaned by the Japanese government and prepared for new life. But the question is how to deal with a world that is teetering on the edge of a climate catastrophe.

WHTS: Fukushima! is a standalone episode existing independently of the upcoming full-length version of the globe-trotting, climate-change-related documentary We Have to Survive (shortened to WHTS). The WHTS feature documentary and accompanying spin-off series will raise awareness about the current and future impacts of climate change on our lives by telling the personal stories of people living in already affected areas.

Subtitles: Slovak, English

Topic: climate, migration

The short-film section at the “One World” film festival was prepared by Nina Ulická, a student of the Department of Audiovisual Studies at the Academy of Performing Arts.