Synopsis

Unbound obsessions and delusional desires fuel these hilarious shorts that embody the essence of “fake it ‘til you make it!” From the delightfully heartwarming to the absolutely bonkers, these films remind us to dream big, live large, and leave it all on the field. Featuring works by Natalia García Agraz, Isabel Perry, Adam Yates, Stéphanie Bélanger, Luisa Arraes, Chris Cole, and Wissam Charaf.

In Passarinho (Mexico), two teenage best friends devise a plan to meet their dreamy idol, a superstar Brazilian soccer player. But things change when one of them gets their first period at the game. Fishbowl (United States) captures the joy and futility of trying to relive one’s youth when an unlikely pair of twentysomethings spend a summer weekend doing whatever it takes to forget their exes — and also keep a goldfish alive. Lumen (Canada) takes “the customer is always right” to new heights when an isolated woman discovers that her Facebook Marketplace order has been canceled. A wealthy matriarch’s important work dinner is thrown into disarray when her housekeeper doesn’t show up in Dadá (Dependências) (Brazil). Out of options, a grandson tries to save his hospitalized grandmother’s life with a freestyle rap, and finds himself joined by a handful of unlikely participants in Terminally Ill (United States). And a dedicated security guard finds his assignment guarding a waterfront construction site to be much more difficult than he thought in If the Sun Drowned into an Ocean of Clouds (Et si le soleil plongeait dans l’océan des nues) (France, Lebanon).

Synopsis

A wealthy matriarch’s important work dinner is thrown into disarray when her housekeeper doesn’t show up. When her (and her adult children’s) incompetence in the kitchen becomes harder to hide from their hungry guests, a wacky comedy of errors ensues in this biting and boisterous class satire.

This film screens as part of the Comedic Shorts: Doing the Most program.

Synopsis

Rebecca, the daughter of missionary Lawrence Byrne, was declared a “miracle” after she survived a plane crash deep in the Amazon forest as a child. Years later, Rebecca has become a healer, sustaining her family’s evangelical mission thanks to her growing fame. But when illegal loggers invade the land, Rebecca wrestles with her role in the community. As Lawrence maneuvers them into the epicenter of the escalating conflict, she begins to question her allegiance to her father, to their mission, and to her faith.

Director Pia Marais (The Unpolished, ChicagoIFF 2007) raises — and collides — religious, political, and environmental stakes to create a searing and timely eco-thriller. As the layers of the knotty plot unfold, exposing shifting alliances and increasingly blurry moral lines, Transamaonzia builds to a chilling, inexorable climax.

Synopsis

Suçuarana is the name of a mythical place, a lush landscape that appears in the weathered photo of her mother that Dora carries with her always. Dora has been on the road for a long time, hitching rides through Brazil’s mining region in search of her family’s homeland. But no one seems to know this place, seemingly lost to time. And the open road can be troubling for a woman traveling alone, as the generosity of strangers is suddenly eclipsed by danger. After an accident, Dora seeks refuge in an abandoned factory; there, a group of workers have formed a village and a community bond that feels akin to the home Dora searches for, if just for a moment.

The first feature collaboration between Clarissa Campolina and Sérgio Borges, Suçuarana infuses the road-movie genre with ethereal magical realism, longing for a sense of belonging that is always just out of reach.

Synopsis

1917. Edward, a skittish civil servant working for the British Empire, has been posted in Rangoon, Burma for years. When his fiancée Molly sends a letter announcing her imminent arrival, he experiences a sudden and debilitating case of cold feet, boards the first ship in sight, and flees the country. Learning of his escape, Molly is determined to track him down. So she embarks on an Asian grand tour, going from Bangkok to Shanghai in search of her reluctant lover. Equal parts 1930s Hollywood throwback and meditative travelog, director Miguel Gomes (The Tsugua Diaries, Chicago IFF 2020) imbues this globe-trotting love story with searching melancholy. The studio-set “colonial romance” is shot in black and white, and intercut with sumptuous color footage shot in the modern day. The result is an intoxicating mixture of fiction and documentary that ponders the past as it ruminates on our present.