Orizzonti in short

First day dedicated to short films kicks off
by Sveva Campagnaro
  • thursday, 4 september 2025

It’s time for the short films in Orizzonti: a mosaic of visions from Italy, Sweden, the United States, Germany, Belgium, China, Cuba, France, New Zealand…

OUT OF COMPETITION

RUKELI
Alessandro Rak (Italy, Sweden, 6’)
“Rukeli,” the stage name of Johann Trollmann, was the first Sinti boxer to win the German middleweight title. With the rise of racial laws, he was stripped of his title and deported to concentration camps, where he died at just 36. However, he had the courage to challenge a Nazi kapo, knocking him down along with the power he represented.

COMPETITION

THE CURFEW
Shehrezad Maher (USA, 19’)
As Ayaan cares for her fragile grandmother, the serenity of their relationship is disturbed by the ghosts of the colonial past, which shatter the silence of their linguistic barrier and unsettle their reassuring daily life.

YOU JIAN CHUI YAN (A SOIL A CULTURE A RIVER A PEOPLE)
Viv Li
(Germany, Belgium, China, 15’)
In a dystopian future where national borders are closed, Yu wanders through a nostalgic and unsettling city built upon memories of the past. Blending fiction and archival material, the short reflects on cultural preservation, identity, and censorship.

UTAN KELLY (WITHOUT KELLY)
Lovisa Sirén
(Sweden, 15’)
Forced to leave her daughter with her father, young Esther is overwhelmed by nostalgia and despair. During the night, she seeks contact and comfort to stay connected to what she loves most.

NORHEIMSUND
Ana A. Alpizar (Cuba, USA, 12’)
Driven by her mother and the hope for a better life, 18-year-old Yaimita begins an online relationship with an older man, which soon proves far from idyllic.

LA LIGNE DE VIE (THE LIFELINE)
Hugo Becker (France, 20’)
December 24, 1916, World War I. Katel and Pierre volunteer to deliver mail to lift the soldiers’ spirits, but enemy fire forces them behind lines into German territory.

KUSHTA MAYN, LA MIA COSTANTINOPOLI
Nicolò Folin (Italy, 20’)
Venice, 1563. Asher and Aaron, Jewish friends fleeing the massacres of Central Europe, dream of reaching Constantinople. Wounded, they find refuge with the Catechumens, where the only way to be accepted is to pretend they are ready to convert.

LION ROCK
Nick Mayow, Prisca Bouchet (New Zealand, 16’)
On a coastal road, a teenage boy and his mother hit something with their car. She insists nothing happened, but as night falls, the boy begins to doubt her version of events.

Featured image: Lion Rock, Nick Mayow, Prisca Bouchet

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COLUMNS

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il meglio della programmazione culturale di Venezia / the best of Venice's cultural life

VENEZIA NEWS #313-314

VeNewsletter

Ogni settimana

il meglio della programmazione culturale
di Venezia