An old lady experiences a near-death vision of her beloved father in a final moment borne of her strong love towards him.&nbsp; <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/eventive-static/39b743a0d8beb48eb539f6b8c3d56dd7.jpg" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px;" width="150">Director BiographyXiang (Shawn) has been a photographer in the New Media industry for five years. During college, Shawn owned his media studio. After graduation, he was admitted to the director of photography department of film at the New York Film Academy. He is currently working on his master's degree.

The Guide To The Light

Three girls in love with the same cheating man try to convince him to choose just one of them. However, in doing so they accidentally kill him, leading to a host of problems which, in overcoming them, leads to a regaining of their self-love and confidence. <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/eventive-static/9a68d31b51847bdeab76f88a29650b26.jpg" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px;" width="196">Director BiographyAnna is a Polish American director/ actress. After graduating with a BA in Acting from the University of Southern California, she moved to Korea to expand her knowledge of the world. In South Korea she enrolled in the MFA filmmaking program at Chung-Ang University, where she filmed Broken Puzzle as her graduation film. She hopes to one day expand Broken Puzzle to a full length, feature film.

English

Broken Puzzle

Lyubima, an artist in her 30s, is left by her partner. She needs to start anew, but the grief is there, as big as an African elephant… Lyubima does not see the Elephant that leaves a mess on her carpet, when she is back from stalking her ex and his new girlfriend… She does not understand that the Elephant drinks water from her fish tank and turns her place upside down overnight… Lyubima does not see it, while the Elephant eats from her plate over breakfast... She does not have a clue, that the Elephant takes most of her bedroom, while she is asleep, but in her dream… In her dream she calls the Elephant for help… Her way to finally move on is by giving the love memories, along with the grief, back to her ex. <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/eventive-static/8faca2f09ad2ebbd5727e42a9e5b2225.jpg" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px;" width="150">Director BiographyMaya Vitkova-Kosev is a writer-director and producer. In 2008 she executive produced Kamen Kalev's Eastern Plays, which premiered at the Cannes Directors' Fortnight. Maya directed and produced two shorts, written by the Golden Bear winner Radu Jude – Stanka Goes Home (2010) and My Tired Father (2011). Her debut film Viktoria (2014) was the first Bulgarian feature in competition at the Sundance Film Festival.The film had more than 70 international selections and 10 awards, making it to number 4 of the best films of 2016 according to The New Yorker, whilst Vitkova-Kosev was pointed one of the five best directors in the world by the magazine:www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-best-movies-of-2016Maya Vitkova-Kosev was chosen an European Film Promotion’s “Producer on the Move” in Cannes (2014), she is an EAVE 2017 producer. Her feature film project Afrika was developed at the CineLink, the ScripTeast, the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and the TIFF Filmmaker Lab. Afrika won the “Krzysztof Kieslowski ScripTeast Award for the Best Eastern European Script” in Cannes and Maya Vitkova-Kosev was awarded a TIFF Canada Goose Fellowship. Director StatementAs a filmmaker, I feel attracted to stories with a unique point of view, that unfold and manifest a new way of thinking and engaging the audience, while still happening into a common reality.﻿Lyubima has a miniature plot. It is the story of a woman caught by the end of her journey of fighting grief and anger after a relationship breakup, who is performing a subconscious ritual of setting herself free. And it is precisely this ritual that forms the finale of the film…I worked with the D.O.P. Krum Rodriguez (Viktoria, The Lesson, Godless, Glory, The Father) on Lyubima. He has number of qualities, one of the most important being that all of his films look different. The Hollywood Reporter quotes him on our film Viktoria: “Krum Rodriguez’s beautifully composed, diffusely lit cinematography and the crisp soundscapes are the other below-the-line standouts.”. Rodriguez and I are a team, working on creating a mutual specific and recognizable style.We stay true to some of the technical and artistic assets developed while doing Viktoria – shooting with mainly natural light, not afraid of being on the edge of darkness, as this is where the real movie’s “black” is, simple or no camera movement, wide shots when possible, close-ups and details only when needed, in order to have the feeling of something happening right in front of our eyes. Additionally, very detailed work on the sound – it is hard to create silence in a film, as it means building a rich atmosphere with more sounds than the average.Lyubima is a short drama in which realistic narrative and naturalistic technique are combined with surreal (magical) elements of dream and fantasy.Grief is a feeling everyone has or will experience one day. And Luybima is about grief... But it is also about overcoming grief and anger, and finding life back again. And that’s what I want – to show that there is light at the end of the tunnel – you only need to open your eyes...I am passionate about this short film. I believe Lyubima will be beautiful inside and out.

LYUBIMA

A romance is played in reverse, revealed through memories brought on by improvisational music. <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/eventive-static/1a57b4f393840bcb6c07171f4ace2ab4.jpg" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px;" width="150">Director BiographyShiloh Tumo Washington is a 23 year-old filmmaker from Chicago, Illinois. He is also an aspiring writer if both fiction and nonfiction. In High School, he began to experiment with many storytelling techniques during his Television Production classes.Having since had his short films showcased at festivals such as the Black Harvest Film Festival, his work has been described as a movement in "poetic-realism." Having graduated from Columbia College Chicago with degrees in both Filmmaking and Creative Writing, he creates to find out about himself; to come to terms with history both personal and global. His most recent film, 'One For My Baby' is a step towards the more complex narratives he dreams of: Those concerned with the implications of black life and love. For him, cinema should reflect life itself. Director StatementOne For My Baby is both a reconstruction of the events that brought me into this world and a eulogy for one of the people responsible: my father, Dale Conroy Washington. It is an attempt to talk about love's true form and how this form changes and shifts with time and to unmask the harmful force that masculinity has proven to be in face of it. The greatest privilage was to be able to revisit many childhood places throughout Chicago's South and East sides which many residents will know, with Lake Michigan being something of a supporting character.This film, which was the culmination of my four years of undergraduate studies in Columbia College Chicago's Filmmaking program, serves as my first contribution to the romance genre. Utilizing many of the influences I picked up along the way in the great filmmakers and writers from just about everywhere, we behind One For My Baby have made the most honest attempt at depicting events from my own life. I looked at a great deal of work from the 'L.A. Rebellion' filmakers like Charles Burnett and Larry Clarke; and also cats like Bergman and Cassavetes. I believe that the tool of cinema should be harnessed to reflect and redefine life as lived--this is also quite a cost-effective approach, I should add.I wanted to make a film for the sake of healing and honesty. This is maybe a portrait of my father, the person, not the artist as many people solely imagined; and in doing this, I hope the condition of the artist is somewhat further explored.'One For My Baby' has everything to do with being black. It has everything to do with being both a parent and a child; how much do our journies cost us, and how avoidable are our mistakes? I am hoping that the romance at this film's core, not its fate, is what stays with viewers the most.For this black boy with big, cinematic dreams: this is a historic piece. I dedicate it more specifically to the single mothers who raised us.-Shiloh Tumo Washington, Writer and Director

One For My Baby

Tony invites his sister Lena to visit him a few days before his wedding to Carlos without telling her the occasion. On arrival, Lena mistakes Carlos for Tony’s roommate and is captivated by his masculinity. Carlos takes them out to a family restaurant, where the preparation for the reception is underway. Lena, who turns out to be homophobic, takes many hints wrong but finally guesses about her brother’s wedding. Tony hiding it this whole time upsets Carlos and makes him leave. A sincere exchange between Tony and Lena leads to their farewell. Tony finds Carlos in their place and proves he is fearless to be open now. Seeing a picture from their wedding, Lena keeps a secret from the family. <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/eventive-static/67d649c5ab87a558f74d7e132f896645.jpg" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px;" width="178">Director BiographyAleksei Borovikov is an award-winning independent filmmaker, journalist, and LGBTQ activist. He began his career working on regional and national television in Russia for over 15 years. In 2016, Aleksei graduated from Moscow Film School. Before coming to the US, Aleksei volunteered for a Moscow-based NGO focused on HIV prevention and helped them raise a grant of $1 million from the Elton John AIDS Foundation. In 2022, Aleksei graduated from Columbia College Chicago with an MFA in Cinema Directing. His short films, including One More Please and Glances, have been screened and awarded in over 120 festivals worldwide. Director StatementAs a gay immigrant directly and personally affected by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with this project, I attempted to capture the drama of interpersonal tensions and shared challenges of the LGBTQ immigrant community. To write this story, I talked to dozens of people like myself and learned about their experiences. A software developer from Moscow who must hide his partner for nearly a decade in their studio apartment’s bathroom whenever he video calls his family back in his hometown in Siberia. A ballet dancer who toured with his ballet troupe for years before seeking asylum in the United States so he could stop hiding his identity. A couple who lived in Kyiv and traveled to Denmark to marry as a way of recognizing their love and commitment to each other. Living in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan, many interviewed people had experienced homophobia and stigmatization and had to stay closeted because of cultural traditions and beliefs. The main character of “Brother,” Tony, takes inspiration from these stories. The grandiose lie surrounding life in post-Soviet countries today, more than ever, requires discussing taboo topics. We hope that “Brother” can help to begin that change for LGBTQ+ individuals who have left Eastern Europe and those who remain in their home countries. The film utilizes the setting of a gay wedding to reflect the frustration and self-restraint typical throughout the community. It also serves as a healing narrative suggesting the ways of mutual support and emotional growth. The film was produced in Chicago by a local team that comprises members of underrepresented groups – women, BIPOC, queer – both in front and behind the camera.

Brother

With his wedding to Carlos approaching, Tony, a young immigrant to the US, invites his conservative older sister to the ceremony — a fateful decision that forces Tony to choose between his family and his happiness.

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