PIFF SELECTIONS 2023
A NIGHT OF RIOTS (Cyprus)
Director: Andreas Sheittanis
fiction / drama
During a riot in the streets of Cyprus, a man of Arabic descent attempts to find shelter inside a family's home. However, he soon realises that his life is probably more in danger inside the house, rather than outside in the streets with the rioters.
AIRHOSTESS-737 (Greece)
Director: Thanasis Neofotistos
fiction / drama, comedy
On a Boeing-737 a 39-y.o. flight attendant, Vanina, tries hard to hide her, obvious, discomfort. Everyone seems genuinely worried about her while she goes on complaining about her new braces. She blames her mother for not taking care of her teeth when she should. However, her colleagues know; this plane carries her mother's dead body to her hometown. When the turbulence become threatening, Vanina faces an urgent need to see her mother in what proves to be a last chance for reconciliation.
ARMAT (Switzerland)
Director: Elodie Dermange
documentary / animation
Elodie tries to find out more about her family’s Armenian origins. She interviews her father, her uncle, her great aunt, and discovers a harsh history where violence and the inability to express love are passed down from generation to generation.
COSMOS VETERANS (Uzbekistan)
Director: Inga Sukhorukova
fiction / drama
Little town in suburbs of Moscow. A young immigrant worker disappears mysteriously. He worked as a guard in a town called Cosmos Veterans.
His father arrives to Russia in hopes to find him. Hostile environment is trying to get rid of a stranger. Will this insignificant person be able to overcome the system?
DAPHNE (Cyprus)
Director: Tonia Mishiali
fiction / drama
Daphne switches from one sexual partner to the next, but does not seem to be satisfied, at least not with what she thought she needed; until she finds a wounded dog in the street. How far would she go to feel some affection?
EXIT WITHIN (Greece)
Director: George Danopoulos
documentary
A painting workshop brings six people into contact with art. Their living conditions lead them to find a way out through art, yet they are not able to share their works with potential recipients. A narrator, having shared experiences, accompanies the images and sounds of a six-week journey, until the moment their works are completed.
LE BUONE MANIERE (Italy)
Director: Valerio Vestoso
fiction / comedy
Mimmo Savarese, 50 years old, was the greatest sports commentator of his generation. Now that his career is in decline, he has the opportunity to make a comeback thanks to an unusual job offer, which hides in itself the opportunity to masterfully avenge a dramatic wrong suffered as a child. He will succeed in retaliating against life with the talent he wields best: the exercise of words.
OLD TRICKS (Italy)
Directors: Edoardo Pasquini, Viktor Ivanov
fiction / comedy
Grandma and Grandpa always loved their tranquil life in the apartment, enjoying the calm days, content. But in these times of isolation, where the difference between home and prison is hard to see, a long forgotten feeling rises again: boredom. And boredom can be a very dangerous matter…
ONE WAY JOURNEY (UK / Dominican Republic)
Director: José Gomez De Vargas
fiction / drama / thriller
Ricardo, a former gang member, tries to keep his son JOEL out of the streets, but the legacy he has laid over his son is stronger than Ricardo´ss intentions. Joel ascends on the gang´s hierarchy when he defeats CHIVO, another gang member, who desperately seeks the same goal as Joel. Things go out of control, Joel´s life is threatened.
P.D.O. (Protected Designation of Origin) (France)
Director: Samy Sidali
fiction / comedy
Advised by an administration full of good intentions, Latefa and her two children Walid and Ptissam Frenchize their first names at the same time as they acquire French na-tionality. They face this unique ordeal with humor and lightness, just before the start of the school year.
PLEASE HOLD THE LINE (Malaysia)
Director: Tan Ce Ding
fiction / drama
A young scam call operator is thrust into a moral dilemma as she navigates a life-changing situation.
SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES (Singapore)
Director: Alvin Lee
fiction / comedy, drama
A funeral director finds himself hapless when the wrong body has been sent for cremation. When there seems to be no other way, he devises a plan for a sham funeral with the deceased’s three estranged children.
SON OF THE SUN (Kyrgyzstan)
Director: Dastan Madalbekov
fiction / drama
10-year-old Bakyt lives with his father. They go to the baths together and eat together. Their relationship is not verbose, the father tries to bring up independence in the child. Thus, the father does not come home at night. Bakyt, hiding his anxieties, continues his daily routine. He goes to school, cooks for himself, but every night without his father it becomes harder and harder for him to endure.​
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SWEETIE PIE (France)
Director: Alexandra Naoum
fiction / drama
Laura struggles with anger management while in detention. On parole for a day, she is confronted to the complex reality of her daughter being now cared for by her own immature mother.
STUDENT FILMS
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RECOIL (Israel)
DirectorS: Noam Sobovitz & Hila Salomon
fiction / drama
Lior, 17 is a gentle boy from a religious settlement who will do anything to prove his masculinity to himself and everyone around him, even if the price is unbearable.
THE BATHDAY (Russia)
Director: Maria Antonova
fiction / drama
A young girl Sasha is released from prison. Her father meets her and takes her to the village where Sasha spent his childhood.
BORN ANEW (Germany)
Director: Bernhard Wohlfahrter
fiction / comedy
It’s Helga’s birthday, and, as queen, she wants her son Julian to join her at her new favorite place: the sauna. What an embarrassing situation. But Julian soon gets aware, why his mum suddenly likes to spend so much time between all these sweaty bodies …
POLLINATOR (Cyprus)
Director: Kyriakos Kakoullis
fiction / Sci-Fi, Thriller
A dystopian future set in a totalitarian world , where a young man's
life is about to change.
HIS BEST FRIEND (Israel)
Director: Oz Zirlin
fiction / drama
Burden with guilt and great confusion, Oz pays a long coming visit to his best friend after he committed suicide.
YUTA (Brazil)
Director: Matheus Malburg
fiction / drama
Matias and Franco, two Argentinians who are passionate about football, come to Brazil on a ride to follow the team they love: Chacarita Juniors. In “Yuta”, after suffering violence and police abuse, they both decide to strike back at the aggressors, even if it means the end of their lives.
GET HOME SAFE (Germany)
Director: Tamara Denić
fiction / drama
The employee of a Way-Home-Phone service experiences the nightly horror of a young woman who is followed by a stranger on her way home.
