Stella Händler

A couple live an obsessively ordered life, together with a monkey and an anglerfish. They go through their daily rituals of together-life – like synchronised swimmers, but sleeping separately – until one of them decides it’s time to die, the other, remorseful and guilt-ridden, takes off on a journey of self-discovery to an unknown island. Rather than find solace in their odyssey, they gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be alive.

Samir longs for love and struggles to find prospects in a land of limited opportunities. He believes in a better future far away.

In northern India, an ancient, holy peepul tree is being cut down by seven loggers using handsaws and axes.

Has the catastrophe already happened or is it about to? Two men and a woman sit in their bunker-like apartments, as if they were in a waiting room. Overwhelmed by the flood of media information and guidebook words of wisdom, they seek stability in the piano play of the educated middle-class and Far-eastern self-optimization techniques. Their passive bewilderment turns into frenzied activism. Now something has to happen! But nothing does.

A workout on the sun deck, a conga line in the dining hall, a photo shoot with the captain, or a beauty contest for all ages: fun around-the-clock is guaranteed on a cruise, while you float along with your hotel room. The sea-faring holiday fortresses have come into vogue and business is booming. In the towering ship’s wake, we are left behind with a hoard of digital memories and a cloud of exhaust fumes on the horizon.

Together filmmaker Nathalie and her friend Fabienne venture into a world of memories and forgetting: Fabienne to prepare for her departure from life and Nathalie in order to face it.

Despite being broken in a snowstorm, a rickety scarecrow wakes to find a beautiful shell. But as the sound of the sea inside mesmerises him, the shell is stolen by a crow. Setting out to reclaim it, the scarecrow embarks on a poignant journey in this wonderful, but possibly saddest animation you’ll ever see. He just wants his shell back!