70th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen

01.05.2024 to 06.05.2024
Oberhausen

Awards

Before then
Directed by:
2023

Language can be a barrier: We don't know the other person's language or can’t understand what they want to tell us. Language can also be liberating: finally expressing what is on my mind, revealing myself and to share my inner feelings.

But can language be both a barrier and a liberation? Yes, this paradox is possible. Our winning film this year proves it.

By dissolving the traditional categories of speaker and listener, it is also possible to express what cannot be said. A letter in a foreign language becomes a possibility of communication that remains misunderstood, and at the same time the unspeakable is said and no longer hidden.

The film is about our relationship with the people we love, the people we don't want to let go, and the people we want open up to. But it also shows how the gap between different generations, social systems and places can prevent us from fully understanding each other. It shows us a creative way of dealing with the unspeakable and is a plea for an intense relationship between us and our neighbours.

Decryption
Directed by:
2023

Memories fade - this experience is part of being human. We would give a lot to be able to go back in time for a moment and refresh our memories of people we care about. One film in this year's competition brings this to the screen in a unique, tactile way. Based on a personal story, the film uses intense scenes to explore a universal human theme. We read it as an opportunity to dive deeper into the existential questions about the other within the self, about the materiality and conditions of memory. Despite the healing power of multi-layered attempts to get closer: Memory resists its  complete decryption.

Directed by:
2023

In The Old Young Crow, an elderly man reminisces about a childhood experience of solitude in a new location while reading his old sketchbook. His drawings transport him back to a significant moment in a quiet graveyard, where he found solace and encountered an older woman grieving her son's loss. This film employs innovative animation techniques alongside live action, weaving a heartfelt narrative about a spiritually sensitive boy adapting to new religious customs. Through connecting with the deceased and reconciling his own losses, he discovers a sense of belonging in his unfamiliar surroundings.