At The Ballet

Billy Elliot

September 2000 •English

County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles upon a ballet class and finds out that he's naturally talented. He practices with his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson for an upcoming audition in Newcastle-upon Tyne for the royal Ballet school in London.

Land Without Bread

December 1933 •Spanish

An exploration —manipulated and staged— of life in Las Hurdes, in the province of Cáceres, in Extremadura, Spain, as it was in 1932. Insalubrity, misery and lack of opportunities provoke the emigration of young people and the solitude of those who remain in the desolation of one of the poorest and least developed Spanish regions at that time. (Silent short, voiced in 1937 and 1996.)

Catalan

January 1984 •English

A short film created for Spanish TV touching on the subject of Catalonia's struggle for independence, interspersed with symbolic images.

The Mirror/Mirror The

October 2022 •English

A socially awkward teen gets caught between a changing friendship and a life-altering discovery.

The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat

June 1896 •French

A group of people are standing along the platform of a railway station in La Ciotat, waiting for a train. One is seen coming, at some distance, and eventually stops at the platform. Doors of the railway-cars open and attendants help passengers off and on. Popular legend has it that, when this film was shown, the first-night audience fled the café in terror, fearing being run over by the "approaching" train. This legend has since been identified as promotional embellishment, though there is evidence to suggest that people were astounded at the capabilities of the Lumières' cinématographe.

Eleven Eleven

September 2011 •English

This is a story about love.

Antoine and Colette

June 1962 •French

Now aged 17, Antoine Doinel works in a factory which makes records. At a music concert, he meets a girl his own age, Colette, and falls in love with her. Later, Antoine goes to extraordinary lengths to please his new girlfriend and her parents, but Colette still only regards him as a casual friend. First segment of “Love at Twenty” (1962).

Muted

September 2020 •English

A young woman is struggling with her mental health, as it begins to slowly push her over the edge.

Writer's Block

November 2013 •English

The short film is a poetic interpretation of the writer's mental journey during the writing process. The writer, played by Bryan Cranston (AMC’s Breaking Bad), creates a woman in his mind, played by Lela Edgar, while working on his next script.

Arekara - The Life After

February 2013 •Japanese

In February 2012, I went to Ishinomaki, a town North of Tokyo that was half destroyed by the tsunami of March 11th, 2011, to meet the disaster victims who now live in temporary housing. I spent several days in the North, under the snow, listening to these people talk candidly about what they had lived through, telling their own stories without the media as an intermediary. Their testimonies were terrifying, harsh and sad, but at the same time touching, sincere and human. From the pictures and interviews that I collected, I decided to make a film, not to reflect how awful the events were, but to communicate the singular and even surreal nature of each person’s experience. My intention wasn’t so much to focus on this particular event in Japan, but rather to make these stories more universal as a way of paying tribute to all the victims of natural disasters throughout the world.

Travelling

September 2015 •Polish

Travelling is a violation of the rules when a player holding the ball moves one or both feet illegally. Fifteen-year-old Justyna, trying to escape her mom's life, falls into a fascination with the new neighbor. A short and intense relationship will push her to grow up quickly.

Little Man

August 2014 •French

David and Eliab, two apprentice jockeys, get to know each other through admiration, rivalry and jealousy.

Wrong Planet

November 2014 •German

Marco lives in a world of his own. He wants to spend the event of the total eclipse concentrated and by himself at a junkyard. Lena crosses his path and stays by his side because she likes him and tries desperately to get closer during this special moment.

Ses souffles

April 2015 •French

Lizon has just attended her friend Marie's birthday. The friends around the birthday cake, the candles to be blown, the wish to be made amazed her. For her ninth birthday, Lizon wants to have the same thing. A birthday with a cake, candles and her friends, at her home: in the car.

Dom'z sütü

December 2014 •German

Broken Goddess

October 1973 •English

Holly Woodlawn is an aimless, lovelorn beauty in this seventies silent short.

The Return of the Living Dead: The Decade of Darkness

July 2007 •English

A look at the horror movies of the 1980's.

Thoughts on the Purpose of Friendship

January 2020 •English

Thoughts on the Purpose of Friendship follows two friends and their effortless friendship. The subtle interplay and hidden expressions between them remind us, in our increasingly transaction-based society, of the true and simple foundations required to build a friendship.

Icemeltland Park

July 2020 •English

An amusement park designed for families, couples, groups of friends and everyone who wishes to visit. You don’t know where to go on holiday? Or you’re not sure how to spend your honeymoon? Come to Icemeltland Park, you won’t regret it!

The End of Suffering (A Proposal)

August 2020 •Greek

Sofia is panicky, again. The Universe decides to contact her. An other-wordly dialogue. A planet symphony for Mars, where people dream awake and fight for love.