Squirming Hearts

People on Saturday

August 2020 •German

A sunny Saturday afternoon in Zurich. In the middle of a crowded square a businessman is lying on a bench, seemingly asleep. Someplace else, a teenager is longing for appreciation. A commuter is fighting the ticket machine. The film shows ten tableaux of everyday situations in the city. The people in them are confronted with small or big problems. Each one of them is a Sisyphos, endlessly rolling the little stones of daily life up the mountain.

Lawn Maintanance is not a f#cking vocation

August 2020 •English

Craig Joeman is your average, friendly, lawn connoisseur. He has no qualms with how his local parks are being maintained. Until something changes.

The Box Assassin

August 2020 •English

A pizza delivery boy finds himself in the middle of a clash between a gangster boss and a legendary assassin who the boy has unknowingly delivered instead of pizza.

Void

September 2018 •Burmese

A lonely and failed musician gets to know a young woman who lives in a next-door apartment, a victim of sexual and domestic abuse by her husband. On the anniversary of her mother's death, the woman shares a dish of fish soup with him and they spend some time together. The man knows about her victimhood and he feels sorry for her. One day when her husband is not at home, he comes and comforts her. But their relationships takes a different turn when her husband unexpectedly comes back.

Eminem, Where Have You Been?

May 2009 •English

Where's Em been? School, fool. But despite his fame and fortune, this exclusive documentary shows that returning to the halls of high school wasn't exactly easy for this international superstar.

Shiba San and Meow Chan

September 2018 •Chinese

Shiba San and Meow Chan, a hit children's show in which the two brothers act a dog and a cat respectively, has been sweeping through kids and thus bringing fame to the two. Though radiant on stage, they both have something on their minds. Shiba san has been secretly in love with a married man, while Meow chan miss his remarried mother and it confused him when she abandoned him. An journey later on will lead the two strays to confront their emptiness inside.

The Blanket

August 2020 •English

Shot and crewed by Riley Stearns while in quarantine, and described as "an exercise in trusting instincts and embracing limitations."

Dissecting Gwen

March 2017 •English

After the anxiety of taking a home pregnancy test causes GWEN to faint on her bathroom floor, she is forced to have a discussion with the personified Voices in Her Head: ROMANTIC, REBEL, ANALYTIC and FEAR - each unabashedly offering their opinions on what her future should look like.

Tony Speed

May 2018 •French

One last Bite

February 2021 •English

A woman attempts to give her amnesiac boyfriend one last real date during the zombie apocalypse.

MasterChat GPT

January 2024 •Portuguese

At 3 AM, a girl tries to cook instant ramen noodles with instructions from ChatGPT

Yo quise hacer Los bingueros 2

January 2016 •Spanish

Play Schengen

August 2020 •Norwegian

A gaming company is creating a videogame for kids about the European Union. You play a national bird needing to breed and nest across borders, but you can only fly as allowed by your visa rights. We follow two game designers as they transform the European Union into pixel graphics in an effort to make Schengen catchy. The question they face: is it possible?

Pistenzauber

July 2016 •German

Black comedy set in a ski resort. When a few rules are bent during a late night run with a snow groomer, things start to go terribly awry...

Santa / Claws

Invalid date •English

A little boy's desire to meet Santa Claus takes a dark turn.

Nostradamos

July 2011 •French

Citizens living in the city of Amos, Quebec, Canada and its surroundings are preparing for the worst. They have to act fast and make some quick decisions.

First Death Experience

May 2001 •Bosnian

Dado Bratovic is comic-strip artist from Sarajevo. In 1996, after the war, he goes to get his ID card issued and finds out that he was reported dead just after the war started in 1992. Now he has to prove that he is alive.

Shadow Boxer

November 2012 •English

When a young man finds himself alone in a club after hours, he pretends he's in a martial arts movie only to be interrupted by his crush, leaving him embarrassed. But has the power of his imagination brought something dark to life?

The Delicious

June 2003 •English

A conservative yuppie banker finds an unusual piece of clothing in his closet and tries it on. Soon, it has taken over his life.

Caminandes: Llamigos

January 2016 •English

In this episode of the Caminandes cartoon series we learn to know our hero Koro even better! It's winter in Patagonia, food is getting scarce. Koro the Llama engages with Oti the pesky penguin in an epic fight over that last tasty berry. This short animation film was made with Blender and funded by the subscribers of the Blender Cloud platform. Already since 2007, Blender Institute successfully combines film and media production with improving a free and open source 3D creation pipeline.