The Third Rule

Preface to a History

A couple, Vlad and Sophy, navigate their relationship as well as their own struggles with mental health in the context of a highly connected, politically uncertain modern world while on a trip to a remote Canadian island in this avant-garde feature film. PREFACE TO A HISTORY, created with a tiny crew of four people, represents an experiment in using minimalist tools to create an overwhelming aesthetic experience in service of a simple, but specifically contemporary, story about two people attempting to navigate a fraying relationship amid all the anxieties and external pressures of modern adulthood in a technologically-interconnected and politically unstable era.

Here Come the Huggetts

The Huggetts have their first telephone installed, sleep rough on The Mall whilst waiting for the Royal Wedding and deal with a fire at the 'Oatibix' factory.

Deciso

Plastic artist Leo invites young Dante to his art studio and proposes a peculiar game to leave all tension behind.

The Caller

Jimmy Stevens, a senior VP at an international energy firm, blows the whistle on his company's deadly and corrupt practices in Latin America. Knowing he will be assassinated for his betrayal, he places an anonymous call securing the services of private detective Frank Turlotte to trail him from a distance.

Jusqu’au silence

Anna comes from a violent past that has left her a recluse in her solitude.When a man knocks at the door her infancy returns....Will Anna open the door to the universe that she has created for herself to let life enter?

Self Portraits or: How to talk endearingly to possible victims

Quinn is a grade school teacher who is exploited by a group of memoryless individuals who reeducate his long-term partner Amy.

Phone

A primer on proper phone manners produced for the New Zealand Post Office.

Cellular

A young man receives an emergency phone call on his cell phone from an older woman. She claims to have been kidnapped – and the kidnappers have targeted her husband and child next.

Mondscheintarif

To call or not to call? For young Cora it's not a question. In fact, after the first date you may never call the guy, even if it was the best sex of your life! It's him who must beg for a meeting - and not later than 72 hours after. Otherwise - delete it from memory.

Trapped

When their daughter is abducted by experienced kidnappers, the Jennings turn the tables on their seemingly fool-proof plan.

A Paw Over Dark

A washed up actor performs night after night in a grimy theater to a nearly empty audience. However, everything changes when a clueless dog jumps on stage.

How To Ghostbust a Bathroom

Concerned about a ghost potentially lurking in the bathroom, a laboratory intern hires a ghost-hunting influencer to take care of the situation.

Blues

154

The prototype [TEST TYPE • 154] is a highly sophisticated artificial intelligence, which is capable of autonomously acquiring notions from its surroundings and - eventually - developing autonomy of thought. Given the nearly human nature of its learning capabilities, the laboratory that programmed it hires a kindergarten teacher, asking him to instruct the machine as if it were a newborn child. The learning process - which spans 7 days - becomes increasingly insidious in the long run, posing a peculiar yet crucial problem: can there be a form of autonomous thinking that excludes emotions?

Die Anruferin

A lonely woman's prank phone call leads to an unexpected friendship with a grieving widow.

Ni una Sola Palabra de Amor

Smash Cuts! Super Sci-Fi Shorts Fest

Host Scott Forrest presents a curated compilation of eight independent short films in this rapid-fire science-fiction feature. Genres collide, narratives twist, aesthetics clash, and even humor, both campy and dystopian, showcase the vast creative possibilities of each story's individual world, offering the viewer a brief glimpse into the lives of every character's attempt to survive the otherworldly chaos around them. Released in 2001, the selected shorts span original creation dates of 1997 to 2001; most of the featured filmmakers also appear as themselves in short video interviews to talk about their inspirations, creative process and motivations while working on their individual shorts.

Ōta Shōgo's The Water Station

The Water Station is a film adaptation by playwright, director, and NYU Abu Dhabi professor Abhishek Majumdar of a play by Japanese playwright Ōta Shōgo, written in 1981. It is about our experience of the world and how it is shaped by what we have to leave behind, who we can leave with, and what happens when we meet others in our journeys.

Blonde Starlet Acid Trip

A famous Blonde Starlet drops acid and turns into midnight.