Travelling across landscapes of longing, taking root in constant change: These short films invite us to dive into the ocean, sink into the screen, and take refuge at a lake. As colonial histories of categorization and exploitation are excavated, healing and transformation sprouts all around. In This Is Not Your Garden, memories and a speculated future are nourished by collective pain, but also the desire to overcome. I’ve Heard A Siren Calling follows Nev, a young woman in the early stages of her transition who reintegrates back into the world she loves: surfing. The water becomes a site of reflection in Swan Like, as the filmmaker, living with Long Covid, dreams of healthier realms. Then, How a River Is Born invites yet another symbolism: Ayla wakes up in a mountainous landscape, and sets off on a journey of (self-)discovery, following the flow. With Emergiences, the program takes a turn to again reflect (post)colonial relations: A colonial-era propaganda film about communist insurgencies in Singaporean rubber plantations is blended with memories of the narrator’s ex-playmate. Eyes to See, takes on the lens of Khoe heritage, delving into how queerness is inherently woven into African cultural and spiritual practices. The program ends with Water Sports, an experimental fiction about Jelson and Ipe, students deep in love, that undergo trials of the mind and body as they prepare themselves to survive a world devastated by climate change. They soon learn that maybe the best way to survive the end of the world is to simply live, laugh, and love.
Babylon Kreuzberg
30.05.2026 – 18:30
Babylon Kreuzberg
31.05.2026 – 16:00
Rooted in wetlands, páramos and centennial forests at the verge of disappearing, memories and a speculated future collide. 500 years of exploitation, exile and resilience are nourished by a collective pain and a desire to crack through it all.
Director: Carlos Velandia, Angélica Restrepo
Writer: Carlos Velandia
Country: Colombia, 2025
Language: No Dialogue texts on screen in Spanish
Subtitle: English
Duration: 12 min
Nev is a young Trans woman in the early stages of her transition. In the small fishing town where she lives, she grapples with navigating isolation and managing her doubts of reintegrating back into the world she loves, being on the water, in the waves…surfing.
Director: Dylan Mitro
Country: Canada, 2025
Subtitle: English
Duration: 12 min
When we are ill, all we want is one thing – to stop being ill. The filmmaker sees a swan in a duck pond and dreams with Long Covid of the realm of the healthy. An essay about enchanted sick people and dreaming birds.
Director: Stella Deborah Traub
Writer: Stella Deborah Traub
Country: Germany, 2025
Language: German
Subtitle: English
Duration: 5:33 min
Ayla wakes up in a mountainous landscape, surrounded only by vegetation and a river. Driven by curiosity and a desire to get to know the place, she goes on a journey of discovery and diving. As she discovers where she is, she also discovers herself.
Director: Luma Flôres
Writer: Luma Flôres
Country: Brazil, 2025
Language: No Dialogue
Duration: 8 min
Eyes to See is a short docu-art film, narrated by Queer Khoe Elder Dr. Yvette Abrahams, that explores Queer life within indigenous Southern African knowledge systems. Through the lens of Khoe heritage, this film delves into how queerness is inherently woven into African cultural and spiritual practices.
Director: Haneem Christian
Country: South Africa, 2025
Language: English
Subtitle: English
Duration: 14 min
A Singaporean man mixes up two memories: one of a colonial-era propaganda film about communist insurgencies in rubber plantations, and another of his Malaysian ex-playmate.
‘Emergencies’ dwells in the memories of multiple entities – those of European planters, Southeast Asian coolies, communist terrorists, suspects of being communist terrorists, modern day rubber fetishists, the land transformed for agricultural purposes, and the Western studio films made there – tuning into the tensions that emerge from their ambiguous and sometimes contradictory interactions.
Director: Bart Seng Wen Long
Country: Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, UK, 2025
Language: English
Subtitle: English
Duration: 15:00 min
The Teacher believes that children are our future. He says to teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside. Jelson and Ipe, students deep in love, undergo trials of the mind and body as they prepare themselves to survive a world devastated by climate change. Though life may be harsh and unforgiving, they believe what their teacher says in that a strong heart and mind can triumph with an iron will. But Jelson and Ipe soon learn that maybe the best way to survive the end of the world is to simply just live, laugh, and love.
Director: Whammy Alcazaren
Writer: Whammy Alcazaren
Country: Philippines, 2024
Language: English, Tagalog, Hiligaynon
Subtitle: English
Duration: 19’35’’ min