the dark side shorts programme
The Fading | Canada | 15 mins
Directed by: Rafaël Beauchamp
In the heart of a foggy and rural Quebec winter, Luce, a grieving mother faced with the disappearance of her son, is taken aback when three local hunters track down the alleged killer, a seemingly harmless young man. When it is proposed to her to take revenge on the latter, the spirit of the masses slowly takes possession of her tragedy as the group sinks into the forest. Les battues blurs the line between victim and persecutor in a dreamlike and anxiety-inducing thriller.
Demon Box | Canada | 14 mins
Directed by: Sean Wainsteim
After festival rejections, a director revises his intensely personal short film about trauma, suicide, and the Holocaust, and transforms it into a painful, blunt and funny dissection of the film and his life. Ten years in the making.
Storage Room B | Canada | 15 mins
Directed by: Scott Dion Brown
Two co-workers seek refuge in a storage room as a zombie apocalypse breaks out around them.
Zeb’s Spider | Canada | 8 mins
Directed by: Alicia Eisen, Sophie Jarvis
Inside the safe space of their basement apartment, Zeb fends off the bad luck of the outside world with an assortment of ritualized behaviours. But even in the most insular existence, destiny can unexpectedly drop in. What begins as a way of coping with an uninvited arachnid soon takes on a monstrous life of its own. Spinning darkness and humour into a complex emotional web, Zeb’s Spider offers up a crucial lesson: face your fears or they just might eat you alive.
Jouissance | Iran | 23 mins
Directed by: Sadeq Es-Haqi
Arash and Rahi are a gay couple from Tehran. They’ve recently moved into a new house. However, their everyday routine is disrupted by the ghost of Rahi’s ex-boyfriend, who died six years ago and is now asking Rahi to continue living with him.
Mothers And Monsters | Canada | 15 mins
Directed by: Edith Jorisch
For a very special celebration, a host-mother has gathered mothers and their perfect children for a great banquet. Orchestrated by the host-mother, the banquet is suddenly disrupted by strange disturbances. What is hiding behind the scenes of this perfect ideal world? Mothers and Monsters is a surrealist satire about modern-day maternity and the ideal of the family at a time where capitalism has reached its apex.
