Kabuki(SCR/DIR Tiago Minamisawa, BRAZIL/FRANCE, 2024, 14 min. Stop-motion animation). “Kabuki” poetically narrates the learning and life transformations of the transgender character Kabuki. Inspired by the many real stories of transgender people exterminated every day by intolerance, the film follows Kabuki's search for self-acceptance and identity in a violent and sexist world.
Ziki (SCR/DIR Roberta Palmieri, Olga Sargenti, ITALY, 2024. 12:18 min. Stop-motion hand-drawn animation) There is a rich and shining universe beneath a house made of mud but when Ziki, a Congolese boy living in a village with his mother, discovers it, he doesn’t know that will be the road to his damnation.
A Bronx Morning (SCR/DIR Jay Leyda, USA, 1931, color, 11:00.)
The Lost: existence before essence (SCR/DIR s/n, USA, 2024, 10:47. Experimental.) A fairytale of the Anthropocene, with no place left unaltered by human life. This surrealist spin on the Hansel and Gretel story begins with feral children living in the abstracted forest scratching out their survival and gathering food. They awaken the Cavern Yōkai (Cave Spirit) by taking her resources without asking. Is this vengeful spirit an absent parent, stressed and filled with anger and regret waking up from her endless virtual meetings and remote work? Most versions of the tale have a dangerous or absent parent and a threatening witch. What if these characters are the same? Or neither? Every fantasy reflects the era in which it was born. This is a legend for a new era that has outgrown dark tales of survival and revenge in favor of collaboration and restoration.
The Confrontation (SCR/DIR Tony Dhillon, USA, 2025, 10:00. Horror). A 10-minute mixed-media fever dream centered around an angry yet fearful creature on an emotional journey to reach the apparent source of its turmoil.
Gjemsel (SCR/DIR Aleksandra Niemczyk, Norway, 2009, 09:12). Two girls play out lonely choreographies with the female ghosts in a haunted house. Niemczyk’s distressed surfaces and pastel palette create a world of wonder and danger.
Lone Soldier Rising (SCR/DIR June Smith. USA, 2023, 08:37. Dance Film.) Lone Soldier Rising is one portion of a bigger artistic project titled Mandatory Volunteer. Lone Soldier Rising is a dance film that delves into the psyche of young Josephine Boyd, an African American high schooler chosen to desegregate the all white Grimsley High School located in Greensboro, NC. Drawing inspiration from historical and present day protests surrounding racial inequality within the United States, and from the writings of Dr. Karen Meadows in her book "Pedagogy of Survival", the dance film is a historical recounting and present-day social commentary on the place of youth in activism, resistance, and politics. The film was shot at the historical Dudley High School.
Rough Tide (SCR/DIR Pâmela Peregrino. BRAZIL, 2023, color, animation, drama. 7:00.) She, who connects everyone by her waters, observes and operates the changes resulting from global warming. The people by the sea are the first to feel its upheavals and mood swings. She knows that humans are moving to stop these changes. Just as she knows that they are repeating an old saga: a few prevailing over the great rest, deepening the problems created by themselves.
SoulTron the Traveler (DIR/SCRPierre Guillet. USA. 2025. Experimental sci/fi. Black and white. 6:43) An intergalactic being arrives on the planet Earth. Based on a character created by Michael Cuomo.
O Leonardo(SCR/DIR/ Bob Paris, USA, 2012, color, 06:40.) History's most brilliant and imaginative human being created not only transcendent art, but machines of war and extermination. This dark ode to Leonardo da Vinci uses 20th century images of flight, weapons, war, and science fiction to address our divine primate impulse, our fateful gift, for grand creation and terrible destruction.
A Kalabanda Ate My Homework (SCR/DIR. Raymond Malinga, UGANDA, 2017, color, 6:25. Animation, Comedy.) A Kalabanda is a mythical creature that is said to haunt schools in Uganda. Tendo, a pupil shows up to class one day without homework -claiming that a Kalabanda ate it. Who'd believe such a lame excuse? No-one! How will Tendo prove his story and does this mythical creature really exist?
Hand of God (SCR/DIR Nathaniel Sullivan, USA, 2025, color, 6:50. Experimental.) Hand of God is a video collage that uses the hand as a visual symbol to thread together several nationalistic and economic narratives—the last gasp of an empire, the invisible hand of the mythical free market, and an insatiable desire for spectacle and consumption. The Hand of God, the loss, the feeling of loss. The sun never sets. The last colonial war. The last gasp. Leviathan. A severed hand, for the first colony. The invisible hand of the free market. We will devour ourselves, and you. The idea of something is more dangerous than the thing itself, the hand has run amok. The goal of the century was preceded by the hand of God by about four minutes. Grace built on a cheat. Two-nil. The Hand of God, a slight of hand. The invisible hand, a cheat.
Locomotion(SCR/DIR/ Deirdre Towers, USA, 2012, color, 05:53.) An optimist offers a pessimist a change of perspective in this live action/animation short, shot in 2 boroughs of New York City with the aim of inspiring people to move more and experience the rush of imagination and joy once endorphins kick in. Starring NYC parkour artists Spyder and Upgradee
X-Trem (SCR/DIR. Marta Arjona and Mei Casabona, SPAIN, 2017, color, 5:24. Documentary.) Through movement the dancer experiences physical and emotional changes constantly. X_Trem aims to design connections taking as its departure point the abstraction of movement where body, space and image draw and define in order to awaken something unique and personal in the viewer.
The Stream XIII (SCR/DIR Hiroya Sakurai. JAPAN, 2024, color, experimental. 5:21.) This is segment thirteen in my series "The Stream,” in which I express the transformation of landscapes from interactions between humans and nature, shot on reclaimed land near Kyoto. In the 16th century, samurai and feudal overlord Toyotomi Hiyedoshi, known as “the Second Unifier of Japan,” built a castle on a nearby mountain to view the shallow lake that stood here 80 years ago. I focus on the wind streaming through corn and reed fields cultivated by humans. For sound effects, I use a wind chime consisting of an iron bell with a weight hanging from a string inside. When the wind blows, the pressure makes the weight ring. This sound and the rippling of the fields convey the wind’s invisible presence.
Fragu (SCR/DIR Antonello Murgia, ITALY, 2016, black and white, 5:00.) A stranger – fake astronaut? Semi-God from afar? – sweeps into a quiet Sardinian village. They recognize him as eminent and exceptional, therefore follow him without further ado, leaving everything behind – work, relationships, social life – to go with HIM. (In Sardinian, with Italian subtitles)
Thrills of Power (SCR/DIR Meri Dishnica, ALBANIA, 2021, 5:00. Cinematic poem.)
Cherry On Top (SCR/DIR Mark Cabaroy. USA, 2014, color, 04:00. Animation, comedy.) After being gifted a cherry a man loses it and goes to great lengths to get it back.
WiFi (DIR/SCR/PROD Douglas Alonzo. HONDURAS, 2016, color, 3:52) Comedy. A näif, frenzied collage spoken in gibberish by shadow puppet figures captures our visceral dependence on technology, particularly our smart phones. A small high-definition screen tells is what to do and where to go, turns us into spectators of a reality often best ignored and show us the power we have when we use it to denounce and document like historians in real time. The price is extended loneliness.
Machine for Life (SCR/DIR Ruth Somalo, USA, 2012, color, 4:32. Comedy, fiction.) Inspired by a series of conversations about architecture and the poetics of space between the filmmaker and designer Suchi Reddy, this short examines spaces of discovery and intimacy. Set in an unspecified futuristic era and location, sprinkled with 60e touches and drawing from Le Corbusier’s concepts of “the mechanized,” our heroine space traveller arrives at an unknown place (designer Suchi Reddy’s apartment). After exploring its characteristics and taking full advantage of the opportunities that the well-designed elements allow, the space sets the scene for a tantalizing love story.
Virus (SCR/ANIM Omar Carías, HONDURAS, 2007, color, 04:24 sec.) A melancholy Planet Earth gets bad news at the doctor's office, and a time-honored remedy. Animation so vivid you can almost feel the characters breathing. (English subtitles)
DreamsCut Short (EDITOR Bea Harwell, USA, 2025. 3 mins. Video Essay)
For Sunrise (SCR/DIR Hyonok Kim, SOUTH KOREA/USA, 2018, color, 03:16. Dance film) This film draws inspiration from the fimmaker watching the sea for sixteen years and wanting to share the sensation of the magical moment with the audience. In the film, a human being celebrates the sunrise. He’s pushed away from it and left longing for it.
Beast (SCR/DIR Marie Chalandre, FRANCE, 2018, color, 07:00. Animation thriller.) A man, a beach, a hut, and a sea. He waits for the one who has come already and will not come back again. He has devoured her with his bestial love. Colors dance on his body, drawing the memory of a passion.
Disclosure (SCR/DIR Meri Dishnica, ALBANIA, 2021, 02:55. Cinematic poem.) The bizarre mind of an incorrigible dreamer.
Quartet (SCR/DIR Nataša Prosenc Stearns, SLOVENIA, 2022, 02:32.) A collection of videos called “moving paintings” combining the body or human form with elements of nature. Quo Vadis? (Where Are You Going?) depicts a dreamlike passage of a woman woth garments bearing the silhouettes of people and the elements of the world she traverses, which appears in constant chaos and disarray while she walks steady and calm. Inspired by depictions of the Virgin of Mercy sheltering a group of people under her outspread cloak, especially popular in Italy from the 13th to 16th centuries.
Medusas (SCR/DIR Nataša Prosenc Stearns, SLOVENIA, 2017, 3:07.) Portraits of concrete women who captivate with the intensity of their presence. The squinting eyes, accentuated lips and rich, vibrant hair reveal the metropolitan image of the artist as global citizen, yet this is as far as the author allows us to peek into the intimate. We do not know what these medusas have been through or survived, and yet the artist intertwines the images: they communicate with their looks, voice and hair, and together they create a network.
Dispassion(SCR/DIR Isaac Ruiz Gastélum, MEXICO, 2016, black and white, 3:00. Drama.) A young woman sits on a chair and bathes, slowly and deliberately, as water trickles rhythmically down a white wall. Later, as she stands alone in a place where the horizon seems to meet the sky at the water’s edge, she finds the connection between her inner self and the Universe. This short film represents the director’s most personal, extreme approach to what he calls “metacinema,” a meditation in movement, a bridge between parallel worlds, a mystic mirror. It follows a long tradition of cinema in which “nothing” happens, and in that void audience and filmmaker meet to complete the meaning of the film.
Sutak (SCR/DIR Tushar Waghela, INDIA, 2021, color, 2:00. Sutak “Sutak” means “the time of impurity.” It is an Indian ritual for certain time periods believed to be impure, such as during death, birth, an eclipse and any auspicious activity when gathering is forbidden. The Covid-19 coronavirus is also a sutak to this Earth. The filmmaker is under lockdown for 21 days. This film is shot on mobile camera from home and windows.
BRONX WORLD FILM XV ANNIVERSARY 2026
Wed. April 22, 2026 (Andrew Freedman Home)
4:00 pm DOORS OPEN. BROADCAST/LIVESTREAM OPENING:
Pre-recorded and livestream; exhibits, interviews,step-and-repeat with filmmakers
5:00 pm Drum Call – Opener Performance - Remarks (Walter Krochmal)
5:30 pm PROGRAMME 1: (TRT 94 min)
• A Bronx Morning (SCR/DIR Jay Leyda, USA, 1931, b&w, 11:00.)
• For Sunrise(SCR/DIR Hyonok Kim, SOUTH KOREA/USA, 2018, color, 03:16. Dance film)
• Gjemsel/“Hide and Go Seek” (SCR/DIR Aleksandra Niemczyk, NORWAY, 2009, 09:12).
• The Lost: existence before essence (SCR/DIR s/n, USA, 2024, 10:47. Experimental.)
• Cherry On Top (SCR/DIR Mark Cabaroy. USA, 2014, color, 04:00. Animation, comedy.)
• A Kalabanda Ate My Homework (SCR/DIR Raymond Malinga, UGANDA, 2017, color, 6:25. Animation, comedy.)
• TUNAS (Tutta un’altra storia)#7 “Hasta la Vista” (SCR/DIR Alessia Buiatti, ITALY, 2023, 09:31. Documentary.)
• Locomotion(SCR/DIR Deirdre Towers, USA, 2012, color, 05:53.)
• X-Trem (SCR/DIR Marta Arjona and Mei Casabona, SPAIN, 2017, color, 5:24. Documentary.)
• Medusas (SCR/DIR Nataša Prosenc Stearns, SLOVENIA, 2017, 3:07.)
• Lone Soldier Rising (SCR/DIR Lee Seowon. SOUTH KOREA, 2022, 08:00. Dance Film.)
• Dispassion(SCR/DIR Isaac Ruiz Gastélum, MEXICO, 2016, black and white, 3:00. Drama.)
• Disclosure (SCR/DIR Meri Dishnica, ALBANIA, 2021, 02:55. Cinematic poem.) The bizarre mind of an incorrigible dreamer.
• Quartet (SCR/DIR Nataša Prosenc Stearns, SLOVENIA, 2022, 02:32.)
• Machine for Life (SCR/DIR Ruth Somalo, USA, 2012, color, 4:32. Comedy, fiction.)
• Wi-fi (SCR/DIR Douglas Alonzo. HONDURAS, 2016, color, 3:52) Comedy.
• Fragu (SCR/DIR Antonello Murgia, ITALY, 2016, black and white, 5:00.)
7:00 pm Q & A
7:30 pm PROGRAMME 2:(TRT 100 min.)
• Virus (SCR/ANIM Omar Carías, HONDURAS, 2007, color, 04:24 sec.)
• SoulTron the Traveler (SCR/DIRPierre Guillet. USA. 2025. Experimental sci/fi b & w. 6:43)
• Ziki (SCR/DIR Roberta Palmieri, Olga Sargenti, ITALY, 2024. 12:18 min. Stop-motion hand-drawn animation)
• O Leonardo(SCR/DIR/ Bob Paris, USA, 2012, color, 06:40.)
• Hand of God (SCR/DIR Nathaniel Sullivan, USA, 2025, color, 6:50. Experimental
• The Confrontation (SCR/DIR Tony Dhillon, USA, 2025, 10:00. Horror).
• Rough Tide (SCR/DIR Pâmela Peregrino. BRAZIL, 2023, color, animation, drama. 7:00.)
• Beast (SCR/DIR Marie Chalandre, FRANCE, 2018, color, 07:00. Animation thriller.)
• DreamsCut Short (EDITOR Bea Harwell, USA, 2025. 3 mins. Video Essay)
• Sutak (SCR/DIR Tushar Waghela, INDIA, 2021, color, 2:00.)
• Kabuki (SCR/DIR Tiago Minamisawa, BRAZIL/FRANCE, 2024, 14 min. Stop-motion animation).
• Thrills of Power (SCR/DIR Meri Dishnica, ALBANIA, 2021, 5:00. Cinematic poem.)
• The Stream XIII (SCR/DIR Hiroya Sakurai. JAPAN, 2024, color, experimental. 5:21)
9:15 pm Q & A (In-Person)