Lovisa Charlier

The Store

Set in a near-future Sweden, where jobs are scarce, margins are tight and corporate profit trumps all, this timely hybrid film reveals a frighteningly all-too-recognisable economic dystopia. Sköld highlights the effects of the ruthless system on families, friendships and communities. All but a hair’s breadth away from homelessness, zero-hours contract workers squabble over shifts at the discount supermarket while store manager Eleni, a new mother forced to return to work too soon, frantically pumps breast milk in the staff toilets. Poignant and compellingly performed, the film’s vignettes are punctuated with animated sequences, inventively exposing the dehumanising and absurdly wasteful effects of capitalism. And yet, beyond the store, an ever-growing ‘underclass’ offers a sense of hope through sustainability and true community.

Bear

A young inexperienced man rekindles his emotional and intimate relationship with his only love–his charming, and talking, childhood teddy bear.

Boys On Film 20: Heaven Can Wait

On the cusp of adulthood, the world's longest running gay short film series is only getting started. Boys On Film 20: Heaven Can Wait includes eleven complete films: Bassem Ben Brahim's animated "Chromophobia"; Jimi Vall Peterson's "Sleepover" starring Hjalmar Hardestam and Simon Eriksson; Mickey Jones's "Just Me" starring Philip Olivier and Carl Loughlin; Matthew Jacobs Morgan's "Mine" starring Joshua McGuire and John Macmillan; Dale John Allen's "Don't Blame Jack" starring Jordan Tweddle and Kane Surry; Timothy Ryan Hickernell's "Foreign Lovers" co-starring Lucio Nieto; Layke Anderson's "Mankind" starring Ricky Nixon and Alexis Gregory; Christopher Manning's "Isha" starring Horia Săvescu and Dario Coates; Jay Russell's "ruok" starring Peter Mark Kendall, Zachary Booth, and Sydney James Harcourt; Chintis Lundgren's animated "Manivald"; and Zoe McIntosh's "The World In Your Window" starring Joe Folau and David Lolofakangalo Rounds.

Sleepover

Emil and Adam are two guys in their 20's. They are close friends, and after a night at the movies, Emil is going to sleep over at Adam's. Emil has unspoken feelings for Adam - feelings that are tested when they are sleeping in the same double bed.

Your Childhood Shall Never Die

A film about a group of people and their complicated relationships to one another. Vera is trying to figure out how to relate to her son's irresponsible father, while her sister is about to release a book about their shared childhood. Not far from Vera, a professional clown is hesitantly trying to get on with his life and form a new relationship, but his ex is refusing to let go of him. In close shots, full of emotions, the characters expose the best as well as the worst in them, and the film provides no simple answers to its questions.