France & Lebanon (Director and Screenwriter: Dania Bdeir, Producer: Coralie Dias)

A Syrian migrant working as a crane operator in Beirut volunteers to cover a shift on one of the most dangerous cranes, where he is able to find his freedom. Fiction. Cast: Khansa. Short Film Jury Award: International Fiction.

Dania Bdeir is a Canadian-Lebanese writer and director. She’s a member of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective and has an MFA in directing from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. In 2019 she was selected as a Berlinale Talent and participated in its Short Film Station with Warsha. She is currently based in Dubai and is developing her first feature film.

U.S.A. (Director: Shariffa Ali, Producers: Adrian Alea, Kamilah Long, Courtney Williams Screenwriters: Shariffa Ali, Kamilah Long, Courtney Williams, David Zheng)

Audrey, a New York City comedian who can make a joke of any situation, faces a staggering challenge in the beautiful mountains of Oregon. Can this city woman overcome her fears and rise? Fiction. Cast: Tiffany Mann.

Shariffa Chelimo Ali is an international creative leader committed to advancing radical change through the power of art and activism. Originally from Kenya and raised in South Africa, Ali has been a resident of New York since 2013 where she works primarily as a director of theater, film, and VR (previous Sundance Selection Atomu), community organizer and professor at Princeton University.

U.S.A. (Directors: Lewie Kloster, Noah Kloster, Screenwriter: Sara Driver)

In 1982, the completion of Jim Jarmusch’s sophomore film, Stranger Than Paradise, hinged on producer Sara Driver’s willingness and ability to smuggle one of the world’s rarest and most controversial films across the Atlantic Ocean. Non-fiction / Animated. A Short Film Special Jury Award: Screenwriting.

Lewie Kloster is one half and co-founder of animation brother duo team, Tall Glass with Ice Inc. He is a class of 2017 alumni of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in Film & Television. Living and working out of Brooklyn, NY, he focuses on documentary storytelling via the form of animation, driven by first-person narration.

Noah Kloster is one half and co-founder of animation brother duo team, Tall Glass with Ice Inc. Living and working out of Brooklyn, NY, he focuses on documentary storytelling via the form of animation, driven by first-person narration.

U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Walter Thompson-Hernández, Producer: Stuart McIntyre)

Lil’ Ant is obsessed with Pegasus, the Greek mythological character, since first learning about him at school in Watts, California. He begins to notice imaginary airplane people around his home, and yearns to fly with them. Fiction. Cast: Anthony Harris Jr. Short Film Jury Award: U.S. Fiction.

Walter Thompson-Hernández is from Southeast Los Angeles. His work has been featured by The New York Times, The New Yorker, CNN, The Guardian, and others. He is currently in post-production for a feature film titled The Sky is Blue, set in the Rio de Janeiro neighborhood of Santo Amaro.

U.S.A. (Director and Screenwriter: Alison Rich, Producers: Olivia Aguilar, Bridgett Greenberg, Laura Schwartz, Peter Principato)

A socially inept woman rents one man to prepare for another. Fiction. Cast: Alison Rich, George Basil, Jack Cutmore-Scott, Zeke Nicholson, Kathy Yamamoto.

Alison Rich is an actor, writer, and director. Training Wheels is her second short. Her first short, The Other Morgan, premiered at SXSW in 2021. Other credits include acting on ABC’s The Goldbergs and HBO Max’s The Other Two, writing for Saturday Night Live and The Goldbergs, and directing various digital and stage projects, including Ego Nwodim’s one woman show.

France (Directors and Screenwriters: Gabrielle Selnet, Adam Sillard, Chloé Farr, Producer: Moïra Marguin)

Having just arrived in paradise, Jerome sets out to find his wife Maryline. In the course of his search, he sinks into a surreal and colorful world in which no one seems to be able to help him. Animation. Voice Cast: William Lebghil, Alma Jodorowsky.

After studying animation at Gobelins, Gabrielle Selnet will learn movie direction at La Poudrière.

Adam Sillard graduated from Gobelins animation section.

Chloé Farr graduated from the Gobelins animation section. She will study directing at La Poudrière school.

Indonesia & France (Director and Screenwriter: Khozy Rizal, Producers: John Badalu, Bruno Smadja, Khozy Rizal)

In a city where men have to go crazy about football, Akbar has to pretend to love the game in order to prevent rejection from his new college friends. Fiction. Cast: Sabri Sahafuddin, Muh. Saleh Hasanuddin, Atdriansyah Arismunandar.

Khozy Rizal is a film director based in Makassar, Indonesia. His first short film, Annisa, won Grand Prize International at 14th Mobile Film Festival and got a grant to produce his new short film, Makassar is a City for Football Fans. The film won the Jury Prize at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival Asia and was selected in various film festivals.