2015 Officially Selected Films
The Haircut
The Haircut // 15min // Drama // 2014 // USA
Director: Alexis O Korycinski
Writer: Julia Cox
It’s 1976 and petite 18-year-old Amy is among the first class of female cadets accepted into military service academy.
The Last Night
The Last Night // 16min // Drama // 2014 // New Zealand
Writer/Director: David Strong
Isolated at night in mountainous Afghanistan and surrounded by militia, a young United Nations military advisor struggles to negotiate with a powerful warlord.
Birthday
Birthday // 11min // Drama // 2015 // USA
Writer/Director: Chris King
When a young military wife gets news that her marine husband has been severely wounded in combat, she discovers that life ahead for them is going to be a difficult and yet amazing journey.
Trench
Trench // 10min // Drama // 2015 // Australia
Writer/Director: Nathan Hunt
An Australian and a Turkish soldier come across one another in the trenches of Turkey during the First World War.
Brass Razoo
Brass Razoo // 9min // Drama // 2015 // Australia
Director/Cinematographer: Troy Honeysett
A character study based on a fictional returned service man adjusting to reality after his time in Afghanistan.
Friend or Foe
Friend or Foe // 18min // Drama // 2015 // Malta
Director/Producer: Shirley Spiteri Mintoff
Writer: Anthony Mintoff
Malta, 1941. RAF Squadron Leader James Alden is given the order to escort a German child to safety. His success or failure will decide the outcome the war. When seeking shelter from a night-time air-raid, James is confronted by a stranger.
Ricochet
Ricochet // 14min // Drama // 2014 // Netherlands
Writer/Director: Wout Malestein
A young soldier returns from a mission of months in Afghanistan. The reunion with his girlfriend is difficult for him. The happiness of coming home contrasts too starkly with the traumatic loss of a pal in the theatre of war.
At the End of the Road
At the End of the Road // 9min // Drama // 2014 // Australia
Writer/Director: Chloé Hetzel
It’s World War III. A grand father is on the road with his grandson. What can he do to save him?
Dad’s Fragile Doll
Dad’s Fragile Doll // 15 min // Animation // 2015 // Iran
Director: Ali Zare Ghanat Nowi
A young girl reconstructs events leading to her father’s imprisonment and execution using dolls her mother has made. The young girl takes vengeance on the prison guard doll.
No Man’s Land
No Man’s Land // 4min // Animation // 2014 // Finland
Director: Vilvi Rae
A famous story from the trenches of the First World War, when British and German soldiers made a brief truce for Christmas Day.
Ramble
Ramble // 6min // Drama // 2015 // Germany
Writer/Director: Andreas Ramm
Based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s ‘Osterspaziergang’, Ramble takes us on a romantic journey through nature, but sometimes we crave parodies so much that we lose track of reality.
Winged Warriors
Winged Warriors // 13min // Drama // 2014 // United Kingdom
Writer/Director: Evy Barry
A story of war, fear, courage and leadership from the First World War front line. When the survival of the last of a platoon of soldiers who reach the enemy trenches depends on their messenger pigeons.
Butchery
Butchery // 6min // Animation // 2014 // France
Director: Bernard Capitaine (aka Iono Allen)
World War I: 9 million dead, 8 million disabled. A short symbolic vision of this war, the first massive and technologic one, through real letters from a French soldier, German soldier, and English nurse.
A Soldier’s Story
A Soldier’s Story // 12min // Documentary // 2015 // USA
Director: Loren Mendell
Writer: Laura Mickelson
Major Stephen Reich was an incredible athlete and American military hero who passed-up a Major League baseball career to return to active duty then tragically paid the ultimate price.
The Rat’s Dilemma
The Rat’s Dilemma // 11min // Sci-Fi // 2014 // Israel
Writer/Director: Naor Meningher
In the Holocaust, a gifted Jewish physicist named Rudolph is forced to build a teleporter for the Nazis. Rudolph keeps telling his Nazi supervisor, Heinz, that the machine doesn’t work yet, but Heinz suspects Rudolph is hiding something.
100 Years
100 Years // 3min // Music Video // 2015 // Australia
Writer/Director: John and Elisabeth Dykstra
A song by John and Elisabeth Dykstra, The Berrys, about remembering soldiers from The Great War.
The White Feather
The White Feather // 22min // Drama // 2014 // Australia
Writer/Director: Laurence de B Anderson
Albert Ellis says we shouldn’t fight Britain’s wars. Then he gets a white feather.
Reprieve
Reprieve // 24min // Drama // 2014 // US
Writer/Director: Lorian James Delman
An American veteran has the chance to face the remaining members of an innocent family he accidentally killed in a firefight while serving overseas.
Desertion
Desertion // 9min // Drama // 2015 // United Kingdom
Writer/Director: Ben Reid
Rob, a young soldier wearing a war-torn uniform, walks towards an imposing tower block. He calls the intercom at the entrance, gripping a red box in his hand. As a woman answers, Rob nervously manages the most muted of greetings.
Submerged
Submerged // 15min // Drama // 2014 // UK
Director: Darren Mapletoft
Writer: Michael Holley
During the 1950s the British Navy conducted a series of teleportation experiments using submarines. When one such experiment goes badly wrong, submariner Billy Bourne wakes from dreaming about ‘Baby’, his sweetheart, to discover he is alone onboard his submarine.
Purple Heart
Purple Heart // 16min // Drama // 2014 // USA
Director: Peter Kiwitt
Purple Heart tells the story of a young Iraq War veteran caught in the downward spiral of PTSD. His girlfriend, a deaf artist, tries to help him but he pushes her away. As his life unravels, he begins to lose control, veering towards tragedy.