‘Stronger than weapon’: Lviv International Short Film Festival Wiz-Art

On July 24-27, Lviv International Short Film Festival Wiz-Art is taking place for the seventh time, ready to welcome directors, producers, cameramen, screenwriters and moviegoers from across the country. This year the festival tries to prove once again that even in the most difficult moments of history, completely different people can come together to share their common passion: love for cinema. As a matter of fact, unity around something that is ‘stronger than weapon’ is the main theme and slogan of Wiz-Art 2014. 

Like in all festival events, the aim of Wiz-Art is to provide the opportunity for a dialogue between all the people involved in motion-picture industry, overcoming obstacles and destroying stereotypes. Viewers will be able to discuss movies with their authors, and directors who are unable to come to the festival, will send their video greetings.

In the festival’s competition program short films from around the world will compete for the main prize — the Grand Prix -, as well as for prizes in three categories: Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Camera Work. A special award will be given to the Best Ukrainian Short.

This year the international competition presents 15 shorts from Germany, UK, USA, France, Iran, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Poland, and Ukraine: Pride by Pavel Vesnakov, The ordinary things (Oleksandr Ratiy), Killing auntie (Mateusz Głowacki), Stew & Punch (Simon Ellis), Cello (Olesya Morhunets), Counterpart (Adrian Sitaru), Harvest (Chaja Hertog and Nir Nadler), Optimism (Jean-Gabriel Périot), Skin (Cédric Prévost), More than two hours (Ali Asgari), BANG! BANG! (Julien Bisaro), Tryouts (Susana Casares), Sea View (Anna Duffield and Jane Linfoot), White Morning (Paul Barritt), and Where we are by Ilker Çatak. 

The national competition presents a list of 11 Ukrainian shorts: The Subscriber by Maryna and Oksana Artemenko, Granny (Alina Gorlova), Invention (Kateryna Chepyk), Guests at my home (Oleh Fedchenko), 24 hours in a life of a woman (Oleksandr Feshchenko), Old man decided to marry (Oleh Borysenko), The Gum (Olha Makarchuk), The objects in mirror are closer than they appear (Maryna Dykukha), Sorter (Oleksandr Shkrabak), Summer fall (Maryna Roshchyna), and Cold War by Julija Proskurina.

The festival’s international jury consists of three members: Norwegian film director and producer Gunhild Enger, Ukrainian filmmaker Kateryna Gornostai, and the director of Short Waves Festival Szymon Stemplewski from Poland.

Among the other special guests the festival welcomes Ukrainian director and one of the producers of ‘Babylon'13’ Volodymyr Tykhyi, Austrian filmmaker Lisa Weber, Mexican filmmaker Ismael Nava Alejos, and Ukrainian filmmakers Mykyta Lyskov and Olga Makarchuk. 

The non-competition program consists of three blocks: ‘Beautiful mind’, which presents films about unexpected changes of personality, ‘Human power’, showing films about human rights movements, and ‘Dirty secrets’ — shorts about interesting habits. Special screenings include: the best of the documentary project ‘Babylon’13’ about Ukrainian civil protests, the best of Ukrainian shorts of the XX century, documentary shorts ‘Doc.You’ and the best of the Short Waves Festival (Poland).

For more information about Lviv International Short Film Festival Wiz-Art visit the website.