Alfyia, a joyful young woman in 1960s Central Asia, is actively parachuting and studying to become a midwife, when she receives an extraordinary phone call from her granddaughter in 2022. She is worried about her grandmother's safety amid the invasion of Ukraine. In this intergenerational conversation across time and space, the granddaughter tries to restore and rethink family memory and her own ethnic identity, break the endless cycle of collective trauma and reflect on the meaning of human life.
Muscle Man, the world's cleanest superhero, embarks on a thrilling battle against a giant robot determined to reduce the city to rubble, but his obsession with order could lead him to his downfall.
A short film that depicts a metamorphosis from “chicken” to “elephant”: animation enables metamorphosis precisely because it realizes a transformation from image to concept. This frame-based, time-driven movement not only constructs form, but also grants images a capacity for expansion that static objects lack. Just as chickens and elephants are not only natural creatures but also carry distinct cultural meanings in human society, Taming Phenomena presents an animated dialogue from chicken to elephant, through an exploration of cinematic and animation techniques and production methods. The film employs an experimental collaborative approach to initiate a visual discussion between images, concepts, and intersubjectivity.
Yohanan, an elderly man, spends his days listening to the IDF’s radio communications and tracking troop movement along the border. One day, he picks up the signal of Ismail and develops a one-sided affection for him. When Ismail’s voice disappears, Yohanan must decide rather to remain a silent listener or, for the first time, speak.
In a fantasy world where little birds must sing for powerful birds of prey to survive, a young girl named Lan is chosen to become a “Songbird,” swept into a glittering dream of fame that conceals something far more sinister.
Guided by love, a child searches the river at night for fallen stars, gathering them in a bottle as a gift of light for his ailing mother.
It's 5 o'clock here, and the town is abuzz.
An animated short. A young woman falls in love with a swan and is never seen again. • Color, 3 minutes 27 seconds • Stereo & 5.1 surround soundtracks • Subtitled in English/Sous-titré en français/Subtitulada en español • Music licensed for worldwide festival use
A man secludes himself in the forest with his cat. The ghosts of his past begin to torment him, being forced to face his fears and guilts in a try to not be consumed by madness.
What if a small coffee farmer had his precious coffee stolen by aliens
During the Hungry Ghost Festival in Hong Kong, 18 year old Jane is on a night out with her friends. When she spots her six year old sister in the busy crowd, she starts a frantic search through the party district that will bring her to face the ghosts of her repressed past.
Boxfrog seems like a cute character with inncocent child-like features with his propeller hat, but once he finds out there’s no more food left for his rumbling stomach, he embarks on a journey to acquire a hot dog at the park. On his way there, he passes a bar and a bank, where we get to see how chaotic the world around Boxfrog can be. This film uses comedic symbolism and visual puns reminiscent of cartoons from the 2000s. Boxfrog Adventures uses both 2D and 3D animation to portray its comedic narrative.
Hyphae is a short, wordless animated film that begins in the quiet stillness of a late summer day. Three tiny mushrooms enjoy a gentle breeze in a peaceful clearing. But as the sky darkens and smoke rises on the horizon, the world begins to change. As the fire consumes the landscape and the animals flee, the mushrooms remain motionless, rooted in place.
In 2004 Korea, a trivial kindergarten mishap is rebranded as a ‘Collective Urination Incident’. As experts diagnose pee-addiction, the ‘Peeple Act’ brands wet pants as terrorism. The film contrasts the volumetric 3D reality with the distorted world inside the media—depicted through flat 2D animation and live-action sequences. By visually segregating the three-dimensional truth from the flattened media narratives, this satire exposes how media manipulation flattens, distorts, and ultimately weaponizes the mundane.
Based on the mythology of the historic Whitby Abbey, a Northumbrian nun is tasked with liberating a town plagued by evil.
ATHENS ANIMFEST
