We announce the line-up of the Film and Art School Etudes Competition of the 29th edition of EnergaCAMERIMAGE International Film Festival.

First held in 1997, Film and Art School Etudes Competition (formerly Student Etudes Competition) supports the development of novice filmmakers and provides unique opportunity to confront cinematic achievements of students from various parts of the world. Each year, a growing number of film schools submit their best etudes for consideration of the EnergaCAMERIMAGE selection committee. The winners are chosen by an international jury of prominent filmmakers and industry professionals.

The author of the best cinematography wins the coveted Laszlo Kovacs Student Award - The Golden Tadpole. Silver and Bronze Tadpoles are awarded for the second and third place respectively. Additionally, Polish Filmmakers Association will award the winner of the Student Etudes Competition a cheque for PLN 10 000.

ABOVE THE CITY

Shy and reserved Aidana grew up in a traditional Kazakh family. Moving to a new school gradually changes her life and she increasingly understands what she wants for herself. And a friendship with her classmate Jenya reveals a new side in Aidana which she was not aware of before.

Director: Malika Mukhamejan
Cinematographer: Artem Isaev
School: Russian Institute of Cinematography (VGIK)
Country and year: Russia, 2021

ASTRONAUT

A woman feels that she is losing the meaning of life, she is unable to feel anything. On the other hand, the Moon begins to attract her, the moonlight has a magical power. She falls in love with it and makes a serious decision: she will leave the Earth, leave her boyfriend. She moves to the beloved Moon. However, when she gets to the Moon she discovers that it is not as beautiful as she thought, it is empty and gloomy.

Directors: Lin Erhao, Kamila Karska
Cinematographer: Lin Erhao
School: Łódź Film School
Country and year: Poland, 2020

COINS

A neurotic waitress with a phobia of coins struggles with visions of the microscopic world of dirt and germs. As she fights to control her darkest fears, reality falls apart piece by piece.

Original title: Drecks Kleingeld
Polish title: Drobne
Director: Nicole Huminski
Cinematographer: Nikolai Huber
School: University of Television and Film Munich (HFF München)
Country and year: Germany, 2021

COLD BLOW LANE

While Wilson questions the meaning and the future as a hooligan more and more, Liam runs, almost blindly, from fight to fight and doesn't want to hear any of Wilson's concerns, he even feels personally attacked by them. In a bloody attack of revenge Liam dies, which leaves Wilson alone with his thoughts.

Director: Luca Homolka
Cinematographer: Christopher Behrmann
Film school: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg
Country and year: Germany, 2021

DANCE

Wishing to restore a broken bond with his son, a father throws himself into Vilnius nightlife.

Original title: Šokis
Polish title: Taniec
Director: Danielius Minkevičius
Cinematographer: Oskaras Abramavičius
School: Lithuanian Music and Theatre Academy (LMTA)
Country and year: Lithuania, 2021

FALL OF THE SWIFT, THE

Bilbao, 1984, a time of industrial reconversion. Within a closed society and an oppressive family environment, Kepa, a young working class man, decides to fight for his dreams and the yearning of his spirit, but the cruel reality will make him fail.

Original title: La caída del vencejo
Director: Gonzalo Quincoces 
Cinematographer: Pol G. Sala
School: Cinema and Audiovisual School of Catalonia (ESCAC)
Country and year: Spain, 2021

GLORY OF TERRIBLE ELIZ, THE

Three 11-years-olds have a secret crush on the same girl, Eliz. While eating lunch in a school canteen, each boy is trying to top his love-rivals by coming up with a better and scarier story, each starring the devilish Eliz in the main role. But are these stories really true or are they just figments of the boys’ imagination?

Original title: Příběh Hrůzostrašné Eliz
Directors: Eliška Kováříková, Adam Struhala
Cinematographer: Tomáš Frkal
School: Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU)
Country and year: Czech Republic, 2020

GOLDILOCKS

When lonely locksmith 'Goldilocks' gets called to a night-time job to unlock a young woman's apartment door, she suddenly finds herself in the middle of a bizarre heist which could turn her life into a modern fairy tale.

Director: Philipp Straetker
Cinematographer: Florian Strandl
School: University of Television and Film Munich (HFF München)
Country and year: Germany, 2020

HOWLING, THE

Kuba grows up in a small village where nothing ever happens. He is brought up by his alcoholic father who raises sheep. One day, an old friend from a big city appears in the village. The protagonist begins discovering his sexuality and is soon faced with a tough choice.

Polish title: Skowyt
Director: Bartosz Brzeziński
Cinematographer: Max Bugajak
School: Warsaw Film School
Country and year: Poland, 2021

I AM

One day, the withdrawn Noé finds a motionless android in the forest, takes it with her and reactivates it. It's the beginning of a strange relationship. Far too late, Noé realizes that the android is about to copy her personality.

Director: Jerry Hoffmann
Cinematographer: Lena Katharina Krause
School: Hamburg Media School (HMS)
Country and year: Germany, 2020

IN BETWEEN

A young medic decides to escape the devastating horrors of war and wanders off into the endless snowy wilderness. Unexpectedly, he crosses paths with a family who has set a table in the cold fields. He joins the meal but as his hosts suddenly become quite peculiar, the medic sees himself in a new light and heads back the way he came. As it turns out: by refusing to give up, we find a way to keep on fighting.

Original title: Kahe poole vahel
Director: Oliver Remma
Cinematographer: Tanel Topaasia
School: Baltic Film, Media and Arts School - Tallinn University (BFM)
Country and year: Estonia, 2020

LIARS, TRAMPS AND THIEVES

Nikola has just graduated and has a clear idea about the future. After the breakup with her boyfriend, plans start to fall apart. She gets up on her feet, takes a job in a strip club and tries to flee from dysfunctional relationships around her.

Original title: Klamári, tuláci a zlodeji
Director: David Benedek
Cinematographer: Krisztián Ollári
School: The Academy of the Performing Arts in Bratislava (FTF VŠMU)
Country and year: Slovakia, 2021

LONTANO

Ibrahim is an African immigrant in Italy. Working as an delivery man during the Covid-19 pandemic, he struggles to make a living. Far away from his family, Ibrahim tries to make more money from the drug trade to afford the return journey to his country, but everything goes wrong.

Director: Andrea Banfi
Cinematographer: Sheherezade El Moumni Berdai
School: London Film School (LFS)
Country and year: UK, Italy, 2021

MADAGASKAR

When an unmarried and childless funeral director searches for relatives of a man who died in solitude, she becomes aware of her own longing.

Director: Marina Klauser
Cinematographer: Hannes Cullum
School: Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK)
Country and year: Switzerland, 2021

NEST, THE

It is 1968. Jacob, studying in Czechoslovakia, unexpectedly visits his family home in Poland. It turns out that during his stay he wants to verify a rumour he heard in Prague.

Original title: Gniazdo
Director: Gracjana Piechula
Cinematographer: Aleksandra Kamińska
School: Krzysztof Kieślowski Film School
Country and year: Poland, 2021

ROOMS

An elderly couple, Monika and Werner, lives in an apartment in the Munich suburbs. One day they get a notice of termination due to the intended occupation by owner. The new landlord, a young mother, wants to move into the premises with her family. But the search for a new home is very hard for the elderly couple.

Original title: Eigenheim
Director: Welf Reinhart
Cinematographer: Matthias Kofahl
School: University of Television and Film Munich (HFF München)
Country and year: Germany, 2021

SPACESHIP

When a Latina transwoman in East LA is on the verge of losing her daughter to child services, she begins to unravel as she is forced to confront her buried traumas and fears.

Director: Jorge G. Camarena
Cinematographer: Kadri Koop
School: American Film Institute Conservatory (AFI)
Country and year: USA, 2021

TALA'VISION

Trapped in a war-torn reality, with the hope of one day playing on the neighbourhood's football pitch, 8-year-old Tala finds solace and freedom in the forbidden television. However, the secret TV becomes a matter of life and death.

Director: Murad Abu Eisheh
Cinematographer: Philip Henze
School: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg
Country and year: Germany, 2020

TO ALL MY DARLINGS

After a traumatic miscarriage, Adaeze must face not only the medical diagnosis that further pregnancy attempts will be difficult or the reality of the situation alongside her husband but also the void now left inside her. Struggling with guilt, pressure from the church and deciding how to tell her husband about the medical realities, Adaeze finds herself isolated in a country where her community is already marginalized.

Director: Lia Campbell
Cinematographer: Ciara Rigney
School: National Film School (NFS) at Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art Design & Technology (IADT)
Country and year: Ireland, 2020