ANFFF Shorts: The Living Witnesses

This programme centers on “unveiling” — moments when what once seemed mute begins to speak. Land, sky, and non-human beings, long treated as passive backdrops, here emerge as agents of disclosure, unveiling hidden histories of power and survival. Moving from earth to heavens and into everyday intimacies, the works trace how forces of appropriation, transformation, and spectacle persist across scales, but also how they can be exposed. Rather than presenting images of crisis alone, these films transform silent landscapes an d other beings into living witnesses, opening a space where revelation becomes possible — inviting us to see, listen and relate anew in a world long veiled and reshaped by power. 1. From The Mountain We See The Mountain Dir. Julián García Long, Argentina, 2025, 30mins Close your eyes and imagine Patagonia: vast wilderness, pristine lakes, endless mountains. Yet beneath this mythical image lies a contested land scarred by deforestation, pine plantations, and fires intensified by climate change. Blending ethnographic documentary and magical realism, director Julián García Long reimagines Patagonia not as untouched paradise but as a space of struggle, regeneration, and presence. Through a decolonial lens, the film questions how landscapes are represented and how cinema might subvert them. 2. Tomorrow, the Burning Heavens Dir. Max Bloching, Germany, 2024, 22mins In 1560 AD, in the Alps, a rare meteorological phenomenon set the sky on fire. ”People feared the end of the world was near, and soon after, a cold spell struck, devastating the harvest. This story is interwoven with images depicting techniques of Alpine landscape management, creating a compelling dialogue between ancestral visions of apocalypse and today’ s unfolding climate collapse. 3. Underdog Dir. Marjo Levlin, Finland, 2025, 30 mins Underdog is a black-and-white experimental documentary where childhood memories of class divides, fractured families, and scarcity shape an inquiry into the lives of pedigree dogs. Through split-screen storytelling, the film draws sharp parallels between human and canine worlds, revealing how capital and class structure existence across species. Both intimate and radical, Underdog offers a provocative gaze at privilege, inequality, and the unseen forces that define belonging —for people and for dogs alike.Short, Documentary, FestivalPT1H22M12A
Marjo Levlin
Julián García Long
Max Bloching
ANFFF Shorts: The Living Witnesses"ANFFF Shorts: The Living Witnesses"

Showtimes

Phoenix Cinema East Finchley