Shortscreen 2023

For their annual Shortscreen programme, Kortfilm.be and Offscreen present a selection of recent short films that meet the festival criteria: original, uncommon and bizarre.

After premiering at Locarno, and screenings in Sitges and Sundance, the Swiss The Newt Congress by Matthias Sahli and Immanuel Esser will stop by at Cinema Nova for its Belgian premiere! An absurd parable, based on Karel Čapek's science fiction classic War with the Newts, starring giant talking salamanders.

Three Belgian shorts will also be shown. In La Passante, Hannah Letaïf pours genres and styles into a cocktail of paranoia. Followed by the multiple award-winning NOISETRAIN by Pol De Plecker and very fresh animation work from Animal Tank with Eno Swinnen's AI-'love' story E6-D7, which premiered in Rotterdam at the beginning of this year.

At last, Yann Gonzalez' Queer Palm-nominated Hideous, a musical in three parts, is an unapologetic reckoning with the HIV stigma, starring queer icons Oliver Sim, Jimmy Somerville and Bimini. Prepare for a surreal journey of love, shame, and blood.