September 23 – 26, 2025 | Maracaibo, Venezuela
43
Short Films
18
Countries
4
Days
3
Competitions
September 23 – 26, 2025
The short film that opened Biencortos 2025.
Opening Short
International Competition | Fiction - Documentary - Animation
Arash is a professional wrestler who dreams of representing his country and winning gold medals. The country is plunged into chaos and its people are suffering. Arash must decide between using his platform to confront oppression or keeping his head down and staying silent.
A journey through the Brazilian Amazon, guided by the gaze of Renato, a carioca turned Amazorioca. A reflection on identity, the legacy of an ancestral territory, and the cost of progress. An ode to the jungle and to the fragility of what remains.
The wandering of Suri and her son, Derek, introduces us to the harsh reality of Mexico's street vendors. As Suri and Derek's voice-over story reveals the unexpected side of their lives, we walk through a world where intimate stories defy prejudice.
Living on the edge in Montreal, a Vietnamese mother must act in bad faith to assert her right to buy 12 discounted laundry detergents that have been denied to her at a store.
In a diligent attempt, Thomas seeks a final resting place for his only son, but is surprised to discover that today is not the right day to do so.
Ingrid, a single mother living with her daughter and grandmother in a town in eastern Slovakia where Roma people face discrimination, becomes a professional foster mother to a Roma girl in order to survive.
While recalling personal memories of a house demolished due to urban transformation, it also reveals the political and economic struggles behind it.
Nour, a young Palestinian woman, wanders the streets of Stockholm, only to face the reality that she has lost something irreplaceable.
In her search to give new meaning to the past and understand her present, the director tries to create a dialogue between her parents, one that has been nonexistent for years, through letters and family videos from before her birth.
Jason, a Canadian-Palestinian, returns to Palestine after years of absence to surprise his sister, bringing an unconventional gift: a goat, a traditional offering for his newborn nephew. As he embarks on his journey to reach her, he rediscovers the true meaning of Palestinian identity.
Through the observation of tourists who are part of the landscape of Belém, in Lisbon, reflections are built on colonialism, emigration, identity, and tourism.
Drawing on one of her grandfather's orchestral compositions and a radio recording of his voice narrating a legend, the director captures the Australian landscape, threading together the sounds, smells, and images that form the backbone of her vision of a country once colonized and battered by floods.
Grandfather is a young man who embarks on a journey to the heart of the jungle with his father and his uncle. Without them knowing, they are being watched by mythical creatures trying to warn them of the dangers ahead if they continue deeper into the jungle. But their warning goes unheard: the king is approaching.
Fleeing the war, Ukrainian girl Lyuba meets Bruna, who takes her into a world of magic and illusion. But when the border between reality and fantasy breaks, Lyuba must face her fears to recover hope.
National Competition | Fiction - Documentary - Animation
On a mountain trail, a man walks carrying a heavy bundle on his shoulders. The journey of a man marked by the burden of an unfathomable weight and the pain of loss.
Alberto, a nearsighted boy, is rejected by a group of children in his new neighborhood. An incident with the group's leader plunges him into a state of fear, which he must overcome when he accepts one of the boys' invitation to play soccer.
The story of Dr. Rubén García Batista, a Cuban doctor whose life was marked by the Special Period in Cuba. Through his testimony, the story reveals the challenges and resilience of a man who faced adversity with determination and hope.
After living with HIV for 25 years, a man passionate about mountaineering reflects on how he reconnected with his father while waiting for the results of his viral load test.
Three women cross the border into Colombia to buy a packet of pasta.
In the middle of a desolate highway in a foreign country, two sisters have just received terrible family news. Each one deals with the situation differently.
Amid the uncertainty of emigration, a family takes refuge in imagination and fantasy.
Marta and Alfonso will have to summon all their sweetness and wit to survive in a rotten, savage ecosystem that intends to leave no one standing.
Joaquina, deeply frustrated by the constant disappointments of living in Venezuela, is ready for a job interview that could change her luck when her unstable Internet decides to fail. With her patience already worn thin, she launches into a funny battle of wits with an extremely clueless operator.
The night before Babi leaves home without telling her mother, Carmela, the latter finds her daughter's suitcase packed and disappears in the middle of the night. Babi says goodbye to her home and leaves without her mother's blessing.
A house catches fire, but there are things the fire cannot burn.
After four years without visiting his homeland, Orangel returns to film the places of his memories: his grandparents' house, that of his late great-aunt, his best childhood friend's house, and the bay. What is not precarious is uninhabited or broken, like his childhood photos and that of his late mother.
A young woman named Isla sinks into the nostalgia of her boyfriend's absence after he emigrated, moves into her family's abandoned house, and tries to adapt to the new place while facing the decay of the house and the chiaroscuro of loneliness.
Mixed Competition | Dance Video - Music Video - Experimental
The search for what gives life, what moves us deeply, and what drives us to dance to the sound of the drum is what leads a Bailadora to travel along the Coast of Falcón, passing through Adícora, Coro, La Vela, and Cumarebo. One only has to open one's ears to the drum's flourishes, and the body becomes a place of experiences.
A girl seeks to escape the noise of the city and the world around her. After feeling like a glitch in the universe, she runs in search of her freedom and the dream she had as a child.
An immersion into the endless flow of change and development, expressed in the language of physical theater. From primitive times to the present, through space-time loops and using archetypes and symbols, the piece explores human nature and delves into the eternal transformation of the essence of the human being.
Told in three poetic chapters, un deux trois is a woman's journey through pain, presence, and possibility, a cinematic act of letting go and moving on.
In her room, a woman is caught between memories and regrets, facing the abyss of her own consciousness upon discovering how much time she has let slip away.
Presented as a letter from a mother to her kidnapped daughter, the video includes a pencil animation of a girl's face that appears and fades on paper, accompanied by subtitles resembling the letter.
It portrays that fragile moment when love is not yet certain, but the mind keeps imagining possible signs of reciprocity, with the hope of an answer and the constant fear of being ignored again.
In a setting of natural plenitude, a mystical figure, the embodiment of the feminine origin, meets a wild horse with which she embarks on an ancestral journey of union with nature. An ode to purity, to harmony with the natural, to the search for unbridled freedom, celebrating love in its most natural and raw form.
Bob, an office worker trapped in the monotony of his job and frustrated by his oppressive boss, begins to experience a break from reality when he starts interacting with Chyu, a woman who apparently works in the same office.
A tribute to pets and the love they give us. This work employed animation, documentary, and mixed-media techniques, combining animated 2D illustrations with documentary videos shot in the city of Caracas.
Out of Competition | Fiction - Documentary
An informal security guard lives day to day looking for tips and hiding a brilliant past.
A woman recalls her old, conflictive relationship while standing in front of a mirror at the end of the day.
On a trip on public transport, a mother confesses to the passenger beside her the news she has just received from her daughter. Through this unburdening, the woman frees herself from the anger, guilt, and deep pain that torment her.
During a routine inspection, a photographer notices that something is wrong with a negative.
When Sarai becomes pregnant, Faizer travels to Colombia to accompany her. The documentary explores the dual feelings that accompany them, reminding them that, no matter where they are, they will always feel the absence of someone important.
Five friends embark on a camping trip to a remote area, where they encounter the concept of the Uncanny Valley, the feeling of unease caused by something that seems almost human but is not.
National and international film professionals who evaluated the official selections of Biencortos 2025.
Lyna Tadount
David Hernández
Estrella Herrera
Amanda Pérez
Rober Calzadilla
Mónica Bermúdez Zovko
Laetitia Demessence
Washé (Carlos)
Stefania Chehade
QAHER
Maciej Slesicki, Nada Khalifa · Egypt / Palestine / Poland
LE PETIT PANIER À ROULETTES
Laurence Ly · Canada
THE PROFESSIONAL PARENT
Erik Jasan · ROU
THE LEGEND OF TIBROGARGAN
Anna Doyle · AUS
TIGRE
Maria Victoria Sánchez Lara · MEX
A LULLABY UNLIKE ANY OTHER
Amani Jaafer · TUN
LA CALLE HABLA
Anne Valérie Jara · Mexico
PASTA NEGRA
Jorge Thielen Armand · Colombia
LAS MISMAS PAREDES
Oliver Zambrano Vegas · Venezuela
DIONEA
Daniel Baloa · VEN
RUTA
Maria Laura Reina · ARG
CAMINO A ÍTACA
Claudia Molina · Venezuela
NO SÉ EN QUÉ DIRECCIÓN VIENE LA BRISA
Orangel Lugo · Venezuela
PULSO COLECTIVO
Leoranny Petit · Venezuela
TRANSFORMATION
Lidia Kopina · Russia
LAGUNA PLENA
Rimon Guimarães · Brazil
TONADA
MAGA · VEN
MUJER TV
Cherlatte – Pierina Espinoza · Venezuela
UNA ISLA
Ricardo Muñoz Senior · Puerto Rico
Gallery from the Biencortos 2025 awards ceremony.
Thank you to our partners and sponsors for making Biencortos 2025 possible.
