AS LONG AS YOU BLEED

Director: Alexis Alexiou
Writer: Alexis Alexiou
Country: Greece, Cyprus, UK, USA
Production Company: Tugo Tugo Productions

Simon, an ambitious 25-year-old bouncer with a violent demeanor, is trying to rise through the ranks of the London underworld working as an overly enthusiastic debt collector. After a job gone wrong, he is forced to hole up in Northern Cyprus until it blows over. Here, Simon finds himself embedded in the security detail of Colonel Kilgore, a fugitive war criminal weighed down by a shady past and an even shadier future.

*Previous feature film Wednesday 04:45 trailer

INSIDE

Director: Vassilis Katsoupis
Producer: Giorgos Karnavas
Production Company: Heretic
Country: USA/Europe- TBC

Igor finds himself in a state-of-the-art Manhattan penthouse. He can’t remember how he got in there. All his efforts to escape are in vain and his only hope is that somebody will come to his rescue. He will focus to survive trapped in this hostile environment. And he will wait for something to happen, until it is too late

*Inside will be Vassilis Katsoupis’ debut feature fiction film.
*His previous Documentary My friend Larry Gus is screening at the festival.

THE RIVER

Director: Haris Raftogiannis
Writers: Nikos Leros and Haris Raftogiannia
Producer: Eleni Kossyfidou
Production Company: Blackbird Productions
Country: Greece

Makis’ job is to apply black hawk-shaped stickers to the transparent sound barriers of the long motorway. The stickers prevent the small birds from crashing into the barriers and keep the road safe. The long motorway crosses the city from one side to the other. It floats like a river, connecting two different worlds: the modern world of the airport with the deserted, working class villages. Maria lives in an isolated settlement of a few elderly people, who feed off the birds that crush on the barrier. When the community sends Maria to keep Makis away, they fall in love. But their love has no place to exist.

*The River will be Haris Raftogiannis’ debut feature fiction film.

THE TASTE OF APPLES IS RED

Director: Ehab Tarabieh
Producer: Solomon Goodman
Production Company: Railroad Films
Country: Syria, US, Palestine, Qatar

Fifty years ago, Mustafa gave his family and entire village every possible reason to forget him. Now that everyone has successfully forgotten him, in the midst of the contemporary war in Syria, he shows up wounded. His brother Kamel, a well-respected Sheikh, isn’t sure he should take him in, but he does and the response of the village isn’t far behind. Mustafa is an enemy of the state, and they won’t have a traitor living amongst them. As Kamel’s dilemma plays out, the village around them comes to life with 50 years of secrets and 1000 years of superstition.

*The Taste of Apples is Red will be Ehab Tarabieh’s feature debut.
* Link to Ehab Tarabieh’s previous short film trailer Smile and the World Will Smile Back

USUD

Director: Stefan Malešević
Writer: Stefan Malešević
Producers: Vladimir Vasiljević and Stefan Malešević
Country: Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina
Language: Serbian/Old Church Slavonic (extinct proto-Slavic language)

After splitting the farm inherited from their father, everything goes wrong for one of the two brothers. Despite his diligence, his half of the property seems cursed – grains don’t grow, fruit rots, animals die… He sets out to find USUD, the deity responsible for assigning destinies. Based on a Slavic folktale, USUD explores the cursed desire to label and own, the human-dependent relationship with nature, and the insatiable urge to find definite answers for eternal questions.

• USUD will be Stefan Malešević ‘s feature debut.
• USUD has participated at the MFI Script2Pitch Workshop.

ZUHAL

Director: Nazlı Elif Durlu
Writers: Nazlı Elif Durlu, Ziya Demirel
Producer: Anna Maria Aslanoğlu
Production Company: Istos film
Country: Turkey
Language: Turkish

Zuhal, a introverted woman in her 40s, starts hearing a cat’s voice in the house where she lives alone following her mother’s death. Despite the doubtful and sarcastic behaviors of her neighbors, she will do her best to locate and save this kitten that she thinks is in need.

*Zuhal will be Nazlı Elif Durlu’s debut feature.
*Link to her previous short Later.