Internationales Festival Zeichen der Nacht - Berlin - International Festival Signs of the Night



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10. Internationales Festival Zeichen der Nacht / Berlin Edition
23th International Festival Signs of the Night / Worldwide

November 11 - 16, 2025

Kino & Bar in der Königsstadt - - - Straßburger Straße 55 - - - 10405 Berlin (Prenzelberg)




MAIN AWARD



Like Dew Before a Thunderbolt Vol.1

Benjamin Poumey
Switzerland /2025 / 0:04:50


1st volume of a collection of shorts films shot on Super 8 in Geneva, inspired by Jiseiku (farewell poems) written by Samurais in the 16th and 17th centuries. I was touched by these texts, and furthermore by this concept of 'writing a last poem before dying’. Thus, in spite of the huge difference in cultures and eras, something has passed from these samurai to me. Let's say that it's this ‘passage’ that I'm trying to find with the films. It could be likened to an exercise in ‘drifting’ or psychogeography. Between contemplation, thought flows and other visual wandering experiences, I'm shooting images in Geneva to share/recapture/transmit the impressions and emotions conveyed by the texts.

 


JURY DECLARATION

For the compelling craftsmanship of linking different cultures (last will of Japanese SAMURAI fighters and contemporary Geneva) in the face of ongoing existence and mortality. The cycle of life is captured in an inescapable and transient way, underlining how notions of time and space can bring both aspects full circle in the forefront of our mind.




SIGNS AWARD


The Signs Award honors films, which treat an important subject in an original and convincing way



Vanishing Heat

Kent Tate
Canada / 2025 / 0:04:42

"Vanishing Heat" is part of a series of films where I explore the dichotomy between tranquility and activity in our natural and manufactured worlds. Time, motion and stillness are intertwined to express interactions that are both deliberate and accidental as energy given off by one system affects an other.

GERMAN PREMIERE

 

 


JURY DECLARATION

For the articulation of the human experience in a world where nature and technology have gone head-to-head. While at times complimenting one another they increasingly pose major problems, to the living world. Blurred images visually reflect poignantly the obscurity of not fully understood developments.




NIGHT AWARD


The Night Award honors films, which are able to balance ambiguity and complexity characterized by enigmatic mysteriousness and subtleness,which keeps mind and consideration moving



It Must Be Because I Decided to Leave

Yi ding shi yin wei wo yao li kai
Zhuoyun Chen
USA / 2025 / 0:19:00


The boundaries between dream, memory, cinema, and different parts of the self dissolve to ravishing effect in this latest short by Los Angeles-based Chinese artist Zhuoyun Chen. Moving woozily between diary, autofiction and free association, “It Must Be Because I Decided to Leave” is awash with half-remembered exchanges, infectiously surreal images and the narrator’s desire to make sense of things, which never quite happens. Oneiric motifs of all kinds abound: Rocks are clasped by hands or merge with faces, screens appear in windowpanes or headlights, a gleaming red sports car spins in the California desert, a shadowy figure walks into a cave, and a dog rises up from a pool in reverse, its scrabbling limbs rendered in elegant superimpositions. The narrator shuttles through thoughts of desire, family and dislocation and refers to any number of “yous” and “Is”, although they could easily be one and the same. If “we all have landscapes inside”, this is a journey through them.

BERLIN PREMIERE

 


JURY DECLARATION

For transposing the meta-narrative of the title into realms of human experience and perception. The automation of false memories collides and questions our ongoing construction of our personal matrix of reality, facts and truth. The film sets them into a constant state of motio n.


 


EDWARD SNOWDEN AWARD


The Edward Snowden Award honors films, which offer sensitive (mostly) unknown informations, facts and phenomenons
of eminent importance, for which the festival wishes a wide proliferation in the future



Swordfish

Eleonore de Montesquiou
Estonia / 2023 / 0:05:42

February 2015, Vladimir Putin’s opponent, Boris Nemtsov, was assassinated not far from the Kremlin in Moscow. Images of pain and protest, texts by Pablo Neruda are an open call for reflection in this short film.

GERMAN PREMIERE


 


JURY DECLARATION

For a personal reflection of a shocking political murder in Moscow, too brief and too difficult to assimilate, even for those who were present. It is accompanied by texts from Pablo Neruda, who died in 1973, leaving behind his humanistic legacy. Democracy suffered a severe blow when Putin’s opponent was shot. Erratic mobile phone footage in combination with Neruda’s words create a simple but compelling response of the director to the event and situation.





SPECIAL MENTION



Zombie Cortex

Christophe Karabache
Lebanon / 2024 / 0:39:54

In search of an unknown and anonymous killer living in a zone that is burned and destroyed...

EUROPA PREMIERE


 

JURY DECLARATION

An ambitious project that stands out in its ability to transcend present and very concrete dangers in a land under constant military pressure into realms of imagination and paranoia earns a Main Award Special Mention. The premise of an anonymous killer in a wasteland creates parables of constant realignments.





MENTION FOR THE NIGHT AWARD


The Night Award honors films, which are able to balance ambiguity and complexity characterized by enigmatic mysteriousness and subtleness,which keeps mind and consideration moving

Space_invaders.exe

Malaz Usta
Netherlands / 2024 / 0:11:00

Exiles are asked questions concerning their life, (plans), and reasons for (their choices). The film tries to communicate the feelings of the displaced when being confronted with such questions which are drawn from the director's memory. A parody of misinformation and of broken systems, and an exploration of feelings of confusion, loneliness, and uncertainty.

GERMAN PREMIERE

 

JURY DECLARATION

Soft madness, warm psychedelia, theaters of the mind make up the style of this film with its minimalistic use of well-chosen words. Film tools are used effectively to reflect cinema.

 


MENTION FOR THE NIGHT AWARD


The Night Award honors films, which are able to balance ambiguity and complexity characterized by enigmatic mysteriousness and subtleness,which keeps mind and consideration moving


A Robot of Me in

Ron Chiers
Belgium / 2025 / 0:02:45

A ROBOT OF ME is a short AI-generated film that plays out like a virtual reincarnation of Andy Warhol in the age of artificial intelligence. In an apparently mundane scene - Andy buying soup in a supermarket - a philosophical daydream begins to unfold.
The film echoes his famous quote: “Machines have less problems. I'd like to be a machine, wouldn't you?” and raises the question of how Warhol might engage today with social media, AI, deepfakes, and prompts.

GERMAN PREMIERE

 

JURY DECLARATION

Well-made morphing exercise by an AI-facilitated incorporation of Andy Warhol and his capture of that time, complete with Marilyn Monroe and Brillo-boxes. We understand and assimilate the limits of repetition.