Joanna's Kitchen is an experimental dramedy short film. 
Because this short film is also a thriller, a podcast, and a contamination of new media, reducing it to a limited definition is impossible.   An aspiring chef introduces her weekly culinary podcast, Joanna's Kitchen, in this clever short film. Today: Coq au vin.
Nothing out of the ordinary, except that she's pretty tensed, behaving a bit clumsily and confused. A few minutes later, her phone rings. Someone on the other end of the line corrects her about certain details of the recipe. Through a combination of humor, genuine cooking, and a hidden mystery, Joanna finishes her coq au vin in a frenzied manner, while inserting specific, stressed words among clichéd utterances of the recipe. Her last call takes her away from the camera, so we only hear what actually happened: she was forced to say all those words during the podcast by someone who had kidnapped her child. Now that the work is done, she can take her child back. Over time, we learn that all those words and formulae Joanna mentioned were encoded messages for terrorists planning a bomb attack that evening.   There is no conclusion to the story in the tone of the comedy that runs throughout the short film. Ioana Marcoiu, the only actress in the film, does an excellent job of portraying tension. "She is perfectly able to keep the audience's attention while presenting a French cuisine recipe and performing the 'invisible' tasks of a hidden plot."  The director directed her very well and she was a perfect choice for this short film.  Another great point of this film is the script. It maybe could be a little bit shorter, but it is very effective in keeping the atmosphere of a normal podcast while something extremely dangerous is going on.  Coherent white, this dynamic film's Cinematography is colorful, but some shadows seem overbearing among the colors. 
The editing and effects are then perfectly believable in terms of preserving the mis en scene of  a real podcast.  Joanna's Kitchen was produced on a very low budget by Cosmina Sandor, but the idea was so strong and well-directed that you could not place any limitations on it. The first idea for this short film came about during lockdown, and production decided to postpone the set. You'll see in the short movie that it is both contemporary and urgent at the same time. In a note from the director, he writes: "There's a saying that says Life is more surprising than movies; based on what transpired on February 24th, it appears Movies are more surprising than life."  Do not miss the chance to see this short film if you can.  
Theo Herghelegiu is the talented director of this short film. She is a theatre director, a playwright, a scriptwriter, a drama tutor, and a translator in Europe, living in Bucharest, Romania.
In 1992, she earned a degree in Philology from the University of Bucharest. In 1998, she earned a degree in Theater Directing from the National University of Theatre and Film. In 2013, she also received a Master's degree in Film Aesthetics.
She directed over 50 theatre shows and wrote many plays, some of which were staged by her or by other Romanian, or foreign directors. Additionally, she performed on stage and in films, winning Best Feminine Role in 1998. After writing scripts for several features, she made her directorial debut with the short film 10, Autumn Street. Her experience includes journalism, acting coaching, and literary translations.
In 1998, she founded TEATRUL INEXISTENT, the first and most active (at the time) independent theatre company in Romania. Its performances were an avant-garde artistic statement of the decade. As well as plays by important contemporary authors such as Sibylle Berg, Ronald Schimmelpffening, Lukas Baerfuss, Thomas Bernhardt, Claudine Galea, etc., she also directed plays by Shakespeare and other classics. She lbelieves that performing arts are about sharing joy, that they are about sharing togetherness, that they are about discovering a Truth that lasts for a maximum of two seconds...   Because of all these reasons, Joanna's Kitchen won Best Experimental Short Film at the April 2022 Berlin Indie Film Festival Monthly Competition. 
Congratulations to all the cast and crew! 

For I Am Dead is a surreal drama short film by Patricia Delso Lucas.It is set in late-1800s Europe and follows Oscar, a lonely middle-aged man who has lived a decadent and superficial lifestyle in a chateau with wine, courtesans and opium, before confessing his love to his gardener Jude.From the very beginning of this short film, one can appreciate the highly skilled Cinematography of Dominika Podczaska. The camera movement and the choice of frames convey a strong sense of hedonism, which is typical of an Oscar's life.By moving the camera among actors and focusing on their performances, this short makes a powerful visual impact. Desaturating the colors of the cinematography to convey the end of Oscar's life is coherent with the story being told and allows the audience to be involved from the beginning.In addition to the great performances of the actors, we must emphasize how well the directors selected them. Particularly Al Nazemian as Oscar and Laura Lahera as Mother are very intense and believable. Further, costumes provide actors with the ability to reflect the mood of the historical period when the short film takes place.The costumes are designed by Miguel Peñaranda Olmeda and are so elaborate that it doesn't seem like a short film.There are two other elements important in this short film: sound design and editing. Rhythm of editing by the director herself and sound design by David Ferral help to convey the emotional journey of the actors. All of these factors contribute towards this film being a very good one. Therefore, congratulations to the director, writer, and producer Patricia Delso Lucas.The independent screenwriter, film director, and cinematographer earned her MFA in Film Directing from the Skillset Screen Academy in Scotland. Originally from Madrid, Spain, she lives in Brussels, Belgium. In 2010, she was nominated for a BAFTA Scotland New Talent Award for her graduation work. She then took part in various international workshops focused on directing narrative films at NYU, Sundance Shorts Lab, Cineuropa.org, Prague Film School, London Film School and Maine Media Workshops. Additionally, she studied cinematography at the Global Cinematography Institute in Los Angeles. From narrative drama to dark comedy, from audiovisual poetry to documentaries, her work spans a variety of genres. Her stories tend toward a character-driven approach, and the audiovisual worlds she creates around them often have a thin line between reality and the surreal.During the April competition of the Berlin Indie Film Festival, For I Am Dead won three awards: Best Sound Design, Best Cinematography and Best Actor.

DOPPELGÄNGER is a highly refined thriller short film. The story revolves around the protagonist Mikel. During the middle of the night, Mikel, a man stripped of all his identity after having murdered his parents at the age of twelve, sits on a comfortable sofa in a spacious living room. Even though he dresses well, in some details we can see he's a bit messy, nervous, and waiting for someone. The place is beautiful, minimalist, the lighting has a pleasant, warm temperature. Mikel has been engaged in a conversation with a man of cold, elegant appearance without realizing it from one moment to the next. Micheal's life hangs in the balance. He wants revenge, but also needs answers about who he is. Although the person in front of him may have answers about the murders he committed, Mikel may discover disturbing similarities between him and the man regarding their life memories... They are both dark beings, sick people with mental illness and sexual problems. The night slowly progresses between these two men, leaving a big question: who committed the murders?
The director shows us the inner journey of the main character through a precise choice of frames. A definite value of this film is the exceptionally elegant and refined photography shot by Romina Leiva. Throughout the film, every frame is very symmetrical and emphasizes the relationship between the two main characters.
Acting and directing of the two actors is another great point of this film: you can appreciate actors only by listening to their breathing because their actions are so intense that you can read what they are thinking. Juan Octavio Lume (the director himself) and Italo Spotorno played their roles with precision and efficiency.
Additionally, the sound design plays an important role in the development of the characters in this film. Claudio Carrasco and Louis Rosales signed it.  Editing becomes a knife slicing through the emotions in the film. It has a syncopated rhythm, which reflects the rhythm of the main character's memory. In the part of memory, the use of overlapping images is particularly interesting. 
While this short movie is produced with a limited budget, this part of the style is near video art's genre and makes it particularly rich and refined.
Congratulations to the director of this precious piece of cinematic work. 
Director and Producer Juan Octavio Lume has over 12 years of experience. A founding partner and producer for Go.Films, dedicated to both fiction and theater. The highlights of his career as a Director include among the others: DOPPELGÄNGER, The one who walks beside me (2022 / Short film - Fiction), INVISIBLE (2021 / Short film - Fiction),  SUMERGIDO (Submerged  2020 / Short film - Fiction), CAÍDA LIBRE (Free Fall 2018 / Short film - Fiction), Theater Director of the play PROMETEO etc. He is currently working in the pre-production of his first feature film ASEDIO, where he works as both Producer and Director of the project.
DOPPELGÄNGER won February’s monthly Berlin Indie Film Festival edition as best Best Thriller. 

  This short film deals with the story of a beautiful pickpocket girl in London who steals from the Irish Gangster. Her life becomes in danger and she has a very short time to escape from the pursuit of the Gangsters by using the rivalry of Irish and English gangsters in London.

The director has been very brave in trying to tell about this plot in a short film. The performances of the actress are effective. Also, the dialogues are well-written and believable. The camera movements chosen are dynamic and right to convey the sense of risk inside the story. The director has been sustained by the good job of the director of photography Pauline Gefen. Also, editing is coherent in conveying a strong sense of risk. This short film has been the first time as a director of Joseph Karimbeik who also wrote and produced the film.
Joseph Hossein Karimbeik is an English-American theatre director/actor. Joseph Karimbeik has two children: Yasamin Karimbeik and William Karimbeik. He was born in Tehran, Iran, as the son of the working-class Iranian parents Alamtag Ghandehary and Yadolah Karimbeik, a shoemaker. He was brought up in Tehran finished his high school at Darolfonon immigrated to the UK in 1975, auditioned for drama school, and ultimately was accepted by the London drama center where he graduated as director in1980. Then in 1986 he immigrated to the States and became a naturalized U.S. citizen.
Karimbeik is best known for portraying the character Raschid in Mona Lisa (1986), Colonel Hassan Ali in Half Moon Street (1986), Hossein in Brothers (2004), and Lugash secret policeman in Curse of the Pink Panther (1983), as well as television series like the Cold Warrior (1984).
In 2015 Karimbeik paused his theatre and acting career to pursue his career in film directing.

Even if London Gangstah has been produced in a low-budget condition we cannot infer that the short film is a good product.
For all these reasons London Gangstah won the Best Short Film category in the Berlin Indie Film Festival December’s competition 2021. 

Ice Melts is A 10-minute instrumental Scottish comedy.This short film tells the story of a young Leither, who is excluded from a rare Edinburgh snow day, and heads to the hills in search of ill-fated, icy revenge. Ice Melts was the first script penned by emerging Edinburgh writer-director Archie Middleton, and has developed from a film-school exercise in taking a character up a metaphorical hill and down again, into a joyfully literal outing on screen. Archie Middleton, Producer, and Director is a graduate with Distinction of MetFilm school in Ealing, London, in 2019. He has produced and directed two films, both completed in 2021. A third film, part of the “trilogy” will be completed in the same year. The director reveals a strong talent in directing this kind of film. The lead actor Callum Thomson is really well directed and very brilliant and authentic in every segment of the film. Another strong point of the film is the photography, colorful and refined in each shot, coherent with the strong energy of the main characters. The film is shot by Gabor Szabo, well-known for his keen camera work in film, theatre, and advertising in Hungary. Also, the rhythm of the editing is a very good point of the film and underlines all the music passages of the film. Music in this film is another main character and tells in detail the emotional trip of the lead actor. It is composed and performed by Hugh Kelly with Archie Middleton. The producer of this good short film is Hester Middleton. Ice Melts won the Berlin Indie Film Festival’s December Competition as Best Original Score. Congratulations to all cast and crew. 

WHO IS EUGENIO BARBA is a very detailed documentary about the life of The Master Eugenio Barba.
It deals with the great director through the lens of his close collaborators-actors of ODIN Teatret, the expositions of academics, and, notably, the testimonies of artists that met him and were influenced by his artistry/craftmanship.  Actors, directors, theatre theorists demonstrate the man that reconfigured the Art of Theatre. An account on the world renowned director and theatre theorist Eugenio Barba’s unique approach to the theatrical art.  In July, 2019, Εugenio Barba was conferred a honorary doctorate at the Department of Theatre Studies of the University of Peloponnese. A three day conference – homage to the prominent theatre practitioner was held concurrently at the European Cultural Centre of Deplphi, where Theatre academics expounded on the art and the technique of Εugenio Barba and the theatre group he created in Denmark, ODIN Teatret. At the same time, Teatret ODIN’s troupe in its entirety, on the spot for this grand tribute, staged the ensemble performance, Inside the skeleton of the Whale and the legendary monologic performances Ave Maria με την Julia Varley, Judith με την Roberta Carreri. Moreover, Teatret ODIN’s actors, but also Εugenio Barba himself, carried out some of the acclaimed workshops of ODIN Teatret.  The proceedings of these days were filmed by Magdalini Remoundou and comprised the materials for the creation of the documentary WHO IS ΕUGENIO BARBA produced by RGB STUDIOS.
Here we have e strong job of editing Between this footage and Odin’s Archive videos.  The director who sign the film and the writer is again Magdalini Remoundou, while the screenwriter is Magdalini Remoundou. The rhythm of the editing is very involving and follows the flows of the life of Eugenio. Also the post production on the footage is very delicate to respect the authenticity of the repertoire. You can really appreciate thought the storytelling the director built the evolution of the language Barba creates on stage and how the company around him grows year after years, show after show.  Lot of them decide to join Eugenio Barba Before because of his way of thinking, after to become an actress, actor or musician. From every interview of his collaborator you can learn about the method in the research of Barba and the strong relationship among all of them. An unique example of good company. Moreover you can appreciate the greatness of his personality. 

Eugenio Barba, 1936, grew up in Gallipoli and attended classical high school at the military college of Nunziatella, in Naples. In 1954, he emigrated to Norway where he worked in Oslo as a tinsmith and welder and, for two years, as a sailor on a Norwegian freighter. He graduated from the University of Oslo in French and Norwegian literature and the history of religions, continuing his work as a worker. In 1960 he lived for six months in a kibbutz in Israel. In October 1964 he founded Odin Teatret in Oslo. Two years later, with his theater he emigrated to Denmark, in the small town of Holstebro. In more than fifty years of activity, Odin Teatret and Eugenio Barba have become a legend of contemporary theater: a handful of people who have gained the influence of an independent theatrical tradition. They invent their own way of transmitting experiences both in practice (with an intense activity of seminars and internships), and by publishing books and filmed documents, thus contributing in an innovative way to the "science of theater". In 1979, Eugenio Barba founded ISTA, International School of Theater Anthropology, a traveling center for comparative studies on the principles of the actor's technique and gave the name of Theatrical Anthropology to this field of study. In 2002 he founded the Center for Theater Laboratory Studies in collaboration with the University of Aarhus. Among the artists who profoundly worked the history of the theater of the second half of the twentieth century, Eugenio Barba is the only one to have in an innovative way in all fields of theatrical culture: artistic creation; theoretical reflection; the transmission of techniques and professional knowledge; the work on historical memory; scientific research; the use of theater in the social context, as a cross-cultural tool for the activation of relations between different social groups and ethnic groups. He always could do great shows with few elements in witch acting, music and “dance” (these us absolutely international) are the main character on the stage, 

The intercultural structure of the company with actors who come from different countries and with contacts with spectacular genres and traditions from other continents have had consequences on the autonomous artistic creation of Odin Teatret and on the pedagogical experiences collected in seminars, demonstrations, books and films. The producer of this documentary is Harris Mavroforakis, and even if it’s been produced in a low budget condition we cannot infer that aspect.  This film had premiered  in Athens (Greece) on 5th September 2020 and won as Best Director Documentary in the September Monthly competition of Berlin Indie Film Festival. Congratulations to all cast and crew! 

Invisibles by Juan Lumé is a drama short film. This story is written by the director himself with Italo Spotorno, the main actor, and Ignacio Verdugo, the co-producer with Lumè.
The story starts when Andres, a 38-year-old property broker, receives an offer to sell a house, which he does not hesitate to accept. After the difficulties suffered during the past years, he has worked hard to restore his situation.
The day begins with a visit to a house on the outskirts of the city, which provides Andres with a strange mixture of restlessness and peace. When he opens the door, for some reason, the image causes him a jolt of unease: a slight, irrational shiver that passes quickly as it has appeared. The house looks sinister and it’s almost empty. It’s hard to imagine what kind of person lived there before. Nevertheless, gradually, Andres finds traces of his own life.
Flowers in the bathroom or specific music would seem absolutely normal to most people, but for him, they are just the opposite: they are clues. Between gloomy walls and nightfall, hallucinations become confusing memories. It seems as if the person he contacted to sell the land is someone he already knows. Someone he wants to forget. But that person is now at home… The night ends, and under the sun, a deep feeling of desolation takes over reminding him of what he could not face.
Dealing with a strong exploration of the past and of the unconscious, the director uses very specific camera moves to take usto the main character’s inner trip. All the shots convey this sense of research.Nicolas Sepulveda’s refined and extremely elegant cinematography sustains this research.
The editing is smooth at the beginning and develops to become agitated and syncopated as the short film progresses.
Another great point of Invisible is the performance of the main character, played by Italo Spotorno. The actor is remarkably intense and well directed by Juan Lumé. The audience is touched by a strong sense of suspense and fatigue in the actor’s inner search: looking back in the past is hard work for everyone that dares to do so.   The sound design is minimal and efficient in conveying the feelings of the main character. The director’s brilliant choice of the location is extremely efficient in the communication of the character’s state of mind.Obviously he’s not a novice: Juan Lumé has been a Director and Producer with over 10 years of professional experience, as well as a Founding partner of Go.Films, and a Producer dedicated to both fiction and theatre. Highlights of his career as a Director include:
INVISIBLE (2021 / Short film - Fiction)
Winner 1st Monthly Film Festival:Best director – Best Indie Short Film. Special mention: Short Film – Production – Actor – Thriller Short Film
Winner 4th Dimension Independent Film Festival: Best director Juan Lumé -Best Actor Italo Spotorno - Best Producer Ignacio Verdugo.   Winner Chicago Indie Film Award: Best Director.   Winner Berlin Indie Film Festival: Best Director   Independent Shorts Award: Bronze Award Best Production Designer (Ignacio Verdugo) - Bronze Award Best Thriller Short – Honorable Mention for Best Director (Juan Lumé) – Actor (Italo Spotorno) and Indie Short.
Semi-Finalist Berlin Shorts Award   Official Selection Prague International Indie Film Festival Official Selection 2021 ARFF Berlin international Awards Official Selection CKF International Film Festival Official Selection Montreal Independent Film Festival Official Selction IndieX Film Fest

SUMERGIDO (Submerged) 2020 / Short film - Fiction (Semi finalist Venice Shorts 2020 - Official selection Venice Shorts 2020 - Semi FinalistSweden Films Awards September 2020 - Official selection Sweden Films Awards 2020 - Official selection Montreal Independent Films Festival 2020 - Especial Mention Londonx4 seasonal Short Films Festival Autumn 2020).

CAÍDA LIBRE (Free Fall) 2018 / Short film - Fiction
Theatre Director of the play PROMETEO, launched in 2019 in the city of Montevideo, with a roaming season in Uruguay, as well as in different theatre halls in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2019. During 2015 and 2016, he presented the theatre play HANSEL Y GRETEL (play nominated to the 2017 CLAP awards with the largest 2016 audience) with two successful seasons in the theatres Coca Cola City and Centro Morí. He is currently working in the pre-production of his first feature film ASEDIO, both as Producer and Director of the project. In addition to his work in Go.Films, he developed his career for three years as General Producer of the multi-space cultural theatre “Ladrón de Bicicletas” in Santiago – Chile. During that period, he was responsible for the following activities: Executive production – Program design of all billboard works – Sponsorship management – Coordination of activities and new hires.
He has vast experience in pedagogy, teaching short film workshops in the field of Fiction at the Cultural Corporation Balmaceda 1215.
He also noted, concerning this short film: "Invisibles emerges from the concern to investigate the different reactions that our memory can have facing traumatic events and how our brain can block all its memories in front of such reaction.”
We can confirm that he really reached his goals and will add that his strong experience doesn’t seem affected at all by the low production budget.For all the above mentioned reasons, INVISIBLE was awarded Best Director Short film in May 2021 by the Berlin Indie Film Festival. 

DEAD OR NOT? is a very courageous Artistic short film directed by Iasonas Sigma (the artistic name for Dimitris Sdrolias), who is also the writer and producer.
It deals with the story of a young woman. She wakes up in a hotel room. She gets out of bed. She washes her face, combs her hair, puts lipstick on her lips. She realizes that this is what she does day after day when she wakes up. She feels the urge to break this chain. She strips and goes to the room's balcony. She imagines that this is her last day. She smokes as if this were her last cigarette. She looks at the world as if this were her last gaze. Suddenly, she feels the urge to fall indeed from the room's balcony. She climbs and...
The actress Filia Kanelopoulu is very well directed, always believable, and very realistic even if the atmosphere is surreal.
This woman's day is told in a very expressionist way by the director, choosing details and fragments of the life of this woman. Even the choice of the 3/4 format conveys a sense of voyeurism and the limit of the gaze on the scene.
The choice of black and white puts this story out of time, in a period that can be anytime and universal. The director of photography and camera operator is Manos Tzivakis. From the beginning, the camera movements approaching the room, and every detail of the room and the woman as if it was subjective at this choice give a strong sense of suspense. Also, the sound design created is very intense and anxious. The rhythm of the editing is both nervous and engaging.
So all these elements allow the audience to be involved from the beginning to the end of this short film. So a very brave and well-done first film for this director and we can't wait to see his next film.
The director is, as we wrote earlier, Iasonas Sigma, who shot this film with a very low budget, choosing an aesthetic that is so smart that it doesn't suffer from this condition.
Iasonas Sigma (the artistic name for Dimitris Sdrolias) is a Greek director, philosopher, psychoanalyst, and acclaimed writer, (having won numerous prizes for his poetry, prose, and theatre plays), Doctor of Philosophy and Psychoanalysis at the National and Capοdistrian University of Athens. He attended the Hellenic Cinema and Television School Stavrakos and studied theatre at "Karolos Koun-Art Theatre" of Greece, (having played as an actor at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus) and soloistic piano at "Athens Conservatory" and the "Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst" in Stuttgart, with recitals in Greece and abroad. After his student film "ANOIKIOSIS", "DEAD OR NOT?" is his first film.

DEAD OR NOT? won the February 2021 monthly competition at the Berlin Independent Film Festival as Best Artist Film.
Congratulations to all cast and crew!