International Student Competition 2025
48th Drama International Short Film Festival
Ηead Programmer: Kostis Charamountanis
Kostis Charamountanis is a self-taught director, screenwriter, editor and composer, whose distinctive work has garnered acclaim and awards at prestigious film festivals worldwide. An SNF ARTWORKS (2020) fellow, he recently completed his debut feature film, Kyuka: Before Summer’s End (2024), which premiered in the L’ACID section of the Cannes Film Festival.
Cinema is not merely telling a story or representing reality. It is a medium with the capacity to awaken our deepest emotions and open a door to the transcendent. It has the power to reveal what lies beneath the surface, something eternal that connects us to the very essence of human existence. It is not bound by logic or rules, but rather guided by the search for a deeper understanding of the world and ourselves.
The International Student Competition Section of the Drama International Short Film Festival opens, once again, a window to global student cinema. This year’s programme brings together some of the most remarkable, daring, and sensitive films from every corner of the world. Works by emerging filmmakers who tell stories with humour, inventiveness, promptness, and tenderness. Films that explore the frailty of human relationships, loneliness and the need for connection, the experience of loss, the transformation of body and soul, identity, sexuality, and everyday life through the lens of the absurd and the mythical.
We are grateful to all the filmmakers who have entrusted us with their films. We celebrate their unwavering persistence, bold courage, and fearless spirit in bringing their creative visions to life. The future of cinema is not just ahead of us; it is already here, embodied in their films.
Kostis Charamountanis
Head Programmer, International Student Competition Section
- Past The Hill of Napoleon’s Hat, Arnas Balčiūnas
- In Another Homeland, Maša Božić
- Mother and Ulysses, Mushi Cai
- Family Sunday, Gerardo Del Razo
- Embodied, Chanelle Eidenbenz
- Agáta, Benedetta Fiore
- Should Virtual Petz Die?, Carlo Galbiati
- Voyage of the Red Rabbit, Sam Gualtieri
- Keep Looking?, Anna Ieong
- Accidental Animals, Leila Fatima Keita – Felix Klee
- Nine Days in August, Ella Knorz
- Pan & Syrinx, A. Laurel Lawrence
- Two Point Five Stars, Sina Lerf – Dario Boger – Dario Marti
- The Life Cycle of Cicadas, Ines Perot
- Pear Garden, Shadab Shayegan
- Simon at the Nightshop, Thanasis Tsimpinis
- Fire Drill, Maximilian Villwock
The posters of the films in the International Student Competition Program
