Sunny summer day at a suburban school. A schoolteacher finds out that her son’s poorly written exam may jeopardise his dream of attending a prestigious university abroad. The film explores sacrifices a mother is willing to make to secure her child’s success, raising questions about ethics and the pressures of education.

Adas Burkšaitis is a film director living in Vilnius. While studying computer science, Adas became interested in cinema. In 2020, Adas enrolled in a master's degree in directing at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. Since then, he has created short films that have been presented at Palm Springs, Vienna Shorts, Trouville Off-Courts, and other international and Lithuanian film festivals. Ado's final film, Mint, won the Best Feature Film award at the Encuentro Para Cinéfagos film festival in Venezuela, as well as the third prize at the International Izmir Short Film festival and the Best Actor award at the largest student film festival in the world, Watersprite Film Festival. His experience working in the sciences has broadened Ado's worldview and influences his work. Personal experiences not only inspire stories, but also dictate themes. In his films, he seeks to reflect on the impact of technology, the loss of illusions, and the subjectivity of our human experience.

After a lesson about cosmic archaeologists and a water fight in the schoolyard, Elly steals Faye’s soul and Faye gives Elly a rare birthday present. But then, under a sky full of stars, a song from the past will remind the girls that nothing really lasts forever.

Thelyia Petraki, holds a BA in Filmmaking (CalArts USA), and an MA in Visual Anthropology (UCL UK). In her works, the boundaries between memory, dreams and reality tend to blur. Her films are a perpetual gaze to the human behavior in an attempt to understand human condition through the cinematic lens. Lately, she combines and experiments with various analogue formats, along with recycling found footage, creating this way a mosaic effect. She also tends to study the past in order to understand the future.

In a spa surrounded by mountains of salt, guests relax and sunbathe, while workers collect the glowing crystals under the sun. Children run off, escaping the watchful eyes of adults, and a woman drifts through this landscape in a haze, detached from reality. As night falls, the space transforms, shaped by the desires of those who pass through.

Studied film at the Lisbon Theatre and Film School. Her films have been shown at IndieLisboa, Curtas Vila do Conde, and the Cinemateca Portuguesa. Since 2016, she has worked as an editor, while also writing, producing, and directing her own projects. She is currently developing her first feature film, which she began during her master's at the Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola, recently completing it as a fellow of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.​

How can two lost people help each other move on to the next stage of their lives, leaving their past behind? The film is about empathy, consideration for each other, and the immense power of small gestures - which can change both their own lives and the lives of others.

Fanni Potonyecz is a Hungarian director, actress, and emerging producer. She holds a master’s degree in film directing from Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, an acting diploma from Kaposvár University, and a BA in cultural anthropology from the University of Miskolc. As a freelancer, she has worked on many film productions. She developed the documentary series The Murderers of Labancz Anna as a producer during the Ex Oriente international workshop from 2023 to 2024, and the project was selected among the top 10 projects at NEM Zagreb. From 2021 to 2023, she worked as a cultural manager at the Budapest International Documentary Film Festival, where she also coordinated the short film section. Her short film Next Stop, which she wrote and directed, was awarded production funding by the National Film Institute in 2023.

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