BIFF X0 Program 4: Medicine + Magic

Medical interventions and magical reels! A collection of experimental sci-fi and magical realism.

Total runtime is 72 minutes.

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“Freya”

Elisa Gonzalez (Dir), 20 minutes, Canada, New York Premiere

Director Elisa Gonzalez in attendance.

Tethering falconry and motherhood, Freya weaves together themes of death and magic, where seasons re-arrange, just as myth and memory are re-cast through a childhood spell.

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"Lazarus: Becoming Vulture"

Kathy High (Dir), 15 minutes, USA, North American Premiere

Filmmaker Kathy High in attendance.

The video is an experimental science fiction, dark body horror. In this short fiction, the main character is partaking in a synthetic fecal microbial transplant (FMT), transferring colonies of gut microbes “curated” and selected for a particular gut profile and disease type. The main character, who narrates the script, is besieged with a chronic inflammatory bowel disease. Needless to say, things turn out strangely, and the protagonist finds she has new-found tastes, and “powers” giving her a novel ability.

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"Agua y Acero / Water and Steel"

Grethel Nuez Curbelo (Dir), 11 minutes, Cuba, Western New York Premiere

In Spanish w/ English subtitles.

In a rural village in Cuba, Rocío lives with pain as part of her daily life. Her body, marked by medical interventions, holds memory in the form of scars, as she faces the humid climate that foretells each approaching storm. Rocío doesn’t need to look to the sky to know what’s coming: her body already senses it.

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"Más Allá / Beyond"

Bettina López Mendoza (Dir), 15 minutes, Colombia/Venezuela/Canada/USA, Western New York Premiere

In Spanish w/ English subtitles.

After being separated from her mother while crossing the treacherous jungle between Colombia and Panama, Zuli, a young Venezuelan migrant is forced to abandon her childhood to survive in this dangerous place. While working for a coyote to help guide other migrants within the jungle, Zuli discovers a portal to a magical land, where she must turn to her imagination to reconnect with her innocence and, ultimately, learn how to be a kid again.

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"L'enfant à la peau blanche / The boy with white skin"

Simon Panay (Dir), 15 minutes, France / Senegal, Western New York Premiere

In Wolof and French w/ English subtitles.

Entrusted by his father to a group of gold-miners, an albino child embodies all of their hopes.

Many thanks to Manifest Pictures.

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