Cinemarkt - Tricky Women Tricky Realities
Hypercapitalist Nightmares / Thu 6.3.2025, 7 pm
This tumultuous program delves into both the absurdity and the graveness of waiting lines, reality TV, zoom calls, and face rollers. Glossy fragments reveal the raw realities of performance pressure, consumption, and self-improvement as lifestyles. Here, anything can be turned into entertainment.
The humorous reflections create a wild swirl of repeating patterns, exposing different neoliberal phenomena and processes as results of complex, interwoven systems of exploitation.
The program consists of 11 films in original language with English subtitles (total duration 70 minutes) and will be followed by a Q&A.
ON HOLD / Delia Hess, CH 2024, 7’11
A young woman is stuck in the hold queue of a telephone hotline. A voice on endless repetition, which the daily life seems to be mirroring. A surreal episodic short film about the absurdities of urban life and the frustration of a paralysing standstill unfolds.
PIG TV / Camille Le Marcis, BE 2023, 5’11
Pig TV is an unusual pig that owes its existence to a series of quality control errors. After having escaped the pigsty in the periphery and settling in the metropole, he recalls his journey. A reflection on the relationship between rural working conditions and urban illusions.
THE LAST DROP / Anna Tőkés, HU 2024, 10’41
Kata is a member of the national rhythmic gymnastics team that is exposed to rigorous coaching techniques and the pressure to perform. Performance however, exceeds athletic achievement: it is about the smiles, the attitude, the idea of womanhood in the context of structure and discipline.
SNACK CAT / Inye CHOI, KR 2023, 2’44
A stressed office worker, constantly under pressure from her employers, stops by a familiar food stall on her way home, lured by the irresistible smell. To her surprise, the stall is run by a rebellious chain smoking cat that has no inhibitions about roasting bosses (quite literally…).
IT’S NOT MY JOB / Kate Jessop, UK 2024, 4’
To get a simple form processed, Dani has to cross hidden obstacles including the Corridor of Forgotten Dreams and Ghosts of Your Ex’s. Using tools of absurdity and surrealism, the frustrating need to navigate through a world shaped by rigid bureaucracy is portrayed.
BIRTH CONTROLLED / Isa Fraga-Abaza, US 2024, 04’59
In a world where fertility is the premise of a game show, a woman’s body and reproductive rights are subject to the whims of an elitist audience - they have the power to vote on every decision regarding her pregnancy. That said, “Your body, my choice” doesn't only go for the audience…
SEA ANGELS / Cissi Efraimsson, SE 2024, 8’06
The polluted ocean forced mermaids to reveal their existence as non-mythological creatures and seek help on land. Now living in a pool named Sea Angels, a Sea World-like theme park for humans, they live a life entangled in exploitation, which each of them deals with differently.
FISH RIVER ANTHOLOGY / Veera Lamminpää, FI 2024, 9’30
The supermarket is nearing its closing time; the last customers are queuing for their turn at the fish counter. The agonising wait offers a chance for a reflection by those who stay, even when the lights are off and the colourful aisles have become dark: the dead fish themselves.
VEGAN MAYO / Luca TÓTH, HU 2024, 4’36
In a pink world of face-rollers and yoga mats, between utopia (for some) and dystopia (for others), a hero appears who has it all: she is a super empath, a justice warrior and your favorite confidence queen. But then again maybe she is just a sausage… dipped in vegan mayo, of course.
SUPER HIGH: A PERIOD PIECE / Bianca Lambert; US 2024, 8’59
Amanda battles excruciating period pain caused by fibroids. Desperate for relief, she experiments with a celebrity cannabis brand's edibles. A dosage mishap catapults her into a surreal, anxiety-filled journey until she awakens – and the next zoom call is just around the corner.
BETWEEN YAWNS / Alma RAJOT, FR 2023, 3’55
A sleepy person is hanging over the balcony railing like a sheet drying in the sun. Waking up halfway... Still under the influence of sleep, their actions and visions will sometimes be shifted. It is the antithesis at the end of the service: a big yawn, spiraling in a world of rest and sleep.
In cooperation with Tricky Women Tricky Realities.
Cinemarkt is an event of Brunnenpassage in cooperation with Volxkino.
