Eco Shorts MENTAL STATE | SproutsFF24

Eco Shorts MENTAL STATE

> The screening on May 12 includes a Q&A with director Vibe Stalpaert (15’)

Melantroop by Vibe Stalpaert

Dutch premiere | 2023 | Belgium | 20’

Stalpaert lets inner and outer world collide in her brutally sincere portrayal of the darkness that can come with depression.

The Stag by An Chu

Dutch premiere | 2024 | Taiwan | 15’

Chu tenderly captures the little known world of deer farming, where toxic masculinity comes at the expense of animal welfare.

In the Shadow of the Cypress | Dar Saaye Sarv by Shirin Sohani, Hossein Molayemi

2023 | Iran | 20’

A washed ashore whale becomes the catalyst for a PTSD-affected veteran to overcome trauma in this allegory from the heart.

Fár by Gunnur Martinsdóttir Schlüter

Dutch premiere | 2023 | Iceland | 5’

Anna’s primal instinct gets triggered when a seagull crashes into a cafe’s window and her tightly controlled way of life. 

*All Sprouts films are with English subtitles

Sprouts Film Festival 2024 | May 7-12

In times of a glitching world, with weather extremes and inhumane conflicts intensifying, it can be tempting to avert your gaze. Instead, Sprouts wants to make the cinema a site for peaceful protest by showing newly released ecocinema and socially critical debut films. All selected features and shorts are fiction, because it is our belief that through the power of imagination we can alter our behaviour for the better and rethink our relationship with the more-than-human world. We are here to make you wonder, to inform, to spark resistance and to nurture fresh talent.

SproutsFF24, our third edition, will be bigger than ever. Our festival locations this year are Studio/K, MACA, Kriterion and Zone2Source. Want to learn more about our SproutsFF24 programme, which also includes a free Eco Expo, a queer club night and a live ecological AV-show? Go to sproutsfilmfestival.com or follow us on Instagram @sproutsfilmfestival and Letterboxd @sproutsff.