The Portal Film Fest
Globally sharing work, resources, and audience.

PushPush & Dailies filmmakers in collaboration with The DFFB (The Deutsche Film and Television Academy in Berlin) present The Portal Film Fest - featuring new short films from 11 new international filmmakers.

PushPush, along with 7 Stages Theater, created The Portal Project to encourage national and international collaboration among creative artists.

Program 1: Friday, May 9th - Sunday, May 11th
Program 2: Friday, May 16th - Sunday, May 18th
Program 3: Friday, May 23rd -Sunday, May 25th

Friday & Saturdays at 8p
Sundays at 7p

Program 1

Wigald
An 11 minute film about the desperation of a young man, Wigald, who has one last wish: suicide. A dark, twisted and comic look at the life of a young starving poet. Directed by newcomer, Timon Modersohn.

Tempelhof
16 minute documentary by Eva Stotz (b.1979) about life around the Tempelhof airport. Planes are leaving, but people are staying put.

Quite Possible That I Can Fly
A 27 minute film with music about Nora, her stone-drunk dad and Nurse Jenny, who takes care of him. Directed by Hanna Doose (b. 1979) and written by Esther Bernstorff.

Little Ben
In this 15 minute, color short, we meet Little Ben who lives in a trailer park with his parents. He dreams of traveling with his father’s theater group but first he has to learn to ride his bike without training wheels. Written and directed by Polish director, Piotr Reimer (b. 1977)

Program 2

The Date
In this 15 minute short film, Michael returns to New York City where he had an affair with an American woman twenty years earlier. They had agreed to meet in Central Park at this arranged spot and at this arranged time. How much has changed? Written by Andreas Hass and directed by Andreas Samland who is a 3D artist for Playstation and other video games, working in Darmstadt, Manchester and Hamburg.

Birthday
Written and directed by Lawrence Tooley from Shiner Texas, this 14 minute short film throws us into the world of two people who meet in the park. He needs money, but who the hell is he? Messed up and familiar, you’ll like this birthday film if you’ve ever had a sucky birthday.

Interior / Night
Written and directed by Eva Stotz (b.1979) this 9 minute, color short deals with a child threatened by the unholiness at the break of night.

Rabbit and Luck
Russian filmmaker, Ikiru (b. 1980), directed this 20 minute film about two modern brothers and the difficulties in being modern brothers. "Shut up!" "You shut up!" has rarely had such poetry and depth.

Program 3

Wolf’s Dream
Theater and film director, Maria-Anna Rimpfli, created this tense and creative short film set in a gothic mansion nestled at the edge of a deep forest. Part fairy tale, part mystery and horror story, Wolf’s Dream is an exceptional modernization of classic German folklore. Rimpfli has worked in Munich, Berlin and with Spike Lee in New York.

Namus
Volkan, a young Turkish man, hooks up with Linda, a German girl in this modern love story. After getting pregnant, she endures violence at the hands of his friends but sticks to her hopes. Volkan wants to run away from her because of the pregnancy and toward her for the connection to his friends’ violence. 14 minutes. Directed by Döndü Kilic (b. 1976). She is also the co-organizer of The Fusion Festival.

Firn
In this 38 minute film, Rainer and his father go hiking in the Alps. What follows is a lonely game of cat and mouse -- a suicide disguised as a murder -- or a twisted plot for family revenge. Beautifully shot by Kolja Raschke and directed by Axel Koenzen.

My Last Day in Nigeria
Ayoade is ready to start a new life in this wonderful little 7 minute film. He sits in the Lagos barbershop listening to the men talking politics. Is there anything that can convince him to stay in his country? Written and directed by Micah Magee, who was born in the USA in 1978, grew up in Texas and went to study film in Berlin on a Fullbright Scholarship in 2001.