Kuyank
Seven years before the Saranjana gate opened. In a village on water and swamps, in the interior of Kalimantan. The secret of the black magic "Kuyang" is about to be revealed.
Pauline
This 3 minute short film follows the morning of a young woman and explores a surreal connection between dreams and reality and how childhood folktales and stories with morals told to us as children connect with adulthood.
Nie Xiaoqian
Nie Xiaoqian was betrayed and died with hatred. She turned into a ghost after death and was imprisoned in Lanruo Temple. Ning Sheng went to Capital to take examination and stayed here, and accidentally saved Xiaoqian.
Destiny: The Tale of Kamakura
Set in an alternate universe, the ancient capital of Kamakura is a vibrant town where fantastical creatures live alongside humans. Akiko is a cheerful publishing assistant who moves into town after marrying Masakazu, a popular mystery writer. Akiko is surprised by the unusual town but enjoys the new curiosities surrounding her. However, just as she was beginning to settle in, a trifling incident sweeps her spirit to the underworld too soon. Convinced that destiny has something else in store for his wife, Masakazu journeys into the underworld to bring back Akiko’s spirit.
Folklore
A young Screenwriter and Director are reading together the script they are going to film. They agree to tell a story about the nature of human behavior but forget that they are also human.
Spring in Carpathian Ruthenia
Karel Plicka was also cinematographer of this short movie. Editor in charge was Alexander Hackenschmied. There is an extraordinary emotional charge, every shot is working on its own, such as photographs, paintings and poetic complement intertitles in this short. From the perspective of nature and the perspective is shifting to the people and their habits, work and clothes. Peculiar documentary shots underscore Ruthenians (men, women and children) who are interested in looking into the camera and the curious "eye" showing off their habits.
November
In a poor Estonian village, a group of peasants use magic and folk remedies to survive the winter, and a young woman tries to get a young man to love her.
She Island
In the heart of the Caribbean, a mother and daughter confront a malevolent curse erasing identities of all the island's women, propelling them on a daring quest to reclaim their rich cultural heritage and triumph over the encroaching darkness.
Naprata
Inspired by an infamous online video clip of a son beating his mother, a television crew from Belgrade comes to a remote Serbian village to shoot a report on violence against women. Inquiring with the locals about the protagonists of the video, they encounter a local expert on supernatural phenomena and learn about a ritual of summoning an ancient demon, naprata. Wanting to capture the first authentic footage of something otherworldly, they change their plans. Excited by the prospective success of the recording, they defy the old saying that "it's better to believe than to be convinced."
The Folkloristas
An academic and a private detective investigate mysteries with supernatural roots in the dark side of Mexican folklore.
Fréwaka
Care worker Shoo, who is haunted by a personal tragedy, is sent to a remote village to care for an agoraphobic woman, who fears both her neighbours and the Na Sídhe – sinister folkloric entities she believes abducted her decades before.
Bulbbul
A child bride grows up to be an enigmatic woman presiding over her household, harboring a painful past as supernatural murders of men plague her village.
Tebel Venyn
A short stay in a Cornish Town.
The Golem
A gothic Jewish fairytale. In 1840s Poland, Beulah cares for her leprous mother-in-law while seeking a divorce. With nowhere else to turn, she builds a Golem in order to protect herself.
sMOTHERed
After surviving an accident, Alif, a micro-painting artist, is told by his doctor that his memory hasn’t fully recovered. When a woman claiming to be his mother comes to visit, Alif begins to sense something is wrong—he doesn’t recognize her face, and he suspects she might not be his mother.
When the Darkness Comes
Minik and Hans are best friends in their early twenties in Greenland. Minik being down and Hans trying to cheer him up they look for an some excitement and a break from the mundane boredom. They learn about a claimed local haunted house and decide to have a sleep over to see what is real and what is not.
Traja králi
Natsume's Book of Friends: The Waking Rock and the Strange Visitor
The film will be made up of two stories: "Ishi Okoshi" and "Ayashiki Raihousha." In "Ishi Okoshi," Natsume meets a small youkai called Mitsumi in a forest. Mitsumi is entrusted to wake up the divine youkai "Iwatetsu" from its deep slumber. Mitsumi weighs on Natsume's mind, so he sets out to help Mitsumi with his task. In "Ayashiki Raihousha," a mysterious visitor appears in front of Tanuma. Nearly every day, the visitor visits Tanuma, talks to him a little, and then leaves. Natsume, who knows the visitor is a youkai, worries for Tanuma, but Tanuma enjoys these exchanges with the youkai. The youkai means no harm, but Tanuma's health slowly starts to deteriorate.
May Day!
May Day! is a feature-length documentary which follows Oxford's thousand-year old tradition of May Morning, the largest celebration of its kind, regularly attracting over 15,000 people each year. It is a collage-like portrait of the tradition, attempting to find out how the celebration has survived the separation between the land and its people, what the pagan festival means thousands of years after its inception, and how it shapes and contributes to our nation's sense of self.
Fantastic Beasts: A Natural History
Stephen Fry embarks on a journey to discover the stories behind some of the world's most fantastic beasts that have inspired myths and legends in history, story-telling and film.