EN / CZ
15. 5. 2025

HIDDEN WORLD (12-14 years)

The Hidden World programme was created by the young jurors themselves, aged 12 to 14. What was the main theme for them and why is the band called this? The common denominator of all the films is that they focus on exploring worlds that normally escape our eye. Either because of how distant they are to us, or simply because we don't think to look at things around us from a different angle. The young jury has thus selected the most interesting short films that contemporary cinema has to offer and which have been successful across prestigious film festivals. The film A Body Called Life links the exploration of microscopic organisms with self-discovery, the colourful On the 8th Day develops environmental themes, Swimming with Wings gives a glimpse into the lives of Dutch migrant children through novel animation, Girls Move Mountains captures the incredible courage of Pakistani girls in their struggle for emancipation, and Touching Darkness through a special animation technique gives an insight into the lives of children with disabilities.

The films can be individually combined with the films from The Abyss, What If? and Carousel of Emotions.

 

A Body Called Life

James is living a dual life. On the internet, he creates videos about the microscopic world that have tens of thousands of views. But in real life he lives a lonely, self-contained life, trying in vain to cope with the trauma caused by his abusive father in his childhood. So he spends nights going out to collect samples for his experiments, and days lingering over a microscope, isolated from everything around him. Will he ever find his place in the world, or is he doomed to eternal solitude?

 

Swimming With Wings

Chocolate milk. Grandparents and aunt. Beaches and sun. What do the children of immigrants who have come from different parts of the world to Western Europe miss most? The animated document uses real testimonies and combine them with animation depicting children as penguins. By doing so, it presents their everyday problems and allows us to reflect on how the experience of being uprooted from their homeland affects them.

 

On the 8th Day

The creation of the world took seven days. But it only takes one to upset its delicate balance. An animated world woven from colourful threads is thus swallowed up before our eyes by a destructive, all-consuming black thread, through which the film shows what can happen if we break the eternal bonds and let one force overwhelm everything else. 

 

Touching Darkness

Ten-year-old Vítek has extraordinary abilities - he can feel and hear what others cannot. The documentary uses an experiment technique of sand animation to bring the world of a blind boy closer to the audience, raising the question of whether the absence of one of the senses must necessarily be an obstacle.

 

Girls Move Mountains

A seemingly peaceful area in Pakistan, where time passes according to established patterns and customs handed down for generations. But on the football fields, an emancipatory battle is being fought. A tournament is being prepared in which not only female players will stand against each other, but also the idea of gender equality and emancipation against the conservative views of religious leaders.

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