MOVIATE Underground Shorts #1: Cinatura Revisited

MOVIATE UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL 2025

SHORTS COLLECTION #1

80 min | 10 Short Films

featuring a Post-Screening Q&A with filmmakers

“[sun]film” by Derek Taylor, (CT, USA), 3 minutes. - An arrangement of found image sources from the 16th Century onward, the film looks at the changing representations of the giant star at the center of the solar system. From celestial maps to telescopic photos, the film traces the sun as a natural constant, a mirror of human curiosity, and a radiant symbol of mystery.

“Rain” by Vasilios Papaioannu, (DC, USA), 6 minutes. -Rain, as circular shapes of memory imprinted on the fast paced celluloid or as liquid moving sculptures of the present in digital form, documents a verbal interaction between two people.

“It felt like night” by James Hollenbaugh (USA), 2 minutes. The Great North American Eclipse occured on April 8th, 2024. Some things went according to plan. Some did not.

“La Colle Falls” by Mike Rollo, (Canada), 11 minutes. -At the beginning of the 20th century, a hydroelectric dam was partially built and later abandoned on the North Saskatchewan River near the city of Prince Albert. A century has passed and the concrete structures from this industrial folly continue to frame the surrounding river and forest. Through visual and sonic layerings of water, reflective surfaces, and transparency, this film mediates the consequences of colonial activity over time in a specific, ancient place.

“Plastic Aortas” by Malic Amalya (Mass., USA), 9:40, -Plastic Aortas is a portrait of the black plastic encasing the Fells Reservoir in the unceded land of the Massachusett, Pawtucket, and Naumkeag indigenous peoples. The lining was placed there by conservationists in order to mitigate the invasive Common Reed, which is killing native plants. However, the lining also interferes with wildlife and contaminates the water.

“Serene Hues” by Rita Tse (CANADA), 5 minutes. -Serene Hues, hand-processed, solarized, tinted, and toned, is a meditative journey into the tranquility and vibrant beauty of nature. The surprising and unexpected images created through process-driven filmmaking, which is improvisational and interactive, embody the wabi-sabi aesthetic of impermanence, incompleteness, and imperfection, emphasizing the creative process of producing the work.

“Butterfly Maneuvers” by Gor Margaryan, (GERMANY) 7 minutes. -Butterfly Manoeuvres’ is an experimental essay film based on old, private film footage of fighter planes. The film documents the preparations and training for war, recorded as historical evidence.

“Las Animas” by Matt Feldman, (USA), 14 minutes. -

“Burn Ceremony” by Alexander Girav, (Chicago,USA) 17 minutes. -An unsanctioned observation of [redacted]’s largest oil refinery, processing 440,000 barrels of crude oil a day. By night, the complex becomes a heaving edifice of flame and fog. We observe its operation from afar as the inferno slowly engulfs the frame, accompanied by an original hypnotic soundscape by UK club experimentalist Loraine James. A vision of industrial desolation in which dread turns to awe.

“Between the Leaves” by Andrew Frangella. (USA), 3 minutes. -First attempts at engagement with a small forest outside of the office. From strangers to partners, these arboreal visages had been reduced to mere subjects, often looked past.