Hello everybody, good evening and welcome to the opening night of the 8th Linz International Short Film Festival 2025. Yes, hello and thank you very much. It's going to be a celebration of global storytelling throughout the powerful lens of cinema. I am Michaela Schausberger. I'm an Austrian actress and I'm going to be your host for this evening and also for the award ceremony on Saturday. today and my first task is already to ask you kindly to switch off your mobiles or even put it in flight mode because we are broadcasting live from Dorf TV. Please a big applause for Dorf TV as well. Thank you. And they asked us to set it on flight mode or even turn it off so that there are no interruptions while they are broadcasting. So, over the next four days, we will experience powerful short films selected from an enormous amount of 3,500 submissions from 140 countries. submissions from 140 countries. Each of these 70 films in competitions offer a unique perspective, stories of courage, identity, love, loss and transformation. Film festivals are more than screenings. They are spaces of exchange, curiosity and inspiration. And the Linz ISFF has become a place where art and activism meet, where cinema opens our eyes to diversity and solidarity. Please applaud for this. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. So, tonight we celebrate the filmmakers, the artists and audience who make this festival a living dialogue between cultures. And now to loosen up the ceremony a little bit, there is not going to be a lot of speeches tonight, just from me and Parisa. Ashkan, also a co-founder of this festival, asked me if I could do some, I don't know, something improvisational, just to loosen up the party a bit. And I thought about black and white. I am an actress and I always have to think about if I do some kind of hosting or go in, I don't know, some premiere partying, opening night, whatever, what I have to wear, what I am going to dress. And tonight I decided for black and white. Black and white always fits. And then I thought about film. And then I thought, okay, what was the beginning of film? It started all in black and white. So as there are a lot of filmmakers in here tonight, is there anybody who already did a film in black and white or played in a film in black and white? Is there somebody? And now it's the time for participation. Okay, here we had already one. Is there somebody else? Sorry, I can see. Okay, cool. Is anybody now open to share some stories with us? Why did you decide to do it in black and white? What was your thoughts about this? Was it some kind of appreciation of the former times? What was it? Anybody? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Come on, please. Yeah. Come on on stage, please. Thank you very much. Yes. Improvisation is the best part of acting and also filmmaking, as many of you noticed already. Okay, so please introduce yourself and tell us something about that. Is that okay for you? Hi everyone, my name is Kostya Karakushan. I'm a director and choreographer from Bulgaria. I'm here as part of the pitching and one of my projects was a dance film where we wanted this very nostalgic quality like the movement was very old-timey so it was a very natural decision to go for black and white and to really have this texture and to make it as a homage to cinema in the past thank you and i got another question for you. Please, come on. Yeah, of course, not just one question. And did you also shoot then on film or did you do it the digital way? Sadly, this one was digital and then we added a lot of posts to make it look nice. But hopefully next time, you know, with more budget. Okay, cool. Thank you very much. Thank you for sharing. Very good. Okay, so yeah. And as I was talking about like clothes and dressing already, then I realized, okay, so I'm not just black and white dressed. then I realized, okay, so I'm not just black and white dressed. It is also like this t-shirt I'm wearing today. It is a brand which was invented for a series in which I played. So this is not a real brand that exists. It was invented. And I really loved the spelling and pronunciation of Kowatze which sounds like some Japanese I don't know digital how do you call like television whatever they are doing and now my next question to the audience is is there somebody in here or many of you who is wearing or carrying something that you got from a film, like from the film set that you are just now in possession of? Anything, clothes or bags or I don't know, patches, whatever, in some project you were in? Is there somebody? checked you were in? Is there somebody? Yes. Okay. Ah, I can. Lena, it is you. Okay. I remember some people. Perfect. Yeah. Who's, yeah. Who's the one to share something with us? Come on. Yeah. Perfect. Come on stage, please. Thank you. I give you your own microphone. Okay, please introduce yourself. Does it work? Yeah. My name is Kelment Karouni, and I'm a filmmaker. And I'm a bit ashamed to tell you that I've stolen so many costumes. This was a present. I did not steal. I didn't steal it, but the costume department are my friends always i worked a lot as a first ad so it was an exchange so i have plenty of clothes from all the films i've worked oh perfect it's good okay very good and do you wear something or do you know no no no no i'm not okay cool thank you very much. So, yeah, black and white. It started with that. But then it went more and more into these colorful films. And this is also what this festival is about. It is a very colorful and diverse festival. And that's why we appreciate the black and white, but we also honor the colorful and diverse people and filmmakers. Please, big applause for all of them. So, now we continue with the normal part. Improvisation is over. Or kind of, you never know. So, in the past years, we've had the honor of welcoming many distinguished guests from the cultural and political spheres to speak out here at the opening ceremony, including representatives from the city of Linz, the state of Upper Austria, the University of Art and Design Linz, the WKO and other key institutions. This year, unfortunately, many of them are unable to join us in person. However, one of them kindly sent us some written greetings and I will just read them out to you shortly. You will also find some additional messages in the festival catalogue you already got, I think. And there is some statements from Austria's Vice-Chancellor Andreas Babler, also Brigitte Hütter, she's the Rector of the University of Art Linz, and many others who continue to support the festival in this mission. And we are very pleased to say hello to Gerda Forstner. She's with us tonight representing the city of Linz. Thank you for being here. She's not coming up on stage tonight because she just had another event and she's not able to speak anymore or she doesn't want to speak right now. But please give her a big applause and thank you for being here tonight. Thank you. And now I will read the message of Jörg Paffenzeller. He's the chair of the music and film industry in Upper Austria, WKO Oberösterreich. Dear ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues, dear film festival team. Once again, it is impressive to see how much passion and creativity this festival has achieved. The International Short Film Festival Linz gives young filmmakers an important stage and makes their work visible to a worldwide audience. an important stage and makes their work visible to a worldwide audience. For the film and music industry in Upper Austria, this is a matter of great importance and deserves our full support. Particularly noteworthy is the diversity that can be felt in the films as well as throughout the festival. It creates a space for exchange, encounters and inspiration. Moreover, the festival brings international talents to Linz and strengthens our city as a cultural and film hub. We warmly thank the entire team for their dedication and wish you a successful and inspiring Festival Week. Thank you, Jörg Paffenzeller. And as Jörg Paffenzeller already mentioned, we have now our co-host and co-founder of the Linz International Festival, Parisa Hasemi. Please come on stage. Yes. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Do you want the red or the blue one? Thank you. So, good evening, everyone. Thank you, Michele, also for the improvisation. It was really great. I'm really happy to welcome all of you here tonight for the eighth edition of the Linz International Short Film Festival. I would read a short statement that I've written for today. Every narration is a bridge from one life to another, from one struggle to the next. In times of rising racism, misogyny, and fascism, films cross borders, open perspectives, and confront the systems that profit from our division. In this climate, cinema becomes more than art. It becomes resistance, memory, and a call to justice. From the very beginning, our vision has been simple yet powerful to create a space for cultural dialogue, diversity, and solidarity. Our festival is a window to the world with voices from every continent making diversity and solidarity visible. The film that we will present this year explores urgent themes from displacement and war to queer identities and the feminist perspectives from the climate crisis to intimate stories of family, love, and memory. Short films strip away illusion and bring us face to face with realities that dominant narratives would prefer we forget. They amplify queer, feminist, and decolonial perspectives. They remind us that creativity can be a weapon against despair and that solidarity is not an abstract idea but a practice we build together. Thank you. Thank you. You're okay, Parisa? Yeah, I got a little bit emotional. Yeah, that's good. It's your festival. Co-director of the festival Parisa Khaseimi. Thank you. You will hear from her throughout the whole festival. You will see her every time. She's also going to do the Q&A afterwards, the screenings. And yeah, now I think it's time already to welcome our esteemed jury members here on stage. We are truly honored to have two of them with us this year, bringing their insight, passion and experience to the difficult task of selecting our winners. Unfortunately, Bojana Breger is unable to join us in person due to a minor accident. We send her our warmest wishes for a speedy recovery and thank her for continuing to support the festival from afar. The Turies had their meeting already online to decide about the winners of this year's festival, which will be announced then in the awards ceremony here in the City Kino on the 11th of October at 8.30 p.m. And I also will host this then, and the jury will announce the winners then on Saturday. But now we can welcome Sophia Hochidlinger and Piroj Nemati. Thank you. They already know their part. Hi. Hi. Okay. Yeah, you will get a microphone as well. I just say a few words about you if that is okay for you. Her short films have been shown at film festivals around the world. She studies art and media at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and is co-director of Yuki International Youth Media Festival. Please, a big applause for Sophia Hoch-Edlinger. And Piros Nematiati is spelling correct? Yeah, pronounce Pirous. I'm sorry. Okay, very good. Pirous Nemati is an Iranian-Canadian actor, filmmaker, and writer based in Montreal, best known for co-writing and starring in Universal Language 2024. Okay, yeah. Which won the Cannes Director's Fortnite Audience Award and was Canada's official Oscar submission. Yeah, congrats to that and big applause. So perfect, yeah. And some words about the third jury member. Bojana Bregar is a Slovenian film critic, writer and curator, active in the European short film scene for over a decade. She's a member of the Vienna Shorts programming team, co-founder of the Kraken Short Film Society and a contributor to Ekran magazine. Also a big applause for the absent Bojana Brega. Thank you very much. So, dear Tury members, would you like to say a few words about how was then the process of watching all these films and then you also have to select some winners. Can you tell us some words about that? You can get my microphone as well. Yes, I mean, it was, of course, a very hard decision to make as it is at a festival like this with so many great films. It was a bit unusual to watch them at home before the festival because normally or more often you're at the festival watching the films and then deciding but we had pretty long discussions I would say because we had to make a lot of hard decisions a lot of prizes to give away but I think now we're pretty confident with our decision what what do you say yeah um yeah hi guys uh i mean i'm excited for you to see all the films uh it was such a wonderful program um paris and ashkahn did and very diverse very uh sorry um very diverse uh films i mean it was amazing for me to watch them from so many different parts of the world and so many different stories and so unique and yeah we are excited to share it with you and to also watch it on the big screen with you Thank you very much. I think you can take a seat again if you want or if you want to join us here. Thank you very much. Awachori for this year. Parisa, your turn again. I would now a little bit explain about our program what we're going to have next days. We are very proud to continue our collaboration with the Women's Office of the City of Linz. We had this, like, founded this third Queer Feminist Day, the Queer Feminist Day, which is the third edition this year. the queer feminist day which is the third edition this year and this was like kind of a pushing like the time was there we didn't decide to make a day about these films but because we received so many great films with these issues and we personally think that this is really important nowadays and so we decided to have this Queer Feminist Day and tomorrow we will also have a panel discussion at 1pm where we will discuss what is feminist cinema and what we are meaning when we are talking about feminist perspectives in film and there will be also the representative of women office of the city of the city lens and also the rainbow city here like it's not here, it's at the Art University, the event. And we will show about, it's four curated programs, about 20 short films will be tomorrow in this program. And the next special program that we have, we had it also last year, but this year is really special. Besides the festival, we created the Film Talent Academy in 2022. And it becomes really, like, growing really fast. And in this Film Talent Academy, we have some mentoring program, a short film lab and a first feature lab where the filmmakers can develop their next film project. And we have some online mentoring program, pitch session here in Linz. And at the end of the program, they will pitch their project in Cannes Film Festival, where we have an official collaboration with the Short Film Corner, Industrial Rendezvous of Festival de Cannes. And now, yeah yeah we see also our mentors and they they had some men like some master class some feedback session some one by one session with these mentors and they are really great international industry members. And what is important to say now about this program is that we have filmmakers from our last year program. They will pitch their project on Saturday and they will compete for a co-production fund and we have also short filmmakers from this year's Film Talent Academy Short Film Lab and First Feature Lab here with us. We had a little bit kind of new like we did a two-phase a little bit kind of new, like we did a two-phase edition this year for Film Talent Academy, and because of that, there are still the one from last year here with us, and the new one which starts here with us in Linz with their pitch session, and then we'll pitch the project in Cannes. The selected group of these filmmakers who will pitch on Saturday, then we'll pitch the project in Cannes. Yeah, this is a really important part of our program this year. It will be great if you join us for this pitching session which is on Friday at 11 and at 1 there will be two pitch sessions of the filmmakers from Short Film Lab and then on Saturday one pitch session by First Feature Lab and then from Short Film Lab of the recent one the recent edition. It is their final pitch for co-production fund. And I would like also to invite you on the stage, the short, like the talents. Yeah, so I would welcome filmmakers from the Short Film lab 25 and to the stage so you can see them you can introduce yourself and then we will invite you to their pitch afterwards please come to the stage masha vhs love anastasia greg sarah and mickey's Vyacheslav, Anastasia, Greg, Sarah, and Mikis. So you can please introduce yourself and tell a little bit about the program we had because you are somehow at the really final stage of the program if you like to tell something please about the program yeah uh hi yeah my name is and i'm a filmmaker from ukraine uh i'm developing my project i think for one i have been developing my project for one year and during clean silence lab we had great sessions with mentors in distribution in script development and I think that now we will have with Martina some preparation with Martina Petrovich some preparations about pitching it was great I love Lins I was here last year and I love everybody organizers and very familiar faces here so I think and I'm sure that we will have great time this year too. Perfect. Maybe we like this one. Would you like to say something? No. Hello, my name is Anastasia Pashchenko. I'm also from Ukraine based in Prague right now. It's my first Prague right now it's my first talented program and it's my first project where I start development from the proper way and I think for me is the most useful in this program it was visiting it's really cool and very useful time and I made a lot of good contacts. Hi, I'm Sara Jurincic, a filmmaker from Croatia based in Copenhagen. And I'm here with my new short that is now having the final pitch. And I think for me, from the lab like the most enriching was actually to hang out with the team and participants I think I made a lot of new friends here and we started to develop projects together really like in depth talking about them not just doing it because of the lab but really like I know details about all of the projects involved and it really made me think deeper about the way I direct and think about scripts. And of course, amazing mentors. I'm still having some echo from Arash's lecture that is still like, it made some crucial steps for me in my both feature and the short development. So thank you for that, Parif. Hi, my name is Greg Randolph. I'm from Boston in the US. I'm currently living in London. I just recently graduated the London Film School. My short film is called The Sky Doesn't Grieve Over Its Fallen Stars. It's a surreal drama about a struggling actress who goes on a metaphysical car ride. And yeah, this lab has been absolutely amazing. I mean, to go to Cannes and to meet all these fine people from all over the world and learn a little bit about thermal filmmaking and potentially pitch my own film has been one of the highlights of my career so far. So I'm just super excited to be here and to pitch and tell you more about my film. Thank you. Hello, everybody. I'm Mikias Kiros. Like Vyacheslav, I was also here last year with the film, and I'm back here to pitch my film, Tamar Lige. And this program, honestly honestly to be honest was amazing my film I don't think would be where it was without this program just because it was so intensive and we learned a lot as well as traveling to Cannes together as a group and spending time just immersed in cinema it was an amazing experience so if you're thinking about it definitely do it it's amazing applause applause applause about it, definitely do it. It's amazing. Thank you very much. Thank you for joining us here on stage. Perfect. Some like income was perfect. Yeah. Thank you. So I would then invite the next group of short film makers. income is perfect thank you so I would then invite the next group of short film makers who are in the short film lab 25, 26 to the stage so you see them and then to encourage you to also join their session their pitch session please welcome all the filmmakers Pablo Dimitra Shada Eva Maria Roman and read Lisa Katerina Valter Cynthia Oh Dipansha, EJ and Nurlan. Okay. Please come a bit over. Yeah, you can come a bit tighter. And try that the light can still see you so that you're in the broadcast as well. That's what I really learned being in front of the camera. Always search the light. So it would be great if you also could tell your name and where are you from and tell a little bit if you want. Till now, they had like some master classes before and they have their initial pitch session here in Linz and then we will have in-depth master class and mentoring program after the festival in the next stage then so please go on just come a bit into the middle that's all right yes everyone. My name is Saeed Munawi. I'm from Malaysia, but I'm currently based in Paris. I'm here in the short film lab, which will be my third short film. And I'm excited to develop this project here in Linz. This is the first lab that I joined with this short film. So I look forward to it for the pitch. Thank you. in Linz. This is the first lab that I joined with this short film, so I look forward to it for the pitch. Thank you. We still continue. Thank you. My name is Liza Chakanova. I'm from Belarus, now based in Prague, and I'm here to pitch my graduation short horror film. And the last two months of online meetings were very intense, full of new knowledge. But I hope that right now, finally, I can meet the people behind the avatars in Zoom. And yeah, I can't wait to get to know you guys. Thank you. Hi, my name is Pablo Saura. I'm a Spanish-born filmmaker living in London. This is my first development program, and I'm bringing what will be my second show to this program. I heard about this program from a previous participant, so I'm really excited to see what it has to offer and, yeah, for the chance to pitch my project hi hello I'm Shada Sheikha I'm originally from Iran but currently based in Prague and I'm here to pitch my short film empty house and I'm here to pitch my short film, Empty House. And I'm excited also to hear about all the other pitches as well. And as Lisa said, to see everyone in person. Thank you. I'm okay here? Hello. I'm Matheus Malburgi. I'm from Brazil. My film is about flannelinhas. it's a car garage in Brazil. And I'm very glad to be here, and thanks for all the organizers of the festival. Hello, I'm Dimitra Petmezat, I'm based in Athens, Greece, and I'm Dimitra Patmezat I'm based in Athens, Greece and I'm from Greece and yes this is my third short film but the previous ones were super low budget so this is the first time I'm trying to actually get funding and develop for a longer period so I'm excited and I can't wait to get to know all the projects better. Thank you. Hello, everyone. My name is Dipanchu. I'm from India. The project I'm developing is called Shinko at 21. It will be my third short film and this is the first time I'm at a European development program. So I'm really looking forward to it. Thank you. Hi, everyone. My name is Kateryna Paida. I'm a filmmaker from Kyiv, Ukraine. I'm here to not only pitch a new film, I'm just curious about how it will be, everything, all this festival. So I'm really happy to be here. Thank you. I'm sorry to interrupt. Is there any alarm going on right now from a mobile phone or something like that? Does somebody recognize this melody? Yes, you do do do you want to just switch it off maybe ah no it's not you okay okay now please if possible just turn it off we don't need this music now in the back okay thank you very much i'm sorry hi everyone i didn't hear the melody at all. Please stay quiet for a second. Oh, you know where it comes from. It's great background, though. So we can keep it. Hi, everyone. My name is Cynthia. I'm based in the U.S., but my family is from China. I'm here to pitch a short called A Funeral Procession of Fireflies, which is a magical realist ghost story. But I'm really excited to see everyone here because I think I've only seen like parts of their heads on Zoom. So it kind of felt like they were spirits and ghosts too. So yeah, very excited for this program. Thank you. Hello, I am Nurlan Sanli. I'm a filmmaker from Azerbaijan. I'm here to present my short fiction film, Greengrass. It's a bittersweet black comedy film about migration. If you want to learn more about it, you can come pitching. And here I am to learn a bit more about this project and also watch films that I already seen these names from other festivals and it's really lucky us that we can watch here thank you very much I'm going to go there. Hello, everyone. My name is EJ. I'm from the Philippines. So I'm from the other side of the world. So I'm really excited to create a dialogue and learn with my fellow talents here. So bye. Hello, I'm Maria Folenko I'm Ukrainian filmmaker, currently based in Prague I'm here for the second time because last year I was here with my short film and I really like this festival because of the cozy atmosphere and it's really good networking and it was already really good networking when we were together during online session and I'm just excited what will be next. And here now I'm for short film lab. Thank you. Hello, I'm Eva Sayanova from Slovakia, from Bratislava. And I will be pitching here my graduation weird film. It's called She Just Walked Into The Room. And she doesn't know why she did it. And that's it. Thank you. I'm excited to be here and to meet you all. Hello, my name is Andres Aroli. I'm a filmmaker born and raised in Kosovo. I'm here to pitch my second short narrative film. I'm very excited to meet everyone finally in person. I'm very excited to pitch and hear everyone's pitches this year. Thank you. Hi, my name is Gabriel. I am from Uganda, born and raised, but I currently live in Toronto, Canada. I came to the festival to picture my initial film called Zona Neda about Afro-Syriza. I would want to welcome you to Africa Wonder when the film is done. Thank you so much. so hello everyone my name is Roman Pivovarnik I'm from Slovakia living in Slovakia in Bratislava and pitching here my third short film and it's called No Filter it's a hybrid film and I'll be happy to see you at the pitch and I will be happy to watch your pitches and your films. And to talk to you more about all of these films and pitches. Thank you. I don't like to take the center, so I'm going to go here again in the corner. But search the light. Yes, the projector light or the light. First of all, I need to thank everybody for being here especially to my colleagues from the talent lab and also to the audience because i came here with the purpose to share a story with you which eventually will come as a graduation project for my school family my name is also alexandrovitz i forgot to say my name i'm from romania and i'm currently based in prague as some of my colleagues here we share the same residency basically prague is the new hub of artistic creative expansion from what i see and i'm really looking forward to speak with everyone thank you very much thank you very much and uh yeah you can take a seat now if you want. Thank you very much for sharing. Thank you. So thank you, everyone. It's really nice to see all of you here in person. Now we have another round of filmmakers. First feature lab I would invite you also to the stand please join us in the stage Anastasia and Bika Milda Fay Kelvin Costa Murat the shawl Marco Abdullah Shawang is not here with us unfortunately okay do you know what you want to talk about? usually yeah you just do improvisation you know it's a script of is a bit of improvisation so hello everyone the light is really strong one and uh marco i'm from italy i currently based in prague like everyone here i suppose and uh so it is the first time actually to pitch something that is not to my cat so I'm really curious it's gonna be for my first feature film is called a pixel and it's about identity and body more information and just this for now so thank you everybody everybody and super excited hi my name is Murat Vargelci. I'm originally from Turkey, living in New York. I'm here to pitch my first debut feature film. Before Summer, it's a coming-of-age story. I'm really excited to meet all the other Talent Lab participants, and this is going to be a great adventure. Great. Hello, everyone everyone again. I'm Kostya Karekashan, not from Prague for now. I'm living in Bulgaria and I'm pitching my debut feature film called July Morning. It's a queer love story but it's set in this ritual that we have in Bulgaria to go to the seaside on the first day of July and watch the sunrise so it's very poetic you should try it and I'm really excited to meet everyone every time I participate in a development lab I always meet a few people that kind of change the trajectory of what I'm doing. Someone who is maybe one step ahead or someone that needs your advice. So you end up really changing as a filmmaker, as a person. So I'm really excited to be on this journey with all of you. Hi everyone, my name is Fei I'm originally from China and now I'm living in the UK this is also my first time to really pitch formally in front of audience it's a feature project and it's a coming-of-age story of a Chinese girl fleeing to the UK that's it and it's a coming-of-age story of a Chinese girl fleeing to the UK. Yeah, that's it. Hi, everyone. My name is Ambika Voss. I am originally from India and I am based in Vancouver now. And I am excited to meet everyone at a time zone where it's not, I've been the last person in all the sessions because I'm in Vancouver. So it's been six in the morning for me. So I'm excited to meet everyone at a time where I'm awake, even though I'm jet lagged. And I'm pitching my first feature film, which is called The Edge. And it's a comedy drama about a party where everything goes wrong. If you want to know more, come to our pitch session. Thank you. Hello, everybody. My name is Abdullah Harun Ilhan. I'm from Turkey. And I'm here with my first feature film as well. The name of the film is But I Didn't Mean to Forget You. It's great to be here. Thanks for coming here. And I hope that we're going to have some good time. We're going to learn a lot and we're going to hear some good stories. Thank you again. Hi, everyone. My name is Michael Müller. I'm an Austrian filmmaker. And I'm here with my first feature as well. It's a coming-of-age music drama called Heavenly Crush. And yeah, very happy to be here with such a passionate international crowd of filmmakers. Yeah, really looking forward to everything to come. So thank you. Hi, I'm Milda. I'm from Lithuania originally, but I live in UK, in Manchester. I want to thank Parisa and the team for organizing this. I think in the age of AI, we really need more in-person activity and events like this. And it's a lot easier to just not do an event so I'm always very grateful for anyone who organized these amazing things for us filmmakers to do and yeah I'm here pitching my first feature film my films always have kids and teenagers in so if you like a coming-of-age story, please come and support. Hello again, my name is Kelman Karouni, and other than stealing costumes, I am a film director and writer, and I'm here at Linz with my debut feature, a drama called Lule Bore, The Snow Flower. I come from Albania in Canada, and I'm looking forward to the pitch and to mingle and know everybody. Thank you for being here. Thank you all for being here. Thank you very much. Thank you, thank you very much thank you thank you it's really amazing to see all of you here I think I will now go yeah yes well you can after the film I would join you again for the for a short Q&A with the filmmakers absolutely thank you Parisa for the moment thank you very much and a festival like this is nothing without partners and sponsors and so I will read it out to you and you're going to see it on the screen as well. But it's very important. And as one of the filmmakers just said, it is also very important to have festivals live on stage like where you can meet directly in persona. And yeah, to make this happen, there we need some partners and sponsors. In Persona. Stadt Linz Direktförderung, VDFS, Verwertungsgesellschaft der Filmschaffenden Österreich, Frauenbüro der Stadt Linz, WKÖ, Film- und Musikwirtschaft, Linz Tourismus. Big applause for the partners and patrons, please. We also have some award sponsors and the sponsors of the awards are ADA, Austrian Directors Association, Ambient Recording, VDFS, EPD Film and Kolik Film. Applause for them, please. Our media partners are Creative Austria, Dorf TV, EPD Films, InfoScreen, Kolik Film, Dot Magazine, Radio Fro, Subtext, Linz Tourismus. Also applause. Thank you. Then we have also some program partners. This is the Frauenbüro der Stadt Linz, SFC, Rendezvous Industry of Festival Drökan. Welcome and thank you. Then we have some event and cooperation partners. This is 4U Card, City Kino, in which we are right now, City Hotel and the Dome Hotel, Creative Europe Media Deskino, in which we are right now, Cityhotel and the Dome Hotel, Creative Europe Media Desk Croatia, Initiative Film, Kupf Oberösterreich, Festivalscope Pro, Festival of Nations, FON, Lentos Kunstmuseum, Light Sun, Also ein großer Applaus für sie, bitte. Vielen Dank. Vielen Dank. Und dann haben wir einige kommende Sponsoren. Und das sind Global Print, Freistetter, Front Food, Macava and Beta Cola. Thank you very much. So, and now it is my great pleasure to officially open this year's festival with a special screening of Mayonnaise by Giulia Grandinetti. She's the winner of the Queer Feminist Award Masa Masa Gina Amini Grant 2023. Her film won many prizes already throughout the Grand Turi Prize of the Brussels Film Festival. And now the film is submitted for the Oscar Academy. And they just started with the Oscar campaign. And that's why Giulia Grandinetti cannot be here this year. But give her a big applause for Afar. Thank you very much. This film is not running in the competition, but it's going to be the opening film this evening. And then alongside a strong selection of works developed with the Film Talent Academy, which are part of our official competition. And the films are called SOS, Fiber, No One Will Ever Know and Herst and we're going to watch them. And Parisa is going to do the Q&A then afterwards. But before we start the screening, I just have to tell you what's happening afterwards. Because afterwards, please join us at the Festival Center at the University of Art and Design Linz, where we will continue this evening with a buffet, a meet and greet, photo call with the filmmakers and the opening party to celebrate the start of this exciting Film festival week. In three out of four nights after the film screenings, the Festival Center transforms into our Festival Nightclub, where we gather with music and celebrate together. Just note, on Thursday, there will be no nightline, and the Festival Center will close after the final screening. But then today, on Friday and on Saturday, the party will go on over there. And yeah, I think, I don't know, one last thing about the award ceremony. The award ceremony is going to take place at the City Cinema, well, this City Kino on October the 11th at 8.30pm. As we celebrate outstanding talent by awarding 11 prizes to the filmmakers and their projects in this year's official competition. Handpicked by our esteemed jury that you already got to know. And the prizes will be Best Acting Best Austrian Film and Best Queer Feminist Film Masha Gina Amini Award yeah so this is gonna happen on Saturday but tonight we're gonna watch the films and so let's officially open the Linz International Short Film Festival 2024. 25! I'm sorry. Thank you very much. Yes.