Soft Magic : 12 Shorts

tickets

​July 9, 2026
​IL KINO • Nansenstraße 22, 12047 Berlin
A program rooted in ritual, folklore, the body, and ancestral memory
(1 hr 49 min)

Amaltaas - املتاس — Xoori K. Sarhadi 
BÁJANJE — Neža Jamnikar
11:11 — Sophia Gordon
The Virgin, the Bitch, the Witch — Anežka Součková
cyclical being — Nele Gehricke, Solveig Weimar
Zaxme — Soore Vahe
Unrooting — Esteban Rosales
Unfortunately_Wonderful_Difficult — Kumar Muniandy, Mădălina Zaharia
Anything, Always — Isabella Dagnino
HOWW TO WAYT — Johanna Winters 
Lukso ng Dugo — Annika Magbanua 
Nacre — Lydia Jenkins 

Amaltaas - املتاس — Xoori K. Sarhadi (Australia)
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Set in a foreign home, a newly married woman drifts through incense smoke, chai rituals, and beauty masks. The echoes of wedding drums, once celebratory, now linger a s haunting reminders of her displacement, silencing her beneath routines of obedience and
appearances.
Through poetic imagery, Amaltaas becomes a portrait of many silenced and erased souls. A beauty mask peeling, eyeliner stinging, bangles shimmering, and a veil tightening around the neck all carry the weight of suffocation.

​Xoori K. Sarhadi is an award-winning Pakistani-Australian filmmaker born in Lahore, Pakistan. Raised in a family deeply connected to film and theatre, she developed an early fascination with storytelling and performance.

Surrounded by the world of cinema from a young age, she spent much of her childhood behind the scenes with her parents, sparking a lifelong connection to film.

She studied documentary filmmaking at RMIT in Melbourne and refined her craft at NYFA in New York. With a background in art, design, psychology, and UX, she brings emotional depth and visual precision to her work.

Her latest film, Amaltaas, is an experimental exploration of ritual, beauty, and domestic confinement, using poetic imagery to reveal the quiet suffocation experienced by women displaced through marriage.

BÁJANJE — Neža Jamnikar (Slovenia)
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BÁJANJE is a short experimental film in which director Neža Jamnikar explores elements of Slovenian folklore through movement and a fantastical tale. The film investigates the intertwined interpretations of motifs drawn from Slovenian folk dances, music, old‑faith (pagan) rituals, and symbols. These are experimentally woven into the physical and conceptual embodiments of the ‘Krivopete’ and ‘Vedomci’ - entities from Slovenian folklore and mythology—and are gradually revealed through the film’s fictional narrative.

​Neža Jamnikar is a freelance artist working at the intersection of dance and film.
As a dancer/choreographer she is deeply invested in creating an embodied archive of knowledge from various (eco) somatic practices and combining those practices with improvisation to develop her movement praxis. Improvisation and instant composition are central to her performance and film work.
Since 2009 she has (co)created, performed in, and collaborated on several feature-length dance projects, dance films and short works with artists and companies in Slovenia, around Europe, Hong Kong and New Zealand, where she also lived and worked between 2018 and 2023. Her two award winning short films ’Love, instantly!’ (2021) and ‘BÁJANJE‘ (2024) have been screened at festivals and venues around the world.
She holds a BA in Dance and Choreography from the Dance Academy Ljubljana (Slovenia, 2014) and an MA in Contemporary Dance Performance from IWAMD, University of Limerick (Ireland, 2016).

11:11 — Sophia Gordon (United States)

​A witch explores synchronicities through a divination ritual. A study on synchronicities and phenomena of high strangeness, "11:11" examines the connections between initiation, ritual, and the universal sequences surrounding us.

​Producing material that pushes the boundaries of technology, Sophia’s work spans a variety of mediums including video, performance, and installation. Over the course of the last 10 years she has developed a style inspired by public access television and lo-fi formats that combine obsolete technology with new media. Her most recent projects have explored concepts of cybernetics, chaos magick, witchcraft, and mental health.

The Virgin, the Bitch, the Witch — Anežka Součková (Czech Republic)

​The Virgin, the Bitch, the Witch (2025) is a surreal feminist experience, a combination of diary-like honest confessions about having fear of aging in a woman's body, emotional storytelling through loosely connected visual chapters, subversive symbolism, humour and music made by the author as an important part of her creative process. The main feeling that is breathing through the scenes is the ambivalence of absurdly comical yet deeply sad reality of navigating the oppressive structures within which we‘re desperately trying to stay forever young, fruitful and useful. 

​Anežka Součková (*1997) is a czech musician and intermedia artist. She studied Faculty of Fine Arts in Brno and Social Anthropology and Media Studies. Her musical solo alterego is anxious millennial and she is 1/3 of The Ovulation, a solar punk grrrlband. Currently she's invested in a new potential of a solidary matriarchy, communal anarchism, decentralization and a more peaceful and just world. A new audiovisual musical project is slowly taking shape; the lore is a playground/workplace for ideas of the better world. Performative layer of reality kind of fascinates Anežka because it shows the ideological structure underneath. 

cyclical being — Nele Gehricke, Solveig Weimar (Germany)

​“cyclical being” is an experimental movement art film that captures the cyclical essence of humanity through the dynamic interplay of dance and music. Four dancers embody the narrator’s monthly rhythm, which unfolds in four phases: the playful lightness of renewal, the ecstatic surge of power, the tender descent into vulnerability, and the transformative release of bleeding. The film leads to a conversation about our own cycle as an expression of life and diversity.

​Solveig Weimar and Nele Gehricke are Berlin-based filmmakers whose work investigates the complexity of human experience through a feminist lens. Together, they create experimental films that challenge norms, embrace diversity, and expand the role of women both behind and in front of the camera. Nele studied film in Berlin and brings extensive experience as a cinematographer and creative producer. Solveig studied design in the Netherlands and works across design, VR, and film to explore new narratives and more diverse ways of seeing, feeling, and being represented on screen.

Zaxme — Soore Vahe (Iran)
​
As the silence of the world envelops her, a single note strikes the strings, initiating a symphony of self-discovery. "Zaxme" narrates the tale of a woman confronting her inner self, embarking on a profound journey ignited by love. A voyage to transcend doubts and uncertainties, ultimately attaining salvation.

​Soore Vahe was born in Tehran. She graduated from theatre at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Tehran University. Her focus was on expressing human emotions through different forms of art. Later, she developed a greater passion for photography and cinema.

Unrooting — Esteban Rosales (Germany/Guatemala)

​The video-poem is a spell that moves through the crevices where words fail and images do not represent reality, but emotions. It is an attempt to contain sorrow, to seal it, and to release it in a way that transforms the feeling. At the same time, it is an offering: a way to collectively share a sense of anguish.

​They are a visual artist based in Berlin, currently studying Art and Media at the Berlin University of the Arts. Their research examines the intersections of environmental and social conflict, with a focus on how technologies function as instruments of control. They explore the entanglement of militaristic, neocolonial, and ecological violence, along with the hidden infrastructures that sustain power.

They also approach these topics on a more somatic, situated, and personal level through video-poems and performance. Working across analog and digital media, they experiment with documentary practices, generative media, found footage, and montage.

Unfortunately_Wonderful_Difficult — Kumar Muniandy, Mădălina Zaharia (Germany/United Kingdom)

​Unfortunately_Wonderful_Difficult follows O in his perpetual attempts of mapping out the various unpredictable actions he instigates inside his ascetic living and studio space. Through this elaborate and ambiguous process, pieces of green tape become the score for a never-ending series of routines and commonplace rituals, slowly revealing the ceremonial patterns behind his everyday life. A cartography of queer desire, ancestral grievances and buried rage is slowly taking over the entire apartment and remodels O's solitude into a restorative routine of dramatic intentions.

Kumar Muniandy is a Tamil-Malaysian actor, writer, and theatre-maker based between London and Berlin. A graduate of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, his work spans theatre, film, and live performance, often exploring themes of identity, migration and queerness.

He has performed in numerous stage productions and short films, and is the creator of the autobiographical documentary Sunny Boy, which has been screened at festivals internationally.

Kumar’s debut solo play, Second Class Queer, will tour the UK in 2025 with performances at Brighton Fringe (May), Camden Fringe (London, July), and Edinburgh Fringe (August), before returning to Germany for a run in Hamburg in October. In November, he will present a new work-in-progress solo play at the Monologfestival at TD Theatre in Berlin.

Mădălina Zaharia is a Romanian visual artist and filmmaker who lives and works in London. She was a 2023 fellow in residence at Akademie Schloss Solitude and her films have been included in the official selection of the BFI London Film Festival, Aesthetica Film Festival (York), Bucharest Experimental Film Festival, Cucalorus, XPOSED Queer Film festival,  Tourne-Films Festival Lausanne and many more.

Recent exhibitions include: Variables as Absence of Uniformity, Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm 2024; I will not be sad in this world, filmlounge 2023, Sehsaal, Vienna; Inventory of the Week, Sala Omnia, The National Center for Dance Bucharest 2023; PULS 22, The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest 2023, Viral self-portraits, Moderna galerija (MG+MSUM), Ljubljana; Art Encounters Biennial 2019, Timisoara; Reading as Rhythm: A Sonic Exploration of the Visual Vocabulary of Control Magazine, Tate Exchange Liverpool (2018).

Anything, Always — Isabella Dagnino (Canada)
​
​In this piece experimental filmmaking is used as a form of storytelling and way of exploring memory, grief and longing for home and kin. "Anything, Always" is a letter to my ancestors both living and past on. What it feels like to move through loss and what it means to find healing.

​ Isabella Dagnino is a lens-based artist based residing on the unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. They received their Bachelor in Fine Arts from the University of the Fraser Valley and their Master in Fine Arts from Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Their art practice is rooted in analog photography as well as analog experimental filmmaking. As someone with Latinx, Indigenous, and Settler ancestry, much of their work examines the experiences shaped by her cultural background and their relationship to place and community.

HOWW TO WAYT — Johanna Winters (United States)

​A puppet-protagonist performs her sensuality for the camera while she waits in a motel room for an encounter with an imagined romantic interest. Through a series of tenderly erotic gestures, she is equal parts pitiful, sexual, and disturbing in her appearance and behavior. This ambiguity invites curiosity about her circumstances, and perhaps we recognize ourselves in this self-conscious being.

Johanna Winters is an interdisciplinary artist and educator whose creative practice spans moving image, puppetry, sculpture, and performance. A 2025 MacDowell Fellow, she has been awarded residencies at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, the Corporation of Yaddo, Vermont Studio Center, and the Women’s Studio Workshop residency in Malmö, Sweden. Her work has been exhibited, screened, and performed widely, including at the 63rd Ann Arbor Film Festival (Ann Arbor, MI); the Jumping Frames International Movement-Image Festival (Hong Kong); the Wide Open Experimental Film Festival (Oklahoma City, OK); and the Open Air Media Festival (Iowa City, IA).

Lukso ng Dugo — Annika Magbanua (United States)

​"Lukso ng Dugo" is a 2D animated short film about Mae, a Filipino girl who takes a stand against the cycles of abuse in her family. As Mae and her mother prepare for dinner, she senses a mysterious presence lingering outside of her home. Tensions rise during dinner when Mae’s father lashes out, pushing her to do something she’s never done before: stand up to her father. With the unexpected help of a monster inspired by Filipino folklore, Mae and her mother confront their fears and begin a journey towards healing.

Annika Magbanua is a passionate Filipina-American multi-disciplinary artist and filmmaker based in Southern California. With a rich background in animation, design, illustration, and fine arts, she thrives on cross-pollinating her skills to create work that pushes conceptual, narrative, and technical boundaries. Her short film and directorial debut, Lukso ng Dugo (2025), made its festival premiere at the 2025 FilAm Creative Film Festival, where it won the Best Animated Film award. Since then, her film has had international screenings including GRRL HAUS CINEMA’s Halloween Horror Shorts 2025 in Berlin and CAAMFest 2026 in San Francisco, with additional festival selections forthcoming. Deeply inspired by her culture, lived experiences, and personal interests, Annika’s creative practice is rooted in her desire to empower, inspire, and foster connection through every project. 

Nacre — Lydia Jenkins (United Kingdom)

​Set in the 13th century, Fishwife follows Maggie who has been left on the rocks as a sacrifice for a Sea Monster. 

Maggie appears to be a shy, obedient woman who believes she is performing her duty to her people. As she begs for death on the shore, Maggie confesses why she volunteered herself as a sacrifice. 

Lydia Jenkins is a Cornwall-based writer-director whose work focuses on female perspectives. Her previous work has been award-nominated in nationally accredited festivals.