1953 :: Vesper International Film Festival

[Thaumantica]

V
VESPER
1953
:: International Film Festival ::
Held from February 12th through February 17th
Open to All Filmmakers & Cinema Ministries

​

Mission Statement: to expose and promote cinematic experiences to the Cantigian audience and the European world. Vesper international film festival values free speech & art; we are obligated not to censor, edit, or otherwise alter official entries.

Award Categories: Voyager Award (Best Picture) ; Public Opinion Prize (Best Picture Determined by Guests) ; Feature Documentary ; Feature Animation ; Feature Short Film ; Best Actor ; Best Actress


Entry Submission Template:

FEATURE TITLE
Eastern Promise

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Peter Chetwynd

FEATURE CAST
Nayumi Mizuno, Charles Bishop

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
Cantigian Doctor Martin Downes (Charles Bishop) abandons his home, wealth, and privilege to start a medical practice in Post-Delegationist Touzen. An outsider and social misfit herself, Etsu Hosokawa (Nayumi Mizuno) of Nokanawa, embraces the young doctor and begins to break down the prejudices and political reservations that he was raised with.

OOC: 1952/2012's film festival was a great success, with scores of submissions and interaction, so I hope we can get that magic back again this year.

You must be registered for see links

​

 

[Thaumantica]

Film submissions from the Covenant of Cantignia:


FEATURE TITLE
Eastern Promise

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Peter Chetwynd

FEATURE CAST
Charles Bishop, Nayumi Mizuno

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
Cantigian Doctor Martin Downes (Charles Bishop) abandons his home, wealth, and privilege to start a medical practice in Post-Delegationist

You must be registered for see links

. An outsider and social misfit herself, Etsu Hosokawa (Nayumi Mizuno) of Nokanawa, embraces the young doctor and begins to break down the prejudices and political reservations that he was raised with.

FEATURE TITLE
One World, One Flag

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Matthew Afimov

FEATURE CAST
Red Flag Cazma players and staff

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
This documentary showcases 1952's One World Series of Football as seen through the eyes and ears of Red Flag Cazma of Carentania, the ultimate champions of a twenty team and nation series that captivated the world in Vesper venues.


FEATURE TITLE
Victoria's Tumble Down

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Alva Neighton

FEATURE CAST
Vivian Davison (Voice), Edmund Steyde (Voice)

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
This Animated Feature tells the tale young Victoria Tuttle, an Engellexic girl who shears off her hair and is confused for a young boy in 17th century Dulwich as the Empire colonizes and expands. Forced to become a shiphand, Victoria joins the crew of one of the first ships to make the journey to Cantignia and the Crimson Islands.


FEATURE TITLE
Feverish

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Samuel Valentine

FEATURE CAST
Roger Monteith, Reginald Black

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
This Short Film re-creates the controversy and worldwide media meltdown that preceded Nathaniel Stalworth and Torel Green's heavyweight championship boxing match.
​

 

[Ashkelon]

Film Submissions From the Mezhist Union:

FEATURE TITLE
Saint by the Sea

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Amadei Baginsky

FEATURE CAST
Lidia Kalinska, Drugi Pollack

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
Nadzieja (Kalinska) is a faith healer living in a rural fishing village along the Upper Swieczieman coast, where she is revered by the locals as a living saint. Word of the miracles she performs reaches the academic elite of Giecz, and they send sceptical physician Jarek Radtkeski (Pollack) to test her alleged gift. Things reach a head when Radtkeski returns with the most startling conclusion that the rumours are true, and convincing evidence to back it up, in the form of Nadzieja herself, with her demonstrable gift. The film examines the treatment of the supernatural in today's increasingly naturalistic world.



FEATURE TITLE
In the Shadows of a Blue Midnight

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Lew Krasicki

FEATURE CAST
Lucasz Eile (Presenter)

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
This documentary is an expose revealing a steadily growing corruption in the Malekmiejskie Police Authority that is directly responsible for the rising rates of juvenile kidnap and rape cases in the heart of the Sarmatian Aerospace Industry's capital. The lead researcher and presenter is currently in the FBS's protective custody, due to death threats received in the mail shortly after the conclusion of filming.



FEATURE TITLE
I, Princess

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Wit Duzynski

FEATURE CAST
Ruta Patryka (Voice), Ivar Lundgaard (Voice), Karol Witwicki (Voice)

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
It's 1547, and 16-year-old Princess Liljana (Patryka) has just been informed by her father that she must choose a husband from the many noble suitors who have come to woo her. Now, she must resolve a quickly escalating competition between the two most promising candidates, the Danish Margrave Haldor of Roskilde (Lundgaard), and the Duke Mateusz of Jastrowie (Witwicki), to decide who should be worthy enough to have her hand in marriage. Made by animation pioneer Wit Duzynski, this Animated Feature is a musical romantic comedy based on the eponymous memoir of Cesarzowa Liljana the Great, one of the most influential rulers of the Bogumierzic Dynasty.



FEATURE TITLE
That Silent Creeping

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Mierzger Kormąż

FEATURE CAST
Dominik Suidek

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
Adapted from one of horror author H.F. Ludgrakch's short stories, this Short Film focuses on Lower Swieczieman archaeologist Gustaw Cielsa (Suidek), who after an unpleasant expedition to some ruins in the Jurzan, starts to have visceral nightmares about a soundless inhuman entity haunting the basement of his small rural house. As the nightmares grow more vivid and objects in his basement collection start disappearing, Gustaw begins to suspect that there really might just be something quietly lurking in the depths right under his feet.

 

[Hanseatic Republics]

Film submissions from the Kingdom of Østveg

FEATURE TITLE
Begynner livet igjen (Starting life again)

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Anders Stengren

FEATURE CAST
Johan Solstad, Annika Øverli, Bjørn Halvorsen

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
A middle aged man finds himself awake in a hospital unsure of how he got there. With no identification and no ability to pay for his hospital bills, he flees the hospital and seeks a new life in outskirts of Jorvik. With no name, no memory and no where to go, he lives in an old abandoned shipyard with the help of an impoverished family, as he seeks a new future for himself, while is old life starts to return to him.


FEATURE TITLE
En stor vestlig vind (A great western wind)

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Kim Havnevik

FEATURE CAST
Erik Rommedahl, Arve Kittelsen, Rebecka Skredsvig

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
A band of medieval Vikings journey eastward into Montelimar where they search to discover a meaning to life and what honor should really mean to them. Stealing the riches of the churches and kings that they pillage, they enjoy great fame, but no happiness. Finding the local culture interesting they decide to make themselves a new home, but quickly discover their reputation proceeds them and they cannot truly find themselves any true meaning to life without first putting blood on their hands.

 

[Potenza]

FEATURE TITLE
Dosvedanya

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Angelo Santino

FEATURE CAST
Pink Flamingo (voices)

FEATURE DESCRIPTION
From the creator of "The Bad Men from the Sky" comes another Potenzan animated feature done in cooperation with the popular Potenzan band Pink Flamingo. Famous for their music, which is a mix of jazz and lounge singing, it features some of their hit songs as well as other songs taken from their various albums. The songs are connected together into the story of a young woman who is recovering from a bad relationship and, with her adulterous lover waiting outside, secludes herself in her apartment and enters her own imagination to escape the harsh realities of her world. The title comes from the Pink Flamingo song Dosvedanya Mio Bambino, which, along with their rendition of the Brazil Samba, concludes the movie. The film starts with somewhat traditional character animation, then gets more and more surreal as the main character dives deeper and deeper into her imagination.

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FEATURE TITLE
Once Upon a Time in Potenza

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Sergio Pantera

FEATURE CAST
Carlo Bernadetto, Giasone Robardo

FEATURE DESCRIPTION
The film takes place during the 16th century, when the age of chivalry was disappearing and the rise of a merchant class and mercenaries (the precursors to today's Potenzan mafia). The film follows three men: a knight who plays the flute; a bandit leader; and a mercenary capo working for a merchant trying to gain a foothold in the Duchy of Cremona. The knight is on a mission to stop the capo, and it is later revealed that, years ago, the capo slew the lord for whom the knight was then a squire. At first the knight and the bandit are reluctant allies, but due to mutual hatred of the capo and his employer, join to defeat the villains. The finale features a showdown between the knight, armed with a repeater crossbow, and the capo, armed with a musket. The soundtrack includes the flute playing done by the knight throughout the film.

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FEATURE TITLE
In the Land of the Lord

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Martino Leone

FEATURE CAST
Alessandro Paci, Carla Milo

FEATURE DESCRIPTION
In the Holy Land, a disenfranchised Potenzan soldier arrives to do penance for what he says are "unwanted sins." On his track is a Potenzan duke (of a fictional house) along with ten of his own personal guard. Over the course of the film, as the soldier moves through the desert and the Potenzan duke pursues, it is revealed that the duke and soldier are former childhood friends, but as the duke accused the soldier of dishonoring his wife, he is out to exact vengeance. During their travels, the soldier befriends and falls in love with a woman suffering from leprosy, and the duke buys and then befriends a Muslim slave. At the end of the film, during a duel atop a Muslim castle besieged by Christian forces, it is revealed that the duke's wife had made a pass at the soldier, which the soldier refused, and in anger the wife accused the soldier of raping her. Feeling compelled by the laws of chivalry, the duke regrettably decides to pursue a duel, during which the soldier kills his friend. Saddened by this, the soldier takes his leprosy-suffering lover and heads out into the desert, where both are expected to die.

 

[Holy Frankish Empire]

FEATURE TITLE
Wings of the past

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Lidas Slipkasroka

FEATURE CAST
Josef Kopecky, Petr Maors

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
A grieving father and local shopkeeper struggles to cope with the suicide of his only son. The father- Karel, played by award winning stage actor Josef Kopecky, must find purpose in life and fights becoming a recluse. Karel walks a thin line of depression, alcoholism, and at times general self destruction. Filmed largely with natural lighting and with a soundtrack provided by the Brno Symphony Orchestra and the Trier Philharmonic, Wings of the Past is a deep character study into the nature of human beings and what life really means.

English and German subtitles only.

 

[Natal]

Feature Title
Freshmen's Spring

Feature Director
Raed El-Kader

Feature Cast
Mira Pymonenko, Anka Shevchenko and Marek Veisi

Feature Description
Graduating college, three friends from Dara are sent to the village of Varful Campului in the hills north of the Altai Mountains. One of them is a a zealous teacher following the orders of the party by making the illiteracy to disappear, the other is also a teacher, but she finds that a more profitable action is scaming villagers to give her their glass bottles which she gives to the colleting center in Klesiv and hopes to buy a car from the money she earns, while the last is a jurnalist and works at a newspaper, strugling with the mayor's obsession of modifying the pictures by making the then Premier Alen Karin a little taller.

Feature Title
Hetmana Kosmodemyanskaya

Feature Director
Cristian Antonenko

Feature Cast
Aleksandar Vorobenko, Mihai Plushenko and Anastasya Demyanenko

Feature Description
A succession crisis, a war with Sakibstan and the rebellion of the Muslim population in the Riff, with the continuous threat of a Talemantine Invasion, Parthia, early 1800s. A young woman, who always dreamed to be a preistess of Sekerr, the god of the desert, joins the army when Czar Edvard I is approaching the end of his life. Because of the relationship she had with Hetman Saab, she rises quickly in the ranks of the Military ProNat, but she also gets many enemies. Sent as a General in Sakibstan, she manages to save the retreating army, regroup and in a lighting attack she sackes Hamama. During the Abari rebelion she becomes Chancellor durring the crisis, some even saying that the fact that she ruled with an iron fist saved Parthia from re-entering the Dark Ages it passed through during the Abarid Sultanate. The film ends with her dying poisoned by the Christian boyars from Zamosk, in their effort to enter the Czar's council.

 

[Ivernia]

The Film Board of Ivernia submits these two pieces:

Feature Title
Wings of Ivernia

Feature Director
Leo Heidecker

Feature Cast
Andrew Alder
Siobhan Hartnett
James Lough

Feature Description
Sean Lambart is a mediocre man in the 1960's who dreams of flying in the Ivernish Air Corps. However he is unable to apply himself and his average test scores mean he fails to qualify for the Air Corps and Sean is shoehorned into the Ivernish Royal Space Corps; a do nothing job with little public support that struggles to even merit it's own existence in these times, while rocket failures take out it's members one by one. After a chance meeting with a poor religious girl handing out pamphlets in the city center on Bán Dair Cathrach, Sean finds inspiration to improve himself and his career.
Sean Lambart must find meaning in a world pressing on with technology, and apply himself if he wants to achieve.


Feature Title
Sylvania here I come!

Feature Director
Peter Friel

Feature Cast
Adrian Langly
Connor MacDaragh
Fiona Toole

Feature Description
Brian grew up in a back-end town in isolated Estria on the eastern coast of Ivernia. Now a twenty five year old man, a college drop out, and working for his father catching fish in the Gothic Sea, Brian feels emasculated and frustrated with his life. The story surrounds Brian on his last day living in Ivernia, before his emigration the next morning to Sylvania, where his auntie lives, 'to live a life of wealth and freedom.'
During this last day, Brian says goodbye to the people he knows and loves, attempts to get a proper goodbye out of his father, when both when have a cold relationship. Brian also meets up with Roisin, the women he left, as her family wealth made him think he could never provide for her, and raises the question that perhaps her close date for her wedding with another man might be the real reason behind this departure.

 

[Großlausitz]

Feature Title

Lady Fortune's smile

Feature Director

Volker Momper

Feature Cast
Theodor Holler
Franz Teilerfuchs
Heinrich Grobach
Anna Volkmer


Feature Description

The film is the first in the trilogy revolving around the fictional noble family of Klaffenbach based on the books by celebrated novelist Rainer van Ekkelsburg. It follows the life of Robert "Robin" von Klaffenbach (Theodor Holler), who is suddenly thrown in the gutter because of his father's fall from grace and conviction as a traitor. Nevertheless, he returns home to the castle and village of Klaffenbach which is no longer his. Despite the huge odds he does return into the world of chivalry, politics alongside the charismatic Graf Heinrich von Bamberg (Franz Teilerfuchs), younger son of Uwe V (Max Oller in a supporting role), who would eventually end up taking over the power-hungry duchy-electorate. On his way he meets beautiful, dangerous women (Anna Volkmer as Uwe V's young ambitious lover) as well as cunning, devious enemies (Heinrich Grobach as Christian Heuerling).


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Feature Title

A lot of ado about nothing

Feature Director

Frank Gregorsen

Feature Cast
Friedrich von Thun (presenter)


Feature Description

The documentary examines the role of Franken in the conflict about the rule in Montelimar. Using a mix of expert interviews and re-enacted scenes the film tries a new and fresh approach to interest the common men and women in complicated historical and political matters.

 

[Arendaal]

The Aren Film Board would like to submit the following feature film:

FEATURE TITLE
In the Shadow of the Conqueror

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Alexander Sorensen

FEATURE CAST
Erika Ingmarsen, Neils Bjornsen, Anders Hakoonsberg

FEATURE DESCRIPTION
Based on the best selling novel of the same title, the film traces the life of [WIKI]Alix of Arendaal[/WIKI] in the period of the Norman Invasion of Arendaal after 1066. The rightful heir to the Aren throne, the infant Alix is taken into the household of Ragnvald the Conqueror and raised as the bride of his son, Niklaas. Debating questions of identity, both personal and national, the film offers a new take on historical biography to analyse the broader transformation of both [WIKI]Arendaal[/WIKI] and [WIKI]Normandie[/WIKI] as the territories became inexorably bound together.

 

[Serenierre]

Imperial Society for Cinematographic Art


FEATURE TITLE
The Jasmine Teardrop

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Mehmood Shakil

FEATURE CAST
Taimur Hawala, Shakuran Imtiaz, Laila Bakhtiar, Imran Farkhunda

FEATURE DESCRIPTION
Based on the classic Sikandari literary masterpiece by the great writer Hamza Hussaini, the film is set in 13th century Sikandara during the Wars of Expansion, following the unification of the southern and northern Sikandaran kingdoms, and is about the dramatic rise and fall of a woman, from being the most favoured of the imperial harem, to being forced out by the Dowager Empress and eventually into the arms of the hero, played by Taimur Hawala. While superficially a romance, the story weaves complex plots into the main storyline and leaves the viewer with important lessons on love, life and the power of human compassion.


FEATURE TITLE
The Music of Our Times

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Yahya Khanzada

FEATURE CAST
Mir Khizilbash

FEATURE DESCRIPTION
A old musician, already blind and steadily losing his hearing, confined to his bed, gives lessons to some of the younger protégées. One day, tired of repeating the lessons day after day, he begins talking of the old days. The film is said to be based on the life of the famous Sikandari court musician, Mir Daoud, who served at the Imperial Court in Shahdara in the latter quarter of the 19th century. While the story is quaint and a realistic portrayal of the acceptance of old age, the true masterpiece of this work is in the careful insertion of a fantastic classical Sikandari musical score, which weaves along the film, almost serving as the narrator of the entire story.


FEATURE TITLE
Anarkali (Eng: Pomegranate Blossom)

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Hussain Ghaznavi

FEATURE CAST
Rakshunda Bilgrami, Wajood Tajekhani

FEATURE DESCRIPTION
Based on the legend of an illicit romance between the Crown Prince and a courtesan, Anarkali, and also his half-brother's mother, which has captivated Sikandari audiences for centuries, leading to many embellishments of the original myth, in form of poetry, literature and painting. This cinematographic effort is, by far, one of the most honest representations of the original story, capturing the drama of the sordid tale with subdued and elegant efficiency.

All films are in Sikandari, with English & Danish subtitles for the benefit of the VIFF jury​

 

[Havenshire]

Film submissions from FilmCoOp, operating on behalf of the People's Republic of Havenshire:

FEATURE TITLE
Diamonds by Gaslight

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Brian Selfield

FEATURE CAST
Isaac Penfold, Janine Goodshore

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
A Romantic musical-comedy, Diamonds by Gaslight tells the story of a broke street sweeper, Bob Shaw(Isaac Penfold), in pre-revolution Havenshire who finds an old wealthy billionaire who dies of a heart-attack after telling him his life-story. Stealing his clothes and wealth, the street-sweeper has a wild time in Westhaven untill he meets a good-hearted suffragist and heir to a jeweler's fortune, Portia(Janine Goodshore). Hilarity ensues as the street sweeper-turned-millionaire attempts to impress the woman with his wealth and ability to mimic those with impeccable breeding, when in reality its someone with the common touch she longs for. Considered a somewhat schmaltzy tale, Diamonds by Gaslight remains popular for its catchy musical score and strong comic preformance by Isaac Penfold.

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FEATURE TITLE
Captain Cosmos and the Venusian Crown

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Simon Bishop

FEATURE CAST
George Armstrong, Cecil Pilchard, Isobel White and Aaron Feldman

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
A cutting-edge science fiction pulp action thriller with some subtle political overtones, Captain Cosmos(George Armstrong) and his plucky sidekick, Chonky the Robot(Cecil Pilchard) journey to Venus in time to intervene in an ongoing secessional crisis between two warring factions on Venus. The Blutarchs and the Redmanes are virtually identical in policy outlook and obsession with building magnificient silver and gold monuments of themselves everywhere, crushing the ant-people of Venus underfoot. Can Captain Cosmos stop the war? Should he side with the Blutarchs or the Redmanes? Or is there a third way, by seducing and converting the beautiful Princess Adrianna(Isobel White) to the true way of Human Socialism? Ray-guns, Green-skinned belly dancers and an exciting climax involving hundreds of velvet-pants extras battling are just some of the things to be seen in this latest installment of the Captain Cosmos serials.

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FEATURE TITLE
White Fang Rock

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Edward Forest

FEATURE CAST
Sophie Moore, Aaron Feldman

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
This Gothic horror classic tells the tale of a young woman with amnesia washed assure on a remote island somewhere in the North, ruled over by a cruel and oppressive yet impeccably charming aristocrat of uncertain nationality and allegiance. Uncertain of her origin or her identity, the woman is taken as a ward by the aristocrat, played to spinechilling brilliance by master villain actor, Aaron Feldman. However, her own curiousity leads her to try to explore the mysterious crumbling castle, and she soon learns the grisly truth. With an unforgettable and shocking twist ending(spoilers: She is a vampire too) White Fang Rock is a horror story you won't forget in a hurry.

 

[The Federation]

FEATURE TITLE
In The City

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Benjamin Mallard

FEATURE CAST
Sophie Dupont, Barry Thackeray

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
On a visit to his mining company's recent Twin Echo expansion, coal magnate George Crawford (Barry Thackeray) becomes smitten with a beautiful small town woman named Violet Montgomery (Sophie Dupont). Violet is no match for his good looks, big city charms and large bank accounts and soon finds herself traveling back to Baldwin-Whitehall to live with Crawford despite the warnings of her families and the residents of Twin Echo. Young Violet soon finds that Crawford's charming ways and gentlemanly demeanor hides a violent rage and that the city is no place for a small town girl. In The City is Mallard's take on the increasing disconnect between rural and metropolitan Sylvania as well as the hidden violence in Sylvania shrouded by an image of peace and non-aggression. The movie itself has come under considerable fire from critics who detested the depiction of city dwellers as violent and immoral.



FEATURE TITLE
Sprawl

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Henric Holmgren

FEATURE CAST
Mayor Mack K. Burton, People of Baldwin-Whitehall

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
This feature length documentary goes in detail of the history of Baldwin-Whitehall's flurry of expansion, from it's start as two separate colonies of the Ducal Occidentalis Company to the moment the two cities merged into each other to become one and till the present where at this very moment nine sky scrapers are in the midst of construction and plans for new ones are submitted everyday to the Central City Planning Office. While the documentary's main arc is about the expansion of the city Holmgren takes time to touch on the cultures of its residents and how they live day to day.



FEATURE TITLE
Constant Sorrow

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Nathaniel Reid

FEATURE CAST
Cillian Ritchie, Mason Johnstone, Brianna Findlay

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
George MacLean (Cillian Ritchie) his right hand man Barry Glenn (Mason Johnstone) and his crew of mercenaries turned explorers lead a group of Bantryric settlers into the south west of Sylvania to establish a new settlement, but when Faye (Brianna Findlay) is kidnapped during an midnight native raid, a desperate search is put on in attempt to recover her. However the search soon turns into an all out battle against the native population who have become increasingly violent as settlers push westward to make their claim of Occidentia. Faye is recovered at a great cost of life on both sides that ends up ending hopes of reaching a suitable land to settle in. Director Nathaniel Reid delves into Sylvania's colonial and immigrant history to bring this dramatized account of a true story of Sylvania's troubled early history.

 

[Free Cities League]

Film submissions from the Kingdom of Boganhem:


FEATURE TITLE
Once Upon a Time in the North (Et var ën Tsët i'm Nord)

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Kventinn Andresun

FEATURE CAST
Kurt Ostvold, Frank Svartberg

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
Set in the barren, northern taipa and tundra region of Ziost, Boganhem, in the late 19th century, the feature follows the story of two Koldtrekker, lonesome outcasts and criminals searching for wealth during the gold rush of the time. Vitt'Rikhard (Ostvold) and Yang-Vurm (Svartberg) have no name, no identity, no family, just their guns, their guts and their wits, as they pursue fortune relentlessly. Full of aestheticized violence and grim realism, the film was an immediate success in Boganhem, setting box office records, while having critical acclaim from more erudite critics.

FEATURE TITLE
Jakob Goldschmidt in The Rendez-Vous in Handelsburg (Die Rendez-Vous im Handelsburg)

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Claus Zöllner

FEATURE CAST
Karl Stettin, Richard Adler, Briggitte Hammerschmidt

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
A spy movie set in 1951, Free Cities' League intelligence agent Jakob Goldschmidt (Stettin) is summoned to a rendez-vous in Handelsburg, where a mysterious woman by the name of Traudl (Hammerschmidt) leads him to a trap that could cost him his life and could put the FCL's security at risk. A classic spy movie full of glamour, action, humour and, naturally, suspense.

​

 

[Frescania]

Submission by the Republic of Frescania

Feature Title:
The Cause

Feature Cast:
Alejandro Garcia Marquez, Maria Fernandez, Pierre Perregaux

Feature Description:
Set at the apogee of the Republican Revolution, Ricardo Urdaneta (Alejandro Garcia Marquez), a humble farmer, must confront Monarchist harassment as he refuses to side with either faction during the war. Ricardo soon finds himself among war refugees, where he meets Cecilia Valdez (Maria Fernandez), a young Republican woman who is being hunt down by Louis Monfort (Pierre Perregaux), a Commander from Monarchical forces. smitten by her beauty, Ricardo takes it upon himself to guard Cecilia and joins the Republican cause. The field has been highly praised by the Frescanian media due to its historical accuracy.

 

[Socialist Commonwealth]

FEATURE TITLE
Riders of Liberty

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Ema Zupan

FEATURE CAST
Nik Toplak, Roman Guzman, Albert Rosenberg, Zohan Dubcek

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
The latest movie by famed Carentanian director Ema Zupan portrays the sacrifices of Carentanias second cavalry brigade during the liberation of Solaren. Focussing on the battle of Mazara, Zupan captures not only the horror of war through the eyes of the soldiers of Carentanias hardest hit unit in the entire campaign, but also manages to portray the life of the Solaren civilians, caught between the promise of freedom and equality the fight against Pope Urban brought, and the destruction the war brought upon the country.

________________________

FEATURE TITLE
Red Moon

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Anton Dracar

FEATURE CAST
Maja Kosi, Luka Novak, Martin Sörensen

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
It's the year 2000 in this science-fiction drama, and the world has been rendered inhospitable by chemical warfare. Humanity survives on a large moonbase, constructed by socialist governments shortly before the war that destroyed the earth. However, shadows of the past threaten the peaceful society, as a robot army constructed by Mezhists for exactly this purpose starts an invasion of the moon. The co-workers Amanda (Maja Kosi) and Drew (Luka Novak) take on the task of saving a society without weapons from the threat of a Mezhist robot army and coincidentally discover their unspoken romantic feelings for each other. Considered an exceptionally dark piece of science-fiction, Red Moon is generally praised for the extraordinary acting of Maja Kosi in her latest movie, who went missing during a hike in the Haemian mountains last year and is presumed dead.

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FEATURE TITLE
Lost in a Sea of Fire

FEATURE DIRECTOR
Anej Hribar

FEATURE CAST
Filip Zorko, Lana Horvat, Rok Turk

FEATURE DESCRIPTION:
It is the 1850s in this critically acclaimed Carentanian western and businessmen from Franken have driven their Carentanian contemporaries out of business throughout Hajr. Ruined through the defeat of his homecountry in the great game of imperialism, former Carentanian investor Tian (Filip Zorko) takes up arms and becomes an outlaw, preying upon Frankener settlers, soldiers and businessmen. Initially driven by a sense of vengeance, Tian increasingly comes into contact with the local populace, who condone his fight against the hated foreigners, and when he falls in love with the beautiful Aza (Lana Horvat), he comes to question his own role in the exploitation of the Hajri people.

 

[Rheinbund]

Feature title
Dorfleben

Feature director
Wolfgang Tiefenbacher

Feature cast
Friedhelm Schwarze, Klaus George, Hansjörg Schirk and others

Feature description
This movie is situated in a small village somewhere in Eiffelland. Police inspector Franke (Friedhelm Schwarze) and his assistant Maaß (Klaus George) from the Criminal Police have to investigate the murder of Jutta Wedel, a woman from a remote village in the hills around Starnberg. Jutta was the village vamp, but she was also married to a man from outside the village who never succeeded to become a full member of the community. The real theme of the movie is the life in a small remote village, where everybody seems to be friends with everybody while everybody gossips about everybody (especially about the persons who are different from the others), strangers are distrusted and newcomers are not accepted in the community if they are too different.


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Feature title
Die Tiere der Berge

Feature director
Klaus Willschrei

Feature cast
Wildlife in Eiffelland’s most northern province: The Harz

Feature description
This is a documentary movie about the animals living in the hills and mountains of the Eiffellandian province Harz. This is an exceptional nature documentary, filmed in full-colour. This documentary was made in cooperation with biologists from the Humboldt Universität in Trier, who edited the spoken comments to the events in the documentary. Fantastic images of red deer, owls, bears and many other animals are shown, as well as magnificent landscape images. This documentary shows in a spectacular way what is possible with present-day movie techniques.


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Feature title
Der blaue Himmel

Feature director
Herbert Storz

Feature cast
Lee Tae-Woh, Roh Sung-An, Dieter Meyer and others

Feature description
Fifty years ago, the first Korean immigrants came to Eiffelland. Nowadays, the Korean community in Eiffelland consists of about 500,000 people. This movie shows how a Korean family that freshly immigrated into Eiffelland finds its way in the Eiffellandian society. Soon after their arrival in Eiffelland, the family decides to open a Korean restaurant. Of course that leads to some complications, varying from hilarious to dramatic. But the real problems arise when the daughter of the Korean family gets into a love-affair with an Eiffellandian boy. The theme of the movie is how people from two completely different cultures react on each other. Those reactions vary from incomprehension and rejection to interest and acceptation. The movie shows plain xenophobic reactions as well. The director of the movie, Herbert Storz, commented that he explicitly wanted to show that as a statement against xenophoby in general.

 

[Thaumantica]

Public Opinion Prize (VIFF '53)

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VESPER
:: International Film Festival ::
Public Opinion Prize Voting Held from February 14 January through 17

Three Votes Shall be counted from each Nation/Player.

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[Thaumantica]

Public Opinion Runoff Poll (VIFF '53)

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VESPER
:: International Film Festival ::
Public Opinion Prize Voting Held on February 19
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One Vote Per Nation/Player

There will be a runoff poll due to the three way tie between In the Shadow of the Conqueror (ARE), White Fang Rock (HAV),Lost in the Sea of Fire (CAR)
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[Thaumantica]

Award Ceremony :: '53 Vesper International Film Festival

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VESPER
:: International Film Festival ::
AWARD CEREMONY
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The Award for Best Picture is Awarded to: The Cause (Frescania)

The Public Opinion Prize is Awarded to: White Fang Rock (Havenshire)

The Award for Best Feature Documentary is Awarded to: In the Shadows of a Blue Midnight (Mezhist Union)

The Award for Best Animated Feature is Awarded to: Victoria's Tumble Down (Cantignia)

The Award for Best Short Film Feature is Awarded to: Red Moon (Carentania)

The Award for Best Actor in a Film Feature is Awarded to: Anders Stengren, Starting Life Again (Ostveg)

The Award for Best Actress in a Film Feature is Awarded to: Erika Ingmarsen, In the Shadow of the Conqueror (Arendaal)

The Award for Best Director for a Film Feature is Awarded to: Ema Zupan, Riders of Liberty (Carentania)
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