Border as interface
Synopsis
The "interface" concept here is fluid and multifaceted; an interface, whether in software, digital screens, or one’s language or body, is a site of entanglement and movement. How the interface manifests and the supposed borders it enacts are recalibrated with every connection that is made. It’s a place of transience with its own set of rules and oscillating perspectives that only make sense within the shifting internal logic of the borderlands.
The work explores how these dynamic zones can reshape entrenched perspectives. It questions "where images end and bodies begin, where truth or the real might reside,"[*] and where the boundary between spectator and screen dissolves into “life.” Such interfaces function as special conduits to the virtual, positioning the body as a node of mediation in our techno-political landscape. They also reveal what is created or lost in cross-cultural interactions; miscalculations, strange pairings and redundancy live within the hybridity zones of Border and Interface.
*From Deborah Levitt’s ‘The Animatic Apparatus’.
Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025
Details
- Year
- 2024
- Type of project
- Shorts
- Running time
- 18 min 49 sec
- Format
- digital video (16:9)
- Director
-
Petra Szemán
- Producer
- Petra Szemán
- Editor
- Petra Szemán
- Screenwriter
- Petra Szemán
- Director of Photography
- Petra Szemán
- Production Designer
- Petra Szemán
- Sound
- Petra Szemán
- Composer
- Petra Szemán
Categories
Production Status
Production Company
UK, Japan co-production
Awaiting contacts
Page updates
This page was last updated on 2nd October 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.
See also
You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.
Daughters of the Late Colonel
Director: Elizabeth Hobbs
Year: 2026
After the death of their ill-tempered and controlling father, middle-aged sisters Constantia (Con) and Josephine (Jug), find themselves at a loss. The story takes place in 1920 and is set within a European townhouse where Constantia and Josephine have always lived with their domineering father. The two sisters' mother died when they were young, and they have spent their lives enslaved to the rhythm and routine of Father’s house. Even in death they fear their father and imagine him springing out of the wardrobe or shouting at them from his grave. Over time, their father’s control diminishes and they find comfort in taking part in peaceful activities in each other’s company. An unexpected visitor also helps them to find the courage to begin their lives anew. A merry, rude, and lyrical, animated adaptation of the modernist short story written by Katherine Mansfield in 1920. In this adaptation the sisters will begin to assert themselves in joyful, unexpected ways that could only be depicted in animation. Official Selection Quinzaine des Cinéastes / Directors' Fortnight Cannes 2026 - World premiere
Eyeliner
Director: Aisha Boudjillouli
Year: 2026
When Nina and her best friend Lily find themselves drawn to the alluring glow of an eyeliner pen, they believe that they've finally found their key to womanhood, and so… they steal it! Upon arriving at school however, Nina realises that the two of them aren't getting the same reaction to their new look, as this is the day that Nina has decided to come out as a trans girl. With Lily being drawn to hang out with the cool girls, Nina struggles to keep hold of her friendship as the pressures of girlhood begin to mount. When faced with the reality of how she is perceived, Nina must learn what it will take to truly be herself. Official Selection Annecy Festival 2026 - Graduation Films
Hematology
Director: Ben Young
Year: 2026
The alien cosmos of microscopy becomes the setting for a posthumous dialogue: an exploration of the unspoken fallout of the pandemic years.