“Les Rites de Passage” will compete in the National Competition at Filmfest Dresden. Selected from around 3,400 submissions, it is one of 67 short films from 34 countries being presented in Dresden from 8 to 13 April 2025.
In the National Competition, 24 films are vying for the coveted “Golden Horsemen” and other special awards.
The films cover a broad range of subjects, including the war in Ukraine, the conflict in the Middle East, racism, the political shift to the right, grief and loss, as well as bodies and (queer) identities.
Petra Stipetic, Mathias Barkhausen, Sylke Gottlebe, Christian Hempel and Steffi Karn bring international accolades, decades of experience and a deep commitment to supporting emerging filmmakers to the National Competition selection committee.
The experimental short film “Les Rites de Passage” by Florian Fischer and Johannes Krell explores change, transience and the traces that time leaves in nature. Through calm, precise images, it shows the decay of monocultural spruce forests, fossil memories and ritual acts that have endured for millennia.
With a running time of just under 15 minutes, the film unfolds in a visual language without words. Light enters through tiny holes in the trunks of dead spruce trees, a rain of ash preserves trees for millions of years, and a ritual site marks the course of the sun.
“Les Rites de Passage” not only looks into the past, but also opens a window onto a future in which nature and time are inextricably intertwined.
Produced by ROSENPICTURES Filmproduktion GbR with support from the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony, the Saxon State Authority for Private Broadcasting and New Media (SLM) and FFA reference funding, the film had already attracted attention at its world premiere in the Tiger Short Competition at the renowned International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).
The support provided by the Cultural Foundation of Saxony and the SLM to regional filmmakers with international reach enables us to realise unconventional projects such as “Les Rites de Passage”.
