This screening is part of Filmfest Aachen 2025

Shorts program 2: Home, interrupted

What happens to your idea of home, if you can never return? The short program Home, interrupted circles around contemporary stories of distance, displacement, and exile, most of them drawn from the filmmakers' biographies. These short films are personal, sometimes painfully so, and speak to the ambivalence of a world that is increasingly connected through digitals means, yet somehow more distant than ever. Our protagonists live far away from home, in exile, as expats and refugees from war, yet they try to make a connection to their former lives. Reaching out to their families after years of silence, sharing painful memories of their past life with new friends and making a return visit. Gently and vulnerably, these five short films question whether reconciliation is ever possible(Monument), highlight the precarious nature of care work(She Crossed) and the strain of exercising solidarity from afar(Chrysanthemum), show what it's like to be loved but not seen in your queerness(Correct me if I'm wrong) and what it means to leave your family in a war zone(Fire Drill).

What happens to the idea of home when you can never return? The short film program Home, interrupted brings together five contemporary stories of alienation, displacement and exile, most of which come from the biographies of the filmmakers. These short films are personal, sometimes painful, and speak of the ambivalence of a world that is increasingly digitally connected and yet seems to be drifting further apart. Our protagonists live far away from home, in exile, as expats, have emigrated and fled the war - and are searching for a connection to their former lives. After years of silence, they make contact with their parents, share painful memories of their former lives with new friends and dare to visit the family. Gently and vulnerably, these five short films question whether reconciliation is ever possible(Monument), shed light on the precarious nature of care work(She Crossed) and the effort of exercising solidarity from afar(Chrysanthemum), show what it is like to be loved but not seen in your queerness(Correct me if I'm wrong) and what it means to leave your family in a war zone (Fire Drill).

Films in the program / Filme im Programm:

Program duration: ~90 minutes

All films are shown in the original version with english subtitles

Fire Drill
Germany, 2024, 22 min, Maximilian Villwock, English, Ukrainian

Monument
Germany 2024, 15 min, Maksim Avdeev, Russian

Chrysanthemum
Germany, 2025, 9 min, Jingyuan Luo, English

She Crossed
USA, 2025, 20 min, Daisy Ziyan Zhang, English

Correct me if I'm wrong
Germany, 2025, 23 min, Hao Zhou, Chinese

➔ discover the full program of Filmfest Aachen 2025