Nine projects have been selected for MASO #3, the international development and networking programme dedicated to shortfilm projects and the creation of new creative and production connections among European audiovisual emerging talents.
The third edition reaffirms the programme’s commitment to original author-driven voices, internationally resonant stories and production paths that bridge territories, languages and sensibilities. The selected titles come from Austria, Germany, Norway, Italy, France and Lithuania, spanning intimate drama, social cinema, coming-of-age narratives, psychological thrillers and hybrid storytelling forms.
Among the selected projects is SANDSTONE by Reza Rasouli and Daniela-Katrin Strobl (Weibsbild Film, Austria), a sensitive yet powerful story about a mother and her adult son with a disability, whose journey is interrupted by a security check at the airport. What begins as an ordinary moment becomes a reflection on care, guilt and love.
From Germany comes Mandalay by Lin Htet Aung and Jasper Wiedhöft (Reynard Films, Hesse). Set in 1855, the film unfolds in a world suspended between reality and imagination: three strangers are drawn into a mysterious hut on a snow-covered hill resembling Mandalay Hill, in a time before the city itself existed. The project promises a dense atmosphere and an original narrative structure.
Representing Northern Norway is Before the silence by Emilie Hauan Solvang and Debbie Nsamba (Finnmark Productions). Even the title points to its central theme: “The silence began as a tool for survival.” The project explores silence as a survival strategy and as a space that must be reclaimed, with a focus on historically silenced experiences and inherited trauma.
Italy is represented by three projects. Artificial Torpor by Nikolai Palmieri and Matteo de Sabbata (Ikon Productions, Friuli Venezia Giulia) follows a young woman returning to her grandmother’s mountain village, where the community seems trapped in a strange winter sleep. The story moves between belonging, awakening, and the possibility of choosing whether to remain awake or fall asleep again.
From South Tyrol comes Grigia by Magdalena Mitterhofer and Giulia Delvecchio (Ancora Film), set in an Alpine valley occupied by military sports events, where a couple’s first holiday is disrupted as the presence of soldiers begins to affect their relationship.
Also from South Tyrol is Between the Rows by Lorenz Sinn and Birgit Oberkofler (Albolina), a coming-of-age film exploring the tension between belonging to one’s roots and the desire for self-determination.
Two projects were selected from the French region of Centre-Val de Loire. 42 HOURS by Laura Piunti and Agathe Chevrier (Manégan Films) returns to the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake through the story of Eleonora, a deaf student who experiences an apparently ordinary day before small details reveal the horror: she is buried alive under the rubble. The project combines emotional sensitivity with dramatic tension
More physical and combative in tone is SCREWJOB by Tallulah Farquhar and David Grançon (Take Five), the story of a 23-year-old wrestler who has never won a fight and must confront the legacy of three generations of women, between strength, love, grief and survival.
Completing the selection is The Second Child by Lina Mickutė and Leticija Čiužauskaitė (Magic Film, Lithuania), an intimate story about Augusta, who longs for a second child. Her unexpected pregnancy, however, brings confusion rather than joy, especially after a medical appointment that radically changes her perception of the situation.
With this selection, MASO #3 confirms its core mission: to support projects that cross geographical and linguistic boundaries, amplify new authorial perspectives, and accompany films that combine a strong identity, artistic ambition, and international potential.