88 mins | Recommended 18+

A collection of the best docs at Two Short Nights, highlighting fascinating stories and showing off the diversity and power of documentary film. Hosted by DOCLAB, a documentary development initiative run by Exeter Phoenix.

PROGRAMME

GOLDMINE 
Dir. Adrian Fisk | 15 mins | UK 
Goldmine tells the story of a young artisanal gold miner and his family in the Siguiri Basin in Northern Guinea. The harsh reality of their existence is exposed as we follow the family into a gold mine and witness the challenges such a life brings. 

SURVIVORS 
Dir. Oliver Stiller | 18 mins | Germany 
As students, Eduardo and Ernesto survived attacks by security forces in 2014 that led to the disappearance of 43 fellow students. To this day, they have not let go of that day and their lives have changed dramatically. 

INSTITUTION 
Dir. Jonathan Wysocki | 3 mins | USA 
A filmmaker contemplates his same-sex marriage, his parents‚ “traditional” marriage, the Apollo 13 space mission, and a debate against a marriage equality bill. 

GIRLY 
Dir. Zoe Black | 20 mins | USA 
Girly follows nonbinary filmmaker Zoe Black as they retrace their complicated relationship with femininity and how it has changed over time. Zoe explores girlyness alongside three other gender nonconforming people, approaching the topic with heart, humor and sensitivity. 

GOOD, MORNING 
Dir. Ella Turner | 6 mins | UK 
A glimpse into the morning routines of people across the South West of England. 

MY MUM’S ANSWERING MACHINE 
Dir. Behdad Safari | 6 mins | Iran 
I came home and played my mum’s answering machine… 

MEMORY 
Dir. Riyadh Haque | 3 mins | UK 
An experimental documentary reimagining the childhood recollections of a Jersey inhabitant, Margaret, through the intimate lens of the director’s British South Asian background by channelling his own family’s generational diasporic experience and sisterhood. The cast is comprised of the director’s own family reconstructing Margaret’s memories on 16mm Kodak film. 

HOW THE WOODEN STRUCTURES SURVIVED IN MY MIND 
Dir. Thadeusz Tischbein | 9 mins | Germany 
How do memories actually come about? Isn’t it a process that involves both forgetting and reinventing? This construction process of memories is symbolized in the film using architectural fragments. The camera moves through structures reminiscent of film sets as well as abandoned places as a voice, heard from somewhere in the dark, remembers details of his way to school in Melbourne, reports on forays through foreign cities and describes these structures from his memories.  

OLD SCHOOL 
Dir. Ieuan Coombs | 8 mins | UK 
A former world champion bodybuilder reflects on his past and looks toward the future.

About Two Short Nights

Two Short Nights returns for its 23rd edition on 06 & 07 February, 2025. We’ll once again invite our audience to celebrate creativity, diversity and variety and help us nurture new and emerging talent through selected screenings, commissions, and our famous 48 Hour Film Challenge!

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VENUE: EXETER PHOENIX, Studio 74

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