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Synopsis
Ten year old Benjamin, lives on a little isolated farm with his parents and a little puppy called Kenzo. Usually things are alright in the little family, but now and then, father gives mother a good beating over small things. For the sake of Benjamin, mother covers up the truth, hoping things will get better anytime soon. She seems to think that this beating will be the last. Little does she now that this day will bring about a final beating in the family.# One cold winter day, mother and Benjamin sets off from the farm to drop off Benjamin at Grandma's place for at couple of days. Though mother has a nice black eye, Benjamin doesn't have to look at it to know what happened the day before. For the first time he actually saw what he had until yesterday, only suspected - father hits mother. He saw it - now he knows for a fact, and it troubles him very much. And double is the pain, seeing father love that little cute puppy instead of him and mother. So when mother gets a nosebleed in the car, he refuses to accept her covering up the truth. He tells her that he knows that father hits her. Mother who has totally missed that her son is no longer a little child, feels the earth shatter beneath her. In a final attempt to stick to lies, she ignores Benjamin's confrontation and sends him home to fetch a clean shirt without nosebleed on it. Benjamin insists in his confrontation, but when mother breaks down and starts crying, he feel guilty and run to the farm to at least get that shirt.# At the farm, he runs into father who wants to know his business. All to late, Benjamin realizes that he should not have told about his erind. Father is afraid that Benjamin has gotten the wrong idea about mother's black eye and teaches him a cynical lesson about love. Father forces Benjamin to admit that mother has just fallen from the steps and hit her face. Benjamin's sense, of right and wrong has been violated to the point where he will not take it any longer. He decides to take revenge on his dad. He steals his beloved puppy and heads for mother's car. #But, in the meantime, the mother returns to the farm to look for Benjamin. She thinks, he has been gone too long. #When father discovers that Benjamin has run away with the dog, hell breaks loose and Benjamin's desperate attempt to force father to apologize to mother, has some dire consequences for all of them. Benjamin tries desperately to make father apologize to mother, for all the beating. The hostage situation builds up to a stage, where Benjamin is no longer in control. Benjamin tries a last thing to gain control, it is brutal and it changes everything. Finally, mother becomes aware of what she has to do for both of them to get away before it's too late.
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Participation and victories in film festivals
AWARDS
- Special Mention / 8th Tirana International Film Festival – Albania 2010
- 1st Prize / The 5th Annual Big Sur #International Short Film Screening Series -# USA 2010.
- Best Directing Award / Grand Off – World Independent Film Awards, Warsaw – Poland 2010
- T?l?bec Prize for Best Short Movie / 29th Festival du Cin?ma Intl. en Abitibi-T?miscamingue – Canada 2010
- Best of Fest / 6th New York City Short Film Festival – USA 2010
- Best Women?s Short Film Award / Cleveland International Film Festival – USA 2010
- Best Short Film / Aarhus Film Festival – Denmark 2009
- Prix des T?l?visions / Festival Tous Courts Aix-en-Provence Intl. Short Film Festival – France 2009
- Leopards of Tomorrow Nominee / 62nd Locarno International Film Festival – Switzerland 2009
FESTIVAL SCREENINGS
- Official Selection 2011 (*) In Competition 13th FEC Cambrils-Reus European Short Film Festival - Spain / Feb.
- Official Selection 2010 (*) In Competition
- * 8th Tirana International Film Festival – Albania / Dec. EU Shorts - European Short Film Festival – Hungary / Dec.
- * 4th GrandOff 2010 World Independent Film Awards - Poland / Nov.
- * 11th Student and Short Film Festival Sleepwalkers – Estonia / Nov.
- * 26th International Short Film Festival Berlin Interfilm – Germany / Nov.
- * 19th St. Louis International Film Festival – USA / Nov.
- * 36th Festival Internacional de Filmets de Badalona – Spain / Nov.
- * 18th Damascus International Film Festival – Syrian / Nov.
- * 29th Festival du Cin?ma International en Abitibi-T?miscamingue - Canada / Oct.
- * 40th Kyiv International Film Festival Molodist – Ukraine / Oct.
- * 55th Valladolid International Film Festival – Spain / Oct.
- * FIKE - 9th International Short Film Festival – Portugal / Oct.
- * 8th Shnit Int. Short Film Festival – Germany, Switzerland, South Africa / Oct.
- * 29th Vancouver International Film Festival – Canada / Sept.
- * 6th New York City Short Film Festival – USA / Sept.
- * 16th International Short Film Festival in Drama – Greece / Sept.
- * 12th Tinklai International Short Film Festival – Lithuania / Sept.
- * 25th Odense International Film Festival – Denmark / Aug.
- * 5th Big Sur# International Short Film Festival – USA / Aug.
- * 40th Giffoni Film Festival – Italia / Jul.
- * 13th Expresi?n en Corto Int. Film Festival, San Miguel de Allende + Guanajuato – Mexico / Jul.
- * 8th Film Palace Fest International Short Film Festival – Bulgaria / Jun.
- * Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia, Tokyo – Japan / Jun.
- * 13th Brussels Short Film Festival – Belgium / May
- * Athens International Film & Video Festival – USA / Apr.
- * Atlanta International Film Festival – USA / Apr.
- * 4th Dallas International Film Festival – USA / Apr.
- * 8th International Festival #Signes de Nuit, Paris – France / Apr.
- * 34th Hong Kong International Film Festival – Hong Kong / Mar.
- * 34th Cleveland International Film Festival – USA / Mar.
- * BUFF - The International Children and Young People?s Film Festival, Malm? – Sweden / Mar.
- * Northern Wave International Film Festival – Iceland / Mar.
- * Official Selection 2009 (*) In Competition
- * 27th Festival Tous Courts, d?Aix-en-Provence – France / Dec.
- * 12th Aarhus Film Festival – Denmark / Nov.
- * 15th Cinema Tous Ecrans International Film Festival – Switzerland / Nov.
- * 4th Orlando Film Festival – USA / Nov.
- * Film, Stage and Expo Film Festival, Los Angeles – USA / Oct.
- * 20th Nordic Panorama – Five Cities Film Festival – Iceland / Sept.
- * 62nd Locarno International Film Festival – Switzerland / Aug., World Premiere “Leopards of Tomorrow”
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Director
Lars p Arendt – Director, Screenwriter
Lars p Arendt is a 34-year old Toronto based director who grew up in Denmark and moved to Canada in 2007. Since 1999 he has experimented in genres such as drama, experimental, comedy, found-footage and horror. In 2003 he made the award-winning experimental film A Mind's I. - a film on its fourth festival year worldwide. Shortly thereafter he joined a group of progressive young filmmakers in the small town of Aarhus (Denmark) who organized themselves under the name Super8. Lately his 3 minutes short film LIKE ME was favoured by acclaimed producer Deepak Nayar (LOST HIGHWAY). His latest short film BEAST stars acclaimed actor Lars Bom and the famous Danish actress Anne-Louise Hassing who also starred in Lars von Trier’s The Idiots. As of now he is looking to get his debut feature film rolling. Lars is a member of the union of Danish Film Directors.
Troels Faber – Producer
Troels (1977) is a half Danish / Norwegian film producer born in Denmark, based in Aarhus. Film became a main interest for Troels, in junior high school there he mainly took part of making the film, in front of the camera – mostly in weird small funny stories. In 2003 he finished at the MEDIASCHOOL OF AARHUS, as a production manager. Later, in 2005, he produced the live action short film, THE BLACK HOLE. The film won ”Prix du San” (1. Prize) at the 16th Student Film Festival International de Cergy-Pontoise, in France 2006.
Beast is his 2nd film with director, Lars p Arendt. The film is supported by Danish Film Institute / The Danish Film Work Shop, and West Danish Film Fund. During his own productions, he works freelance for a production company in Aarhus as Producer or UPM.FILMOGRAPHIE:
- 2009 Beast, short film
- 2008 Like Me, short film
- 2007 One-on-One, short film
- 2006 Together short film
- 2005 The Actor, short film
- 2005 Don’t Panic, experimental
- 2005 Alien, experimental
- 2004 The Hitchhiker, short film
- 2003 A Mind's I, short film
- 2001 X-Direct, experimental
- 1999 Jonas, short film
- 1999 SUB, short film
- Film gallery
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Director's notes
I did not set out to make a film on a terrible subject to support any specific causes or causes at all. To me it all began as an image I had in my mind that gradually evolved into a story as I questioned what that image meant. Having done a couple of test screenings it however stood clear to me that the story actually mirrored the real world to a horrifying extent in some cases. Women were quietly crying and some men confessed past doings that were in line with the boy’s actions in the movie. People became very emotional about it. Some even felt that a movie depicting horrors like this should never be shown to anyone - this I obviously disagree with.I see myself as a director resonating with the world we live in, mirroring good and evil in the shape of movies. BEAST does not contain a lot of hope in itself, but that's really not my fault. All I can do is holding up that mirror.