Office workers in China try to break out of their monotonous, grey daily routine by breaking into dance (WHERE DO ANTS SLEEP AT NIGHT). A nuclear family in Indonesia gets carried away in a shrill musical number designed to encourage the last childless couple to procreate (BASRI AND SALMA IN A NEVER-ENDING COMEDY). And a Swiss dance group’s autonomy is taken away from them when they have to dance to someone else’s tune to the point of complete submission (SYNCOPE).

Film dances playfully across language barriers and geographical borders, giving us a captivating insight into the diversity of human existence – from the innermost emotions of the soul to mundane everyday life. This becomes evident in the 49 films from 29 countries of the International Competition programme.  We share similar dreams, longings and fears, and we begin to understand how much we are alike and united in our desire to understand and express the human condition with all the tools available to us. Both the body and the voice become instruments in the search for human connection and our place in this world.