Why Slugs Have No Legs – or Where to Find Balance?

Inspired by this year’s festival theme, we set out to find balance – and our first instinct was to seek it in nature. We followed its trail all the way to the edge of civilisation, to a (perhaps not so distant) future – a world after a climate catastrophe. There, together with the protagonists of Common Pear, we looked from the perspective of the future at archival footage of the inhabitants of the Slovenian mountains, observing with care and respect their attempts to preserve the surrounding nature. From the point of view of the world around them, it seems surreal – just as their world seems surreal to us.

We also follow in the footsteps of the soldiers from Flores, wandering across the deserted Azores, struggling against an invasion of… hydrangeas. Their journey becomes a reflection on identity and belonging, as well as a subtle love story set in a world where nature holds sway over civilisation.
Such a scenario might not be the worst after all – nature tends to seek balance, and perhaps it’s a sign that, as a civilisation, we’ve gone a bit too far? It seems that the divine characters in Children of the Bird have managed to find the path towards that harmony we long for, and though their journey wasn’t without struggle, it may inspire us to do the same. The universal yearning to return to nature also resonates in the animation Monsoon Blue, where a goldfish trapped in an aquarium dreams of returning to the depths of the ocean.
We’ll conclude the screening by asking one surprisingly important question: Why Slugs Have No Legs – and perhaps consider whether it wouldn’t sometimes be worth following their example, so that life could be simpler, happier, and just better for all of us.

Take a moment to pause. Join us in the search for balance. It’s time to return to nature.

Programme:
Common pear, Gregor Božič, Slovenia 2025, 15’
Flores, Jorge Jácome, Portugal 2017, 26’
A Madár Gyermekei/Children of the Bird, Julia Tudisco, Hungary 2024, 11’30”
夏夢迴/Monsoon Blue, Jay Hiukit Wong, Ellis Kayin Chan, China 2023, 14’19”
Why Slugs Have No Legs, Aline Höchli, Switzerland 2019, 11’

Curators: Monika Piskurewicz & Maks Piłasiewicz

Guests: Julia Tudisco, director of the film “A Madár Gyermekei / Children of the Bird” and producer Nadja Andrasev