Vagrant Fest is a nomadic festival that in 2026 takes place in Minsk →Vilnius →Batumi → Moscow →other cities. Its programme charts a path: from state borders to barriers within the family/tribe/society, and then to the boundaries between a person and their own nature.
It begins with Allemansrätt: a person illegally crosses the border on a freight train, and the simple question ‘Does everyone have the right simply to be somewhere?’ hangs in the air. Then we enter a boy’s room in Dog Ear, where after a parental quarrel the border runs through a child’s hurt, and aggression and tenderness towards the dog become the only way to step over into forgiveness. Finally, this inner struggle spills onto the city streets in Visiting the Zoo: three people move like caged animals until they tear off all social masks and confront their own wildness.
So, film by film, the viewer moves from external barriers to internal ones, discovering that any border is not a wall but a threshold — a place to pause and see where to go next.
June 21, 6pm | Kinocollider | Minsk → June 27, 5pm | Zolak | Vilnius → July 9, 8pm | MusicPoint | Batumi → Late July | Museum of Nomadic Culture | Moscow
Hazy horizon in September-December: Helsinki→ Malmö→ Hamburg→ Berlin→ Podgorica…
Allemansrätt
2 min | Germany
Felix Bausch
A person crosses the Danish-Swedish border illegally on a freight train. This raises the question: do all people have the same rights?
Reveal the Truth
3 min | US
Pam Falkenberg, Jack Cochran
Experimental found poem created from graffiti discovered on the streets of Austin, TX.
Countdown to Fascism
4 min | US
Dee Hood
We are here
Rubberneckin’
3 min | US
Maxwell Hudson
A confusing fender bender on 19th street everyone wants to stop and see.
Wau Wau
2 min | Germany
Finnja Giesberts
A stop motion opera about a dog and it’s heart full of guilt.
Too Blue a Sky
15 min | Finland
Risto-Pekka Blom
A story about money, power, exploitation and many possible ends to the world. Some people yearn for Mars, others for Heaven. Some dance the humppa on the Moon. In this short, tragicomic play, each of us has our own little part.
Baby It’s Cold Outside
27 min | Germany
Jannik Weiße
At the end of their studies, Finn and Johanna set off on a cheap ski trip – one last carefree escape before adulthood kicks in. But when a stray puppy shows up outside their hotel, everything changes. What starts as a harmless vacation spirals into a quiet reckoning – with their relationship, their values, and the prejudices they didn’t know they had.
Who Killed Narin G*
5 min | France
Ayce Kartal
In the molten air of August, the disappearance of a little girl pulls the town into a collective hallucination the moment her body surfaces. Sick families, mute shadows of authority, and faces tangled in one.
Tub
12 min | US
Andrew Bowman
A cast iron tub serves as the conduit for three dreams, each in conflict with the other. As the fantasies are realized, they begin to crumble around the dreamers and their hypocrisies are revealed.
Star Fish
7 min | France
A. Derwiche, C. Michetti, Y.Suzana
Nora and Thao, two friends finishing their studies,drift through surreal landscapes in a timeless journey. As they go, they laugh, have fun, discuss the future, and are surprised by feelings they did not suspect.
Dog Ear
20 min | Hungary
Péter Vácz
Eleven-year-old Berci spends an afternoon alone with his dog, struggling with the emotions left behind after witnessing his parents’ violent fight the day before. As his suppressed feelings surface, he releases his anger and aggression in tense and emotional interactions with his dog. These raw expressions eventually help Berci find relief and discover the quiet, transformative strength of forgiveness.
Visiting Zoo
4 min | Italy
Maria Zilli
Visiting the zoo portrays a glimpse into the lives of three characters who move through the city like animals in a zoo, gradually reconnecting with their primordial instincts. Until they erupt in a final confrontation with real animals, breaking free from all social constraints.
Where’s My Coffee Cup?
30 min | US
Yehuda Sharim
At 64 and still in prison, John must navigate trauma and aging in a
space that is not designed for a geriatric population. Like others, he faces the challenges of stairs, top bunks, food that is not made for human consumption, timely and adequate health care, and the everyday risks of violence and exploitation. John’s story is a call and a demand for compassion and justice.
Random Forest
17 min | France
G. Blot, L. Blot
Tonight, the algorithm breaks.
On Hold
7 min | Switzerland
Delia Hess
A young woman is stuck in the waiting line of a telephone hotline… a surreal episodic shortfilm about the absurdities of urban life and the feeling of paralysing stagnation.
Journeys Through Temperature
8 min | Ireland
Sarah Lincoln, Andy Walsh
A short film (8 minutes duration) which seems to time travel.
Action is triggered by connecting two differently scaled energy-hungry
pieces of infrastructure in the landscape.
Conversation Among the Ruins
26 min | US, China
Jiamin Zhao
In Lianzhou, a rainy southern region of China, nestled around a small-town art museum, two women cross paths at a photography exhibition, forming a fleeting connection that shapes and reproduces their desires in ways beyond their perception.
Poetry for Strangers
12 min | Germany
Martin Stuart Krafft
A video essay reflecting on a performance art project reciting a Rilke poem to strangers 1000 times across the city of Berlin.
The Nihilist
2 min | Canada
Nella Ciavatta
A young girl explores the realities and lack of realities within our existence through her interactions with a series of public service announcements.
Orilla
6 min | Peru
Philippe Gruenberg
Binary
3 min | US
Padrick Ritch
