Folktale Shorts

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From Icelandic witches and Irish bog spirits to Bavarian folklore and the revival of ancient mumming traditions, these films draw on myths, rituals, and supernatural figures from across the world. Moving between handcrafted puppetry, folk horror, documentary, and atmospheric fantasy, the block explores the enduring power of stories we inherit, reinvent, and continue to tell.

Hell by Parker Croft

A place where dreams are real, wishes come true, and everything is always awful for everyone.

Hell follows the patriarch of a dying farm on the outskirts of Ash Harbor as he is methodically ground down by the machinery of despair. What begins as endurance curdles into something far more existential, a portrait of collapse told through dust, labor, and silence.

Hell premiered at Animation Dingle and has been selected for more than 100 festivals worldwide, including the Florida Film Festival, Dallas International Film Festival, ANIMATOR, Bengaluru International Short Film Festival, and Popcorn Frights. Upcoming screenings include Aesthetica and FilmQuest. Christopher Francis of Salute Your Shorts called it “a stop-motion masterpiece that strikes each moment, each beat, each piece of filmmaking perfectly.”

Director Biography - Parker Croft

Parker Croft is an American director and screenwriter known for his portrayal of flawed, conflicted characters and his exploration of themes like mortality and love through a bold, voyeuristic visual style. His most recent short film, As Easy As Closing Your Eyes (2024), has earned 144 awards across more than 200 film festivals, including 16 for Best Director. His debut short, Suncatcher (2019), was similarly acclaimed, screening at 62 festivals and earning 13 awards.

Croft first made his mark as a screenwriter with the feature Falling Overnight (2011), which won the Special Jury Prize at Cinequest and later streamed on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. In 2017, he co-founded Paper Horse Pictures, an award-winning film production company based in West Hollywood, California. In addition to his narrative work, he has directed music videos for artists such as The All-American Rejects.

Grýlu Sker by Kevin McTurk

Shipwrecked off the coast of Iceland, an explorer must fight for survival on a desolate island inhabited by the bloodthirsty witch Grýla. This handcrafted film uses live action bunraku puppetry, stop-motion animation, and rotoscope animation to tell an epic tale set in the world of Icelandic folklore.

Director Biography - Kevin McTurk

A professional creature effects artist, cinematographer, model maker, and puppeteer, Kevin McTurk has been working in the effects industry for over 34 years.

A graduate of Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Film Production, Kevin moved to Los Angeles in 1992 and began his career in special make-up effects at Stan Winston Studios, working on Batman Returns, Interview with a Vampire, and the Jurassic Park films. He has worked for many effects companies over the years, including the Jim Henson Creature Shop, Amalgamated Dynamics, and Spectral Motion. Kevin also worked at New Deal Studios, where he was involved on the miniature effects shots for the Martin Scorcese films The Aviator, Shutter Island, and Hugo.

In 2004, Kevin was contacted by Weta Workshop in New Zealand and moved to Wellington to work on the films King Kong,The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, and the gory comedy Black Sheep (in which he also played the Weresheep creature).

In 2011, Kevin received a Project Grant from The Jim Henson Foundation to make his first puppet short film “The Narrative of Victor Karloch.” The film played in over twenty international festivals, and won the 2012 Best Animated Film Award at the DragonCon Film Festival. His follow-up film, “The Mill at Calder’s End” was the result of a highly successful Kickstarter campaign and played in film festivals around the world. This film has won several awards including the Grand Jury Award for Best Animated Short at Seattle International Film Festival, the Audience Choice Award for Best Short Film at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, and the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Short Film.

His 2019 puppet short film The Haunted Swordsman also played festivals around the world, winning 38 international awards (including the Will Vinton Award at the Portland Film Festival, the Special Jury Prize for Achievement in Puppetry at the Seattle International Film Festival, the Toronto After Dark Best International Short, the Grossmann Fantastic Film Festival Best Short, the Filmquest Best Animated Short, and many others).

Krampus by Florian Ecker

On a remote farm in Lower Bavaria, Xaver struggles with guilt and fear during the bitter winter. Haunted by the myths of his childhood and the beliefs of those around him, he seeks justice and turns to a dark figure.

Director Biography - Florian Ecker

Florian Ecker (1995 in Eggenfelden, Lower Bavaria) is a teacher and filmmaker from Germany. For years, he has combined his passion for storytelling and his deep interest in human experience with his love of folklore, fairy tales, and mythical creatures. The renowned HARD:LINE festival in Regensburg even calls him "one of the great hopes of German-language folk horror". His works have been shown and awarded at several festivals, including the International Short Film Week Regensburg, the Landshut Short Film Festival, and the Biberach Film Festival.

MUMMERS ARISE by Godfrey Jordan

MUMMERS ARISE celebrates the revival of a medieval tradition, adapted by many cultures around the world; this is the Celtic version.

In County Dublin, The Fingal Mummers are foremost in presenting this folk custom whenever they perform.

Music, singing and dancing ensue.

Poetic recitations precede a classic Hero-Combat play.

Remarkable masked characters in woven straw costumes invoke archetypes to a spellbound audience.

Although Mumming traditionally takes place during the winter holiday period, The Fingal Mummers can appear at anytime/anyplace creating an exceptional, audience-involved event.

Director Biography - Godfrey Jordan

Godfrey Jordan is an award-winning independent filmmaker and a dual Irish-Canadian citizen who once worked at Dublin's Eamonn Andrews Recording Studios in The Television Club. His career began as a teenage freelance photographer for the Toronto Star during the Summer of 1969. He attended the Woodstock Music Festival and his gallery exhibitions feature the greats of classic rock: Jimi Hendrix, Mick Jagger, Jim Morrison, Chuck Berry, John & Yoko, etc. He resides with his family in Toronto.

* Canadian Film Centre alumnus

* York University, BFA - Film

* Writers Guild of Canada, member

* Published author translated into 5 languages

* News correspondent @ NASA Kennedy Space Center

* Media producer - government corporate communications

* Founder of The James Joyce Documentary Project (21 short films to date)

* Member, International James Joyce Foundation

* Guest speaker/presenter at Dublin's Bloomsday Film Festival; Ireland's Trinity College Ulysses@100 conference; Trieste Joyce School; World of Bob Dylan symposium - University of Tulsa, Oklahoma; PMP certified - Project Management Professional @ PMI ProjectWorld; film presenter @ 2026 Modern Language Association global conference

* Winner - 2019 Best International Short Documentary at Garden State Film Festival : "Portrait of the Milliner as yer man himself"

Feature Drama in Development: "The Necessary Fiction" based on the autobiography of Michael Groden

Puca by Conor Kennedy Burke

1967. In a lonesome farmhouse in the West of Ireland, a young woman named Donnellan grows increasingly concerned when her sister fails to return home from the nearby village. With days passing quickly and suspicion brewing, Donnellan soon finds herself in the middle of the bog ready to confront a mysterious entity notorious amongst the locals for spiriting away anyone that crosses its path. Venturing into the bog, however, starts a journey toward a truth for which Donnellan may not be prepared.

PÚCA is a celebration of Irish landscape, language, and folklore, exploring the intricacies of human nature through the stories we choose to believe.

Languages: Gaeilge (Irish) and English

Subtitles: English

Director Biography - Conor Kennedy Burke

Conor Kennedy Burke is an emerging filmmaker and theatre practitioner from Galway, Ireland. A graduate of Film Studies from the Huston School of Film & Digital Media, University of Galway, Conor has gone on to pursue a multidisciplinary professional career in the Arts spanning theatre, film, and dance.

He has worked with acclaimed Irish companies including Druid and Macnas and trained with pre-eminent artists such as Emma Martin of United Fall and Michael Keegan Dolan of Teac Damsa.

In 2022, Conor entered the Animation and VFX sector working as a member of the production team for the Scottish studio Revenant and has since contributed to projects for Samsung, Oakley, Insight Film/Netflix, and Riot Games.

As an independent artist, Conor has been writing and directing new work for both the stage and screen. His current series of projects focuses on presenting original, multilingual narratives exploring folk memory and beliefs. PÚCA marks the first film project as part of this collection and is Conor's debut film as director.

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