From an iconic band's lifelong quest to Havana to a time travel experience in South Korea to a confessional look at a relationship in lockdown, curators at our partnering film festivals reveal why the six films shortlisted for this year's LongShots festival take viewers on exciting new journeys.

See all the film trailers on the LongShots festival site. The full-length versions of the films will will be available to watch for free on the festival site from 8 September, and you can cast your vote for your favourite in the Audience Award before the deadline on 19 September.

Svonni vs The Swedish Tax Agency (Maria Fredriksson)

With a playful tone and a contagious sense of humour, Svonni vs The Swedish Tax Agency drops the viewer in the centre of a two-year dispute over an indigenous Sámi family's dog, Rikke. For generations, the Sámi people have employed dogs in the business of reindeer herding and so, according to owner Ida-Marie Svonni, should be eligible for a tax deduction. The tax agency disagrees, determining instead that the family's dog is nothing more than a pet – just another crack in the steadily widening cultural rift between the Sámi people and their home country.

Director Maria Fredriksson plays with graphic designs, voiceovers and a mixture of natural scenes to create a rich, unique storytelling palette. And though it features breathtaking backdrops of snowy Swedish countryside, this story of a people seeking to be understood transcends national boundaries.

Nominated by Angie Driscoll, Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival

"The film's levity and jaunty score makes it so effective, especially to a non-indigenous audience who may not consider, face or see this kind of subtle, pervasive discrimination. This film uses humour, frustration and joy to appeal to everyone, inside and outside of an indigenous experience. I think it is an innate desire in human beings to want to know one another, to see ourselves in each other, and also to learn from all of the differences that exist between us… This film shows that we can." 

Svonni vs The Swedish Tax Agency

Blondie: Vivir en la Habana (Rob Roth)

This dreamy short film chronicles a pair of 2019 performances in Cuba by members of the iconic US band Blondie, a group that rose to international fame in the 1970s for its cross-genre innovation led by frontwoman Debbie Harry. The visit comes as the culmination of Harry and her bandmates' lifelong quest to absorb Cuba's dense cultural variety, the haunting beauty of its capital Havana, and its unmistakable patchwork of musical influences.

Harry remains centre stage throughout the film, musing about her love for the city, as director Rob Roth delights the viewer with fast cuts overlaid by mystical finger-paint illustrations. Shot using 16mm, 8mm and digital cameras, the film seamlessly blurs the looks of old and new Havana – paying tribute to the timelessness of music in an otherwise changing world.

Nominated by Sharon Badal, Tribeca Festival

"What makes the documentary different is its colourful palette and the energy in its construction – the way it keeps you engaged. It isn't overly music-heavy, it isn't overly talky. There are layers and textures to this documentary that come together to create something light, bright, hopeful and entertaining.

"You'll be smiling and tapping your feet the whole way through."

Blondie: Vivir en la Habana

I Bought a Time Machine (Yeon Park)

I Bought a Time Machine − a charming and deeply personal film by South Korean filmmaker Yeon Park − is the cinematic manifestation of a simple question: if you were given the power to change your past, would you? After purchasing a time machine from an internet seller and reading the instructions, Park offers it to her father as a birthday present, and asks which moments in his life he would revisit. What begins as a lighthearted thought experiment quickly becomes something profound − an exploration of the weight that memories can hold and the conversations that keep families close.

Filmed in in the US while Park's parents are home in Korea, the familiar exchanges and moments of vulnerability naturally encourage personal introspection about the way we speak with and listen to the loved ones in our own lives, and how sensitive we are to the history behind the people near to us.

Nominated by Rebecca de Pas, Visions du Réel

"There are films that stay with you right away, and I Bought a Time Machine was one of those… I found that it was a really inventive and playful way to talk about a rather serious subject that is often treated in documentary in a more classical way.

"I Bought a Time Machine is a film that transmits the idea of a daughter's love, and it's full of sweetness… Even if we are not familiar with this specific page of the Korean history, nevertheless I think that the family dynamics are something that, no matter where you are based or what your interest in cinema is, can speak to you."

I Bought a Time Machine

Seeking Aline (Rokhaya Marieme Balde)

A one-of-a-kind melding of documentary and theatre, Seeking Aline breathes new life into storied Senegalese freedom fighter Aline Sitoé Diatta as her spirit finds purchase in a handful of actresses auditioning for a part in the short film itself. The film is a multi-faceted monument to the sanctity of place and the staying power of revolutionary ideas, structured with equal parts candid moments, scripted narrative and behind-the-scenes footage of director Rokhaya Marieme Balde returning to her ancestral village.

Balde's status as the descendent of Diatta − a young heroine who led a resistance against French colonists in the early 1940s and was said to have supernatural powers – acts as the throughline for her cinematic collage of stories. Her return to the village comes as a realisation of destiny, and an opportunity to suspend belief as we encounter the living fragments of Aline that still exist today.

Nominated by Jamie Allan, Sheffield DocFest

"It's a documentary about the filmmaker's process as much as anything else, a documentary about the making of this film at the same time… It's very special that it's a story from [Balde's] ancestral home, but also that she's not from that community adds complexity to the dynamics at play, and also the dynamics we see as an audience.

"It's so loose with the documentary form and it's so playful with the documentary form, and this real story is mixed with so many layers. It's a film that allows people to speak, and listens to them, which is really beautiful."

In This Moment (Serena Vittorini)

Somewhere between diary and drama, love letters and a confession booth, In This Moment captures a raw, often fraught relationship during the Covid-19 quarantine period in Belgium. Filmmaker Serena Vittorini and her partner Ophélie Masson − a young couple taking their first chance at cohabitation − invite the viewer to listen in on some of their most vulnerable conversations as they struggle to express and reciprocate each other's needs.

A striking slice of time without a conventional beginning or end, Vittorini's story evokes fierce passion and intensity from even the quiet stillness of the home. The couple's misunderstandings, frustrations and longing can be felt as the third character on screen, a looming presence within every stunning, photographic closeup that comprises the film. The result is a wrenching, beautiful portrayal of something familiar to anyone who's dared to love.

Nominated by Antonio Pezzuto, Giornate degli Autori (Venice Days)

"A love story between two people, two women in this case, who from the very beginning are not afraid to talk about their differences, their conflicts, their desire to be together. A story in which the two protagonists are not afraid of putting themselves on the line. A story that can repeat itself, consistent through time, and which each time produces different scars and provides us with unexpected cures.

"The skill of the director, which we can already see in the play of light and the editing of the images, is not only in the way she frames and frames herself, but also in the ability to appear sincere, without shame and without censorship."

Kicking the Clouds (Sky Hopinka)

Kicking the Clouds pulls the viewer through a surreal auditory journey across four generations of director Sky Hopinka's family. He uses a 50-year-old recording of his great-grandmother teaching his grandmother bits of the Pechanga language as an entryway to studying his ancestors' personal trajectory within the much wider diaspora of Indigenous peoples in the western United States. Through Hopinka's own conversation with his mother, we discover the pieces of heritage in need of protection and the woes of a family best left in the past.

Filmed in a way that mimics retro home video – imperfect handheld footage shot in natural light − the images serve as vessels for the stories that are told entirely through recorded voice. Among many things, the film is a tribute to the notion of home, regardless of location, and a celebration of the people and traditions that make it worth preserving.

Nominated by Anna Henckel-Donnersmarck, Berlinale

"It's very masterful how the film balances light and heavy… At first you think it's more of a nostalgic childhood memory, but it's very soon that you realise there are several layers and it's a very complex story being told.

"Themes travel across cultures, across countries, across nations… I've watched it many times now, and I think with every viewing it gets deeper."

The winners of the Audience award and Jury award will be announced at a special live event on 21 September in New York City's iconic Metrograph movie theatre, as well as being streamed live on social media.

Read the terms and conditions and privacy notice for the audience vote.

Many thanks to our LongShots festival partner curators (below, clockwise from top) Sharon Badal, Tribeca Festival; Rebecca de Pas, Visions du Réel; Antonio Pezzuto, Giornate degli Autori (Venice Days); Anna Henckel-Donnersmarck, Berlinale; Jamie Allan, Sheffield DocFest; Angie Driscoll, Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.

Image Credits: (clockwise from top) Mariana Mahoney, Adam Olha, Antonio Pezzuto, Anjula Schaub, Katie Lea, Angie Driscoll.

LongShots was created by Anna Bressanin, BBC Reel editor in the US and director of LongShots; Ana Catalá is the co-curator of the festival. Natalia Guerrero, Senior producer. Graphics by Clementina Gades and Laura Llewellyn. Photo editor, Javier Hirschfeld. Social media producers, Florence Craig and Soo Min Kim. Poster by Manuele Fior.

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