Worldwide Short Film Festival Preview #6
Sci Fi: OUT THERE
The Fest runs June 1 - 6 and you can check out full details here.
It's a thoughtful sextet of films with a wide range of storylines that tackle the classic themes of science fiction - life, death, hope and the inevitable rise of the Machine...
Defoe
Ross Neil UK (2009)
9 minutes 35mm Fiction - World Premiere
Not surprisingly, the main character is shipwrecked, an astronaut on a pristine land of beach and sand. This Defoe is an ape, however, alone and bored until a violent encounter with the locals sets his struggles in motion.
Schizofredric
Andy Poyiadgi UK (2009)
15 minutes DigiBeta Fiction - Canadian Premiere
Fredric is a nerd with a shelf full of geodes and another with sci fi figurines, living an eccentric unkempt bachelor-ish life his cutie girlfriend is less than enthralled with. He orders an "enlightenment programme" online, and these guys come to install a kind of trap door in his ceiling. Once in a kind of alternate dimension, he can observe what his life could be like if he'd only bother to get it together...
Fard
David Alapont, Luis Briceno France (2009)
13 minutes DigiBeta Animation - Toronto Premiere
At first, the sepia toned, block formed world of this ingeniously animated short seems bland enough, perhaps a satire on office conformity. Oscar goes to work in a vast complex of futuristic tunnels, platforms and buildings, assured by the voice on his computer that they share the same values, and each individual is irreplaceable, and so on. The story takes a darker turn when he opens a mysterious package left by a colleague and discovers a contraption that takes off the cartoon to reveal a human actor underneath. It's a very cool animation technique and one that's used to great effect in this eerie film. ("Fard" means make-up in French btw.)
Vostok Station
Dylan Pharazyn New Zealand (2009)
8 minutes 35mm Fiction - Canadian Premiere
The last survivor in a frozen (frozen!) north (or south) is bandaged and inadequately dressed. He stumbles through the frigid landscape without gloves, from a scientific looking complex to a harbour where destroyed boats still burn from their shellings. The he sees a vision - or does he? It's visually quite absorbing.
?E?ANX (The Cave)
Helen Haig-Brown Canada (2009)
11 minutes DigiBeta Fiction
This tells a traditional Tsilhqot'in story about a hunter who stumbles on a cave, and in it, an idyllic underworld where he's not welcome. Gorgeous scenery and a pretty horse too.
Pumzi
Wanuri Kahiu South Africa/Kenya (2009)
23 minutes DigiBeta Fiction - Toronto Premiere
Thirty years after WWIII - "the Water War" - East Africans live in a dome rationing water, recycling even their bodily fluids to survive in a toxic world. But Asha, who works at the (digital) museum of natural history, has persistent dreams of a greener world and of finding fertile land - utopian dreams the authorities naturally do their best to crush. Also contains a nice lesson on the value of tipping well.
Sci Fi: OUT THERE
The Fest runs June 1 - 6 and you can check out full details here.
It's a thoughtful sextet of films with a wide range of storylines that tackle the classic themes of science fiction - life, death, hope and the inevitable rise of the Machine...
DefoeRoss Neil UK (2009)
9 minutes 35mm Fiction - World Premiere
Not surprisingly, the main character is shipwrecked, an astronaut on a pristine land of beach and sand. This Defoe is an ape, however, alone and bored until a violent encounter with the locals sets his struggles in motion.
Schizofredric
Andy Poyiadgi UK (2009)
15 minutes DigiBeta Fiction - Canadian Premiere
Fredric is a nerd with a shelf full of geodes and another with sci fi figurines, living an eccentric unkempt bachelor-ish life his cutie girlfriend is less than enthralled with. He orders an "enlightenment programme" online, and these guys come to install a kind of trap door in his ceiling. Once in a kind of alternate dimension, he can observe what his life could be like if he'd only bother to get it together...
David Alapont, Luis Briceno France (2009)
13 minutes DigiBeta Animation - Toronto Premiere
At first, the sepia toned, block formed world of this ingeniously animated short seems bland enough, perhaps a satire on office conformity. Oscar goes to work in a vast complex of futuristic tunnels, platforms and buildings, assured by the voice on his computer that they share the same values, and each individual is irreplaceable, and so on. The story takes a darker turn when he opens a mysterious package left by a colleague and discovers a contraption that takes off the cartoon to reveal a human actor underneath. It's a very cool animation technique and one that's used to great effect in this eerie film. ("Fard" means make-up in French btw.)
Dylan Pharazyn New Zealand (2009)
8 minutes 35mm Fiction - Canadian Premiere
The last survivor in a frozen (frozen!) north (or south) is bandaged and inadequately dressed. He stumbles through the frigid landscape without gloves, from a scientific looking complex to a harbour where destroyed boats still burn from their shellings. The he sees a vision - or does he? It's visually quite absorbing.
?E?ANX (The Cave)
Helen Haig-Brown Canada (2009)
11 minutes DigiBeta Fiction
This tells a traditional Tsilhqot'in story about a hunter who stumbles on a cave, and in it, an idyllic underworld where he's not welcome. Gorgeous scenery and a pretty horse too.
Wanuri Kahiu South Africa/Kenya (2009)
23 minutes DigiBeta Fiction - Toronto Premiere
Thirty years after WWIII - "the Water War" - East Africans live in a dome rationing water, recycling even their bodily fluids to survive in a toxic world. But Asha, who works at the (digital) museum of natural history, has persistent dreams of a greener world and of finding fertile land - utopian dreams the authorities naturally do their best to crush. Also contains a nice lesson on the value of tipping well.
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