dark rooms & flickering images

 Though much of the past week was spent in dark rooms surrounded by music, the focus was on motion pictures rather than repetitive beats.

Last November my sister and I completed a short-film called 'Ten Quintillion'. It was her vision (in both the literal and brain-wave sense), and my audio. As the two of us were about to graduate (she doing a BA in Film & TV, while I finished an Advanced Diploma in Sound Production), we used the piece as a grad-piece to finish off our respective courses. The film was later entered in various film-festivals across the world, where it proceeded to win a few awards, and in general, do really well for itself.

One of these festivals was the Hamburg 28th International Short Film Festival. As the organisers liked our film and wanted to screen it, they sent an invite asking if we'd like to come to Hamburg... and since I was going to be in Germany during the festival, it was decided that I'd go and represent the film. And that's how I found myself in Hamburg.





Here's the trailer for Ten Quintillion



In total, I think I saw close to 120 short-films across the festival. Below are a few that I really enjoyed, and recommend you see them, should you get the chance. While none of them seem to be viewable online, I found stills on the official Hamurg Kurz Film Festival site... so there's something pretty to gaze at:


Bear (director: Nash Edgerton) - a dark comedy set in NSW, Australia (personally, the shots of the bush made me long for outdoor parties again...)

Bigger Than Texas (director: Mark Pugh) - highly-stylised, from '93. Set in Australia. Touches of Pulp Fiction, but with a kind of late 80s/early-90s neon-glow. Apparently it can be found in the ACMI video library (Melbourne)... encourages late-night cruises in sports cars, while listening to Italo-Disco-esque grooves... and robbing banks.

Il Capo

Il Capo (director: Yuri Ancarani) - although it's shot in a quarry, has no dialogue and no music, Il Capo is a really interesting film. Slow-moving, but really impressive on the big screen.

The Centrifuge Brain Project

The Centrifuge Brain Project (director: Till Nowak) - a German mockumentary about measuring brain activity while defying gravity (it's better than it sounds, trust me).


Compulsion (director: Andrew McVicar) - A beautifully-shot English drama. It creatively captures the suburban anger of a male teenager, and the havoc being wreaked inside his head (due to meeting a girl and falling deep in it...). The sound in this is really well done; check out the opening scene of minimal soundscapes, where silence is as important as sound.

Combustion

Combustion (director: Renaud Hallée) - great balls of fire. Synced-up really nicely with the score. Parts of it reminded me of an experimental sequencer (working with phrases in a cyclic manner, rather than a  typical linear arrangement).



Long Distance Information (director: Douglas Hart) - a Scottish comedy dealing with the awkwardness between a father/son relationship.

Monkey Spa

Monkey Spa (director: Dragan Zivancevic) - an abstract adventure involving monkeys in search of hot springs. Absurd vision and an amazing score.

El Quilpo Sueña Cataratas / The Quilpo Dreams of Waterfalls

El Quilpo Sueña Cataratas / The Quilpo Dreams of Waterfalls (director: Pablo Mazzolo) - experimental, abstract - beautiful rather than harsh and jarring.




Snow Canon (director: Mati Diop) - set in the French alps. Kind of kinky (it is French). Beautifully shot. The closing credits song is worth the watch alone - again, that glowing neon vibe.

White Turnips Make It Hard to Sleep (director: Rachel Lang) - A Belgian drama dealing with a break-up. Really well made... The plot isn't shocking, but it's the way the story is presented and how it's shot that really create interest. Would love to see a feature-length film from the same director.





As a footnote, it's worth mentioning that Ten Quintillion tied for first-place in the people's choice award (decided by the audience) - hooray : )