Picks: Encounters Short Film Festival (Brits 2: The Eyes of Others)
Strong selection of short films exploring notions of identity, representation, belonging and acceptance. AJ picks included Flight of the Pompadour (Dir: Karan Kandhari is an Indian filmmaker based in the UK. His work focuses on misfits and loners, and this film is the second in a trilogy: A United Howl), a stylish, deadpan comedy following a geeky youth’s initiation into rockabilly culture; Untitled, 2013 (Dir: Anna Valdez Hanks and Anna Blandford have co-directed three award-winning shorts. They experiment with the creative limits of narrative to explore ethics, sex and identity): beautifully shot in monochrome, this film examined the exploitation of the vulnerable (Colombian prostitutes) for consumption as art (fine art photography). Tits (Dir: Alex Winckler was nominated for a BAFTA in 09 and has directed several other shorts, Channel 4’s Coming Up strand and has a feature in development with BBC Films) follows a boy at a new school trying to maintain his secret – an admirable pair of man-boobs. This delicate comedy touches upon issues of transgender and acceptance with a remarkable lightness of touch and laugh-out-loud moments (“Isn’t puberty a bummer?” consoles the GP). Also includes a wonderful cover of Radiohead’s Creep. Described by the director as “an experiment in film and time”, Stay the Same (Dir: Sam Firth has won awards for her short films which cross boundaries between cinema/art, fiction/documentary, personal and objective experience) compiles a collection of moments filmed of the director at exactly the same time and place every day for a year. The images are moved by a striking original soundtrack by composer, Fraya Thomsen. No Kaddish in Camarthen (Dir: Jesse Armstrong, creator/writer/producer of Peep Show ), the directorial debut from Jesse Armstrong, charts a Welsh oddball trying to find his place in the world and in his best friend’s relationship. Sharp comedic dialogue in this sensitive tale of friendship and vulnerability.