Just got home from Beijing's screening of the Future Shorts global short film festival at 798 - 6 short films with very different tones and topics. We were watching the sextet on the same day as sister screenings in Egypt and Estonia - the global organizer's suggestion that we share our reactions via a Twitter hashtag (as narrated by our local host) met with slightly embarrassed laughter among the audience (ed. Twitter is inaccessible in China). Interestingly, in her translation for the chinese audience members, I think I heard the co-host describe Twitter as 'the western WeiBo.' That's the first time I've heard the analogy made in the other direction!
We kicked off with the Swedish 'Incident by a Bank,' a droll re-enactment of a failed bank robbery in Stockholm that exploited the comedic potential of the everyday. Second was a frankly bizarre and quite explicit computer-generated cartoon medley ('The External World') with some deeply hilarious moments marred by a tendency towards slapstick and shock tactics. The troubling vein continued with 'Deeper than Yesterday', the testosterone-charged drama of sex-starved Russian sub-mariners who surface to discover an attractive female corpse floating by their vessel. Thankfully the disturbing consequences of this 'miracle' (as the men call it) remain in the mind of the watcher, as the hero of the piece returns the body to the ocean before any nastiness occurs.
#4 was a charming Amelie/Delicatessen-esque Argentinian piece called Luminaris - a charming time lapse film about a corporate cog's dreams of something better.
#5 was constructed so far as I could tell almost entirely of white styrofoam, from which the film-maker (Michael Please) builds a complex interior and exterior world for its eponymous protagonist.
The final piece drew back from such bleak introspection - God of Love was the cute story of a slightly awkward lounge singer turned machiavellian minor deity who learns that with great power comes great responsibility - either that or it's just a classic 'bro's before ho's' morality tale.
A pity that there were no Chinese films on offer today - I'm in the process of bringing together some expert witnesses from various disciplines for a special podcast next month so we can all learn a bit more about what's going on out here across the cultural spectrum!
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