On Monday evening I went along to the Short & Sweet film night in central London. On entry we were served up with salty popcorn (always salty) which had been carefully placed in Short & Sweet brown bags: what a delightful touch. A quick trip to the bar and we were ready to settle into our seats for a whistle stop tour through curator Jack Robinson‘s selection of short films old and new. We were shown 8 films in total and stand outs for me included the following:
Dad’s New Girlfriend is a new film from American journalist and director Clay Weiner.
Excruciatingly hilarious: I particularly loved the children’s steadfast po-faces in front of their potential step mum.
I also liked Harry Dwyer‘s evocative music video for Turin Brakes‘ Sea Change, pill featuring toy soldiers and home made fireworks. Harry was formerly in The Rumblestrips where he caught the film bug by making the band’s videos.
Harry Dwyer was on hand to describe how he made Sea Change in his spare room using stop animation with only a kitchen pan on his head to protect him from explosions.
Paul Trillo made Bela: L’Homme Chat at this years Cannes film festival. It follows a Hungarian street performer who seems to do not very much apart from play with his affectionate (and sometimes surly) pussies, whilst dressed in faux French revolutionary garb and white face paint. Touching and amusing by turns, this will appeal to cat lovers everywhere.
You can support Paul Trillo’s next project Happy Birthday Mr. Bracewell on Kickstarter here.
Finally, Stanley Pickle is an immensely clever film that has already won many awards, though director Vicky Mather very self effacingly told us that this is simply because she was able to enter both stop motion and acting categories. It tells the tale of a strange overgrown boy who has created a clockwork fantasy land. Vicky uses stop motion with real humans to create many interesting and sometimes surreal vignettes which add to the fairytale atmosphere. Beautifully lit and framed.
Short & Sweet provided a great introduction to short films I might never have watched otherwise, all in a relaxed environment. Let’s hope there are more events soon!
Tags:
Bela: L'Homme Chat, Cannes film festival, Clay Weiner, Dad's New Girlfriend, film, Harry Dwyer, Jack Robinson, music video, Paul Trillo, Sea Change, Short & Sweet, Short Film, Stanley Pickle, Stop Motion, The Rumblestrips, Turin Brakes, UK, Vicky Mather
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