London Short Film Festival interview with Philip Ilson

 

Before the Christmas and New Year festivities began last year, I got to ask Philip Ilson from LSFF (London Short Film Festival) about the festival's programme for 2022 which will be taking place in person after two years of virtual events across the film landscape.

Full interview can be read HERE over at Run Riot.

LSFF 14 - 23 January 2022, across various venues in London

Fantasia Film Festival - Shorts Selection

 

Often short films can capture the strange and bizarre far better than a feature can. In those few minutes we can enter a universe, a home, a being and feel completely warped by what we’ve witnessed. Fantasia Film Festival always has a selection of delightfully and sometimes downright disturbing to offer in their short programme. Highlighting a selection here that really do leave you wanting more.

 

The Lovers (Dir. Avra Fox-Learner, USA)

A woman with an over dependant roommate feels as if her relationship might hinder her new found romance. Sharing her thoughts, neither knows where this afternoon will lead them.

Whenever a tarot deck appears in a film, there is a sense that we’re not actually meant to know what the reading really means. Here, it is a teaser as one card lays unturned until the gruesome end, taunting us with what it means to the two women. The rather cute set up and sweet hand holding in the park, lulls us into a false sense of security and how we think this story will go. But the third act is so nonchalant, its perfect.

Puss (Dir. Leah Shore, USA)

Stuck in her apartment during the pandemic, Samantha, lonely and horny as hell, tries to find ways get to laid before she goes crazy.

As we are living through this pandemic and having suffered lockdown, some of us still in this situation, we all know how frustrating it is to not do the things you would do with no restrictions. Samantha’s relatable struggles will hit home to many people and find the absolute true humour in her behaviour and her avenues to try to get laid. When the story takes a turn for the very weird indeed, its almost a shock when it turns out its not all a vivid dream she’s having. Although slightly off key, this fantastical element that appears near the end is entertaining enough to pull off.

The Last Word (Dir. Lucas Warin, France)

A writer struggles to write when he discovers he has a certain power.

The classic, writer sits alone in a café trying to write something but keeps crossing out all their idea, or in short, the struggling writer keeps failing, isn’t new but if a writer is the focus, there is a million things that could be created. In this case, the writer’s ability to conjure in front of him what he writes is a fun little story. But this is very much like a certain Ruby Sparks but in a much smaller scale. Thankfully the cruel playful twist at the end makes up for this slightly unoriginal story.

Sexy Furby (Dir. Nicole Daddona, USA)

After the death of her beloved father, a reclusive girl living in the picturesque countryside decides to take her own life, only to have her life changed suddenly by an encounter with a man sized Furby.

This story is as bizarre as it sounds. In such a short time frame, so much is layered between the scenes, you want to try and take every little detail in because you want to make sure you actually saw what is happening. Told near completely through voiceover except for a few spoken lines at the end, this story about a girl who tries to kill herself but is distracted by the presence of a man sized Furby is nothing but entertaining. Played out like a melodrama complete with dramatic close ups and Vaseline on the lens, as well a conversion to Jesus and with a sinister pizza cutter ritual, Sexy Furby is a rare beast of a film, beast intended. A mixture of horror, dark comedy and the weirdest of the weird fantasy, this makes you excited to see what else director Nicole Daddona has in store next.

 

For One Month Only

Seeing as we are all still in a state of unease and cut off from one another, I wanted to share something with everyone. For one month only.

Back in May 2017 a Kickstarter campaign was started to help fund a short low/no budget film 'Late Night at the Movies'. This was co-produced and co-directed (by me) from a story I had spent years writing. I'd always wanted to shoot in a cinema and write a story about a hitman (well, woman) and this was it.

Livien, a professional killer, who goes to the late night film screenings to unwind and hide away from her job, her clients and anyone else who is after her. Somewhere along the line she ended up working for an organization and signed the wrong kind of contract. Middleman Jack meets with her at the movies and tells what to do and where to go. At first this was an intrusion to her, at the place she calls her sanctuary, but over time Jack and Livien have become more than just colleagues. This complicates matters however, as Livien struggles with her feelings whilst trying to protect the one she cares about.

The film will be available to watch for one month. Its only 10 minutes long so hopefully this brings a spark of enjoyment to your day.

The film can be watched HERE. THIS FILM IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE.

Thank you to everyone who was involved and made this possible, especially to the person who has helped so many times, especially when I thought everything was literally falling to pieces, you saved the day.

Underwire: Her Dark Materials

I don't know how I end up going to see the short programme that has the horror genre shorts or as close to that genre. I think it's the title. 'Her Dark Materials' is a very enticing title for the programme. But I'm getting at appreciating this genre, plus, I was lucky to have a great audience that were vocal enough so that my stifled yelps wouldn't be heard.

A mixture of a simplistic, quick fire, comedic, experimental and twisted selection of films, some with briliantly gory special effects and imagines that lingered in the mind long after you left the cinema.

Perfectly titled, this selection usually draws in a crowd to match the enthusiasm from the filmmakers. Noticed that the line up included a film school's rather experimental offering, 'Dark Leaves' with imagines of teenage desire, lust that quickly turned to danger and murder. It stood out from the rest with its less than polished style, with unusual camera angles and disturbing soundtrack. The programme started off with a few shorter shorts, such as 'Cubicle' about a woman who overhears some smore than suspicious noises. Under 5 minutes and got quite a reaction from the audience with its close quarters shots and jump scares. 'Retch' was also one hell of a gore fest where a woman violently transforms into some sort of creature right in front of a shocked friend. The special effect and the hair and make up were something to marvel at. 'Changeling' was a disturbing twist on the folklore about creatures swapping babies for changelings, but here we see a new mother plagued by an oozing blackish brown goo that follows her everywhere.

The longer shorts were saved up for later in the programme, such as the rather harrowing but non more important ' White Girl' about said girl who stalks the street looking for rage and anger to be let loose. This included a very graphic and effective scene where a dead body's organ's are removed. The finale, 'Knock at the Door' earned cheers and laughter from the audience and little nod to stranger danger. A suspicious 'neighbourhood watch' representative gets far more than he was looking for when he's invited in by a kind old lady and her adorable dog Buster. Over the top and deadpan keeping you entertained and very much creeped out at the same time. But this is what I've come to expect at a horror genre Underwire programme as well as marvel at the talented filmmkers, some of which joined in for a quick Q & A at the end.

A collection worth keeping and as always, never a disappointment. Here's to the next 10 years of the festivals!

#underwire10

We Are the Weirdos

With the success of last year’s showcase of emerging talent in film, specifically exploring the horror genre made by female filmmakers, The Final Girls are back with a second instalment of the shorts programme. 

To celebrate Women in Horror month, the feminist horror film collective, The Final Girls are taking their programme on the road around the UK. The shorts, from filmmakers around the world each have their own perspective on what horror can be. Exploring the genre through animation, monsters, ghosts, memories and satirical viewpoints, these filmmakers each have something unique to share. 

We are treated  shots from our own shores, like Kate Dolan’s ‘Catcalls’ where a man cruises the streets and picks on the wrong women to exercise his quick thrill. They soon get their revenge. As well as Rebecca Culverhouse’s #EatPretty about a product photographer is who is obsessed with the perfect image and soon turning to sweeter, darker things. Shot like beauty adverts, the film captures the essence of what makes the perfect outward image while conveying the darker side to this lifestyle. 

Those who had a fear of puppets were warned at the start and no wonder as Hanna Bergholm’s ‘Puppet Master’ was about a lonely woman who is turned into a puppet by a handsome stranger. But the beautifully filmed puppetry was heartbreaking more than terrifying, at least after the first initial shock. 

Animation was also featured in the line up with a fantastical stop motion animated ‘Cerulia’ from Sofia Carrillo which featured Cerulia of the title venture back to her old house where her childhood memories still live, waiting for her return. 

The centrepiece short of the evening was the only short with a comedic edge matched only with its undertone in truth. Mariama Diallo’s brilliantly named ‘Hair Wolf’ was pitch perfect at every step. Set in black hair salon, the staff fend off the strange monster like threat, the white woman trying to take away the ‘lifeblood from black culture’. Both zombie and witch like, the woman invades and turns them one by one with a selfie claiming that its ‘viral’. A brilliant film that fits so well into the horror genre, it worries me. 

Monster are real, whether they are creatures that roam the streets at night seeking revenge or in your own home, someone you know, someone close to you, maybe even under your bed. The nine shorts we get to see, explore the fantastical and the so real it feels like a dream. We are the Weirdos is hopefully going to become an annual event in the film calendar so we get to see more shorts like this. 


So that you don't miss out, tickets for the tour can be found HERE. 

Meet The New Yarn

Pixar’s newly minted Spark Short’s first film is here and it’s delightfully aimed at adults.

Taking on the modern work place, commenting on the toxic boys’ club of the office, a new recruit arrives and it’s a pink ball of yarn named Purl. She’s happy, bright and friendly, not what her co-workers were expecting. She’s tries to join in with jokes and pitch in ideas at the office meeting but she’s left on the outside and excluded from fun after work drinks. So, she decides to act like them and is eventually excepted but when new recruit Lacy, a yellow ball of yarn, arrives Purl at first makes jokes but sees that she can make a change and invites Lacy to drinks. Flash forward and Purl is showing around the latest recruit to the office which is now full of different coloured yarn balls and happy co-workers.

From reading various pieces on ‘Purl’ it’s making an impression, being shared around the internet. Pixar isn’t one to shy away from the tougher topics in their film but the fact that this new short, written and directed by Kristen Lester, is purposely for adults is a barrier worth breaking. With adult jokes and swearing (apparently there is swearing, but I might be desensitised to these things) and very obviously taking on what it feels like to be the odd yarn ball out. Reading around the internet, the short has hit a cord with lots of women (of course, we’re the yarn) and myself included as we’ve all felt like Purl at some point in our working lives and even non-working lives. 

Although there are all kinds of yarns at the end, the other part of the short that was very obvious is that the office is in no way diverse, all the ‘bros workers’ are Caucasian, which doesn’t exactly mirror the work place. This is, I’m sure, been noted by others. Others who have been annoyed by the more ‘adult’ dialogue and themes.

At just under 9 minutes long, the story cover ground and in my opinion, not subtle. It delicately encapsulates what the ‘toxic masculine environment’ is like and shows that it just takes one person, or one ball of yarn, to make a positive difference, as well as showing that we should help each other up. Life isn’t as simple as a Pixar short but the message is clear and the animation brilliant.

You can see Purl on the Disney/Pixar YouTube channel HERE.