Short films : Independent Film Festival 08/02
Safely Feel The Real World
Jody Xiong, China, 3′
Durex 001 collaborated with Volvo XC40 to co-release a short film. Colored in signature Durex 001 colors (black and gold), the animation follows a couple who wakeup from a VR simulated dream and escape to a safe reality on “001 Island.” In the visual narrative between the two brands, safety is a sexy and apparent benefit, one that allows us to approach intimacy and embrace reality. At the most critical moment in this film, In a very original way, a glass-like stomach and a metal esophagus are used to emphasize Volvo’s strong four-wheel drive, ground grip and other safety features.
Pocket Call
Paul Spengemann, Germany, 6′
A video call to the cinema. Whether the call from inside the trouser pocket was a prank, coincidence or fate, willing us to be exactly the audience called, remains unanswered and in the end, it doesn’t really matter. It’s a way to access something, to dial into something, whether it’s welcome or not. Replicas of mistakes, connected pixels make polygons, which then become specks of dust, threads, or bits of fluff, which condense in the dark cavern of a trouser pocket. A microscopic setting asks the fundamental ontological question of what substance the world is really made of and how in this materialist perspective anything new can emerge. The result is a technological replica, or digital reconstruction, of chance.
Selections/awards: Loop Barcelona, Kasseler DokFest, Internationales FF Dresden, Short Waves Festival, and more.
Heat Wave Hallucination
Jil Guyon, USA, 1′
Synopsis: Heat Wave Hallucination is a kaleidoscopic self-portrait that transports the viewer into a psychedelic world of vibrant color and dramatic, hypnotic sound.
Selections/awards: Super Shorts LA FF, Obskuur Ghent FF, Manhattan Indie FF (Best Experimental Film).
A film about appearing “racially ambiguous”. Performing a choreography of resistance, a scaffolded amalgam of body pieces tries to remain whole in an environment programmed to disassemble it.
Selections/awards: Flickers’ Rhode Island IFF, New Orleans FF (Jury Award Winner: Animation), Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival, Portland FF, San Diego Underground FF, and more.
Some cows don’t need to jump to make it over the moon.
Selections/awards: Brooklyn FF (Experimental Spirit Award), Nashville FF (Winner Edge Shorts), Tacoma FF, Shorts Mexico, NYC Indie FF, and more.
Music by Lanier Sammons.
Iqaluit
Ted Schneider, USA, 12′
Do you have to go all the way to Iqaluit to get an abortion?
Selections/awards: Boston Short FF, Toronto Arthouse FF, and more.
Selections/awards: Producer’s Night LA 2022, Toronto Arthouse FF, Boston Short FF, Verona IFF, and more.
A reflection on the Self Improvement Industry, explored through the filmmaker’s attempts to participate in a guided pseudo-mindfulness exercise.
An ‘afronaut’ emerges from the wreckage of a spaceship in the volcanic crater of Mount Nyiragongo. As he descends into the city below, encountering the people of present-day Goma, he begins to understand what he must do to change the future for his people. Running time: 00:13:35.
Selections/awards: Sundance FF, Locarno FF.
Brussels Independent Film Festival is back! The full lineup will feature numerous World, International and European Premieres.
