myDylarama

Encounters 2015 – a bilingual selection of live action shorts

Elise Loiseau — 2015-09-24T21:25:13Z

No. 27
Dir Lola Peploe
France 2015
21 mins

Lilly Page est une jeune Anglaise partie vivre son rêve d'aspirante romancière dans la Ville Lumière. Dans ce Paris fantasmé, tout peut arriver. C'est donc sans trop de surprise que dans une librairie, Lilly trouve une annonce déposée par un homme qui fait commerce des rêves que l'on veut bien lui vendre.
Le premier court métrage de Lola Peploe, une jeune réalisatrice anglaise, est une rêverie pleine de poésie joliment interprétée par Emily Warren.
Tourné à Paris par une réalisatrice anglaise et mettant en scène une actrice britannique également, ce court rappelle l‘hilarant Dear Jean Pierre, écrit par Katy Wix.
A en juger par ces deux films, les réalisateurs anglais semblent particulièrement bien inspirés lorsqu'ils fantasment sur le pays de leurs voisins français - aussi bien que lorsqu'ils s'en moquent gentiment!

Eng

Lilly is a young Brit who moves to Paris to fulfill her dream of working there as writer. In this fantasised version of the City of Light, everything is possible, so an advert in paper promoting the services of a man who buys and sells dreams comes as no surprise to her.
Number 27 is a poetic short by first time British director Lola Peploe –also an actress who appeared in Stephen Frears' The Queen.
Shot in Paris by a British director and with a British cast, Number 27, in a similar vein to Encounters favourite Dear Jean Pierre by Katy Wix, shows that British filmmakers are particularly inspired when they fantasise about the French capital and when they gently mock the French and their love of arthouse films.

A Single Body
Dir Sotiris Dounoukos
France 2014
18 mins

David et Wani travaillent comme équarisseurs dans un abattoir. Assidus à leur poste, ils nourrissent le rêve d'ouvrir leur propre boucherie. Ils lorgnent sur le camion d'occasion qu'ils ont repéré, dont le prix de vente baisse petit à petit. Un quotidien rude donc, mais en dépit de tout les deux compères se serrent les coudes en attendant des jours meilleurs. Jusqu'au jour où un nouvel employé arrive: maladroit, il n'inspire pas confiance aux deux amis, dans un univers peuplé de machines aux lames suffisamment puissantes pour découper en deux la carcasse d'une charolaise.
D'une grande force visuelle, Un Seul Corps impressionne par le traitement singulier de cette bromance abritée par les murs sanglants d'un abattoir. En s'attardant sur ce corps a corps étrange entre l'homme et les carcasses de bétail, la camera de Sotiris Dounoukos raconte la fragilité comme la dignité des corps des deux travailleurs.

Eng

David et Wani work in an abattoir and harbour ambitions of opening their own butcher's shop. Every day, they keep an eye out for a second-hand van, whose price keeps going down … In the face of their harsh working and living conditions, the two pals stick together and wait for better days to come. One day, a new employee arrives: his clumsiness amongst the blade-heavy environment understandably unnerves our protagonists. A visually powerful film, A Single Body hits home with its intimate and original depiction of this bromance within the bloody confines of the abattoir. By focusing his lens on this interrelated visual elements of the carcasses and the butchers, Dounoukos highlights the characters' fragility and dignity in their work.

Aissa
Dir Clément Tréhin-Lalanne's
France 2014
8 mins

Aissa est interprétée par Manda Toure et Bernard Campan prête sa voix au médecin (qui n'apparaît pas a l'écran). Aissa a été nommé aux Césars 2015 et récompensé à Clermont Ferrand 2015.

Aissa dit avoir 17 ans mais comme sans papier elle ne peut pas le prouver, elle doit passer un examen médical. Palpation, examen de la dentition, radio du poignet : le film de Clément Trehin-Lalanne se penche sur cette pratique humiliante, et provoque – a dessein- un profond malaise. On ne sait rien d'Aissa, si ce n'est qu'elle a peur, on ne sait rien non plus du Docteur, si ce n'est qu'il dit faire ces déclarations ‘de bonne foi', comme il clôt son enregistrement à destination du parquet … Le dispositif évacue tout commentaire et joue sur la juxtaposition des images du corps d'Aissa et des observations du médecin. Au malaise provoqué par l'impudeur des prises de vue s'ajoute l'indignation provoquée par la perversion de la méthode, qui transforme les différentes parties du corps d'Aissa en autant de pièces à conviction, à charge contre elle même.

Eng

Aissa is played by Manda Toure and the doctor's voice is that of actor Bernard Campan. Aissa was nominated at the Césars in 2015 and awarded a prize at the 2015 edition of Clermont-Ferrand.

Aissa says she is 17 but without any ID to prove it, she has to undergo a medical exam. Palpation of the breasts, dental examination, X-ray of her wrist: Clément Tréhin-Lalanne's short film highlights the humiliation inherent in this cold, detached examination and aims to make us viewers feel uncomfortable.
We don't know much about Aissa other than the fact that she is clearly scared; we don't know much about her doctor either, other than the fact that his assessment is carried out ‘in good faith', as he ends his recording destined for the immigration department. Tréhin-Lalanne's gets rid of comments and other extraneous elements, playing on the superimposition of the images of Aissa's body and the audio of the clinical, cold, medical assessment. The brutality of the method adds to the indecency of the images and the indignity of turning someone's body parts into pieces of evidence, incriminating their owner.

Q&A with Dan Hodgson, dir. of Love is Blind at Encounters

Abla Kandalaft — 2015-09-23T10:16:05Z

We caught up with writer/director Dan Hodgson at Encounters in Bristol. His second film LOVE IS BLIND was screened at Encounters and has been shortlisted for a short film Palme d'or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.

Can you tell us a bit about how your first short-Are You Albert-came about?

In the final few years of her life my grandma was in a care home with dementia and the idea grew from there. I wrote it up in an afternoon for Film London's short film scheme and although it wasn't selected it did mean that I had a rough draft of the script. After that it was always going to get made.

How did you get into filmmaking?

I've wanted to be a film director since my early teens but I've gone about it in an incredibly roundabout way. Eventually, I did a short film course and in 2009 spent three months on friends' couches for a three-month internship at a production company in London. I stayed there for two years before going freelance in 2011. During that time I've always worked on personal projects but have really concentrated on my own films in the past couple of years. The goal has always been to direct fiction.

How did you fund your first and second shorts?

Are You Albert? was crowd funded, along with a chunk of money I put up myself. I was also able to call in a lot of 'in kind' favours for kit and crew.

Love Is Blind was predominantly funded by my producer Lizzie's production company Bird Flight Films and was supported by another crowd funding campaign.

What conditions/organisations/people would you say where the most helpful in getting the films made?

Film London helped us develop the script for Love Is Blind and their feedback was crucial in creating something that had heart and depth to it.

Not to get all ‘lovie' about it, but I am completely indebted to my producer Lizzie Brown, who is exceptional. Also my DOP Adrian Marciante, who has shot all of my shorts and let's me crash on his couch when circumstances require it!

What were your biggest hurdles?

As I work as a freelance filmmaker, I have access to kit and good connections with crew, so the biggest hurdle is always the money. That and a good producer. Thankfully I found a good producer in Lizzie and so I was able to concentrate on directing.

You are now working on your first feature. Should we expect a similar (comedic) tone to the the shorts?

It's a comedy but the tone is slightly darker than Love Is Blind...

What has been your best festival experience?

We were nominated for a Palme d'or at this year's Cannes Film Festival and so attended the awards ceremony and got the whole red carpet experience. Being in competition at Cannes is pretty hard to beat!

Any films on the festival circuit this year you care to recommend?

I attended Encounters for the first time this year which was terrific, as is LSFF. Less well known in the UK is Emden-Norderney in Germany, which is a really warm and friendly festival.

More on Dan at http://www.danhodgsonfilms.com/

Encounters 2015 Live Action Competitive Shorts Awards

Abla Kandalaft — 2015-09-20T12:12:47Z

It's a busy time in festival world and the Mydy team has been spreading itself thin trying to cover screenings and events. High-up on our list of not-to-be-missed fests is the unfailingly excellent Bristol-based Encounters Short Film Festival.

Our two-people strong delegation was sent, and after having worked our way through the entire Watershed men and the 9 series of competitive shorts, we were able to sit down and put our thoughts on paper.

Encounters celebrates the breadth of styles and the freedom the short form allows by offering a rich, varied programme, crossing genres and boundaries between animation and live-action, narrative and experimentation, documentary and video-art. The programme was broken up into thematic series of live-action and animation shorts in competition, divided up into slightly esoteric categories (Mysterious Ways, Turning Points, Close to the Edge...), short collections based on specific themes, such as Pillow Talk (relationships), Why the Short Face (comedy), very short films (Depict), music videos, short2feature screenings and a whole host of talks and events.

Onto the live action selection. The quality on the whole was very high, so instead of picking one or two highlights, we've gone for a more radical, completely arbitrary approach of creating our own awards system to help us rank a selection of our favourite films.

Award for Best Surprisingly Funny Short

Unexpectedly funny, off-beat humour.

The Excursion
Eugen steals a camera from a shop his father works in...a very funny little twist that caught us off-guard; so deadpan that we weren't sure it was meant to elicit lols.

Runner-up

The Turtle
A man is selling a turtle, a photographer is seemingly interested.
A great, very subtle turn by lead actor Kampot Zahi, whose predicament is increasingly absurd and whose befuddlement we can't help but laugh at.

Award for Most Visually Arresting Short

Weathering
A blind man struggles through a hurricane on his way home.
A collection of mind-bending, stunning images. The second part of a trilogy that kicked off with Apsis.

Award for Best Actress

Highly biased, the great performances were too many too count, but....
Aka Utfor (Class Trip)'s Ping Mon Wallén, who plays the young protagonist, stands out.

Award for Best Actor

The Turtle's Kampot Zahi, see above...

Award for Most Effective Short

Over
Fantastically effective little shocker. An original and hard-hitting take on a real life tragedy.

Award for Most Moving Short

Punkt Wyjscia (Starting Point)
Aneta is in prison for murder. After 9 years, she can occasionally leave to carry out community service in a nursing home, where she meets the elderly Helena. This short doc is shot like a work of fiction allows the humanity of its subjects to shine through.

Award for Most Promising Feature

Jonathan's Chest
A more controversial award, which garnered mixed reviews from the team. Should we reward a film that feels unfinished, truncated? I say we are encouraging the director to make a feature out of this avant-goût....
One night, Alex is visited by a boy who claims to be his brother who disappeared years ago. Creepy and gripping. What happened to Jonathan? To Alex? We want to know...

To end, we'd like to include our extra coups de coeur:

The selection of comedy shorts Why the Short Face, which includes Tom Cottle's and Matt Holt's Not Sophie's Choice (brilliant one-liner, with TV-favourites Catherine Tate and Alex Mcqueen), Very Lonely Cock (unfortunate translation of wacky and inexplicably funny Russian animation, no trailer available, watch out for it in festivals), The Wall (a couple of great unloquacious performances at the heart of an economical but very effective little film) and Dear Jean-Pierre, still available on iPlayer.

And lastly, try and catch Dan Hodgson's hilarious and brilliant Love is Blind on the festival circuit.