Diversity is a word we use a lot when we want to curate a selection of truly worthwhile films, both feature and short length. Films that aspire to tell their stories and impact their audience, no matter what the subject matter. Documentaries dominate proceedings on the third day of the Femme Filmmakers Festival. Have a look at what is in store and keep on watching.
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Sunday 24 September
Knock Down the House (Rachel Lears) feature film selection
Time (Garrett Bradley) feature film selection
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In Light (Alice Fassi) competition selection
A Nice Little Film About A Nice Little Death (Julia Mendoza Friedman) competition selection
Étreintes (Justine Vuylsteker) showcase selection
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In Light is an excellent short film. Documentaries as brief as this often come across as advertising, or otherwise somewhat inconsequential, but not this. It reminds a little, in superficial terms please understand, of that Florian Fricke film, Pilgrimage to the Throne of God’s (1995) or Water-Mirror of Granada (1955) by Jose Val Del Omar, but no. Alice Fassi’s film touches upon some of the same themes as the aforementioned, but clearly enjoys a less lyrical, more straightforwardly observational approach. The cutting, especially at the beginning, is very good indeed. There are glimpses of Structuralist filmmaking too in the end roll flare outs, sprocket holes and boundaries across frames left visible, all of this serving not to distance the viewer but remind them that a film, however much of a splendid little gem, cannot be a royal road to spiritual enlightenment and well being. If only.
A Nice Little Film…has me thinking very cynically indeed; everything’s alright really, just throw Grandma’s stuff away and inherit the damn apartment etc, but you have to see it for what it intends; a respectful, measured respect please understand, study of the effect that place has upon a life already lived at an extreme, and the nullifying effect of even the smallest of periods of time. It’s quite well constructed, and doesn’t get too formal with its overlaying imagery or picture in picture commentary, nor does it resort to poetic associations with its editing. Instead we get a punchy, smart film, part fly on the wall, part fly in the soup. It’s irreverent, satirical and even a bit crabby, obtuse. Just like most Grandma’s then.
Embraced wears it’s eroticism very well indeed. A brave move to go black and white in these days of rampant colour theory and sumptuous pallettes across animation as a whole. Perhaps this was because of the use of the pin screen, I think that’s the technique used. Still it suits the muted and displaced longings of the story. Wonderful music and another excellent film from the National Film Board of Canada, one of the jewels of world cinema. The spirit of the film’s of Caroline Leaf and Claire Parker lives on, it would appear in this classy little animation.