Issue 6: Winter 2010
The 26th Hamburg Short Film Festival
With the Oberhausen Short Film Festival often recognised as an event that revels in showcasing experimental films and pushes the boundaries of traditional moving image, it's easy to forget that its close ‘cousin' also has a focus beyond traditional narrative. Whilst the International Competition of the 26th Hamburg International Short Film Festival provided much in the way of esoteric and experimental fare (such as John Smith's latest film Flag Mountain (2010) and Nicolas Provost's confrontational Long Live The New Flesh (2009) in which excerpts from horror films are cut together to create powerful and often disturbing new meanings), it was the No Budget Competition, in which the origins of the HISFF lie, which really provided a powerful selection of the groundbreaking and cutting edge.
Guto Parente's Flash Happy Society (2009) kicked off the competition in excellent style. It's a deceptively simple piece of work as it takes us to an audience waiting for a concert to begin and slows down the action every time a crowd member takes a photo, only returning to normal speed when the light from the flash has dissipated. On one level it works as an absurd and witty piece with the action slowing down as the anticipation and excitement for the oncoming act rises. But there's also an underlying sense of melancholy as the audience seem more intent in capturing moments than actually experiencing them, a fact that seems to reflect a generation of Facebook and Flickr users. Also affecting was Electric Garden of Darkness (2009) - an experimental documentary in which director Mariana Campos Carvalho uses the camera as catharsis after an emotional break-up with her boyfriend. Whilst the film sounds like an exercise in navel gazing it's actually a rich affair that not only allows a rare intimacy with the main protagonist but also explores the totemic power objects take (in this case, items such as love letters and photos) in the wake of emotional upheavals.
From Sixpack Film, Austria's well known distributor of experimental cinema, came Body Trail (2008) - an interesting piece in which performers laid completely still on empty streets creating striking live and filmic portraits in which normally busy streets become desolate and the human body becomes a tool used to blend into the surroundings. The film slightly falls down near the end as it documents how the performers set up the shots, resulting in much of the mystery that makes the film so interesting in its early stages being lost. However, this is still a strong crossover between film and performance art. Other interesting films from Sixpack included two films from Barbara Doser: Frameframer (2009) and - with Hofstetter Kurt - Zart_B (2010). Both utilise video feedback to create images resulting in two extremely interesting pieces of experimental animation that built upon repetition and rhythm. The same can also be said for Félix Dufour-Laperrière's M (2009) - a bold animation based upon doodles that provided a strong link between the visual and the aural, thanks to the sound design provided by the director's brother Gabriel. There was another strong experimental animation with Ian Helliwell's Letratone Leader (2009) which, in its use of coloured bits of old film leader, was both visually entrancing and playful.
Other strong films included Ben Rivers and Paul Harnden's May Tomorrow Shine The Brightest Of All Your Many Days As It Will Be Your Last (2009), a brilliant and evocative film about the possible battle between Japanese soldiers and Scottish tramps shot on 16mm, Stephana Schmidt's Paris - Taken From The Surface (2008) which gives a whole new slant to the sights of Paris, and Peter Sunna's Woman A Minute (2009) a bold Ugandan film which, whilst flawed thanks to some overly melodramatic sequences, had a raw power which marks out Sunna as a director to watch over the coming years.
As its title would indicate, the No Budget strand of the Hamburg International Short Film Festival celebrates those who innovate despite a lack of resources and, indeed, the films at Hamburg indicated that short film is still a form that is rife with bold and experimental filmmakers.
-Laurence Boyce
For more information on Hamburg International Short Film Festival visit www.shortfilm.com