It’s no secret that 2010 was a tough year for short film. With funding cuts killing projects faster than Freddie Krueger, this largely non-lucrative venture was shunted way down the industry agenda.
Short film direction is often the only achievable option for budding filmmakers but, film festivals aside, there is little opportunity to get these movies seen. Thankfully, the good folk at the London Short Film Festival have once again managed to organise a proud celebration of short film somewhere between a rock and a hard place.
This year the LSFF will showcase over 250 UK-made works in a programme boasting over 60 events, many of which are free to attend. Here are our highlights of the LSFF’s 8th edition, which runs January 7-16.
Shorts A La Carte
Inamo is an Oriental fusion eatery that adds a touch of sci-fi to your order by projecting illustrated versions of the menu on to your tabletop. Combining forces with the LSFF, Inamo have replaced their menus with a selection of experimental shorts. Expect optical ephemera swirling over your miso soup.
Salon Des Refusés
Of the hundreds of films that feature on the LSFF ’11 bill, hundreds more are returned to disappointed directors. In a ballsy programming move, Salon Des Refusés allows the audience to view the rejected films of the festival, offering a reflective look at the subjectivity behind film selection. You the risk of seeing some awful movies, but it’s an interesting idea all the same.
Lo-Budget Mayhem
Starving directors could learn a lot from these movies, all created for next to nothing. Intentional or not, most are comedies. Whether it’s a police interrogation in a living room or a fatal attack from a hover, it’s hard not to be drawn in by the rough-and-ready charm. Look out for the LWLies best Lo-budget film award at the ICA tonight at 22:45.
LWLies also recommends the LSFF Opening Night Gala, also tonight at the ICA, Shorts In The Dark on January 8 at the Rio Cinema and Electrovision VJ night at theRoxy bar & screen on Saturday January 15.
Plus a retrospective of The Arbor director Clio Barnard in association with BAFTA on January 8, and a section dedicated to Disability & Filmmaking on Monday January 10.
For more information about this year’s LSFF visit 2011.shortfilms.org.uk
London Short Film Festival 2011 – Preview (text) by Katie McCabe is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
