Short Film Festivals don’t get the same publicity as the International Film Festivals like Cannes and Belrin and yet there you can find just as, if not more creative and though-provoking gems of modern cinema. Here are seven impressive short films that stood out at this past year’s festivals held all around Europe.
1. Horse Boobs
Vienna-based filmmaker Katrina Daschner, in her latest short shows humans and horses in different interjected shots, where the forms merge in a wonderfully confusing way. This is the fifth installment of a series of shorts based on Arthur Schnitzler’s “Dream Story”.
International Short Film Festival Oberhausen
https://www.kurzfilmtage.de/en/
2. Hiwa
A man in the Philippines, dreams about walking in Athens without ever having been there. The dream though soon turns into a nightmare. Created by Jacqueline Lentzou, a talented Greek filmmaker, this short was screened at this year’s Berninale for the first time.
Vienna Shorts Festival
https://www.viennashorts.com/nc/en/
3. The Moonshiners
Juho Kuosmanen wanting to pay homage to early cinema, shot this silent short film on black n’ white, 16mm film. Siblings start getting in trouble after some booze-brewing equipment and a pig come into their possession.
International Short Film Festival Oberhausen
https://www.kurzfilmtage.de/en/
4. Tropikos
The first scenes are set in realistic 16th century Britain, on the south-west coasts where the first British slaving excursion set sail for Africa. Then, Ghana-born artist John Akomfrah confuses space and time with colourful hallucinations and voiceovers of the works of Shakespeare and Milton.
International Short Film Festival Oberhausen
https://www.kurzfilmtage.de/en/
5. Keep That Dream Burning
This film by Berlin-based artist Rainer Kohlberger is composed of visual and noise irregularities. Fast-paced yet playful, with an abstract narrative, the film has the essence of a dream.
Hamburg International Short Film Festival
http://festival.shortfilm.com/en/
6. When You Awake
Jay Rosenblatt, takes us inside the mind of a hypnotised couple. Retro found images are juxtaposed and the US independent filmmaker reminds us of Freud’s quote: “The mind is like an iceberg, it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water.”
Hamburg International Short Film Festival
http://festival.shortfilm.com/en/
7.Late Summer
This film has the feel of a documentary. We see a centuries old theatre stage as it has evolved through the years. The filmmaker often looks into Chinese tradition and its transition into the modern world through her work. Cui Yi received the main award in Oberhausen for Late Summer.
International Short Film Festival Oberhausen
https://www.kurzfilmtage.de/en/
