Futureshorts....

[Spanner]

I did the Newcastle leg of the latest Futureshorts screenings which included the short films 'please say something' and 'alice and her arse-truck' plus q&a with one of the directors, last night. i must admit i'm not a fan of short screenings as i mostly find they're annoying arty-shite made by lame students (apologies for this generalisation to any lame students making arty-shite films) anyway i went with my pre-conceived idea firmly in hand and i quite sadly i came away with them still in hand just bigger. I was hoping i would be wowed, impressed and enthralled, but alas i felt like i'd just had some kinda torture like you see on the telly when they make you watch flashing images over and over. sad to say they're still not my bag, but it'd be interesting to have anyone else's take on this type of film.

[Beate]

I posted my review on one of the temp sites that is no more and couldn't rescue it but basically I agree with you. If anything, this has confirmed that we are not really into arthouse, the OH and I. We walked out after short film 3, so we got the ugly bloke staying at his mate's, dabbling in drugs which took them back in time while all the while talking about cheap hairdressers, the cat and mouse cartoon in black and white with subtitles, and the odd Japanese music video. Didn't think I could deal with the others (had description but threw the flyer away) so walked out, although the Picturehouse Greenwich has really comfy seats!

[Spanner]

oh we had those screenings too. there was also one which was loads of cut n paste photo's and old fims clips of gangsters called film noir which to be fair was quite well done but nothing innovative and a one about a man and his son going to market and carrying a donkey, but the worst one was the 'alice and her....' which basically was just bad teen porn fantasy, there was a girl sitting on the toilet sucking a dummy then giving her nix to blokes in a pubto sniff then she smashed up her boyfriends toy soldiers with a dildo, the boyfriend had his face painted and kept talking about his father who pulled his tooth out with pliers and burnt his shell-suit! So Beate, i bet you're glad you made a run for the hills. we were in the digital lounge on sofa's, so my conclusion is terrible films but lush seats

[Beate]

More than ever now!

[heritage2181]

I'm a filmmaker myself and I've made quite a few short films but I totally agree with you guys about the futureshorts screenings.

It's unfortunate but most film students are encouraged to make these kind of terrible 'arty' films. I understand that film students should experiment and try something different but in my experience the institutions that teach filmmaking have a total bias against anything remotely entertaining or appealing to a wide audience.

The futureshorts films are actually not student films though, they are pretty high budget professionally-produced films... which makes it even worse!! I know the short described above had a budget of £50k which came from channel 4/arts council/national lottery funding.

I think this really comes down to why there is no 'british film industry' to speak of. The people with money to fund new short films from upcoming filmmakers choose to make films that will never have mainstream appeal.

[Beate]

Wow. That's interesting. I no longer feel a fool for not liking or understanding those short films, thanks!

[bevvy]

but the worst one was the 'alice and her....' which basically was just bad teen porn fantasy, there was a girl sitting on the toilet sucking a dummy then giving her nix to blokes in a pubto sniff then she smashed up her boyfriends toy soldiers with a dildo, the boyfriend had his face painted and kept talking about his father who pulled his tooth out with pliers and burnt his shell-suit!

They didn't show that one at Greenwich, thank goodness. The ones that Beate missed were the Ethiopian donkey one and the one about a Moroccan boy who wanted to be a heavy metal drummer.

[heritage2181]

Wow. That's interesting. I no longer feel a fool for not liking or understanding those short films, thanks!

No, you should definitely not feel like a fool for not liking/understanding those short films!

There are some great shorts out there, but they are few and far between...

[Allsinging]

but the worst one was the 'alice and her....' which basically was just bad teen porn fantasy, there was a girl sitting on the toilet sucking a dummy then giving her nix to blokes in a pubto sniff then she smashed up her boyfriends toy soldiers with a dildo, the boyfriend had his face painted and kept talking about his father who pulled his tooth out with pliers and burnt his shell-suit! )

Glad we left earlly to catch the park and ride bus (last one 8pm and gate close at 8:30 ) I liked the Film Noir, that was clever but the drugged French actor (ha) was so boring, as was most of it. and that man hitting the donkey , wouldn't mind hitting him ....

The cinema only had about a 20 people and two walked out after the first film...i really wanted to join them, but something deep inside me thought it could only get better

One thing i was glad for was they were short.....oh you got me started now...that cat film it was clever in parts but the sound and flashing of blank screen was just annoying

[phunkygal]

Although I have long ago given up writing about films on this forum I really feel I do have to say something here

If it wasn't for companys like futureshorts trying to promote short films then filmmakers would never get heard about and some of the blockbuster directors whose films you all love so much would never be discovered and given feature film oppurtunities. Short films will never have a mainstream appeal IMO and futureshorts are just trying to promote them to the limited audience they can ever get.

Sure ill admit these films were of a very varied quality but youv'e gotta consider that for the small budgets there made on what do you expect? Some of them were very old so for their time and particular countries film industry they are innovative in their own particular way, and by doing this its the only way filmmakers can get on any further in the industry.

there was also one which was loads of cut n paste photo's and old fims clips of gangsters called film noir which to be fair was quite well done but nothing innovative

This was in fact so amazing in its use of animation that it was nominated for a bafta, for me this was by far the best but I can understand that it is much more appreciated by anyone who has studied or appreciates old films as for me half the fun was spotting which films the clips were from

I understand that most of you went to give short films a try so am not condoning you for going but perhaps you should stick to feature films!