Sitting through a load of short films is tiring at the best of times. Even if you’re a film aficionado, it can be pretty exhausting. Screentest is 2 and a half days of intense screenings of rising student talent, showing a variety of horror, documentary, drama, comedy and experimental. Shying away from what could only be described as the nicest weather all year, it was pleasing to see such large numbers catching some of the films. Here’s what I got up to.
With any film festival, particularly student film festivals, things can be a bit of a mixed bag. Budgets are limited, and it’s often a time to experiement and make pretty much anything you desire. Within the 2 hours of comedy shorts, it really was very mixed. Poor sound didn’t help things, but there were a few that stood out.
The Accidental Tourist by Ian Forbes is a 4 minute short focusing on accents and closed communities in rural Scotland. Well shot, difficult to understand at times with two different thick Scottish accents, but simple and effective.
A Beardy Film by Ian Robertson was a great two minute stop-animation film, showing a man drawing his beard on with his fingers. This really made me laugh, and it’s these little gems that make film festivals exciting.
The Comedy Screening also included Best Comedy Award Winner Feet For Hands by Matt Cameron. You can see why Feet for Hands won Best Comedy award below, Matt’s work is stunning!
Feet for Hands from Matt Cameron on Vimeo.
Krym by Arno Hazebrook was at the top end of things, even with a not-so-original story line following two slightly dysfunctional but loving police officers trying to catch a bad guy. Slightly longer than most, it had some great laugh out loud moments, and the odd special effect thrown in, even if most of it was during the end credits….
Talking Piranhas by Gergory Vardarinos tells the story of a husband who is helping his wife to achieve her perfect self through plastic surgery. He is aided by two talking piranhas in his kitchen, who give him bad advice, and crack jokes. The storyline wasn’t that funny, and it’s dated feel, poor lighting and unfunny script started to drag a bit. Another reason I didn’t enjoy this much was that there were intermittent, hard to read subtitles, which seemed pointless and proved more of a distraction than anything.
One of the best parts of the Comedy section was The Going Out Song by Nic Gilbert & Jonathan Kogan. Sadly I walked in halfway through, but what I saw was hilarious. Showing the usual stereotypes of university life, from the posh boys singing about getting ‘lashed’ to kids in clubs taking drugs and losing their minds. Felt more like something that goes viral on youtube. See this if you can.
Finishing off Comedy was Waster Art: A Documentary. Featuring a painter, poet and musicians demonstrating the power of Waste Art, a new theory, satirically mocking pretentious artists and theory. Hilarious and brutally deadpan, it could easily be mistaken for a serious concept. Artists describe the idea of ‘not thinking, just doing’ and that ‘meaning has no meaning’, and ‘making a painting, then burning them’. Very amusing.
By Mark Allen
