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October 12th, 2008
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Short circuit

Fresh films for a disposable era
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June 4th, 2008 issue

By Rachel Shimp

COURTESY PHOTO
Beauticians in Bajofondo Tango Club's colorful video for Pa Bailar Con Julieta.
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If the average film is 90 minutes long, then let’s face it: Plenty of them are about 85 minutes longer than they should be. It takes incredible craft and precision to come up with a high-quality feature-length film. But, as in journalism, it may be even more challenging to make a compelling film that’s also concise. When a short film packs a punch, it’ll leave you smarting for weeks. And, since the April launch of the Future Shorts Film Festival, two Žižkov-based British expats have been working on making Prague a knockout city for short cinema.
Typically, short films are shown as part of a larger festival. In that fast-paced atmosphere, a sweet little gem like Pierre Oliver’s award-winning 2001 short On S’Embrasse make a six-minute imprint — no more — on the memory. The same goes for the music video, a format that feels fleeting but has increasingly been recognized as artful. Much of that has to do with the Palm Pictures’ Directors Series DVDs, hugely popular compilations of videos by auteurs like Michel Gondry and Chris Cunningham.
These types of shorts are just two that interest filmmakers and cinephiles Rory Wilmer and Aidan Hughes. “We work in soundbites most of the time, anyway,” says Hughes of his fascination with short films. “People don’t have time anymore to sit and listen to a whole concerto or read a book. The idea of Future Shorts is to spend the same amount of time in the cinema, but see five or six films you’d never get to see on TV.”
Hughes would like to see single films for sale in shops, the way people used to purchase 45 rpm records. Frustrated by not having access to more of them, he and Wilmer started the Žižkov Film Klub more than a year ago. In addition to screening retro fare like kung-fu and monster movies and chick flicks, their aim was to network around new and exciting short cinema. The pair found themselves sourcing more and more content for upcoming shows — and then they discovered Future Shorts.
It’s an ingenious franchise that began with Londoner Fabien Riggall in 2003. With the stance that cinema is the new rock ’n’ roll, he organized outrageous parties, like the one held in an outdoor pool transformed into a 1920s cinema, complete with bathing-capped usherettes. Eventually his “future cinema” concept became the Future Shorts organization, which collects submissions from filmmakers all over the world and distributes them for monthly screenings.
Now, enthusiasts in almost 60 cities participate. Future Shorts looks for people like Wilmer and Hughes, who are the pulse points of the young film scene in their towns. The pair is currently in negotiations to bring the program to Brno, Český Krumlov and Slovakia. Locally, they’re aided by business partner and pub owner Glen Emery, who’s no stranger to Prague’s cultural landscape.
Each month’s screening is based on a theme. The Prague launch in April showcased a DVD of “Greatest Hits,” which included international festival favorites, videos and the requisite She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not, a tale of a failed relationship that, along with On S’Embrasse, is perhaps the short most associated with the program. “For me, that was a coffee commercial with coffee taken out at the end,” says Hughes. “Not everything has to be guerilla filmmaking, and Future Shorts has a mix.”
This is what makes the enterprise interesting — it’s a bright, flashy, money-making machine that has very few parameters for content, other than the work somehow be extraordinary. Videos made for less than $1,000 are included, as well as those made for $20,000. “[It’s] supporting film school people or a guy with his camera,” says Wilmer. “It’s not snobbish.”
The May screening at Světozor was not as well-attended as the April premiere. But Wilmer and Hughes were thrilled that 20 people showed up on a Sunday that was also a national holiday. Through Facebook and word-of-mouth promotion, a second showing of the same program can be found each month in a different location. “Hopefully in our program, there’s something for everyone,” says Wilmer. “[In May], there were a few movies I didn’t particularly like — they’re not for me — but they’re still really well-made. And then some are so strong.”
One of them, Peter and Ben, a documentary by Pinny Grylls, will remain in my mind far longer than six minutes. It tells of an eccentric man (Peter) who banishes himself to live peacefully in the English countryside. There, he’s befriended by an orphaned lamb (Ben) who is quite eccentric in his own right. On paper, it seems simple. But onscreen, it’s absolute magic.
The rest? Can’t remember. These films may be “bright, sassy, and disposable,” as Hughes affectionately remarked at one point, but there’s also no mistaking, as the smart graphic design of Future Shorts’ logo reveals, that they’re fresh.   
Rachel Shimp can be reached at rshimp@praguepost.com


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[12:57 06/06/2008] : Thanks to everyone who came to Kino Svetozor last night to enjoy the June festival. Over 80 enjoyed the selection of fresh films!
Rory Wilmer
Prague
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