Showcasing the best of short films

ELEVEN MINUTES. 35 mm. Colour. Short and Curlies.

Pat, one after the other, like staccato notes, 20 eleven minute short films, commissioned by Film 4 International played at the Russian Cultural Centre over two days in packages of 10 each. The shows, were organised by the British Council in the city on April 17 and 18.

Beginning with `Arcadia', a 1988 colour science short fiction film, the Council went on to showcase several award winning `shorts', including `Work Experience' which won the Oscar for Best Short Film and Syrup, which was nominated for one.

Ranging from science fiction to fantasy and sheer surrealism, the small films had just this common thread running through them: they were commissioned by Film 4, were all shot in Britain and examined relationships.

Following up `Arcadia' on Monday, was a child's fantasy in `The Child Eater', where eight-year old Betty wonders if her uncle would really eat little girls who do not behave. Other mentionables on the Monday fare were `Father, Sons and Unholy Ghosts', directed by Danny Thompson, a rather moving story about how a man's relationship with his father overshadows what he shares with his son. Moving between the past and the present, the film morphs one scene onto the other.

`The Hangover', was yet another fantasy where Colin discovers that his household possessions are castigating him for his wild lifestyle, as he recovers from his `worst hangover'. Gurindher Chadha, of `Bhaji on the Beach' fame also figured with his 1990 `short', `A nice Arrangement'. Truly and `loudly' Indian, one wonders if Chadha overdid the desi in phirang-land bit. A young Indian woman in Britain takes the plunge the traditional way, in a marriage of convenience. The final decision is made and is Chadha trying to tell us, Indian is best?

Tuesday had a more sober collection of movies, some of them dark, others surreal, barring `The spy who caught a cold'. `The spy...' is a ripping account of a young girl trying to come to terms with the adult world.

`Tomorrow Calling' was sci-fi, art and alternative states. Bill, a coloured photographer finds himself trapped in the `future' he tried to capture for an assignment. `The Universe of Dermot Finn' was also about alternative states, worlds, emotions, the real and unreal. Dermot visits the home of his girlfriend, Pearl, just to find it `weird' and nightmarish. But that is precisely what Pearl thinks about his home too. In the last of the series `The Zip', an unhappy man finds a zip running through him. He picks up courage to unzip his happy self out and turns to a sunny future.

By Ramya Kannan

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