January - 2022

REVIEWS

Jan 30, 2022

The Skin She Sheds [Cass Virdee, UK, 2022]

Faye Stoeser is positively electrifying in Cass Virdee’s fleeting short The Skin She Sheds, about a gang member who discards her old identity through the means of dance. Running at just under four minutes, the film explores the politics of peer pressure and the self, conveying an astonishing amount of emotion with its superb cinematography, score, and lead actress, whose aura is as extraordinary as her fluidity of movement. In a stony, grey part of London, a knuckle-cracking

SHORT FOCUS 2021: Original Sin [Paolo Sinigaglia, Italy, 2020]

Juliette Howard

Jan 17, 2022

SHORT FOCUS 2021: Original Sin [Paolo Sinigaglia, Italy, 2020]

Drunk and jealous, a man enters his wife’s painting studio unveiling one of her canvases, which depicts a man embraced by a fire and the outline of a woman. The man penetrates her world and her mind in a desperate effort to understand her. No doubt this is the aim of Original Sin: an invitation to inhabit the minds of two creatives, solely from the perspective of their art. Communication is limited in Adamo and Cassandra’s relationship – tortured by their bond and their work,

SHORT FOCUS 2021: Shallow [Paul Ashton, UK, 2021]

Giulia Carbonaro

Jan 17, 2022

SHORT FOCUS 2021: Shallow [Paul Ashton, UK, 2021]

An innocuous and almost childlike conversation between two friends turns into a dark stupor as they finally reach their destination hidden deep inside a forest. Paul Ashton’s Shallow is a darkly tongue-in-cheek provocation of what we commonly assume to be the makings of a ‘good’ person – explored by way of an unexpected deep dive into the mostly forgotten canine Disney superhero, Air Bud [Charles Martin Smiths, USA, 1997]. Larry and Barry casually engage in light-hearted and

SHORT FOCUS 2021: Bohemia [Samuel Kaperski, France, 2019]

Matthew Procter

Jan 17, 2022

SHORT FOCUS 2021: Bohemia [Samuel Kaperski, France, 2019]

On a rooftop above the bustling streets of Los Angeles, bohemian artist Paul (Jordan Rountree) is awoken from his outdoor slumber by the sound of passing police sirens. He descends into an alleyway where he meets a young woman, with the pair striking up a conversation. Samuel Kaperski’s Bohemia aims to examine the exploitation of human kindness. ‘The Woman’ – played by Gabriela Ortega – invites Paul back to the apartment for a smoke and some company but immediately, red flags

SHORT FOCUS 2021: Yuluu [Fatima Kried, UK, 2021]

Madeleine Raven

Jan 9, 2022

SHORT FOCUS 2021: Yuluu [Fatima Kried, UK, 2021]

Yuluu is strikingly simple at first glance, but this downplays the use of animation techniques to present a child’s view of war and violence – in this case, an apt choice. The film feels like a child and adult talking to one another, though through different mediums of communication. The child tells the adult what they see, but they do not understand, and so violence is represented through shapes and colours. The adult attempts to provide context, although still with uncertai

SHORT FOCUS 2021: The Fell Runner [Alex Simpson/Phillip Suddick, UK, 2019]

Shane Farrell

Jan 9, 2022

SHORT FOCUS 2021: The Fell Runner [Alex Simpson/Phillip Suddick, UK, 2019]

Alex Simpson and Phillip Suddick’s short film poetically explores personal battles and unity in the relationship between humanity and nature – all within the sport of fell running. The Fell Runner follows Calum Tinnion in contemplation and training as he scales and descends the picturesque mountains of Cumbria, Northwest England. As audiences gaze upon Tinnion navigating streams and steep mountain paths almost in a state of reverie, Simpson and Suddick’s work breathes life in

SHORT FOCUS 2021: A Knowing of Loss [Marc Puig Biel, Spain, 2020]

Juliette Howard

Jan 9, 2022

SHORT FOCUS 2021: A Knowing of Loss [Marc Puig Biel, Spain, 2020]

Coming-of-age summer films invariably conjure up images of sun-bleached hair, timid first love, endless boredom, and hours on end spent...

SHORT FOCUS 2021: Rimi [Nischhal Sharma, India, 2021]

Giulia Carbonaro

Jan 8, 2022

SHORT FOCUS 2021: Rimi [Nischhal Sharma, India, 2021]

The sound of birds singing guide us through a symphony of apparent domestic bliss, a calm-looking, clean-cut interior dotted with pots and pans, mugs, and glasses. The scene could be mistaken for an ode to domesticity, but the emptiness of the house itself is harrowing. The house is waiting for Rimi, who we meet lying in bed with her eyes wide-open in the early hours of dawn, stealing a few moments to herself before taking on the burden of duty of running the place and taking

SHORT FOCUS 2021: Deleve [Roma Glova, Russia, 2020]

Matthew Procter

Jan 8, 2022

SHORT FOCUS 2021: Deleve [Roma Glova, Russia, 2020]

Sat before a bay window, exposed to the glistening lights of Moscow, and listening to the kind of music you would expect to hear at a beachfront bar in Marbella, a teenage girl manipulates selfies to enhance her personal image to appease her online followers. Roma Glova’s Deleve is an effectively concise examination of one aspect of modern culture that those of a particular age group – which our protagonist, Eve falls into – can not seem to break free from. Opening the film w