Changing perspectives - Short Films Festival

It was my pleasure to attend this festival. I have watched fourteen movies from different countries and cultures all brought together in Maya theater in Istanbul. The movies are deep and discuss crucial human situations-;- they are cries to understand other people’s problems, pains and suffer, and calls to live other people’s life and look at certain issues from another corner so as to change our opinions.

The few people attending the festival turned it into a small private show, that was depressing as I guess, yet it was still great, but the goal of each festival is to be attended by many people. The bad time might be among the main causes of the little attendance, the demonstration in Takism square, the little advertisement as well as the unfamiliarity of Turkish people with English. The three theaters where the films were displayed is a major cause why attendance was-limit-ed besides the difficulty to find the places.

Humanexus, Ying-Fang Shen, USA, 2014

Is a semi documentary animation that summarizes the development of human communication from spoken words, prehistoric caves, primitive dances, written pictogram, Sumerian Cuneiform till the appearance of alphabetic system and inventing the -print-er, the short film shows it clearly how the world is getting more noisy day by day, it succeeds in showing both the good and bad sides of modern communication and knowledge exchange. It shows how it was difficult and slow it took information to spread and how huge numbers of books were needed to save the human knowledge, now we can transfer the information within seconds and need minute USB and memory cards to save what used to be saved in a big library. However the film highlights the possible social problems that we are already witnessing when people tend to prefer electronic communication over real life communication, it shows a couple chatting through their Smart phones, laughing alone, ignoring the presence of each other, it shows how the children have replaced their traditional useful games with videogames, how our emotions have turned into false electronic smiling faces been shared on smart devices. It might look an exaggeration when the film shows a man meeting a woman in the street and communicates with her through a device, but this reminds us of what Albert Einstein had once said, I Fear the Day That Technology Will Surpass Our Human Interaction.” This seems quite possible unless we take the measures to save our humanity from being lost. The animation were perfectly done, the idea was so clear and shows how life is getting noisier as time passes, till a cry “is this what we want?” is heard in many languages, reminding us of a noisy yet silent world, we turned to be silent isolated embryos till we decide to break our silence and breathe the normal air again, it was a genuine idea when all people comes to the surface of water intending to represent how suffocating the loneliness we are living in because we have preferred social media over real social life. It was one of the best short films I have watched on that day.

Out of place “fremdkorper”, Ozan Mermer, Germany, 2013

A tragic depressing short film depicting the difficulties an African asylum seeker face in a camp in Germany, especially after being suspected of killing his Iranian roommate who was found hanged inside his room. The African refugee did his best to convince the government that his roommate had committed a suicide. Then he found that he was not the target of the government only, but of the Iranian asylum seekers who believed he had killed their friend. The film is a window on asylum seekers life, their miserable situations, the depressing prison like place they live in, the tough workers they should deal with. It is a tragic film telling about the misery of human beings who cannot find a good life in their homeland and facing terrible situations in the places they think it would treat them much better.

Strange fruit, Hili Noy Shimi Asresay, Israel, 2013

It is an anti racism cry inspired by a song carries the same name by Billie Holiday. The animation film shows us how racism and discrimination are taught by old generations and spoil the real ability of human beings to coexist. The whole scene is inspired from that American song on racial discrimination, but the end of the film reminds us how human beings are all the same, when the man who had taught his son not to play with the colored boy, wanted to kill his own son after being spotted with the same color, he wanted to kill him using an axe before realizing the truth as a of the green color hits his head. But the son, who had hanged the other poor child, realizes how ugly racism is and refused his father, this might indicate refusing the old traditions and principles. At last, the son decided to cut the tree, on where many bodies were hanged now, with the same axe. It is a great call for eradicating racism from its roots.

The Gift, Julio Pot, Chile, 2013

It is a short animation film on a man giving his lover a sphere like thing pulled out of his chest, obviously his heart, and then live together enjoying their life till there were no mutual interests between them anymore, their life turns bad, finally the woman decided to break down, he asks her to return back his gift but she refused. His chest will stay open and live in an unbreakable isolation and grief, till another woman meets him and tries to break the barriers isolating him but in vain, at last she breaks them with her heart, he feels happy and want to take her heart instead but she refuses, at last she divides the sphere and shares it with him. The film idea emphasizing the concept that love has to be shared and long-lasting happiness comes from participation and never from selfishness.

Amias, John Giordano, UK – Belgium, 2013

Is a psychological dramatic film talks about Amias, a boy who feels unaware of his real desires and identity, his heart is broken by two persons, a woman and a man, he falls in love with both of them, and seems unable to choose between them. The film scenes are really amazing, the fragments of memory visits him while in the forest where it seemed he have met his friends before. The -dir-ector makes us live the confusion Amias experienced, we can’t realize if those fragmentary memory shots had happened in fact´-or-they represent his hidden desires. The film succeeds in depicting the confusion and suffers of Amias and those who are psychologically the same.

Boulevards end, Nora Fingscheidt, Germany, USA , 2014

A short documentary focuses on the very end of Washington Boulevard, where the city of Los Angeles meets the ocean. The film talks about the life of immigrants in the USA, their dreams, successes and difficulties. In this place people come to fish, ease their minds, enjoy the silence, accompanying their families, dogs´-or-feeding seagulls. The film focused on two immigrants from Germany and Japan to talk about their experience, whether they enjoy their life there´-or-not. The film shows the diversity of society in that small spot, where German, Japanese, Hispanic and Iraqi people appeared in the short film. It shows us that emigration is a difficult experience yet it is worthy and might make our dreams come true.

Boy, Julie Bezerra Madsen, Denmark, 2013

Is a short film on a boy who was born as a girl, who suffers because of his identity, feels everything is wrong with him while looking in the mirror, tries to hide his breasts, change his voice, using testosterone aiming at achieving his desire, shaves his face in order to get facial hair, going to gym and has a girlfriend. The whole film stresses on how others look at him, how sad he feels, how similar his days are, trying to create a new identity, how embarrassed he feels in the gym, Discos´-or-when going to swimming pools. It is a psychological film trying to make people understand suffers of those with gender identity problems, whom life is sad, a mere breathing-like act in their eyes and a series of decision makings.

Short love, L’amore Corto, Valentina Vincenzini, USA Italy, 2014

Is a short comic film on two Italian lovers in New York, they both struggle against time and low budget. While sitting together, Lorenzo looked at his watch from time to time because he has no enough time enjoying life due to his eagerness to get the money to feature a film depicting his love story. The film discusses the difficulties many talented young people face in order to make their dreams come true, how difficult is to convince people supporting your project, as well as the expectations and obstacles for young foreigner immigrants in their new homeland. It is simply a lovely romantic comedy.

The Kiss, Filip Gieldon, Poland, 2014

Is a film on Emilia, 20 years old woman, who finds herself in the apartment of another woman, Matylda, 32, after an alcohol induced night, Emilia was the first to kiss Matylda, but she refused the story and insisted to call her boyfriend, trying to investigate Matylda - after accepting the latter’s offer to draw her nude - before she confesses of her Lesbian truth and returns back to her new painter friend Matylda. It might try to depict how some people don’t like to confess their own reality easily.

The son Joseph Cohen Israel 2012

It Is a tragic story on an Arab man named Salim lives with a Russian´-or-Eastern European woman, Katia, in an abandoned house in the desert by the highway, where no electricity´-or-clean water is availabl. The film is almost silent-;- sometimes the bearded Arab talked with the woman in Arabic toughly and gives her baby no care. At last a man came bringing a refrigerator to them and took the baby delivering it to a middle aged couple who want to adapt the baby. The woman weeps and suffers but Salim asks her to shut up, then the family went away with the baby and the other poor man who had brought them in a miserable car. Salim told Katia after kissing her nipples that he had never asked him to be a pregnant. She tries to run away but he stops her with their baby’s game sound. Then he falls down weeping. The whole film is tragic and it talks about Russian prostitutions trade through Sinai into Israel, the film here tries to depict a hard love story between Katia and Salim and that they have decided not to part despite the miserable situations they live in and the aimlessness of their love. the film was -dir-ected in southern Turkey.

Two too odd, Dave Lojek, Austria, 2012

A suitcase explores Vienna and finds giant soap bubbles-;- it befriends the soap bubble girl. They create a show together. It is an interesting comedy film, with a new idea and perfect -dir-ection, the idea it calls for that strange and odd persons might do something and that such people are attracted to each other and they can succeed working together.

Agoraphobia, Miro Mastropasqua, Romania, 2013

Is a short psychological film showing the continuous fears and social problems a young girl faces because of being agoraphobic, she faces problems with her boyfriend, in her work, in the streets, and all these manifested physically as well. Her fears might rise even from ordinary paintings. The film is so short, still the -dir-ection is great especially the scene by the Romanian parliament in Bucharest.

Deejays Xgeneration, Emiliano Ravenna, Argentina , 2014

After showing the usual scenes from Buenos Aires: Tango dances, beautiful Italian architecture streets and buildings, passionate people, it turns to show us another secret life in the Argentinean capital, a bizarre and little bit scary backstreets where everything is quite different from the typical view of this city, a jungle like places where you struggle to survive away from the romantic passionate city. It is a trial to show us that typical is not the only truth and that each city has multiple different faces to discover.

Drops of smoke, Ane Siderman, Brazil, 2013

A nostalgic film telling the story of Bibi, an elderly woman, living in a flat alone with her cat, which never appears till we thought she is imagining its presence. Her flat reminds us of the old elegant style. Bibi then helps her neighbor who had committed a suicide after a tragic play-like scene inspired from Greek Mythology. After saving that woman, Bibi started to tell her story, her missing her deceased husband, how she started smoking in order to remember her past heavily smoking husband, how she burns cigarettes so as to feel his presence, how she smokes to remember his smoky taste kisses. It is a film trying to show how nostalgia and simple things can help us to continue, to bear up the hard cruel present, how to take the strength from simple memories. I think that the film aims at helping people who thinks of suicide, to continue, to find something that might help them enduring their losses and accept the reality, despite the fact that smoking is a slowly way of suicide itself.

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