OUR FIVE FAVOURITE SHORTS FROM NOHO CINEFEST 2020

Like many of the world’s leading film festivals, the 2020 North Hollywood ‘NoHo’ Cinefest was bumped from its home at the Laemmle NoHo 7 theaters in April when COVID-19 took hold. Determined not to let their cinephile fanbase down, the festival organisers have reworked the event into a virtual edition, offering 14 features and a whopping 102 shorts for holders of an All-Access pass (the festival season's best buy at US$39.00).

With three days left of NoHo CineFest, SCREEN-SPACE are offering a ‘starter plate’ of five superb short films for lovers of seriously fine cinema (and of the features, make time for Jacob Burn’s sci-fi shocker Shifter and Dan Asma’s bighearted doco Cinematographer…)

MALOU (Dir: Adi Wojaczek; Cast - Romina Küper, Veronica Ferres, Charles Rettinghaus, Matilda Herzog; Germany, 15 mins) From the Program: The young dancer Malou is irresistibly fighting for her dream of a career on the big stage. After years of struggle and rejection, she suddenly receives her once-in-a-lifetime chance - leading up to an unexpected reveal.
I’m watching this, why? Frankly, we saw the ending coming, but that in no way lessened the wrenching emotion of Adi Wojaczek’s beautifully rendered dance drama. In 15 short minutes, the wonderful Romina Küper (pictured, right) generates enough investment in the title character’s plight, the end of the film feels very much like the beginning of a wonderful story.

THE MARK OF THE BANSHEE (Dirs: Nicol Eilers; Cast - Chloë Caro, Maddy Rathbun, Pina Sbrocca, Melissa Wiehl; U.S.A., 14 mins ) From the Program: A single mother struggles to defend her pregnant teenage daughter from the ancestral curse of a Banshee who's come back to claim her.
I’m watching this, why? The contemporising of ages-old demonic lore by placing it in the context of a modern ‘teen pregnancy’ narrative (helped immeasurably by lead performers Chloë Caro and Maddy Rathbun). Oh, and it’s bloody scary! There’s a certain Raimi-esque quality to the screeching she-demon that conjures legit chills.  

WOMXN (Dirs: Tara Lynn Rye, Magen Ashley Young; Cast - Tara Lynn Rye, Nzinga Moore, Jenalyn Culhane; U.S.A., 4 mins) From the Program: Womxn is a powerful visual poem about sexual assault. 28 women of all different backgrounds gathered to perform the same text. Not only does this piece bring awareness to the staggering frequency of sexual assault against women, it explores why so many of us remain silent. Womxn illustrates how together we can begin to heal one another with our voices.
I’m watching this, why? It is as potent a declaration of unity and strength as you are likely to see on any 2020 screen, big or small. In stark black-&-white, directly to camera, the participants lay bare the pain and sorrow of sexual violence, but also the defiance and will to recover and fight it has stirred in them. A remarkable statement. 

ANACRONTE (Dirs: Raúl Koler, Emiliano Sette; Argentina | Mexico, 15 mins) From the Program: Anacronte and the Sorcerers of Evil, without any emotion and fulfilling their destiny, put to the test humanity's happiness in a struggle that, in short, has each of us as winners and losers.
I’m watching this, why? The passage of the human soul through a vast netherworld dictated by the random impact of fate is brought to stunning life in this animated masterpiece. Riffing on how our spirit can often overcome real world pain by unshakeable faith in one’s own will to survive, co-directors Raúl Koler and Emiliano Sette have crafted a vision of the afterlife as breathtakingly captivating as Vincent Ward’s similarly-themed 1998 feature, What Dreams May Come.  

MANHUNT (Dir: Jack Martin; Cast - Casey Lynn, Derek Russo, Stasha Surdyk; U.S.A., 9 mins) From the Program: In the middle of the night, a dangerous fugitive on the run seeks shelter just as an adventurous young girl breaks out of her bedroom. Their two worlds collide.
I’m watching this, why? Superb production values and visual style, the likes of which announce Jack Martin as a young director ready for feature-length genre work. But also a terrific lead performance by Casey Lynn, whose chemistry with tough guy Derek Russo and character arc through such stages as fear, compassion and understanding mark her as an actor to watch.

NOHO CINEFEST 2020 began its current season on December 4 and runs to December 12. To purchase tickets to all online sessions go to the Official Website. 

PREVIEW: 2020 BERLIN SCI-FI FILMFEST

The COVID curse has forced the festival out of theatres and into living rooms, but the quality and quantity of science-fiction films coming out of the 2020 Berlin Sci-Fi Filmfest remains unrivalled on the genre film circuit.

A mammoth 110 films from 28 countries will bulk up the 4th edition, held once again under the stewardship of co-directors Alexander Pfander, Isabella Hermann and Anthony Straeger. The festival has had to abandon its long-held alliance with the Babylon Theatre in Mitte, instead screening this year’s films via the XERB Virtual Cinema platform. However, The Babylon Kino is not forgotten; it will be represented in the line-up by Martin Reinhart and Virgil Widrich’s experimental short, tx-reverse 360°, a mesmerising work shot at 10K resolution with an OmniCam-360° rig inside the iconic venue.

Seven features will screen at the Berlin Sci-Fi Filmfest, each one exemplifying the vastness of vision the genre offers. Brett Ryan Bonowicz premieres the second part of his Artist Depiction documentary series, with profiles of speculative visualists William K. Hartmann, Pamela Lee and Pat Rawlings; indie sector giggles are assured in Ryan Barton-Grimley’s buddy comedy/horror romp, Hawk and Rev Vampire Slayers and Justin Timpane’s A Christmas Cancellation, a ‘Purple Rose of Cairo’-style TV-world-meets-real-world charmer; the ‘post-apocalyptic dystopia’ slot is filled this year by A Feral World, David Liban’s stunningly-designed mother’s journey drama; and, Neil Rowe’s lo-fi/hi-energy invasion thriller, Alien Outbreak (pictured, above).

For the more adventurous viewer, there is Mark Christensen’s underground experimental 'lost film', Box Head Revolution (pictured, below), a cinematic journey which began two decades ago with early digital-video cameras and no budget and which has been recovered and reinstated to its intended ultra-bizarre status; and, Søren Peter Langkjær Bojsen’s Danish oddity, A Report on the Party and Guests, in which a humanlike creature slowly reveals his mission reporting on the dwindling human activity in an increasingly automated world.

The remainder of the 2020 Berlin Sci-Fi Filmfest is the kind of short film showcase for which the event has become famous worldwide. Arguably, the centrepiece will be The Dach Shorts Session, a cross-section of the finest works from Germany, Austria and Switzerland; amongst the roster are Marcus Hanisch’s Q; ghostly remote effect, Franz Ufer’s existential drama, The Ticket; and, the European Premiere of directors Evgeny Kalachikhin and Ruben Dauenhauer’s post-apocalyptic mini-feature, CYCLE 2217.

Symbolising the Berlin Sci-Fi Filmfest’s standing internationally is the collaboration they share with China’s Blue Planet Science Fiction Film Festival. This year, seven Chinese short productions will screen to German sci-fi fans ahead of their homeland premieres in Nanjing; they are Cupcake (Dir: Zhang Dawei); Recluse (Dir: Ou Dingding); Basement Millionaire (Dir: Zha Shan); 16 (Dir:Xin Chengjiang); Isabella (Director: Wei Qihong); and, The Chef (Dir: Yuan Gen). A special highlight will be the premiere of Through the Fog, a co-production between the Berlin Sci-Fi Filmfest and the Chinese festival, from directors Peng Xiangjun and Luan Luyang.

The 2020 BERLIN SCI-FI FILMFEST is available to watch via XERB Virtual Cinema from November 27 to December 7. Numbers are limited, so be quick. Session passes and ticket packages can be purchased here.

MEET THE FILMMAKERS: MARK TOIA

Part 11 of The Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival IN CONVERSATION Series, hosted by Festival Director and Screen-Space Managing Editor, Simon Foster.

MONSTERS OF MAN (Australia, 130 mins) WORLD PREMIERE A robotics company and a corrupt CIA agent position themselves to win a lucrative military contract, illegally dropping four prototype androids into the infamous Golden Triangle to perform a live field test on unsuspecting drug lords . But volunteer doctors providing aid to locals witness the murder of a village and become the targets.

Screening as the OPENING NIGHT film of the SYDNEY SCIENCE FICTION FILM FESTIVAL.

Full ticketing information and session details available here. 

SSFFF: What have been the science-fiction works – books, films, art of any kind – that have inspired your work and forged your love for the genre?

MARK: I don't really read science fiction books but I do watch a lot of science fiction movies. I’m a big fan of the way Ridley Scott does sci-fi. His production values, world building and epic storytelling is always inspirational. A really well done sci-fi film is when a director goes for current day realism, rather than over the top Hollywood gloss. The more real the movie is, the more believable it is and the more immersed in it I become. Films like Sunshine, Ex Machina, Arrival, The Martian and District 9 really caught my attention. With Monsters Of Man I wanted to try and establish a reality; if this did happen, how would our heroes react in this situation?  It's something I asked each of the actors, and all of them said they would just run and scream or freeze and be killed. So that's sort of what we did, because it's a real life human reaction. Also, if a human is thrown across the jungle and they are wrapped around a rock, 99.9% of the time that person in real life would be dead or terribly injured. In a lot of movies they get up, dust themselves off and keep on swinging. So that's something I didn't really want to get into. I didn't want to get into this fake world where everyone was very tough and ‘Hollywood invincible’.

SSFFF: How did the original concept for your film take shape? What aspects of your film’s narrative and your protagonist’s journey were most important to you? 

MARK: The original concept took shape in the back of a van in the middle of Vietnam. I was just playing around with a friend, thinking of movie ideas, and I decided to head down the robot route because I like sci-fi. I enjoyed movies like Predator and Terminator as a kid and even though they were big giant Hollywood blockbusters, I always thought it would be nice to do a bit of a real-world version of those. Our story is completely different [but] the genre is the same - an alien or a monster chasing a whole bunch of people around trying to kill them.  People in a panic trying to survive through a merit of different scenarios; that always makes for great edge-of-the-seat storytelling.

SSFFF: Were the resources, facilities and talent pool required to bring your film to life easily sourced?

MARK: It was easy to cast our film. Obviously there are thousands of aspiring actors out there, ready to throw their life on the line to get a great role in a movie to build their body work up to prove to the world how awesome they are (laughs) I was pretty much doing the same thing. I didn't want to just cast in Australia, so I spread our casting net out into America as well. I wanted to dig deep into the talent pool around the world because our movie was technically full of international doctors and I so I wanted to have a more international cast, French, German, American, Aussie, etc. We had well over 2000 people self tape / cast for the film, and we broke it down to the group that put everything into their characters. I was so blessed, so lucky to have actors that were so talented, they made my life so easy. Everyone knew their  lines; there was no dicking around, no bullshit, no egos, everyone got on. I was very fortunate. (Pictured, below; Jessica Blackmore, in Monsters of Man)

SSFFF: Describe for us the very best day you had in the life cycle of your film…

MARK: We were quite fortunate because every day was like the best day. It was like a holiday for me. Wrapping the shoot was probably the most disappointing day because I didn't want it to end (laughs). Starting and finishing the edit, great day. Selling the film, [dealing with] sales agents and distribution companies, not so good days. Deciding to self distribute my own film was a good day. I think finally releasing the film will be a good day. When you fund your own film, you can dictate a lot of the rules, which makes life a whole tonne easier. I think if there are lots of fingers in the pie, a lot of producers telling you how to suck eggs, and a lot of executives telling you how to direct a movie…[that] would probably drive me nuts. But doing it the way we did it was a complete and utter holiday, very enjoyable, lots of fun. And I think that fun and excitement translates on the big screen. 

SSFFF: Having guided your film from idea to completion, what lessons and advice would you offer a young science-fiction filmmaker about to embark on a similar journey?

MARK: It's great to think big, to be ambitious. But my advice is when you haven't got much money, only attempt what you know you can execute well. The modern audience is very well versed and spoiled with amazing content with great production value. If you do a substandard job it will be pointed out very quickly and it will reflect in obviously bad sales and online chitchat.  Movies can be small and simple, but they still have to be well executed.  Making a sci-fi film is quite tough because there's lots of visual effects that need to be completed and if you can't do those well, then don't do it. That's my only advice. Funding the film, producing a film, executing a film and selling a film are all very tough and tedious things to do. So any person that is able to make a good solid film is a winner in my book.

MEET THE FILMMAKERS: ROBERT D'OTTAVI

Part 10 of The Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival IN CONVERSATION Series, hosted by Festival Director and Screen-Space Managing Editor, Simon Foster.

THE TRAVELER (Australia, Dir: Robert D’Ottavi; 7 mins) In the near future, an isolated man is tortured by his precious memories.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT: "During the COVID-19 era, I too found myself recollecting the days of old. As time went by, I felt that we as a civilisation stopped looking forward and only focused on behind. Like The Traveler’s lead character, I believe that we are stuck. The Traveler is about the necessity to move on. The past is a tide; it can suck you in, and if you are not careful, it will hold on to you forever, refusing to let go...”

Screening in The AUSTRALIAN SHORT FILM SHOWCASE on Saturday November 21 from 10.30am at Actors Centre Australia.

 

SIMON: What have been the science-fiction works – books, films, art of any kind – that have inspired your work and forged your love for the genre?

ROBERT: The science-fiction genre has always been incredibly close to my heart. Growing up as a fan of comic books and such, the genre was a natural fit for me. I first really fell in love with the genre on the page when I read Orwell’s 1984 and Bradbury’s The Illustrated Man in high school. Both texts taught me how to use the science-fiction genre to tackle political and psychological ideas and themes in really metaphoric and unique ways. Following my exposure to those novels, I saw Christopher Nolan’s 2014 epic, Interstellar. I was absolutely floored by the way Nolan tied together such a massive story with the relatively simple thesis that love can transcend time and space. It was just incredible and has stuck with me ever since. Of course, as I got older, my palette grew. Sooner rather than later, I was watching Russian films like Solaris, foreign flicks like High-Life and low-budget American films such as Under The Skin and Moon, all influences on The Traveler.

SIMON: How did the original concept for your film take shape? What aspects of your film’s narrative and your protagonist’s journey were most important to you? 

ROBERT: Funnily enough, I conceived the idea at the height of the COVID-19 lockdown in South Australia. I was incredibly alone and felt unbearably isolated from all those I love. I longed for the days of old, the times in which I could get a beer with some friends or go to the beach. Simply put, I missed the normal days. These thoughts and beliefs 100% influenced the struggle of The Traveler’s title character. The protagonist’s journey was a cautionary one. I wanted the audience to instantly relate to the character, and being in lockdown, it only made sense to jump right into a memory of the past, with friends drinking, and having fun. The film never divulges into a time-travel story. I felt that we as a culture cannot just go back to a time before COVID. But we can move on. We have to.

SIMON: Does the ‘science-fiction’ genre have deep roots in the art and cultural history of your homeland? Were the resources, facilities and talent pool required to bring your film to life easily sourced?

ROBERT: Being an incredibly low-budget sci-fi flick (total budget was $200 including GST), everything in the film was easily sourced. The Traveler’s costume was beautifully designed and created by Matthew Bagnara, my second cousin. The character’s beat-up, blue Mazda ute was my Grandfather’s (the taped-up steering wheel was included). The lead actor was one of my best friends. Everything in the film was personally sourced, and that was really the only way to do it. Making the film, I knew there was very little to spend, and instead of fearing that budget restraint, I embraced it.

SIMON: Describe for us the very best day you had in the life cycle of your film…

ROBERT: In all honesty, and I don’t mean this to sound superficial, the literal best day in the life cycle of this film was hearing it had been selected for this very festival. Knowing that other people felt something whilst watching The Traveler was so reassuring and inspiring. It really gave me as a young filmmaker the confidence to keep pushing and try new things.

SIMON: Having guided your film from idea to completion, what lessons and advice would you offer a young science-fiction filmmaker about to embark on a similar journey?

ROBERT: I will keep this answer really simple. My Dad used to tell me that worrying or stressing about something is quite often the worst part. If I could say anything to a young sci-fi filmmaker, I would just say this: Stop worrying, and just do it.

MEET THE FILMMAKERS: HUGO DUVERGEY

Part 9 of The Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival IN CONVERSATION Series, hosted by Festival Director and Screen-Space Managing Editor, Simon Foster.

THE OTHER SIDE (Australia, Dir: Hugo Duvergeyt; 10 mins) For years, Bea hid and bore this oddity inside her, the Forbidden Thing. But today, she might have compromised herself and has to escape if she wants to survive. Will her journey to the Other Side allow her to embrace her true inner nature or will she become another invisible casualty of the society she was raised in?

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT: "I remember advice given by one of our script writing teachers: your idea has to come from the guts. You are gonna spend months working on that idea, so you better be passionate about it. I sat down, looked at all the random words written in my notebook in the past few days and dove into the deepest parts of my mind. The next day or so, I showed in front of the class a poorly designed, untitled and very short slide presentation and started to talk about that strange world and its main character. The Other Side was born...”

Screening in The AUSTRALIAN SHORT FILM SHOWCASE on Saturday November 21 from 10.30am at Actors Centre Australia.

 

SIMON: What have been the science-fiction works – books, films, art of any kind – that have inspired your work and forged your love for the genre?

HUGO: Regarding my love for the genre, a lot of the classics: Blade Runner, Dune, Foundation, Gattaca, Star Wars. That said, I try to avoid getting in the “reference game” when I develop my own creative work. It has to feel personal so it can “click” in my brain.

SIMON: How did the original concept for your film take shape? What aspects of your film’s narrative and your protagonist’s journey were most important to you? 

HUGO: I thought about how people get polarized so fast on the Internet nowadays and how there is often barely room for discussion between different opinions. I started to imagine what would happen if that kind of environment was applied to a core aspect of humanity. What mattered to me the most was that the world should feel very close to ours. So close that the audience would only realize progressively the “difference”. The second most important element was that I wanted to avoid falling into convenient simplifications - the good ideology versus the evil ideology, the perfect promised land. Nothing should be easy and lazy.

SIMON: Does the ‘science-fiction’ genre have deep roots in the art and cultural history of your homeland? Were the resources, facilities and talent pool required to bring your film to life easily sourced?

HUGO: France has a long history with science-fiction, going back to Cyrano de Bergerac in the 17th century or, more notoriously, Jules Verne in the 19th century. The later half of the 20th century saw the emergence of numerous writers such as Pierre Boulle and René Barjavel or comic book artists such as Moebius. Despite this very rich history in literature and comics, there are very few French sci-fi movies. Up to today, there seems to be a big reluctance from most producers to invest in this genre for whatever reason (not as “noble” as real dramas, not as profitable as comedies, not worth competing with big American blockbusters). But it may change in the future, as genres such science-fiction and heroic-fantasy are more and more “mainstream” and openly appreciated by younger generations. My film was not done in France but in Australia, where I live for more than three years now. I think the most difficult thing to source for my film were the locations: I had quite a few for a short film, and a limited time to find them. Most of my crew - fellow school students and graduates - came quite late because my film was the last to shoot in my intake and we all had a pretty challenging year so far. Regarding the other resources, most of the gears were provided by the school and locking the main cast - via a standard audition process - was quite easy.

SIMON: Describe for us the very best day you had in the life cycle of your film…

HUGO: I think the best day would be the rehearsals between the two main female protagonists: I love this sensation of seeing a performance happen in front of your eyes, making the story you wrote come to life. There is no more past or future, only the very present. At this moment, I forgot all about the stress of unsolved issues, unplanned obstacles, deadlines and expectations. I was safe in a bubble of enjoyment.

SIMON: Having guided your film from idea to completion, what lessons and advice would you offer a young science-fiction filmmaker about to embark on a similar journey?

HUGO: Work hard, communicate as much and as well as you can with your cast and crew, be nice with them. Don’t be obsessed with (impossible) perfection but aim for greatness. The trip is never gonna happen on a sleeping ocean but keep the ship moving forward no matter what.