The launch party was held in early 2005 at the legendary Soho haunt 'Too 2 Much' which was specially altered into a 1950s cinema complete with popcorn and lovely looking usherettes. The music played ranged from Beth Orton to T-Rex, foreboding of the eclectic mix ahead of us.
Fronted by founder Fabien Riggall, Future Shorts intends to continue showing shorts that are both original and diverse in terms of cultural background to format. The network currently has partnerships with audiences in Edinburgh, Paris, Lisbon, Brussels, Stockholm and Toulouse. Over the next few months new venues will guarantee new exposure to a new audience to some of the newest film-makers around.
Fabien Riggall founded Future Shorts when he made a short film himself in the early summer of July 2003 and failing to find a means of distribution in terms of finding an audience, he and his brother (Sean) founded a film night in Shepherd’s Bush which led to a positive word of mouth around London with the night being screened in cinemas ranging from Curzon Soho to the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA).
‘Part of these evenings is to change the way people view cinema, instead of it being in silence; it is about being challenged and inspired by this entertainment,’ said Riggall.The problem is gaining recognition of the work out there and the need to keep pushing for acceptance, but if it is put out there people will might sit up and listen, well in this case watch.
The films on show consisted of two music videos, two outstanding animation shorts, a short gem of a documentary, pastiches of past film, one film that become a famous ad campaign and very short funny quips. The range of films from London to Sweden to France, showed a humour in all of them, laughing with the viewer at times making sure you aware that it is just a film, but all contained moments of pure humanity and a real carefulness with there tone because they have to worry about the constraints of time and form.
Despite my initial apprehension of short films due to my being saturated by mainstream entertainment, the evening was full of entertainment that was second to none and there is something for everyone be it animation, comedy or drama. Having been given short notice to cover the event you can be assured that if the word of mouth remains positive, the future of Future Shorts will be a long and successful one.
More details can be found at:
THE VENUES
Clapham Picture House
Bath Little Theatre
Edinburgh Leftbank
Exeter Picture House
Oxford Phoenix
Richmond Filmhouse
Arts Picture House, Cambridge
Rio Dalston
Stratford Picture House
Belmont, Aberdeen
Birmingham Electric
THE FILMS OF FUTURE SHORTS
Bathtime in Clerkenwell (Alex Budovsky) - a music video for the band Real Tuesday Weld, an inventive animation that fits the type of quirky music on the track.
Natan (Jonas Bergergard/Jonas Holmstrom) - a snippet of a lost soul wandering in his life in pursuit of a new pet, it follows the day to night format. The lack of positive resolution does not prove its downfall, leaving us more intrigued.
JoJo in the Stars (Marc Craste) - the Bafta winning animation short; a gothic nightmare vision of a circus and a kindred love which has its setbacks but a positive outcome. Dark in tone and content, but full of humanity and acceptance.
Le Cheval 2.1 (Stephen Scott Hayward/Alex Kirkland) - man thinks he’s a horse, short and funny. Winner of the Depict Award at Brief Encounters.
Lift (Marc Isaacs) - more of a documentary set in a lift of a London tower lift; a look at London life that can be understanding and moving; positively uplifting.
I Want More (Dan Gordon) - music video for Faithless set in North Korea, an impressive look at Korean dance, movement and choreography
Music for One Apartment and Six Drummers (Johannes Stajarne Nilsson) - the Swedish short that became a European advertising campaign; reflective of the spontaneity and participation of playing music and the vibrancy of live performance.
Non Fat (Olivier Manzi) - simple and very funny outcome of a customer at a coffee shop.
Ward 13 (Peter Cornwell) - the standout film of the evening. A stop motion Australian animation piece that makes Wallace and Gromit look cheap. Great characterisation, set pieces and inventiveness of the moment, going against the stereotypical outcome of violent cartoon cinema; a great lead character and so many moments to talk of every person who likes film should see this.
Bloody Olive (Vincent Bal) - a favourite
of Future Shorts, a Belgian film full of twists, double twists and ulterior
motives. Very tongue-in-cheek and actually does talk to the camera
after being such a convincing pastiche of 1940s melodrama.
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