Winter in the Rain Forest (ES)
Repurposed porcelain doll parts form creepy fauna and flora interacting on the forest floor; the roles of predator and prey move around as the balance of power shifts. Unnerving and creepy stop-motion animation. 6.5/10
Undergrowth (GB)
A market-stall plastic surgeon trades body parts and uses her gains to grow more in her back garden. The hopes of attaining a partner are one day realized but she gets more than she bargained for. Dark, slick and funny. 7.5/10
Grand Bassin (FR)
Pool-side shenanigans with a clutch of oversized characters and some saucy squeaks, oohs and aahs. Very French. 7/10
Still Lives (FI)
Museum exhibits come to life at night in an uneventful stop-motion animation. 5/10
Sheep, Wolf and a Cup of Tea (FR)
As his relatives move around downstairs, a young boy goes on a dreamlike journey from his bed with a mysterious wolf-figure in a beautifully colourful, trippy painted tale. 7.5/10
Las Del Diente (ES)
Through a disorienting fisheye lens, the avatars of three women talk about pregnancy, motherhood and what it takes to be a parent in the Spanish culture. 6/10
Daughter (CZ)
A daughter and her sick father come to terms with their fractured relationship as he lies in a hospital bed awaiting his operation. Told with roughly-made but beautifully expressive wooden figures, their fluid movement captures their emotions perfectly without the need for dialogue. 8/10
300g/m2 (ES)
Fun with paper cutouts as a humanoid figure interacts with the space left in the paper he was cut from. No real story, just some larking around, so limited in entertainment. 5/10
The Rain (PL)
Polish deadpan humour really shows here, but it's also a commentary on the groupthink of crowds being less than the individual. A superhero emerges from the bored office workers of a skyscraper just in time to save someone falling from the impossibly high roof. Unfortunately, it seems like a thrilling escape from their computers for the rest, and temptation builds. Short, smart and funny. 7.5/10
Toomas - Beneath the Valley of the Wild Wolves (CR)
Toomas is a buff wolf-human creature inhabiting a Bojack Horseman-like world. Forever catching the eye of the ladies, he keeps himself for his beloved back home. But when he loses his job in the name of fidelity, those buns need to start earning their pay. A funny blend of Bojack and those softcore British sex films from the 70's. 8/10
Leeds Short Film Awards
A round-up of the winning entries from several of the other short film segments.
HydeBank (UK)
Tending a prison farm's sheep provides a much needed escape for Ryan, who is in for an undisclosed but serious crime. Suffering the abuse you might expect from his neighbours, he makes the best of his situation to calm his anger and plan a life outside. A tender look at one person among many trying to be better. 8/10
Olla (FR)
Lonely and introverted Pierre orders a bride from the internet and is infatuated with his purchase, but Olla can't just be who he wants her to be just like that. Stuck inside during the day tending to his elderly mother, it's not long before the cracks in their synthetic relationship begin to show. 7.5/10
A Night with Noorjehan (UK)
A young indian boy tries his best to make some money for his family by selling balloons on the night streets to anyone who will give him the time, at least when he isn't being tempted to sneak into the local cinema where the latest Bollywood epic is being shown, and being thwarted at every turn by the doorman. A chance meeting with a colourful night character will perhaps give him his wish. 7/10
The Circle (UK)
Described through the medium of dance (no.. come back!), two brothers from the suburbs of London describe their relationship with their wider family in this refreshingly more positive look at black youth culture. 7/10
And Then the Bear (FR)
Ignored by his mother, and left to explore the bushland as she waits for an alluring stranger to appear in the night, a young boy becomes consumed by jealousy and anger, summoning the forest spirits to exact revenge. The striking chalk on black paper visuals and the darkness of the subject matter are a delicious combination. 8/10
The Stranger's Case - shown in the Yorkshire Shorts on day 4.
Why Slugs Don't Have Legs (CH)
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An absurd but enjoyable animation with a gloriously messy style, explaining to us with remarkably little science to back it's claims up, why the humble slug once had legs (and arms), but now doesn't and is all the happier for it. 8/10
Patrick (BE) (review)
I was hoping to go to the Welcoming Young Refugees event but they were unfortunately sold out, so I caught this instead.
Trailer Warning: Wobbly bare bodies!
Methodical, meticulous loner Patrick has a comfortable and at the same time uncomfortable job working with his ageing father and blind mother at their family owned nudist camp. Considering his familiarity with the naked flesh all around he is ironically repressed, quiet and skimping on relationships. His escape is carpentry, for which he has a well-maintained bank of tools. That is until one day one of his hammers goes missing, and by coincidence, his father keels over and dies. Rather than mourning, Patrick's focus is on the hammer to the exclusion of all else, leading him on a dogged journey through the secret lives of his customers (including an unexpected Jemaine Clement) until it is found.
The childlike Patrick is played deftly by Kevin Janssens exposing himself in both emotion and body, an innocent in the midst of corruption and sin. My hopes weren't the highest for Patrick but he really came through with a beautiful, darkly humorous film. 7.5/10
Midnight Traveller (US) (review)
Afghan filmmakers Hassan Fazili and Fatima Hossaini, with their two small children Nargis and Zahra fled their home in 2015 with as much as they could get in their car, after the taliban issued a fatwa on Fazil's life. Shot almost entirely on three mobile phones, this is a documentary journal of their 3 year passage across the Middle East and into Europe, to wherever will take them.
A stunning personal account of one family among thousands, suffering kindness and abuse from locals, dealings with unscrupulous smugglers and a system struggling to process those who attempt to arrive through the official channels. If you have a genuine wish to know how and why so many migrants are fleeing their countries right now and why we in stable countries should not, as compassionate human beings be raising the drawbridge, you must see this film. 8/10
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