My final event in this year's Edinburgh film fest before jetting off to merry old Ireland for a couple of days was the selection of short films from the Glasgow Media Access Centre.
ARCHIVE OF DREAMS (Tomas Sheridan) is a documentary which has already had screenings elsewhere (including a prizewinning turn in the Jim Poole Short Film Competition at the Cameo) and looks at a rundown old cinema in Italy where rooms full of films and posters have been sitting gathering dust for years. An attempt to rescue them reveals a possible reason why. It's like a documentary version of CINEMA PARADISO, but with a very different ending.
EYES ON THE STREET (David Newbigging) is a spoof documentary following a community warden in a rough part of town who dreams of becoming a policeman. His stubborn by-the-rules attitude results in many laugh-out-loud moments when clashing with the neighbourhood neds or his everyman partner, and eventually he discovers policing may not be all it's cracked up to be. A wonderful little comedy.
THE FINGER TRAP (Julia McLean) is an animated short in which an old man can't resist playing with the titular toy. It's an endearing animation but the real joy stems not from the work that has gone into the animation but rather from some delightful slapstick comedy routines that would be funny no matter what the genre or medium.
HOMECOMING (Zak Hanif) sees a gathering in the household of a British-Asian family turn sour. Part relationship drama, part culture-clash comedy the film is less than quarter of an hour but could probably be successfully extended to twice that length, such is the quality of writing and the characters featured.
NIGHT SCHOOL (Ben Soper) is a short fiction piece in which a young couple break into an abandoned school share some intimate moments. This was the one film that left me cold but it was very well shot, with striking use of coloured lighting (think Scottish SUSPIRIA).
SALTMARK (Robin Haig) sees a young girl trapped in an embarrassing situation while on an undesired day out with her grandfather. Good chemistry between the two leads and a smart script deliver a lovely little film with both humour and warmth.
Overall this was a very strong selection and it was rather disheartening to hear that the scheme has now lost its funding.
ARCHIVE OF DREAMS (Tomas Sheridan) is a documentary which has already had screenings elsewhere (including a prizewinning turn in the Jim Poole Short Film Competition at the Cameo) and looks at a rundown old cinema in Italy where rooms full of films and posters have been sitting gathering dust for years. An attempt to rescue them reveals a possible reason why. It's like a documentary version of CINEMA PARADISO, but with a very different ending.
EYES ON THE STREET (David Newbigging) is a spoof documentary following a community warden in a rough part of town who dreams of becoming a policeman. His stubborn by-the-rules attitude results in many laugh-out-loud moments when clashing with the neighbourhood neds or his everyman partner, and eventually he discovers policing may not be all it's cracked up to be. A wonderful little comedy.
THE FINGER TRAP (Julia McLean) is an animated short in which an old man can't resist playing with the titular toy. It's an endearing animation but the real joy stems not from the work that has gone into the animation but rather from some delightful slapstick comedy routines that would be funny no matter what the genre or medium.
HOMECOMING (Zak Hanif) sees a gathering in the household of a British-Asian family turn sour. Part relationship drama, part culture-clash comedy the film is less than quarter of an hour but could probably be successfully extended to twice that length, such is the quality of writing and the characters featured.
NIGHT SCHOOL (Ben Soper) is a short fiction piece in which a young couple break into an abandoned school share some intimate moments. This was the one film that left me cold but it was very well shot, with striking use of coloured lighting (think Scottish SUSPIRIA).
SALTMARK (Robin Haig) sees a young girl trapped in an embarrassing situation while on an undesired day out with her grandfather. Good chemistry between the two leads and a smart script deliver a lovely little film with both humour and warmth.
Overall this was a very strong selection and it was rather disheartening to hear that the scheme has now lost its funding.
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