Some of the best short films of recent years shown in eight instalments for easy viewing. The Short Film Festival is curated by the staff behind the ongoing Magic Lantern project and will be accompanied by a series of events at the CCA, with many directors attending in person. We'll be covering it in its entirety with exclusive reports from the venue.
Mokhtar and Tord & Tord
The Accordion
(Country: Iran; Year: 2010; Director: Jafar Panahi; Writer: Jafar Panahi; Stars: Kambiz Bahrami, Khadije Bahrami)
When their accordion is confiscated, two children contemplate the meaning or acceptance, resistance and meaningful political struggle.
The April Chill
(Country: Georgia; Year: 2010; Director: Tornike Bziava; Writer: Tornike Bziava; Stars: David Iashvili, Imeda Arabuli, Rezo Chanishvili)
A Soviet soldier in Georgia finds his attitude to violence forever altered when he encounters a dancer.
Boxer
(Country: UK; Year: 2010; Director: Andrew Cumming; Stars: Lewis Howden, Helen McAlpine)
A lonely man in a run-down corner of Scotland finds his life transformed after he witnesses a violent attack.
Berlinskaya Fuga
(Country: Hungary; Year: 2009; Director: Dénes Nagy; Writer: Dénes Nagy)
A five year old girl brought up in a loving family has to face up to the reality of a harsh life in the industrial wasteland of Donetsk.
Just Before Dawn and Old Fangs
Canopy Crossings
(Country: Thailand, USA; Year: 2010; Director: Gary Yong; Writer: Gary Yong; Stars: Phagawadee Pongchay, Namfon Sirimongkol, Tanakrit Udomseththaworn)
Three people working in a local market dream of bigger things, but everything must stop eight times a day to pull down the canopy and make way for passing trains.
Caretaker For The Lord
(Country: UK; Year: 2009; Director: Jane McAllister)
A documentary about the community in a neglected Glasgow church and their struggle for survival.
The Cage (Colivia)
(Country: Romania, Netherlands; Year: 2009; Director: Adrian Sitaru; Writer: Adrian Sitaru; Stars: Adrian Titieni, Clara Voda, Vlad Voda),
Trailer
A son brings home an injured dove.
Checkpoint
(Country: France; Year: 2010; Director: Ruben Amar),
Official Site
An 11-year-old Palestinian boy accompanies his father on regular trips to a ruined Gaza village, though he doesn't understand their purpose.
The Corner Shop
(Country: UK; Year: 2006; Director: Zak Hanif)
Part of the DigiCult retrospective.
Madagascar, A Journey Diary and The Tannery
Cotopaxi
(Country: UK; Year: 2006; Director: Zack Copping; Writer: Zack Copping; Stars: Vicky Allan, Jonathan Greet, Asha Mayan)
Part of the Digicult programme.
Deafness (Gluckhota)
(Country: Ukraine; Year: 2010; Director: Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy; Writer: Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy; Stars: Oleksand Fomichov, Sergiy Gavryluk, Dmytro Sokol)
A mute man is arrested in a short film devoid of audible words.
Death Of A Pop Star
(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Greg Loser; Writer: Greg Loser; Stars: Jenné Claiborne, Bern Cohen, Emilio Delgado)
A meeting with a pop star's troubled personal physician.
Drum Room
(Country: UK; Year: 2007; Director: Miranda Pennell; Writer: Miranda Pennell)
Musicians seemingly isolated in a strange building begin to play in a connected way.
Embracing (Ni Tsutsumarete)
(Country: Japan; Year: 1992; Director: Naomi Kawase; Stars: Naomi Kawase, Uno Kawase)
A documentary maker searches for the father she never knew as a child.
XXIX and Mrdrchain
The External World
(Country: Germany; Year: 2010; Director: David O’Reilly; Writer: Vernon Chatman, David O'Reilly)
An animated short about a boy learning to play the piano and to express himself in new ways.
Fisticuffs
(Country: UK; Year: 2004; Director: Miranda Pennell; Writer: Miranda Pennell; Stars: Paul Benzing, Terry Kvasnik, Clare McKenna)
A Wild West style saloon brawl is recreated in an East London pub.
Flag Mountain
(Country: UK; Year: 2010; Director: John Smith)
An introduction to the city of Nicosia, torn between Greek Cypriot and Turkish influences.
Human Radio
(Country: UK; Year: 2002; Director: Miranda Pennell; Writer: Miranda Pennell)
People who love to dance in private do their thing all across London.
Party and Narrow Gauge
In A Pig's Eye
(Country: Japan; Year: 2010; Director: Atsushi Wada)
A quiet little Japanese farm is dominated by an enormous pig.
I'll Be Right Here
(Country: UK; Year: 2010; Director: Gregor Johnstone; Writer: Gregor Johnstone; Stars: Stephen McCole, Angus McInnes)
A deranged and delusional screenwriter Moffat is holed up in an LA hotel room, ready to meet his idol Steven Spielberg.
Just Before Dawn
(Country: UK; Year: 2010; Director: Loren Slater; Writer: Loren Slater, Matt Palmer; Stars: Natalie Press, Vicky McClure, Glenn Doherty)
Two women try to rediscover their youth an an isolated countryside party.
Katatsumori
(Country: Japan, France; Year: 1994; Director: Naomi Kawase)
The first part of Naomi Kawase's grandmother series, this documentary explores old age and focuses on her own grandmother.
Vapor and Deafness
Kya Ka Ra Ba A (Sky, Wind, Fire, Water, Earth)
(Country: Japan; Year: 2001; Director: Naomi Kawase; Writer: Naomi Kawase; Stars: Naomi Kawase)
A documentary maker explores her feelings about the father she never knew and tries to forge a connection with him even though he is now dead.
Lament
(Year: 2002; Director: Graham Eatough)
Part of the DigiCult programme.
Lin
(Country: UK; Year: 2010; Director: Piers Thompson; Writer: Piers Thompson; Stars: Lin Clifton, Alexandar Lubenov Iliev, Vesela Kazakova, Valeri Kyorlinski),
Official Site
A mysterious woman arrives at dawn in an unknown country, fleeing some terrible secret in her past.
Lihya
(Country: UK, Syria; Year: 2010; Director: Michael Windle)
A documentary about a Damascan barbershop provides an opportunity for a haircut, a shave and an Arabic lesson.
The Long Walk Of The Chameleon
(Country: Burkina Faso; Year: 2010; Director: Idrissa Ouedraogo)
A journey is interrupted by the sighting of a chameleon, which presages ill fortune.
Boxer and Photos Of God
Low Tide (Bassa Marea)
(Country: Italy; Year: 2009; Director: Roberto de Paolis),
Official Site
A lonely man one winter afternoon undertakes a strange journey without leaving his room.
Mokhtar
(Country: Canada; Year: 2010; Director: Halima Ouardiri)
A boy brings home an injured bird only to be rejected by his father, who is convinced that it is a demon.
Mrdrchain
(Country: Czech Republic, France; Year: 2010; Director: Ondrej Svadlena; Writer: Ondrej Svadlena)
Slicemen struggle to get by amid terrifying shadows in the land of the murderchain.
Narrow Gauge
(Country: UK; Year: 2010; Director: Joseph Briffa; Writer: Joseph Briffa, based on the short story My Hitler by Yoshihiro Tatsumi.; Stars: Lindsey Danvers, Eric Robertson, Jane Stabler, Paul Nivison)
A couple struggling with their inability to have a baby are haunted by a rat in the walls.
The Pedestrian and For You I Will Fight
Old Fangs
(Country: Ireland; Year: 2009; Director: Adrien Merigeau),
Trailer
A young wolf whose mother has left gets his friends to support him in confronting his absent father.
On Your Own
(Country: UK; Year: 2009; Director: Jane Linfoot; Writer: Jane Linfoot; Stars: Carlton Dickinson, Steve Evets, Claudia Duffy, Melanie Ramsay)
Leaving residential care, a young man struggles to forge connections in the outside world.
Out In That Deep Blue Sea
(Country: Canada; Year: 2009; Director: Kazik Radwanski; Writer: Kazik Radwanski; Stars: Peter Bavis, Jeanne Souter, Carmen Craig, Marta Legrady, Joe Ring),
Official Site
Third part of a short film trilogy, focusing on a disillusioned middle-aged man trying to garner estate agent business.
Paper Anniversary
(Country: UK; Year: 2004; Director: Joern Utkilen)
Part of the Digicult programme.
Party (Tulum)
(Country: Croatia; Year: 2009; Director: Dalibor Matanic)
A Vukovar girl takes in the delights of a simple summer day spent with friends.
I'll Be Right Here and The Accordion
Photos Of God
(Country: UK; Year: 2010; Director: Paul Wright; Stars: David Molyneux, Farren Morgan, Jemma Stephens, Cathy Walker)
A teenage boy looks after his disabled mother as both wrestle with memories of how life used to be.
Picnic
(Country: Sweden; Year: 2010; Director: Henrik Andersson; Writer: Henrik Andersson)
A couple visit the mountains on a sunny day, looking forward to a romantic picnic, but things do not go quite to plan.
Picnicking Through Purgatory (Picnicking Through Purgatory (And Other Things To Do At Night))
(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Ryan Moloney; Writer: Alexander Burnett; Stars: Alexander Burnett, Frank Gervasi)
A night in the life of two ambulancemen.
The Pedestrian
(Country: UK; Year: 2010; Director: Stuart Elliott; Writer: Stuart Elliott; Stars: Billy Elliott, Matt McClure, Gary McCurry)
Jonathon Collins has never been beaten at any walking competition, and joins them eagerly on his daily commute. But could his obsession jeopardise a possible romance with a young woman who walks for charity?
Promise
(Country: Denmark; Year: 2010; Director: Morten BH, Kirsten Dehlholm, Henning Carlsen; Writer: Richard Raskin; Stars: Jacob Ottensten, Emmanuel Limal, Rune T Kidde, Sabrina Ruiz)
When an impoverished mother promises her son will become great, only an old man believes her, and he makes the boy make a promise of his own.
Low Tide and The External World
Quicken
(Country: UK; Year: 2005; Director: Victoria Beattie; Writer: Victoria Beattie; Stars: Pamela Drynan, Rosa Edwards, Tom Hayes, John McFarlane)
Tense family drama, involving boredom, cruelty, two kids and a possible dead grandfather.
Romanes
(Country: Austria; Year: 2009; Director: Annja Krautgasser)
Details to follow.
Room For The Night
(Country: UK; Year: 2003; Director: Vincent Hunter)
A man alone in his car discovers the emotional alienation of sex for hire.
Samaritan
(Country: Norway; Year: 2010; Director: Magnus Mork; Writer: Magnus Mork; Stars: Sharam Khalifeh, Terje Tjøme Mossige)
A lonely middle aged man befriends an illegal immigrant as both are desperate for different kinds of support.
See Heaven (Ten, Mitake)
(Country: Japan; Year: 1995; Director: Naomi Kawase; Stars: Naomi Kawase, Uno Kawase)
The second part of Naomi Kawase's grandmother series, looking at how the director's relationship with her grandmother has grown and developed.
Spider Fang! and The Long Walk Of The Chameleon
The Setting Sun
(Country: Japan; Year: 1997; Director: Naomi Kawase)
The final part of Naomi Kawase's documentary series of films about her grandmother.
Shadows of Silence (Les Ombres Du Silence)
(Country: France; Year: 2010; Director: Pradeepan Raveendran; Writer: Pradeepan Raveendran; Stars: Krishna Subramania),
Official Site
A depressed man living in exile with his young family longs for the culture and homeland he left behind.
Spider Fang!
(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Justin Perkinson; Stars: Jacqueline Larsen, William Knight)
A small girl's game with her grandfather takes an unexpected and sinister turn.
Steglitz House
(Country: Germany, South Africa; Year: 2010; Director: Bridget Baker)
An exploration of shifting ideas about housing and home, taken from the Shifting Realities exhibition in Cologne.
Surpriseville
(Country: UK; Year: 2010; Director: Tim Travers Hawkins),
Official Site
An exploration of the fears and anxieties that haunt a gated community in Arizona.
Surpriseville and Canopy Crossings
Tattoo
(Country: UK; Year: 2001; Director: Miranda Pennell)
Soldiers marching through the countryside bring a curious geometry to an unregulated environment.
The Tannery
(Country: UK; Year: 2010; Director: Iain Gardner; Writer: Iain Gardner),
Official Site
A fox has a life after death experience.
Tord & Tord (Tord And Tord)
(Country: Sweden; Year: 2010; Director: Niki Lindroth von Bahr; Writer: Niki Lindroth von Bahr, based on the short story by Jorun Jonasson; Stars: Voice of Thomas Tidholm),
Official Site
When Tord comes home he finds that his apartment has subtly changed and is inhabited by a stranger, also called Tord.
Vapor
(Country: Canada; Year: 2010; Director: Kaveh Nabatian)
A Mexican man discovers that life becomes richer when he challenges his own prejudices.
Why Colonel Bunny Was Killed
(Country: UK; Year: 2010; Director: Miranda Pennell)
Still photographs of colonial life on the North West frontier of British India at the turn of the 20th century illuminate the account of a medical missionary.
X.O. Genesis and Caretaker For The Lord
Wood Of Value
(Country: Norway, UK; Year: 2010; Director: Bjorn Bratberg)
A documentary following a special Christmas tree on its journey across the North Sea from Norway to London.
The Worm Inside
(Country: UK; Year: 2010; Director: Sam Firth)
A woman considers her diagnosis of Grave's disease, and the strange treatments on offer.
X.O. Genesis
(Country: New Zealand; Year: 2010; Director: Rowan Wernham),
Official Site
An alien who has crashed in Earth finds different religions and ideologies calling to him as he explores the unfamiliar landscape.
XXIX
(Country: Canada; Year: 2010; Director: Laurel MacDonald)
Twenty-one Canadian singers perform a contemporary resetting of a 15th century choral piece, each one singing in their ancestral language.
You Made Me Love You
(Country: UK; Year: 2005; Director: Miranda Pennell; Writer: Miranda Pennell)
21 dancers try to escape a pursuing camera.