The San Francisco Arthouse Short Festival developed during the pandemic; it has been a bi-monthly online film festival. However, it recently had its first physical festival at the Balboa Theater, and going forwards, it hopes to continue operations as a hybrid festival. There are a vast number of categories filmmakers from around the world can submit their short films for laurel consideration, such as best dance short film, best original score, and best pilot. Below is a look at some recent entries.
The Last Woman – Filmmaker Pierre Stine (Belgium)
An entry for the best sci-fi short, the film has some stunning visuals that help evoke the feeling of a barren future. The location was perfectly selected, as was the exterior of the house. The house, in particular, was futuristic in that 1950s vision of the future that fit perfectly with the visual effects reminiscent of classic sci-fi. However, I found the filmmaker’s decision to awaken naked, when there was no plot reason for her to be undressed, an unnecessary distraction.
The Vase – Filmmaker Ryan Baker (USA)
This entry for best experimental micro-budget short had me clicking rewatch. Now, part of the reason I rewatched is that, like with most experimental films, I struggled to find the meaning and wanted to re-watch after reading the descriptive summary to see if I was better able to understand the intent (I was). The other reason I rewatched is because I loved the creative use of the projector on a shifting human body. It to a still image and gave it movement.
Dill Pickle – Filmmaker Krzysztof Pietroszek (USA)
Based on the short story “A Dill Pickle” by Katherine Mansfield, filmmaker Krzysztof Pietroszek does a fairly faithful adaptation (though he does transport it to WWII) with his entry for best US short. Though Vera (played by Caroline Duncan) seemed less in love and more like she was waiting for Robert (played by Jim Thalman) to give her permission to leave or to crush her, though that might have had something to do with the wall décor that didn’t set the mode for a happy reunion. It was filmed in black & white which, paired with the dialogue, helped ground the film in the past, like the couple’s relationship.
Life is a two-way dream (Eallin lea guovttesuorat niehku) – Filmmaker Gjert Rognli (Norway)
Sound work is so often overlooked, but when a project has great sound and design, you notice. It stands out (or sings out) to you. While good sound on a project might not stand out, bad sound is one of the worst things a film can have. It can pull you from the narrative. The sound work in this film is meant to take you out, and it does this by sometimes using diegetic sound (sounds that match the images on the screen) and sometimes using non-diegetic sound (sounds not on the screen). For a film that was about a world undergoing rapid change, polarization, etc., it helped illuminate that. However, I was still jarred when the image of waterfalls was paired with lapping water sounds. But that was probably the intent.
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