The Vancouver Independent Film Festival is both an online and physical film festival. It operates as a seasonal online festival, then a select number of winning films from the online festivals are chosen for the annual physical festival. Of the 261 films in Vancouver Independent Film Festival May-July 2021 round, there were 45 films that won awards in a variety of categories, with films ranging from micro-shorts to features. Below is a highlight of a few.
The Volunteer – stunning cinematography and VFX is utilized to tell this dystopic sci-fi short from the Unites States about a person the volunteers to stay and try to save Earth while the rest evacuate. Because of how grand the scale was, combined with the use of heavy voice-over, it reminded me of those commercials where they almost hide the product they’re advertising. In fact, I stopped the video halfway through to see if there was a category for “best commercial concept,” and if The Volunteer was submitted for it. There wasn’t, so it was not. This film would also serve well as a teaser trailer for a bigger series as what was presented seemed like it could launch a Sci-Fi series in the vein of The Expanse or The 100.
Written by Hussain Pirani
Directed by Joe Simon
For Goldie – A surprisingly funny Covid short, this Canadian student film is about a young woman who has developed anxiety about going outside and must now face it when she runs out of food for her goldfish. It utilized camera techniques, like rack focus, and POV from fish tank/Goldie, in ways that served the narrative and not just to because they looked cool. A promising sign of restraint from student filmmakers, so I hope to see more from them in the future.
Written by Lauren Yim
Directed by Sophia Gelfant
Dystopia – an animated film from Switzerland set in a robot building plant. The robot animation, like the first part of the narrative, is linear and precise. Then the saboteur gets introduced who changes the final programming of the robots. He’s not linear, and the books he introduces to the robots are not uniform and sends the film into a cacophony of sound. I love sci-fi with an ambiguous ending, and this one has that by cutting to black before hitting the audience with one final sound.
Written and directed by bellopropello
Trend – High fashion meets the knife in this Canadian short about a supernatural entity who requires tribute to show up at a fashion show. It uses media and fashion to build a narrative of what we are willing to overlook in the name of staying on trend. Black hats are in.
Written and directed by Sean Wever
Predestined – The pilot episode in a U.S. urban musical web series from creator Aaron Avont Johnson. The pilot falls towards the premise pilot category as we get a hint of the changes to come for Thalia (played by Shantrell Robinson) and how she’s going to go from R&B star to leader of the choir of the church she inherited after her mother’s recent passing. It’s a fun premise as it plays on a perception perpetuated by many that women are only one of two things, sinner or saint, and aren’t allowed complexities. Everyone wants to put Thalia in a box, her label also won’t allow her to express her current self because that’s not the brand they bought, her Aunt because of the clothes she wears.
There was great care taken to the musical numbers, though when Thalia helps the choir perhaps, she should’ve just been helping with the arrangement of the song instead of stepping in after they all sung off-key/out of time, it made it seem fanciful when they all of a sudden could follow her simple repeat after me instructions if they were that hopeless before. In some of the non-musical parts there were some sound issues with the mix either being too loud the female voices higher ends popped (in the music exec office) or notice clothing brushing mic sounds, I hope these are rectified in future episodes because they create distractions that take you out of an otherwise slick production.
Written and directed by Aaron Avont Johnson