The Nottingham International Film Festival took over Savoy Cinema for a weekend full of quality shorts, documentaries and feature films...
Nottingham held its sixth International Film Festival between 24-26 September, showcasing everything from feature films to documentaries to shorts.
Day one featured a selection of five short films, as well as the feature-length Dead in October – an emotional story of two friends, Benny and Dud, who embrace each other’s company in the face of the end of the world.
Comedy featured prominently throughout the festival. The high point of the shorts was Life Skills, which shows an ex-soldier finding his way after leaving the army and being divorced by his wife. To use his skills in an effective manner, the ex-soldier becomes a hitman. The framing of the short is what makes it hilarious as it takes the structure of a charity video, with dark comedy fully hitting home.
Day two expanded its scope, showing eighteen shorts, three documentaries and feature film Medusa. The shorts were the strong point of the day. Some of the most notable were Pub Kid, which delivers its story in a unique way – having one of the patrons narrate the story with a poem – and Lifelike, which tells the story of a man experiencing loneliness, which is relatable to many.
Medusa, however, misses the mark. Focusing on two French sisters, Romane and Clemence, and their conflict over Romane's boyfriend, it is very slow, lethargic, and forgettable.
Founder Neil Jeram-Croft explains that the audience can never tell the difference between what is a student film and what isn’t. This speaks volumes about the skill of these up-and-coming filmmakers
The final day closed the festival in a brilliant fashion. It featured fifteen short films, a feature length documentary and the award-winning Country of Hotels. The short Thank You So Much is hysterical, showing what happens when a street thanking the NHS takes it too far. Both (Ab)normal and Tom Cat display highly important messages, with inventive delivery.
Country of Hotels is a fascinating film. Guests stay in room 508, where mysterious things happen to them. The director, Julio Maria Martino, explains his film takes place in a “really absurdist, very sinister universe”. The film has a strong sense of unease permeating throughout, as dark events unfold.
Martino also said that it is the first time the film was screened in the UK, and that while there have been online showings, the movie was made for the big screen.
The festival also featured several student films. Both Eden and Darling are student creations, and both are of high quality, and indistinguishable from the other shorts shown. The founder of the festival, Neil Jeram-Croft echoes this, and explains that the audience can never tell the difference between what is a student film and what isn’t. This speaks volumes about the skill of these up-and-coming filmmakers.
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