Written on April 2 by Eleni from Show Me Shorts
Kia ora and welcome to the April 2013 Show Me Shorts Screening Room. I’m Eleni and I’ve been volunteering with Show Me Shorts for about the last 5 years. For this edition of the Screening Room I’ll be sharing films that explore some of the beauty and emotions we experience with the changing of the seasons, with an emphasis on the one now leaving us behind (in New Zealand, at least). And like a change of season, many of the films I’ve chosen are fleeting in nature: several are under 3 minutes. So I’ve picked 6 films in total to keep you entertained.
Summer – ‘Beautiful Summer’, ‘The Beach’, ‘Frosty Man and the BMX Kid’
Slowly we need to say goodbye to another beautiful summer here in New Zealand. The long summer days are persisting but will shorten soon – even faster as this coming Sunday will mark the finish of daylight savings. I’ll miss the swims I’ve been having at our inner city beaches in Herne Bay, Auckland, after work when the tide was right. We had a few cooler days over the past couple of weeks and some rain but Autumn weather seems to be holding off so far. With the winding down of summer, I’ve picked 3 shorts that I hope you’ll enjoy.
Let’s start with a delightful, very short film from Germany – Beautiful Summer by Fenchel & Janisch. It is fresh and green, and has a glimpse of a dyke reminding me of cycling to a job I had back in Amsterdam. Summer is the only season when it’s lovely to cycle on a dyke along a river. Any other season it is extremely hard work, being both elevated and exposed to the elements.
Next is the poignant and prize winning New Zealand short film The Beach by Dorthe Scheffmann (1995). The music introduces the uncomfortable revelation even though it appears an ordinary day at the beach. It is shot with plenty of over exposure that captures a hot summer’s day on the beach in New Zealand very well. (Click to watch through NZ On Screen)
As we wrap up the summer films, this touching short reminds us that everybody – including God – agrees that a New Zealand Summer is really about ‘eating some ice creams and doing some bombs’. Frosty Man and the BMX Kid by Tim McLachlan, 2010.
Autumn – ‘My Eternal Autumn’
Autumn can be a challenging season as we move between the warmth of summer toward the eventual cold winter. This short film based on the story ‘The Last Leaf’ by O. Henry is accompanied by great music while a little girl discovers a way to make autumn last longer. My Eternal Autumn by Farshad Khoshbakht, 2012.
Winter – ‘A Short Winter Skate Film’
We typically associate certain activities with the seasons. We have winter sports and summer sports, with separate Olympics for each. However, when I came across A Short Winter Skate Film, I thought the juxtaposition of the sport and season was beautifully combined and presented. By Brett Novak with Kyle Kraus.
Spring – ‘Spring’
Spring is probably the most welcome season for both man and nature. We emerge from winter each year with the flora promising a fresh start. This last short film Spring by Temujin Doran is based on one of his favourite passages from Ernest Hemingway’s memoir ‘A Moveable Feast.’ I particularly liked it because my first visit to Paris was in spring when I was a teenager and I fell in love with the city then. The architecture, the atmosphere and the fresh green leaves on the trees, ah! This short shows exactly these elements and the romantic, yet intense, narrative draws one in.
Spring from Studiocanoe on Vimeo.
I hope you enjoyed my pick of the seasons. Have a great Autumn, or Spring, wherever you may be.
