Overview
The Auckland Underground Film Festival offers up a feast of challenging and intriguing independent cinema from New Zealand and around the world. This Friday at 6:30pm Academy Cinemas will fill to the brim with cinephiles, ready to take in 13 short films in two hours and peer into the brilliantly twisted minds of some of the world's most talented short film makers.
Fancy yourself a lover of film? Discover the best the festival has to offer with Concrete Playground's guide before heading along on the night. Oh, and did we mention it's completely free?
AXIOM
Rhythmic hand claps soundtrack grainy black and white footage of divers somersaulting into a pool, while subtitles explain why geometric shapes are pleasing to the mind. Bizarre, seemingly benign and yet utterly mesmerizing, this 2-minute long oddity was highly awarded at the Toronto Urban Film Festival and becomes even more intriguing every time you watch it.
I Could Hear the Smallest Thing
Little is known about the latest work from up and coming Auckland short film maker Oliver Page, except that it involves 'a mother taking her son into the woods'. Sounds dark, intriguing and a little odd - it'll fit right in.
A l'infini
A moving short film about a couple on the day that they plan to carry out their suicide pact. Talented writer and director Jordan Abrams describes his film as, "An exploration of the lense through which we see intimacy - a portrayal of the beauty and tragedy of love and naiveté."
aXolotl's Happiness
This film chronicles seven minutes in the life of an axolotl-man as he goes about his menial every-day tasks. Yes, you read that correctly, a man-axolotl-hybrid doing chores. It's all very surreal and mundane until things get a little weird and violent at the end. I won't begin to try and explain what occurs during this bizarre film's running time.
Bloody Barbara
Hailing from California, Shawn Bannon is an award-winning director, a graduate of Werner Herzog's Rogue Film School and a lover of horror films. That explains Bloody Barbara - an ode to the genre that shows us a sixteen year old horror fanatic (guess who) as she roams around covered in fake blood reenacting scenes from her favourite films.
I spy with my little eye
A exploration of the controversy of the internet and its nature as an increasingly privatised space through film. Thought provoking and unique.
Chestnut Cookies
A woman calmly describes her grief over the loss of her late sister, reminiscing about the delicious chestnut cookies she used to bake. The camera pans over a panoramic view from a cable cart as it descends a mountain just outside of Sapporo. It's a unique combination of seemingly unrelated images and sounds that yields poignant and touching results.
Hold Your Breath
The story of Ann - a woman with two days left of life to enjoy before 10 years of incarceration. This film chronicles Ann's attempts to stuff here remaining couple of days with enough memorable, exciting and vivid experiences to sustain her for a decade in a cage. A moving rumination on the idea of truly living, portrayed by a collection of fleeting moments.
Cove
No one knows what's going on here. Not even Natasha Cantwell the Melburnian/Aucklander photographer and filmmaker who directed this short film. It's slightly hard to watch at times, I'm not entirely sure if it means anything and yet I can't take my eyes off it.
Model Fifty-One Fifty-Six
I had no idea what the devil was going on here, but hopefully you will. This avant-garde 11-minute-long film displays the physical changes of Josh's heart since he was born with a congenital disorder. However I submit that this is merely crumpled up paper and random colourful shapes flashing over the screen all accompanied by ominous music.
Roommates
Through garish and grotesque animation Roommates tells the story of four flatties clashing as tension builds on a blistering hot day. Logic and reason are forgotten and insanity prevails amongst the flatties as brisk percussion and urgent saxophone build to a disordered cacophony. Perhaps the most colourful and entertaining film you'll watch all night.
Te Beero
A collection of miniscule islands and coral atolls in the South Pacific make up the tiny nation of Kiribati. Te Beero explores the islands struggles caused by global warming, providing a fascinating and intimate portrait of a people slowly losing their homes to the inevitable.
Jump
A tale of one man competing in the NZ Trials competition in 2009. Features dirt bikes and New Zealand's gorgeous countryside - which is good enough for me.