
New Shorts: Lo-Budget Mayhem
Saturday, 15 January 2022

Image: Blighty, Theo Watkins, 2021
“The enemy of art is the absence of limitations.” Damn right, Orson Welles. And if alive today, he'd no doubt be first in line to the awaited return of the LSFF's cherished ragtag anthology of short and strange frugal filmmaking. From the poetic musings of a dying fly, to a Finnish plumber who becomes convinced the world is ending. This programme may not be bloated with budgets, but it is full to the brim with unearthed gems, wild ingenuity, and DIY filmmaking that marches to the beat of its own drum, answering to no-one.
All films qualify for Lo-Budget Award, deliberated on by a jury from Intermission Youth’s filmmaking group. The Best Lo-Budget Short winner will receive an award of £500.
Intermission Youth gives disadvantaged young Londoners the tools to make positive choices and become the best version of themselves through drama, film and mentoring.
Curated by Philip Ilson and Varun Raman
The Realist
Joshua Alexander
11'
2021
United Kingdom
An office worker working from home becomes embroiled in a series of phone calls with Google Earth complaints department as he tries to understand why there is an image of himself on Street View in the middle of a forest in a country he has never been to.
Puffin & Holly
Edward Smyth
6'
2021
United Kingdom
A family's relationship with their dogs, over 30 years. Capturing both the continuity and change these animals represent, their everyday presence reminds us of a world far richer when spent away from contemporary concerns - exploring nature, family and friendship.
The Alan Ankles Experience
Tom Cushing
5'
2021
United Kingdom
The Alan Ankles Experience is a mockumentary about a fictional artist, who gained notoriety and infamy in the art scene of New York in the 1980s. Alan leaves his home in Europe to make it big in the art world and to shape it to his own ideals. He becomes the art world’s villain and later vanishes from the scene to become an art cryptic much like a Bigfoot Banksy.
The Hairy Notion of a Green Afternoon
Susanne Deeken
6'
2021
United Kingdom
In ’The Hairy Notion of a Green Afternoon’ a mysterious protagonist emerges from elemental energies, leading us on her sensational journey.
She is a mysterious force, ever-changing, responding to, and even becoming, her encounters with nature. Her story is that of emotion - felt, rather than told - a tale where the original score pulsates expressively with the visuals’ rhythm.
It is a tale of enrichment and empowerment, breathing and oozing nature’s forms and wonders.
Quick Fix
Annie Harmeston
4'
2021
United Kingdom
A short, but oh-so-sweet story of a user’s journey on the way to ultimate self-optimization. Quick Fix HQ, a glossy, contrived and overwhelmingly pink self-care sanctuary, welcomes the user to reach their full glowing potential at the click of a button...