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
Blighty
Theo Watkins
6'
2021
United Kingdom
After taking brutal revenge on his noisy teenage neighbours, a broken man attempts to disappear into the warm comfort of his long-gone past.
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.
As It Seems
Cocoa Wagner
3'
2021
United Kingdom
A short surrealist clay animation depicting a dream sequence. Not everything is as it seems!
This is Why Girls Go to the Bathroom Together
Lydia Reid
1'
2021
United Kingdom
This is the real reason why girls go to the bathroom together.
B A C K U P
Ricky J Payne
5'
2021
United Kingdom
Runaway bounty hunter, Arthur V has nowhere left to run or hide. The unforgiving Isaac is closing in. Arthur returns to the waters of Arcadia, seeking a device to preserve his mind.
What I Imagined the dying fly, with the broken leg, was feeling
Hugh Clegg
5'
2021
United Kingdom
You Are Here Now
Voy Bach
9'
2021
United Kingdom
Harry goes to the same bar everyday. He feels stuck.
It becomes apparent that Harry may not be acting freely and he is forced to confront the film set he stands on.
Overshadowed by The Trivial
RUI LI
3'
2021
United Kingdom
This is a film inspired by the Chinese folk story called ‘Monkeys Grasp for the Moon’ and the proverb “To not see the wood for the trees“.
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.
The Sea
Sahra Ramezanian
6'
2021
Iran,Islamic Republic of
Some guys are planning to go on a trip but...
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...
My unrest
Joanna Szlembarska
3'
2021
Poland
A figure in oppressive whiteness strives to make peace with her corporeality.
Seppo
Tia Salisbury
3'
2021
United Kingdom
A Finnish plumber dooms the world.
A View from a Window
Owen R Barbet
5'
2021
United Kingdom
What does a window see, think & feel?
This is a tale of four seemingly disparate windows, whose thoughts may prove they are not too dissimilar from us.