NEW SHORTS: A Rural Gothic
Wednesday, 20 January 2021
WHICH IS WITCH?, dir. Marie Losier
Unrested spirits, supernatural stalkings and the Devil’s Dyke: for a dark winter’s night, a dose of the uncanny and occult out in the sticks.
Pulling their genre cues from pagan lore and Victoriana penny dreadfuls, these short folk horrors do the rounds from witch hunts, hellish first periods, Louis II of Bavaria defrosting after a lifetime on ice, and the creepy night games played in a remote girls’ boarding school.
Programmed by Philip Ilson. 73'
This programme contains gore and things that go bump.
Please note, the film Black Goat has been geo-blocked online to UK audiences at the request of the filmmaker.
SHE LIVES ALONE
Lucy Rose
13'
2020
United Kingdom
Living amidst the barren hills, Maud is content to provide and rely on solely upon herself. After the death of her Mother, Maud is reluctant to have visitors and happy to be on her own but when her prayer beads go missing, strange happenings go from bad to worse.
WIGHT NIGHT
Abby Colquhoun, Katie Hackett, Sarah Ehmann, Hannah Ornsby
4'
2020
United Kingdom
A new vision of the legend of the Devil's Dyke, reimagined through movement to play with the power dynamics between villagers and the devil.
SO PERFECT IT FRIGHTENS ME
Alice Cornelia
5'
2020
United Kingdom
A young boy's obsession with a wind turbine takes us on an evocative visual experience. The boy is fascinated by its white long arms, its chosen place of solitude, its monstrous scale and unnerving presence. It is both overwhelming and flawless, taking us into uncharted territory.
WOOD CHILD & HIDDEN FOREST MOTHER
Stephen Irwin
9'
2020
United Kingdom
Deep in the forest, a hunter encounters a strange creature he cannot kill.
BLACK GOAT
Yi Tang
12'
2020
Hong Kong
Pasang, a new girl at a nunnery, has her first period after hearing a late-night ghost story. She keeps it secret until she bleeds at a prayer session. She believes that she has been cursed and needs to sacrifice a black goat to avoid further misfortune.
BURN THE WITCH
Matty Crawford
5'
2020
United Kingdom
Two villagers flee an angry herd to escape a fate more terrible than dying.
WHICH IS WITCH?
Marie Losier
6'
2020
France
Louis II of Bavaria has been frozen in the ice since time immemorial. We find him in a forest and alive, where three witch sisters try to defrost him and unravel its musical mystery. A colourful and surreal fairy tale.
SUCH SMALL HANDS
Maria Martinez Bayona
19'
2020
United Kingdom
At the girls' orphanage, the group’s unchecked pack mentality alienates a new arrival. To swing the balance of power, she invents a manipulative night game.