Shorts
Reviews, previews and highlights of features and shorts from the myDylarama team and guest writers.
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Q&A with Antoine Bargain, dir. Disciplinaires - ClermontFF 2020
4 February 2020, by Clotilde CouturierOn the edge of the forest of Saint-Jean, near the village of Corte, nature has taken over the abandoned military base. Today, it is a place where families and sportsmen spend their time in relaxation, though in the 1970s it was the worst fear of the soldiers of the French Foreign Legion. More on the film... Where did you get the idea of making a film about this particular military prison that punishes disobedience and desertion? Sometimes, a chance meeting upsets your plans. That’s (...) -
Q&A with Valerie Barnhart, dir. The Girl in the Hallway - ClermontFF 2020
4 February 2020, by Elise LoiseauWhy does "Little Red Riding Hood" give Jamie nightmares? It’s been fifteen years, and the girl in the hallway still haunts him. This is a testament to locked doors. A lullaby sung by wolves with duct tape and polaroids. Not all girls make it out of the forest. There are stories children shouldn’t hear. A remarkably effective, inventive and haunting animation about a real-life case of child abduction. Trailer More on the film... How did this retelling come about? I’m a big poetry (...) -
Short of the Week: Ahmed’s Song, dir. Foued Mansour
24 January 2020, by Elise LoiseauOne day Ahmed, employed at the public baths and nearing retirement, encounters Mike, a teenager adrift. Between the bath house walls, in a place on the point of disappearing, a strange relationship will develop between these two fractured souls. A lovely, heart-warming short subtly exploring a growing relationship between the central characters and finding the beauty in the mundane. Available thanks to Univers Cine until 28 January! Here’s our interview with director Fouad Mansour from (...) -
Court de la semaine : Nocturnes de Matthieu Bareyre
5 décembre 2019, par Elise LoiseauAvant de réaliser le long métrage documentaire L’époque (2018), Matthieu Bareyre a posé sa caméra à l’hippodrome de Vincennes. Loin des représentations de Degas et Manet, l’hippodrome est devenu un lieu devenu anonyme, voué à la fabrication et à la diffusion d’images. Sous les lumières blafardes et au milieu des chaises en plastique, Mehdi, Jimmy, Safir et Kader réalisent leurs pulsions par procuration : derrière une large fenêtre en verre, à distance de la course, ils font corps avec (...) -
Short of the Week: Nightmare of Gaza by Farah Nabulsi
29 November 2019, by Abla Kandalaft"Gaza is unfortunately not a nightmare. Gaza is a horrifying reality. Farah Nabulsi’s short film, Nightmare of Gaza, presents that reality in an artistic way and reminds all of us of the ongoing tragedy." Gideon Levy, Israeli journalist. A haunting, abstract and experimental narrative of a woman in the streets of Gaza surrounded by the devastation after the bombs have stopped. She has been helping others, but revelations show it is she who now needs help. Our short of the week has just (...) -
Short of the Week: Baghdad Messi
22 November 2019, by Mydylarama teamIraq 2009. Ten-year-old Hamoudi has only one leg, but is totally obsessed with football. He and his friends - like the rest of the world - are looking forward to the Champions League final between Barcelona and Manchester (Messi versus Ronaldo). But then Hamoudi’s television breaks down! Kurdish-Belgian director Sahim Omar Kalifa’s award-winning short is ruthlessly heart-braking, with a beautifully moving central performance by Ali Raad Al-Zaidawy. Baghdad Messi was amongst the 10 short (...) -
Short of the Week: Carnal Orient by Mila Zuo
9 August 2019, by carrieA cook serves exotic dishes to his hungry, impatient guests. Suddenly the arrival of a mysterious Asian woman re-ignites their insatiable appetite. Mila Zuo’s atmospheric short is incredibly rich in symbolism and references, conscious or not - from Lynch to Fruit Chan’s dumplings. This short is brought to us by the fab horror film platform @WatchALTER. There’s a whole treasure trove on their Youtube page. -
Short of the Week: The Boy and The Sea by Samer Ajouri
17 June 2019, by carrieThis entrancing, hypnotising and moving animation is now available to watch online! Once upon a time there was a boy who had joy in drawing the sea. One day, into the bottom of the sea he dove, in hope of escaping war and misery. The story did not begin with the worldwide TV snatched image of the Syrian child Elan, thrown on the Turkish shores by the waves, and it definitely did not end with it. Once upon a time there was a boy who had joy in drawing the sea. One day, into the (...) -
Short of the Week - Oksijan by Edward Watts
30 May 2019, by Abla KandalaftEdward Watts’s powerful, claustrophobic short Oksijan is available to watch for a week as part of BBC Arabic’s Cinema Badila’s Cannes 2019 episode, at 29 min in. The short is followed by an interview with Edward Watts. This independent short film, based on an incredible true story, follows a seven-year old Afghan refugee’s battle to survive as he is smuggled to the UK in the back of a refrigerated lorry and the air inside begins to run out. -
Interview with Aung Rakhine, director of The Last Post Office
25 May 2019, by Abla KandalaftInterview with Bangladeshi filmmaker Aung Rakhine about his short film "The Last Post Office", a stunning, dream-like short with a entrancing soundtrack selected as part of the 2019 International Competition at the Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival. A video directed by the students of the ARFIS École, in collaboration with Brasserie du Court and Mydylarama. On the edge of Bangladesh, between mountains and water, stands a post-office, the only sign of civilization. It has a (...)