I was put onto Emilie Muller by Acim Vasic, the director of '8' (winner of the 4th competition) and it quickly became one of my favourites. It is a confident and rewarding film: you know some kind of twist is coming but you just don't know what. Emilie is auditioning for a part in a film because her friend has pulled out of the audition. The director asks her to talk about what is inside her handbag. Marciano passed away in 2011 but this will live on for many years!
Suburbia, written and directed by Antonio Oreña-Barlin, is a great short film from Australia, although it seems to owe a lot to a scene from the feature film Elephant by Gus Van Sant, about a mass high-school shooting. In Suburbia, also inspired by a real event, it is a normal weekday when a man and his girlfriend are visiting a florists. However, when the man thinks he hears shots being fired, he cannot help but seek to find the cause.
Written by Angelo Eidse and directed by Alan Powell, Phone Box was jointly awarded the Best Cinematography prize by Robert Brinkmann in the 10th FILMSshort competition. Warhol, an overall winner, was also commended. Phone Box is a drama centred around a London phone box - the type tourists have their photos taken inside - and the myriad characters who have to use it in the age of cell phones. It is beautifully acted and filmed.
Written and directed by American cinematographer Po Chan, The Last 3 Minutes is an unashamedly tear-jerking flashback through a dying man's life. Every shot is lovingly crafted and there are some beautiful American landscapes - as one might expect from an American DoP! Shot in 2010, Chan also shows the possibilities of the new class of video-capable DSLR cameras (in this case a Canon 5D). It may not be to everyone's tastes but it is truly filmic...