Student Showcase (ARU) 2010 reviews
Review by on 17 Sep 2010
ARU students had a screening at the Cambridge Film Festival of a selection of short films from their Film and Media departments as a chance to highlight some potential talents of the future. The broad cross section of shots encapsulated avant-garde self-portraits, hilarious animations, experimental music videos and linear narrative shorts.
Being a collection of shorts from such a wide variety of genres the quality was varied but intriguing and there were several stand out pieces.
R. Jackson’s MAN AT WORK is an animation in the style of a BBC2 programme for children, focusing on an alcoholic hotel manager. The juxtaposition of the mock educational style and the incredibly adult subject matter garners genuine belly laughs.
Another exceptional animation was D. Burden’s UNTITLED. Made in the style of Terry Gilliam’s Python cartoons the plot follows a choir boy around increasingly bizarre landscape. There are some notable figures in it that could suggest some sort of political satire, but it’s best to just view it as a genius slice of otherworldly surrealism.
SPEED OF LIFE by A. Allikmae represents the sleekest of the shorts, an excellently edited film that was part an athletics promo, part gangster film and part Prodigy music video. The degree of professionalism displayed is highly commendable.
Aside from these there was much to admire in the shorts, even in the ones that were noticeably flawed. If these are the bulbs for a new generation of filmmakers, then the future looks bright, especially in the animation department.
Liam Jack
Being a collection of shorts from such a wide variety of genres the quality was varied but intriguing and there were several stand out pieces.
R. Jackson’s MAN AT WORK is an animation in the style of a BBC2 programme for children, focusing on an alcoholic hotel manager. The juxtaposition of the mock educational style and the incredibly adult subject matter garners genuine belly laughs.
Another exceptional animation was D. Burden’s UNTITLED. Made in the style of Terry Gilliam’s Python cartoons the plot follows a choir boy around increasingly bizarre landscape. There are some notable figures in it that could suggest some sort of political satire, but it’s best to just view it as a genius slice of otherworldly surrealism.
SPEED OF LIFE by A. Allikmae represents the sleekest of the shorts, an excellently edited film that was part an athletics promo, part gangster film and part Prodigy music video. The degree of professionalism displayed is highly commendable.
Aside from these there was much to admire in the shorts, even in the ones that were noticeably flawed. If these are the bulbs for a new generation of filmmakers, then the future looks bright, especially in the animation department.
Liam Jack
