A world turned around is a provoking 1-minute experimental film by Johanne Chagnon, where men are in captivity and the animals are the ones free of existence.
The film opens with a shadow of a body performing an agonizing dance behind a screen, and right away, we get this feeling of anguish. The image zooms out and the screen is now divided into 4 panels: the ground is covered with a bloody and uneven red color and left and right appears the same scene of nature: first trees, then water flowing, then moving animals.
In this film, nature is imposing, while the person is unglorified, seemingly in distress.
Humans, placed in between the two panels showing nature, and right above the red floor, almost seem to be using the stream of blood to create a fracture within nature. In fact, it is true that we reside on our planet but we aren’t following its rules, by abusing nature and creating death and devastation for our very own benefit.
It’s not by chance that the sound is mainly composed of nature sounds. It’s almost an indication that however we try to control our planet, nature will always be stronger — thus louder — than us.
But is Chagnon suggesting that justice can be achieved by enclosing human beings in a dimension that is parallel to nature, with the two never touching each other so that the former won’t be able to destroy the latter? Or is she suggesting that nature is meant to take over, leaving people behind?
The interpretation is entirely left to the audience here.
Chagnon mentions an inequitable world as her source of inspiration, and this is exactly what we are witnessing in this film: a dual world that perhaps will never find its harmony.
Hungry Eyes - Review
HUNGRY EYES is a 5-page long horror script written by Jason John Cicalese.
An original and straightforward story, written entirely with one voice, the old man’s. As a matter of fact, the two other characters, two young kids gagged and tied to chairs, don’t have a voice at all, as they are the mere object of the man’s opto-culinary quest.
Is being young and at the prime of their lives what they’re truly guilty of?
It’s not a chance that the old man, described as “heavy-set” and “balding”, is the one wanting to deprive the teenagers of their sight, the most important sense in a society that rewards appearance and youthfulness.
A social criticism that exposes the neglect of older people, who spend their whole lives being productive and making a name for themselves, only to find themselves close to retirement, with nothing more than a handful of memories.
The script has a great texture, it’s cooked in a deep message and it’s seasoned with cruel horror scenes: a perfect recipe, remarkably executed!
(Corona) Viral Monologues - Review
(Corona) Viral Monologues by Claire Chubbuck is a 50-minute experimental film that follows the emotional journey of 30 characters dealing with the surge of the pandemic in what looks like a mix between scripted film and documentary.
This artistic expression, shot in isolation, is structured along the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
A powerful performance – at times overacted, at times underacted – that displays the emotional rollercoaster of going through a traumatic and cathartic event. What’s interesting is to see how, little by little, their own past comes back to haunt them and how they’re now left to face it, whether it’s a drinking problem, a broken relationship with their mother, or an eating disorder.
The soundtrack of this film is stripped-down, the music is only used when truly essential which makes the picture feel light and airy, while the editing mixes up voices with faces they don’t belong to, splits sentences in half, and conveys an overall sense of psychological confusion.
As this touching film comes to an end we are left to feel – yes – empathy for the characters, but also comfort in knowing we are all in this together.