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In previous years, I have touted the benefits of short films as being about efficiency. There's no room for story bloat in a short film, no franchise-building, no cliffhangers. If one disappoints you, what have you lost? A little bit of time.
And if you have committed to one of the feature length programmes in the annual Show Me Shorts festival, any disappointment is surely short-lived as there's always another story to follow.
Since 2012, Show Me Shorts has been accredited as a qualifier for the Academy Awards, which has meant that it receives strong submissions from all over the world. Of the 85 films in the selection this year, 59 are from overseas with a focus on films from Germany this year.
I was lucky enough to have a selection from the programme to preview and these are the ones that caught my eye. None of these are in the list of nominees for awards at the end of the festival, which suggests that there are even greater riches to be found by showing up at the cinema for a session.
My Dying Place (from Aotearoa - Ka Awatea)
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I'll start with the best which just happens to be not just the best short documentary I've seen, it's also possibly my favourite New Zealand short ever. A perfectly calibrated documentary portrait of Patrick McNulty from Birdlings Flat on Banks Peninsula in Canterbury.
Like all the greatest films, it starts as one thing - the world of a slightly eccentric, hoarding, animal sanctuary custodian - and morphs into a heartwarming story of tragedy, redemption and mental resilience. McNulty may be the nicest, kindest, wisest man in New Zealand, and you won't regret spending twenty minutes in his company.
Abel (from Generational Threads)
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The usual literary parallel made to short films is the beautiful miniature of a short story but sometimes they more closely resemble poetry. In Abel, a young man living in the San Jacinto mountains of California is dumped by his girlfriend and goes hunting to ease his heartbreak.
In the end, the wisdom of his father is what he needs and they bond over a beer and a campfire. It's a paradox but short films often benefit from knowing their length and taking their time to get to it. This one lingers beautifully.
Dekel Berenson, director of Abel, will be in Auckland for a filmmaker talk on Sunday 13 October.
Bottle Money (from Aotearoa - Ka Awatea)
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I've been watching short films like Bottle Money for decades - dramatic slices of working class Kiwi life - but they are still necessary and still welcome. In Rebekah Tyler's film, Jack Tyler plays Nelson, the teenage son of an alcoholic solo mum (Romy Hooper). It's his job to keep the family together every time her behaviour threatens to tear it apart. He's also fond of Luna (Davida McKenzie) but even that connection seems destined to be thwarted.
This film joins the story in the middle and leaves before it concludes because there are no easy answers, so why should it make some up?
Morning Hate (from Lives in the Firing Line)
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Is there anything left to say about World War I. Evidently there is, as actor Dean O'Gorman writes and directs his debut film set in the trenches of the Western Front. He focuses on characters that are usually in the background - the stretcher bearers risking their lives to bring the wounded to some form of safety.
A collection of New Zealand's most grizzled male actors - veterans and newcomers together - are forced together in the perfectly art-directed mud. Special mention to Matt Chamberlain and an indelible image that opens and closes the film. Morning Hate is a calling card which says that O'Gorman is one to watch.
My Week With Maisy (from The Sampler)
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Most of the time short films feature unfamiliar faces - budgetary constraints mean that big name actors are often out of reach - but the British short My Week With Maisy benefits from the presence of screen legend Joanna Lumley as a woman undergoing chemotherapy, masking her fear with prejudice.
She meets young Maisy (Ellie-Mae Siame) who has much more experience of the treatment and much more philosophical attitude to where it leads. Spun out as a feature, this would be intolerable but at this length it lands its humour and its pathos.
By the way, the Sampler programme will feature captions for the hearing impaired at three sessions:
Sun 20 Oct, 6pm - Beachside Cinemas, Auckland, Wed 23 Oct, 4pm - Light House Cuba, Wellington, Wed 23 Oct, 6pm - Alice Cinemas, Christchurch.
The Show Me Shorts Film Festival opens on Thursday 10 October in Auckland with a gala evening at the Hollywood in Avondale. There are also gala opening night screenings in Wellington (16 October) and Christchurch (11 October) and various themed programmes and samplers from the festival also play in Gisborne, Hamilton, Katikati, Napier, New Plymouth, Opotiki, Tauranga, Te Awamutu, Whangārei, Whitianga, Alexandra, Arrowtown, Dunedin, Invercargill, Nelson, Picton, Selwyn, Stewart Island, Tākaka, Thames, Kaiapoi, Rangiora and Invercargill. This will be followed by a three-day online Festival at Show Me Shorts On Demand during Labour Weekend.
