CIFF16

Quench

presents

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6 1 FF

AARDMAN

BOCQUELET

+ REVIEWS

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS EDITOR Eleanor Parkyn DESIGN Eleanor Parkyn WORDS BY Sadia Pineda Hameed Beau William Beakhouse Elis Doyle Sanya Budhiraja Eleanor Parkyn

We would like to thank everyone on the CIFF 2016 team for all their hard work putting together this years festival. Special thanks to Ally, AJ and Sonia for everything they did to help us produce this mag, and for being fabulous!

Editor’s Note For the third year in a row the Cardiff Independent Film Festival has provided us with an amazing collection of independent films from all around the world, hosted here in Cardiff at Chapter Arts Centre.

With an incredible 70 films being shown, we at Quench were lucky enough to attend the three day event to show you the best the festival had to offer. This year CIFF joined forces with Cardiff Animation Nights to form a more animation focussed event, with several showcases being screened over the weekend, as well as several special guests from the animation world, including Aardman co-founder Peter Lord. If you missed the event, we hope our reviews can give you an insight into the amazing films being produced around the world, and that you find something you’d love to watch!

La Lisiere is a film with potential. Following the tense life of Hawa, a girl surviving in a forest with her father, following some sort of apocalypse in the near future, the film is dark in colour and tone, with frequent gun fights and raids. Despite being a French film, the minimal dialogue makes it easy viewing for those who do not enjoy the distraction of subtitles. While the film has beautiful cinematography, the narrative would benefit from further development, so that we may feel more deeply for Hawa’s struggle.

La Grande Jeu is an unexpectedly humorous film, considering it involves two brothers who only meet once a year by their mother’s grave. The surprising outcome is what makes this short film, so shall not be revealed, however the film is definitely worth the watch, with an interesting, yet realistic, depiction of brotherly love.

En(Vie) depicts the life of a young woman called Nathalie in a manner reminiscent of Bridget Jones, except French and much less funny. The short film is almost entirely a fantasy

she has formed involving her and a romantic attachment to her neighbour. The sharp cuts can make this a little confusing at times, yet still makes for an interesting development of both plot and character. Oddly her only sexual fantasy appears to involve her dream man revealing that he is a virgin and asking her to stop kissing him as they lie in bed together, which was quite bizarre and out of place in the rest of the romance oriented film.

Perhaps something was just lost in translation.

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Cesium and a Tokyo Girl is the directional debut from Ryo Saitari, an utterly adorable 62 year old Japanese man who runs his own animation school. The film plays almost as a portfolio of his animation styles, mixed with the main live action feature. A bit of a trip to watch, the actual storyline often gets lost among the truly wild animations and unexpected musical numbers and dance routines. Arguably, however, the film has three plots. Initially it introduces protagonist Mimi in a typical smart but lonely child manner, reminiscent of the opening to films like Matilda or Amelie. She is a quirky girl who loses herself in books and learning, becoming the smartest by far amongst her peers. Yet this quickly switches to become a fantasy adventure, where she goes in search of her ill grandmothers missing pet bird.

Instead of searching for it herself, she enlists the help of seven very eccentric gods, each with a different look and ability. The gods are individually introduced with their own animated sequence, every one of which is done in a different style, making use of different materials and textures, yet retaining a strong sense of traditional Japanese depictions and animated styles. I must admit I am entirely unsure as to how it

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happened, but Mimi travels back in time to meet her grandmother as a young woman, during the Second World War. After a song and dance, and help from a female god inexplicably dressed as a fairly realistic polar bear, the bird returns to its cage and it appears as if the film has come to a satisfying end. Yet Saitani still has an important message to share regarding the many nuclear crises that have occurred in Japan over the years. Mimi and her god friends embark on their next adventure, measuring cesium spots in Tokyo. This section of the film is more informative than the fictional fantasy plotlines that made up the earlier sections.

Instead it becomes very political with a strong anti-nuclear message that resonates with the audience. Unlike many depictions of Japan, Cesium and a Tokyo Girl provides a sense of what Japan is truly like, rather than presenting it in a hyper, overly vibrant manner. Even if you cannot understand what is happening at all in this magical film, it is still an absolute delight to watch.

ELEANOR PARKYN

CESIUM AND A TOKYO GIRL

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KNOW YOUR FREEDOM Following three UAE sportswomen, filmmakers Ghalia Al Aqili and Supriya Srinivas give us access to their struggles as they prepare for various competitions. These struggles, however, are not limited to physicality and training.

Know Your Freedom is a documentary that examines the social and cultural barriers that women such the subjects of this film Amna Al Haddad (weightlifter), Nesreen Ali (skydiver) and Zahra Lari (figure skater) have to constantly break through to pursue their dreams.

Know Your Freedom is valuable in examining such barriers for Muslim women in the UAE in particular, as it is unlike many other Middle Eastern countries. A fast developing country, the UAE may only be about 45 years in the making however its progress towards modernity has been immense. Young women there have certain privileges such as high standards of education, freedom to go out with friends and access to all the latest designer brands.

However, these freedoms are superficial in relatively to the overbearing cultural barriers that unfortunately still pervade.

We see this reality become clear in the film, such as when Amna speaks about having to keep sight of her goals in the face of gender stereotypes, rejecting expectations for her to get a government job in favour of weightlifting in a male-dominated environment. Amna ‘knows her freedom’ to pursue her sporting dream, however the documentary quickly shows up the way in which she ends up having to ‘negotiate her freedom’, such as getting her father’s acceptance and finding weightlifting gyms that would accept women.

The documentary engagingly follows

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each sportswoman through the highs and lows of competing, interspersed with interviews from them, their coaches and their families. Whilst seeing the women in action is an exciting and integral part of the documentary, it often feels like the interviews do not push enough. There is discussion, however not enough questioning as to why certain gender expectations are still in place within this culture when it is acknowledged by many of the interviewees to be problematic. Director Supriya Srinivas expressed that the intentions were indeed to challenge, however many of the documentary subjects and participants would not want to speak out against such in-built cultural expectations publically. This is completely understandable; whilst it should not be considered outspoken, one interviewee in the film chose to have her identity hidden despite not saying anything particularly radical. Perhaps this fact exemplifies the difficulties that the filmmakers had in getting to the root of the issues.

That being said, Know Your Freedom is still a highly successful documentary. It not only gives insight into the obstacles facing ambitious young women in the UAE, but also has the power to affect the audience positively. The film is not supposed to make you feel appreciative for how privileged you are not having to face these particular issues; this powerful documentary, in actuality, inspires anyone with any types of barriers to break through them. As the imperative title commands, you must know your freedom in order to exercise it fully.

SADIA PINEDA HAMEED

AN EVENING n n i u WITH Joanna Q Words by Sadia Pineda Hameed

Joanna Quinn took us through her career as an animator, one iconic short at a time. The Emmy and Bafta winning animator’s sketchy and brash way of illustrating has become her defining style, featured in their rawest forms, such as the comedy shorts of Girls Night Out and Body Beautiful, at their surreal heights such as in Elles, based on the paintings of Toulouse-Lautrec, and at their most politically charged, as seen in the famous Britannia short. Even projects in which her style was adapted to fit briefs, such as in the Oscar nominated Famous Fred and her long-running ‘Charmin’ adverts, her style remains. Over the breadth of her work, Quinn is able to maintain her much loved artistic nuance no matter the film’s intention.

A great insight into her work was given, with back stories of some of her most beloved shorts told in a humorous and honest way as well as a full dissection of each of their production processes. Original illustrations and cells from films such as Britannia were shown, with frame by frame segments to take us through specific transitions. The fast paced Britannia, with its main character of a British bulldog mor-

phing into various forms such as Queen Elizabeth, was slowed right down for the audience as Quinn revealed many of the more complicated sequences were simply a matter of observing movement and choosing the most significant key frames.

The run-through of her significant works was then followed by a live animation demonstration to see the artist at work.

What was most inspirational about Quinn’s talk was hearing of how she found herself as an animator, developing a style in art school before then cultivating and experimenting with it alongside long-time collaborators that have been there from the start. She adapted with the technology, from frame-by-frame cell animation to digital, yet her approach, artistry and humour have always remained.

ANIMATION SHOWCASE

Kicking off the film festival this year was the animation showcase, screening a collection of short animated films entered in the category of best animation.

Apple, a cheerful artistic cartoon following the progress of the apple through history and fiction, involving Adam and Eve, Snow White and Steve Jobs, amongst others is shown first. A well thought out and beautifully drawn animation, suitable for all.

Next screened was Olilo, a wonderful animation dealing with social anxiety through visual symbolism. With delightful music and a well thought through use of colour to help depict the progression of feelings experienced by the introverted protagonist.

It is certainly worth a watch for those who struggle to let others into their lives.

A place I’ve Never Been was less

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of an animated narrative, more a collection of holiday like photographs rapidly displayed. The point was a little unclear, but seemed to make a statement about tourism and family life in big cities. Mostly, however, this film just hurt my eyes.

Another aesthetically pleasing animation comes from White Out, a South Korean shot film involving a man hunting a polar bear during a snow storm. It is a very sweet animation style, with excellent snow filled transitions between scenes, rather than the harsh cuts which can often be experienced in short animations.

The British entry in this showcase After the End is a clay-mation akin to a Wallace and Gromit style animation, yet far far more adult. The humour is often quintessentially British, but also incorporates many visual gags, and an abundance of dick jokes. After the world ends, ‘not with a bang, but with a wanker’, Rene, a pretentious philosopher and ‘the last man on Earth’ has finished a full history of the world and is ready to end it all. That is until Gordon, his polar opposite, arrives with Rene’s dream woman; Dolly the sex doll. Truly hilarious events ensue in this enjoyable comedic animation.

Mirage an American animation provides a particularly artistic and thought provoking exploration of memory. Director Yaya Xu makes use of colour to effectively create a bright, vibrant, world, contrasting greatly with the latter monochrome black and white sequence.

Evanescent is a visually stunning animation created here in South Wales; however its style could have easily emerged from major Japanese animation studios. It appears particularly similar to those produced

by Studio Ghibli, even down to the point of its narrative; a young girl growing up in a forest with a deerlike forest spirit. Initially the animation looks a little outdated, yet it develops into something wonderful, and it is a shame that it is only four minutes long.

Atmosphere, like Mirage, involves extraordinary amounts of vibrant colour, yet this more fast paced film follows spherical items, such as bowling balls and planets in an extremely vivid manner, with close ups and slow motion sequences for emphasis.

Islanders Rest was the longest animation submitted for the competition, at almost twenty minutes. Set in a seaside village, with a plot revolving around ships in bottles, it is different in style to the other entrants. Entirely in black and white, it does however mss our on some of the charm the other animations display with their colourful visions.

ELEANOR PARKYN

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ANIMATION SHOWCASE PART 2

First to enter the fray was Snowfall, a traditional 2-D animation that features some gorgeous visuals, which include some interesting movements where characters will flow into an almost liquefied state to their next position, or shots which illuminate only one section of the frame giving it a more punchy outline. As far as I could tell, the story depicts a man at a party who begins to fall for another man, the latter however moves onto a woman instead. This short went on to actually win the coveted prize for ‘Best Animation’, and rightfully so!

Portrait of a Wind Up Maker differs slightly in tone, the titular character of the short, an architect from Spain tells the audience of his woeful story. Residing somewhere in Britain after losing his livelihood, he now creates and maintains wind-up clockwork toys of animals for a living. Instead of 2-D this animation utilises CGI animation, grounding the style in a more realistic environment. This however does not detract from the visuals, watching each individual cog work inside the Wind-up toys is fascinating, and the facial movements of the main character are totally believable.

Fulfilament takes the cutesy character of a sentient light bulb, and shows it trying to find it’s way in the vastness of a human mind. The story is relatively heart-warming but extremely simplistic, although I suppose that’s the point. I really enjoyed this one however, the music was very soothing and the visuals made an interesting differential

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between drab backgrounds and colourful characters. This animated short is filmed entirely in a stop-motion style of animation, during the Q&A session Rhiannon Evans told us that the set for the short was the size of a medium sized room, which speaks volumes of the work put into it.

Pirouette takes us back to the roots of 2-D animation, there’s no real story to this short, more of an experiment between the visuals of a ballet dancer and her shadow in a hall of mirrors. The animation itself is very fluid and the movements of the dancer are incredibly succinct and accurate, which gives ‘weight’ and reality to the character. All in all, a very impressive, albeit short animation.

For OCD we once again, return to a traditional 2-D animation format. However as the story itself tackles a fairly serious mental condition which distorts our own realities, so the animation itself changes to lend credence to this. To make it brief, the style that Zoey Zhao goes for is more chaotic and frenzied than the other 2-D animations, lines distort and squiggle wildly. This is especially clear in conjunction with the penultimate scene, involving the main character on his way to a date, whereupon he accidentally steps on a crack (An act earlier shown as being a trigger to his OCD).

Manoman has convinced me that the director has some kind of inner demon begging to be unleashed. The story is one of letting your primal side be free every once in a while, but the consequences of this can be disastrous, like for instance, say your mini me starts running around town spreading mayhem. The animation style is puppetry in this short, which goes really well with the jerkiness of the characters, and some of the backgrounds on this one are extremely well crafted. I would

warn you however that this cartoon due to it’s content is quite lewd, and by that, I mean extremely lewd.

It does what it says on the tin, Death in Space is a compilation of the many deaths one could suffer in the vacuum of space. Clocking in at a measly one minute, its the shortest of the bunch, but quantity does not always equal quality, as in this case I was overwhelmed be the sheer amount of work that must’ve gone into this. It’s a traditional 2-D animation, but the movements are so fluid, the colours so vibrant and the sound design so crisp that I was blown away.

Not to mention, it’s bloody hilarious.

During the Q&A, Thomas Lucas told us that he worked on this short for a whole year. Just take that in for a moment, that means that each month on average would’ve only produced five seconds of the short. On top of that he was also working full-time and working on the short during his breaks, if that isn’t dedication to your art I don’t know what is, Kudos.

Elis Doyle

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BROKE Heath Davis’ Broke is a redemption story that begins in the aftermath of the downfall. The Australian film follow Ben Kelly, or ‘BK’ (Steve Le Marquand), a former Rugby League legend who had fallen to the temptations of drinking and gambling.

We first meet him in this state of drunkenness, homelessness and almost pennilessness; but when BK meets fans Cec (Max Cullen) and Terri (Claire van der Boom), he begins to pull himself back together.

The title Broke interestingly captures not only the situation of BK, but also the setting of Gladstone, Queensland, BK’s home town that has a distinctly broken atmosphere itself. The bars with their dodgy slot machines, the exploitative pawn shops and a population that seems ashamed of its former local hero all combine to create the difficult environment for which BK is supposed to recover in. Le Marquand seems to understand just how the character of BK’s sense of struggle inhabiting this setting, and gives an outstanding in this

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independent film that won him the Best Actor award at the Cardiff Independent Film Festival. Bearing in mind that the film had quite the low budget, Broke manages to achieve a poetic quality through such strong lead acting and the understated, beautiful cinematography from Chris Bland.

Whilst, by the end of the film, BK doesn’t achieve complete redemption, a sense of progress and betterment pervades this final scene. Broke ends with BK in a better place, and does so through nuanced and atmospheric filmmaking that Davis must be praised for. There may have been dangers for this story sliding into the extremes of being either a ‘false yet feel-good film’ or ‘depressingly gritty’; Davis avoids both of these, instead creating a touching film closer to neo-realism that is deserving of more screenings in the UK. Sadia Pineda Hameed

Q&A WITH PETER LORD (CO-FOUNDER OF AARDMAN)

Peter Lord, co-founder of Aardman animations, presented a collection of Aardman’s animated shorts and discussed the processes and challenges behind each project.

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had he not intervened in Parks project Known for their family favourite films he would still be working on it to this and shows, such as Wallace and Groday. For their next Wallace and Gromit mit, Shaun the Sheep and Chicken Run, related endeavour, ‘The Wrong Trousers’, Aardman have been creating for over a team of twelve was responsible for the forty years. You can tell the stop motion entire process, but this was very small in model based animations are beloved by comparison to their all, as the malater jump to over two jority of the auhundred employees for dience present “You can tell the stop their first feature film were adults, motion model based ani- ‘Chicken Run’, which who laugh the loudest during he pitched as ‘a prismations are beloved by oner of war film but the children all, as the majority aimed televiof the audience present with chickens’. Each of sion animation were adults , who laugh their film projects has taken around five years series Shaun the the loudest during the to complete, from the Sheep. These children aimed televiinitial idea to the finanimations are sion animation series ished project. Lord tells so much more Shaun the Sheep.” us that whilst people than children’s are under the impresfilms. Aardman sion that stop motion truly came to takes forever to make, it is in fact the be in 1985 when Wallace and Gromit creative process at the start, where scripts creator Nick Park was invited on board and storyboards are formed that takes to complete the famous duo’s original up the majority of the time. Instead, the adventure ‘A Grand Day Out’. Lord emstop-motion takes no longer than other phasises the importance of collaboration forms of animation, like CGI. in the world of animation, joking that

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Lord states that the biggest difficulty they have to face, especially in more recent years, is when their films are released. It is hard enough to have your family friendly films limited to school holiday release dates, but when up against competition from the likes of Disney and Pixar, who he refers to as ‘irresistible juggernauts’, it becomes a much bigger dilemma. Lord claims that audiences seem to be ‘programmed to enjoy whatever Pixar puts out’, and so it would be ‘absurd to go up against’ their new films. A second problem is raised by American audiences who do not take to the British voices and humour that make Aardman films. While this makes it very difficult to break through the American market, Aardman are determined to maintain this British charm, and it certainly seems to be paying off for European audiences. Lord then went on to deliver some advice for people looking to start up in animation. He claims that if producing a stopmotion animation, particularly where models are used, it is best to keep it slightly imperfect, as ‘the magic lies in the fact we can tell it is handmade’.

He believes that stop motion films that look too realistic do not do as well among audiences as they are less aware of the work that goes into it, and as it also loses much of the charm that comes with the obviously

hand crafted models. In terms of getting into animation as a career, Lord considers it to be a lot easier now in terms of opportunities in comparison to when he began his passion for animation, as the number of studios have increased enormously. Yet he does acknowledge that the bar is now a lot higher now in terms of the standard of animation required to get noticed by potential employers. However, with the vast amounts of technology available now to make the animation process easier, and with the ability to share work online, he does see many benefits to working in animation in more recent years. As with all careers in the filmmaking industry Lord emphasises how important personal contacts are, stating that ‘networking is key’.

-Eleanor Parkyn

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LOVE/ME/DO Unlike The Beatles song by the same name Martin Stitt’s Love/Me/Do does not evoke the breezy feel of summer rather, a heightened sense of tension as the audience follow these two unusual characters through a journey of love and crime. The psychological thriller revolves around the lives of a corporate psychopath and a narcissistic actor, who in a chase for the perfect life and each other’s approval end up committing some gruesome crimes throughout the film. The lack of consequences of these crimes on the story is quite surprising; however it does contribute to character development and helps drive the plot forward.

One can clearly see why the film was nominated for Best British Feature at Raindance 2015, as the actors as well as the cinematographer constantly did a remarkable task in bringing the atmosphere of claustrophobia from the screen to the theater as the audience constantly felt the tension grow as the story progressed. The entire film, shot in one London apartment, through camera work more than dialogue helps depict what the director must’ve only envisioned as the hamartia of characteristics predominantly present in our modern day society.

This film is a 90-minute intense experience for anyone interested in a realistic representation for some of the worst aspects of our constantly mediated, number driven society.

SANYA BUDHIRAJA

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David P. Sañudo’s short science fiction film Artificial begins with a conversation. It is a job interview offering a large sum if Xabier (Gorka Otxoa) agrees to be cloned for an undisclosed reason; however the film is a lot more intricate and darker that this initial premise.

Through the discussion between the characters and the events thereafter, the film subtly communicates a debate on the ethics, morals and practicalities when it comes to interfering with nature in this way.

Artificial is beautiful looking short from Spain, with the conversation in the first half of the film being particularly great.

In this section, it is clear that Sañudo understands how to build tension, with long takes that linger on only one half

of the conversation and dialogue that steadily heightens until eventually the controlling position switches between the two characters. A short film like Artificial is an example of how good science fiction is able to offer complexity through simplicity. Whilst some may find themselves attempting to keep up with their anticipation for the twist that inevitably comes, the direction of the film is always clear. With the story being solid for the science fiction genre, the filmmaking competent and the cinematography completely atmospheric, Sañudo’s short was thoroughly deserving of its Best Short Film accolade at the Cardiff Independent Film Festival.

SADIA PINEDA HAMEED

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While you certainly do not need any knowledge of football to watch Kicking Off, this film is perhaps better suited to those who prefer watching the match to watching the more avant garde films typically screened at indie festivals.

Starring Warren Brown and Greg McHugh (of Fresh Meat fame), as two football fans who take the loss of a match a bit too hard and end up kidnapping the referee. On first viewing, the films can be seen to be fairly humorous, with a promising plot line, especially when director Matt Wilde tries to be innovative with his style and absolutely demolishes the fourth wall, with both actors speaking directly to the audience at any point they need to offload their feelings, or explain something the plot has failed to do.

However, this coupled with a somewhat excessive use of split screens sometimes makes the film go a bit stylistically overboard. Furthermore, while

Brown’s character Wigsy appears to be the protagonist, he shares almost equal screen time with McHugh, who both regularly speak to the camera, making the focus of the film slightly harder to grasp, as it would have worked better to view the film from one well developed character’s perspective alone. While McHugh’s character is starkly different from his role as Howard, for which many will know him from, he does regain some sense of lovability as the somewhat stereotyped larger lower class sidekick to Wigsy’s scheme. The film has some redeeming qualities in the early performance Alistair Petrie, who played the referee, whose deadpan delivery of lines makes it actually humorous for once. However considering some of these actors’ previous roles, this film does seem a bit of a step down for them. The only female character present in Kicking Off is the ex-girlfriend of Wigsy, played by Danielle Bux, ex-wife of former footballer Gary Lineker.

KICKING OFF

Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, she is used solely as a plot device, only has one memorable line and the longest scene she features in occurs when she removes her top. So not exactly a film to see if you are looking for some female empowerment! While it showed promise to start, the film rapidly becomes more bizarre, unnecessary and borderline offensive.

However with some fairly impressive cameos from football fame, and its London setting, there was obviously some money backing this film, which can be seen in the quality of the footage itself.

Eleanor Parkyn

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Walking for forty five minutes to Chapter Arts Centre in the sweltering heat (By Cardiff ’s standards), in order to watch Ben Bocquelet present his master-class, was akin to crawling through the Saharan Desert towards a flowing Oasis.

Ben Bocquelet is a French animator who created The Amazing World of Gumball, a cartoon running on Cartoon Network that features a cavalcade of wild and interesting characters, that ranges from an anthropomorphic cat, a Tyrannosaurus Rex and a banana.

Now I’d never watched the show before, but I’m an aspiring animator myself and when I saw the opportunity to listen to an industry professional on the subject present itself, I couldn’t resist. From the get-go Bocquelet instils us with the tale of his journey from rags to riches, he reveals that initially he worked on commissions for advertising companies. In an odd twist of fate, or perhaps just pure laziness as he states, many of the crazy character designs he created for these advertisement companies went on to star in The Amazing World of Gumball!

From here on Bocquelet approached Cartoon Network with his idea of flipping the traditional American sitcom

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family cliché on it’s head. The main cast consists of Gumball and his mother Nicole (Anthropomorphic Cats), little sister Anais and father Richard (Anthropomorphic Rabbits), and Darwin, an adopted living goldfish with legs. With that kind of line-up, its fair to say that Bocquelet succeeded in his bizarre vision of a traditional American family. Not only is the setting bizarre, but Bocquelet incorporates a variety of differing animation techniques in the show, from traditional 2-D animation, to CGI, to stop-motion.

After the little history lesson, Bocquelet took us through the process of producing an episode. From storyboarding to the finished product, it was a phenomenal piece of knowledge that may have gone amiss on some of the younger attendants. Of course I could be wrong, many of the children there seemed to be more interested in the technical aspects of the show during the Q&A session towards the end (Even if one question was adorably phrased “Who’s your favourite animal?”).

I’m not sure if I should disclose anything in this regard, but towards the end of the talk, Bocquelet showcased an un-aired episode of the show just for us lowly mortals. It included a team-up with an animation studio from Japan Studio 4c, and the influence is very evident. Needless to say, it was an excellent piece of work as was the rest of the talk, and it was a pleasure to listen to Mr. Bocquelet run us through his own piece of magic.

Elis Doyle

NIMATION MASTE A RCL ET AS EL

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r o g e s Hos The plot surrounds a young boy stealing a bike, his sister, the well known owner of the bike, a member of his friendship group and a photographer, all of which link together in many different ways and are brought together more meaningfully by the photographer (played by Valois himself).

Originally shot for less than 1000 pounds, with Hossegor’s council funding an extra £4000 after seeing the film itself in order to complete it, Valois manages to convey his idea and maintain atmosphere and engagement throughout the film. It is a testament to the director, and to good filmmaking, that ideas come through even on a minimal budget, putting high budget unoriginal filmmaking to shame.

The splicing together of the characters’ stories is done in a unique

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Directed by Quentin Valois, Hossegor is set in the titular French town in south west France, and follows the intersection of five characters’ daily lives as they build towards a single event. The premise may seem a common one, but Valois’ film, taking inspiration from directors such as Michelangelo Antonioni (in particular Blow Up) and the stylistic aspects of French New Wave and Modernist Italian cinema, manages to make this a unique experience. Although the director himself had not seen the film, Slacker Richard Linklater’s first main film, (excluding It’s Impossible to learn to Plow by Reading Books), is a close tonal and thematic counterpart, with the youth of Hossegor living safe but uneventful and unfulfilling lives. way, dividing up the action into sections but interweaving each of their stories cohesively. As previously mentioned Antonioni’s Blow Up features both as a stylistic influence and as a plot point, being a character reference point for at least two of the main characters.

Whilst having these influences, Valois has his own voice, and there are moments in which this combines to become highly interesting filmmaking. It has something to say, and manages to say it despite financial and technical limitations and is a great first feature for the director.

In the future Valois hopes to work on new and bigger projects, and definitely has the potential to reach a much wider audience.

BEAU WILLIAM BEAKHOUSE

CIFF AWARDS BEST FEATURE HOSSEGOR BEST SHORT ARTIFICIAL BEST ANIMATION SNOWFALL BEST SCREENPLAY CESIUM AND A TOKYO GIRL BEST ACTOR STEVE LE MARQUAND- BROKE BEST ACTRESS REBECCA CALDER- LOVE/ME/DO

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