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Exode |
No doubt inspired by the wave of girl power stimulated by
Meryl Streep’s recent Oscar winner, the Worldwide Short Film Festival Official
Selection “Iron Ladies” offers plenty of femme-centric short films. The series has
much to offer in portraying the lives of girls and women (to steal a title from
Alice Munro) both in coming-of-age stories and retrospective reflections. “Iron
Ladies” opens with What a Young Girl Should Not Know (Canada, 5 min.), which is an
experimental film by Emily Pickering of York University. What intertwines live action and animation, with shots of a young
girl running playfully as myths of femininity are revealed in stitched title
cards. By using these sewn images, Pickering offers an impressive structuralist
approach of using images of “girliness” in order to deconstruct ideas of
femininity.
This seamless, fleeting, and freeing film nicely introduces
several themes that run throughout the series. Second in “Iron Ladies” is the
live-action drama Exode (Canada, 11 min.), directed by Nathaniël Siri. A delicate
choreography of love and loss, Exode
tells of a young dancer (Mylène Savoie) whose heart-ache from a damaged
relationship seeps into her rehearsals. Boasting the most impressive tech work
in “Iron Ladies”, Exode excels thanks
to beautiful cinematography by Jean-Philippe Bernier, intricate editing
and match-on-action by Siri (with Justin Lachance), and intriguing sound work by
Marc Gilbert. Set against an appropriately melancholy soundtrack, Exode should inspire fans of
contemporary dancing with how well art imitates life in this emotional story of one woman’s reluctance to change dance partners. If viewers
become morose with Exode, then “Iron Ladies” enlivens their spirits
with the upbeat animated ditty Little Plastic Figure (Germany, 5
min.). Directed by Samo-Sama, Little
Plastic Figure is a whimsical stop-motion story of a woman who is watched
over safely by her little plastic figure. The film is fun and playful, with the
quirky visuals nicely matched to the tempo of an eclectic little song. It’s
never too old to enjoy toys!
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Little Plastic Figure |
After the cheerful Little
Plastic Figure is the dark live-action drama Girl (Sweden, 15 min.). Coming to WSFF after playing at Sundance, this
film directed by Fijona Jonuzi shows what happens when one young woman named
Hanna (Vera Vitali) meets a boy at the store and takes up his offer to join a
party. Hanna finds herself the lone female amongst a quartet of horny boys, and
the night takes a series of turns with a mix of booze and coke. Girl might be too edgy and provocative
for some viewers, but the film employs recurring ellipses throughout and comes
to an abrupt ending that will likely leave most viewers anxiously wondering how
the party ends. Up next is the lone documentary in “Iron Ladies”, Unravel
(UK/India, 14 min.). Unravel takes
viewers to the industrial workings of Panipat, India, where women refashion the
discarded clothes of the western world. Director Meghna Gupta blends interviews
with observational footage to show the gaps between developed and developing
countries. As heaps of perfectly good threads are ripped up, unravelled, and
spun back into new material (which is then sold back to western consumers), the
film allows the women at the factories to use the clothes to explain how they
perceive western women. The testimonies frequently note frivolity and excess:
one woman speculates that westerners discard such good clothes because it is
less expensive to buy new clothes than it is to wash used ones. Eye-opening and
without condescension, Unravel is a
smart and entertaining tale on the West’s need to change habits in consumption
and waste.
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Big Mouth |
Making a pair of back-to-back World Premieres in “Iron
Ladies”, Unravel is followed by the
first appearance of Big Mouth (Canada, 8 min.). A fun animated coming-of-age story
by Andrea Dorfman, Big Mouth tells of
one little girl who is both blessed and cursed by her irregularly big mouth.
Ever since she first opened her mouth, Trudy always told the truth. Being a
child, though, Trudy doesn’t know that the truth can sometimes be hurtful;
nevertheless, her parents rejoice at having such an honest child. Trudy’s big
mouth gets the best of her, however, when she goes to school and some of the
other kids – and teachers – just can’t handle the truth. Offering a plucky
soundtrack and colourful animation, Big
Mouth is a joyful romp of one girl’s journey from being a playground
troublemaker to an eloquent iron lady. Last and certainly least of “Iron
Ladies” is the insufferable and self-consciously edgy Snow Canon (France, 33
min.). Offering a female protagonist who is more wilted lettuce than iron lady,
the film mostly shows young Vanina (Nilaya Bal) flouncing about her home in the
French Alps. Vanina plays with her rabbit. Vanina sits. Vanina spends half the
film texting. Vanina spends the other half pining over her babysitter (Nour
Mobarak). Flat, predictable, and with a slight dose of unnecessary animal
cruelty, Snow Canon is a bad wannabe
Catherine Breillat film. It’s a shame that “Iron Ladies” doesn’t end with Big Mouth.
“Iron Ladies” screens:
Isabel Bader Theatre, Wednesday, June 6 at 6:15 pm
Isabel Bader Theatre, Wednesday, June 6 at 6:15 pm
Isabel Bader Theatre, Saturday, June 9 at 3:00 pm.
Please visit www.shorterisbetter.com for tickets,
program/film info, and show times.
(And click here for updates & reviews of this year's Worldwide Short Film Festival.)
(And click here for updates & reviews of this year's Worldwide Short Film Festival.)
Want to see "Iron Ladies"? Well, you're in luck! We have 5 pairs of tickets up for grabs for the screening on Wednesday June 6 courtesy of WSFF and the Canadian Film Centre. To enter, please email pat@cinemablographer.com with the subject "Iron Ladies" and provide your name and email address. And in honour of The Iron Lady herself, please include the title of your favourite Meryl Streep performance. Contest closes Tuesday June 5 at 9 am. Bonus entries go out to anyone who shares this link on Twitter with the phrase "Win tickets to see ‘Iron Ladies’ at #wsff12 from @cinemablogrpher"