York mix Reviews
York film fest day one: ‘I only wish it had been longer’
Review: The Aesthetica Short Film Festival - Day 1: Thursday, November 8
The idea of covering the Aesthetica Short Film Festival or ASFF as it is known, came in the form of an email from Mr YorkMix Editor asking, “as a short film-maker are you interested in covering this festival for us?”
Of course I jumped at the chance, although calling myself a “short film-maker’ is in fact a gross misrepresentation of what I do. I make short visualisations to accompany my music compositions and have in fact been searching for a real film maker to make some stunning visual interpretations of my music, so who knows who I might meet at this festival?
Aesthetica (if you didn’t know) is an arts and culture magazine based here in York which was founded in 2002 by Cherie Federico and Dale Donley while they were both students at York St John. Aesthetica magazine’s content covers literature, music, film and theatre and has approximately 60,000 readers nationally and internationally.
Last year Cherie decided to start a film festival and so ASFF was born, which I have to say completely passed me by. I wasn’t out of the country last November, so god knows how I missed it.
I turned up at venue number 1, the Visit York tourist information centre on Blake Street (pictured right), to find two very friendly members of the Aesthetica staff handing me a ASFF tote bag with a copy of the magazine, a programme and my three-day wrist band pass. The girls told me they had been very busy meeting some of the film-makers and other visitors to the festival and everything was going well so far. I bid them farewell and said I’d see them at the festival launch.
So it was a quick dash home for food and a shower before arriving at the City Screen (Venue 2) for the 7pm festival opening. I arrived bang on time to find the place heaving; it seemed that everyone was there for the launch. There was a real buzz about the place with free wine and nibbles and a chap in the corner playing the theme music to Film 2012 on a piano.
Here I explained to Helena Culliney (Aesthetica’s marketing officer) I’d be writing about the event in the style of a blog similar to what I’d done at Edinburgh Fringe Festival when I wrote about the 36 shows I watched in five and a half days. She said I was mad and pointed out that I had 200 film to go at.
I said I would do my best.
As we all trouped into one of the cinemas, I bumped into Julian (no relation) Cole from the Press and as we got to our seats we found a goodie bag with magazines, a KitKat, a CD by someone called Vanessa Simmons, a beer mat, soap and other bits and pieces. The room was packed and then the speeches started first by Cherie Federico, then a local councillor (why?) and then a chap called Stuart from York St John the main sponsor of the festival. Stuart did say he’d be really brief (but he wasn’t) anyway after about 15 minutes we settled down to watch a sample of films.
The first of which was Perfect by Anya Camilleri (2005 – Thriller Screening 4). Filmed in 2001 it stars Steven Moyer of True Blood fame and was described in the ASFF programme as: “A redundant estate agent takes revenge on the world.” I found this 14-minute film well-acted and interesting but not thrilling and missing something that I couldn’t put my finger on.
Ian’s rating: ★★
Perfect was followed by Dylan’s Room by Layke Anderson(2012 – Drama Screening 3) which was a different kettle of fish altogether. Here is a very poignant and moving 20-minute film about a mother finding solace in her son’s deserted bedroom, it was brilliant and very well crafted and I will look out for other work by Layke Anderson.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
The third film was a documentary called The Sugar Bowl(2012 – Documentary Screening 5) which was a fascinating 20 minute tail of the rise and fall of a Philippine island’s sugar cane industry. It had some fantastic interviews and was beautifully filmed, I only wish it had been longer.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★★
This was followed by Long Distance Information by Douglas Hart (2011 – Drama Screening 8) a very short but very funny seven-minute film starring Peter Mullan (Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, Riff-Raff and Tyrannosaur) which should be in the comedy section and is a must-see. If I say anymore I may give the twist away.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
Lastly we were treated to Photoshopping by Mark Davenport (2011 – Comedy Screening 1) a darkly comic tale about a celebrity photograph hunter who is obsessed with breaking the world record for the number of celebrities she has had her photograph taken with. This 15 minute film is a delight and very much worth seeing.
Ian’s rating: ★★★
After the films we were invited to an after show party down in the Basement Bar of the City Screen which had a DJ and plenty of fun. I only stayed for one drink before heading home to plan Friday’s viewing.
York film fest day two: Children behaving badly
Review: The Aesthetica Short Film Festival - Day 2: Friday, November 9
I was having trouble deciding which session to go to. I had until 12pm when I had arranged to attend one of the master classes. My choices for 10am were art 1, documentary 1, drama 1, experimental 5 or music video and after looking through the ASFF programme for the 20th time I still couldn’t decide, so I decided to choose the session based on venue.
One of the things I’m trying to do is attend at least one session of every genre and visit every venue at least once. So this morning’s choice was the Guildhall and drama 1. I’d never been there and it was a surprise to find that the films were being shown in the council chamber, full of pomp and oak panelling. Signage to the room was excellent and as I arrived the titles of the first film were just starting so I took my rather uncomfortable seat in the gallery.
The first film was Sunny Boy (2011) by Jane Gull which told the story of Danny who has to live in a world of darkness because of a rare skin condition that makes him sensitive to sunlight. All Danny wants to do is play football in the sunshine and all his father wants to do is protect him.
This fantastic film was spoilt somewhat by about 30 school children stomping into the council chamber half way through. I’m all for encouraging children to see the arts but this was an issue that reared its ugly head throughout the day with school and college children behaving badly or leaving at the most inappropriate times. These films are short why can’t people wait until the end of one film to leave?
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
Next up was Dan Smyth’s Every Good Boy Does Fine (2011) a tale about a reclusive young man who is on the dole but secretly makes violins while fighting with his drunken father. Again this film was very engaging and it amazes me how quickly I cared about the violin maker. In fact all of this first batch of films were very strong.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
The weakest seem to be La Hegira (2011) a love story where Mohammed leaves his village and his girl to become an illegal immigrant in Spain with his father but maybe this was because it had to followed another illegal immigrant film The Roar Of The Sea (2010) which was so brilliant and moving that I had tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat.
Ian’s rating: ★★★
The other film in this batch, Hush (2012), was also really good, but nothing could touch The Roar Of The Sea. I was starting to think that if all of the films in the festival were of this quality I might start sounding like a broken record and “everything is brilliant” would become my mantra.
Ian’s rating: ★★★
After leaving the Guildhall I had 30 minutes to wait at the Theatre Royal before my first master class of the day with Barry Ryan, the head of production at Warp Films so I sat in the café and had a cup of tea. When I took my seat in the stalls I was dismayed to be surrounded by college students and more school children who were very noisy and kept shouting to each other before the start. Barry had the look of an Apple computer executive with his tee-shirt under a shirt and blue jeans, while holding on to a cardboard Costa coffee cup for the hour and a half of his talk but never actually drinking from it.
He gave us a lot of insight about how Warp films works and even gave tips on how to be cool which is “don’t try”. The only problem was the noisy children/students who chatted through the Q&A section although asking them to shush didn’t seem to work.
I had a couple of hours before my next master class so I thought I’d go and explore the little cinema upstairs in White Stuff which was showing music videos on a loop. The cinema seats 12 and as soon as I arrived I was offered a tea or coffee, so I settled for another cup of tea and again seemed to be surrounded by a class of school children. At least they had their teacher with them this time.
I had time to watch nine videos and was slightly disappointed with the music on offer but the visuals were generally stunning. There was only one exceptional song and video and that was Come On for the band Preachers Son with visuals by Vittoria Colonna.
Ian’s rating: Volt by Paul Mumford ★★★★★
Come on by Vittoria Colonna ★★★★★
Road to Recovery ★★
Paul Weller: Dragon Fly ★★★ for visuals ★ for the song
Jamel Defto by Krzystof Skonieczuny ★★★★
Robin Foster:Forgiveness by Peter King & David Proctor ★★★★
Let it Go by Ashley Dean ★★★
!Oye! When I’m Small (remix) by Alex Browning ★★
Black Black Hills: The Celebration ★★
My next master class was at 3pm at York St John University called Art On Film with Ed Atkins and Patrick Ward, which was meant to “explore video art and the boundaries between contemporary practice and traditional filmmaking” – but it failed on so many levels.
The session was chaired by Sam Lackey from the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield. We were told that we would get to see a film not shown before from Atkins & Ward and then have a discussion about contemporary video practice.
Now I am a lover of experimental art but this film Defining Holes had no narrative or story just a load of random images with bits of music seemingly thrown together. In fact I don’t think the film makers understand their own film because they couldn’t explain to us what it was about, which was what I was expecting from the rather laboured conversation that ensued.
I have to say I spent most of the hour bored hoping a well-defined hole would swallow me up.
Ian’s rating: ★
So it was a pleasure to escape to Ravi Amaratunga’s session (Channel 4) on the media revolution. Ravi was engaging, informative and showed us lots of interesting short form video work. He overran a little but that didn’t matter because we were all so engrossed in what he was telling us.
I’d decided that the last thing I was going to see today was the special screening of BAFTA-nominated films at the Yorkshire Museum so it was off for a quick bite to eat before the 7pm start time. The large auditorium at YM has a fantastically large screen which was useful but I felt the sound system let a couple of the films down as the bass seemed quite boomy and distracting.
The first film we were treated to was Abuelas (2011), a brilliant documentary about how from 1976 to 1983 Argentina’s military dictatorship kidnapped thousands of young men and woman. An estimated 30,000 people were murdered during that time. Children born to imprisoned dissidents were often stolen by their captors and registered as other people’s children.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★★
The second offering was Bobby Yeah by Robert Morgan, a deeply distasteful nightmare world, very much in the David Lynch Eraserhead territory but lacking any finesse. As more gruesome monsters morphed into more disgusting things, I felt it was trying to be shocking for the sake of it. It is brilliantly animated though if too long by a good ten minutes.
Ian’s rating: ★★
"Lacking any finesse" – Bobby YeahAs for the rest, A Morning Stroll by Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe (2011) is an entertaining witty animation that starts in 1959 and ends up in 2059.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
Chalk is a fascinating look at children’s gymnastics that has some superb routine performed by the cast.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
Mwansa The Great (2011) is a lovely film from Zambia about Mwansa and his sisters and their search for some magic mud.
Only Sound Remains (2010) didn’t quite work for me as I wasn’t engaged in the characters.
Ian’s rating: ★★
But Pitch Black Heist (2011) with Liam Cunningham and Michael Fassbender as two professional safe crackers was a delight.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
The last film of the evening was Two And Two (2011), an Orwellian school classroom where 2+2=5 with disastrous results.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
This was the end of a tiring but exhilarating day with only a few minor hiccups. The only irritating thing is I’m going to have to sleep with my black plastic festival pass around my wrist until Sunday night.
York film fest day 3: the unwatchable and unmissable
Review: The Aesthetica Short Film Festival - Day 3: Saturday, November 10
Today’s trawl through the ASFF films on show started at the top of Micklegate, at Bar Lane Studios, and what I hoped would be something from the art section. I arrived just after 11am with an hour to fill before animation screening 3 was due to start in the Bar Lane basement at 12pm.
I was disappointed to find that the art films were being shown on TV’s with headphones in the main Bar Lane gallery area (pictured below right). It was very busy and noisy but I managed to sit in an armchair in front of a TV and plopped the headphones on my head.
I’m not sure what the film I was watching was called, it might had been The Future Of Art In A Post Digital Age as that was on a card on top of the telly. But it became obvious after about five minutes that this was unwatchable, not because the film was bad but because with the sun streaming in the gallery space, the reflections from the sun were so bright it made it almost impossible to see anything.
I hung on in there for another few minutes before giving up and as all of the other TVs were taken I decided to pop over the road into the Micklegate Bar Museum and see what was on offer there.
The room in the museum that the films were being delivered in was up two flights of steep stairs but this was a lovely place to show film, surrounded by artefacts and suits of armour. One was about to start as I arrived so I settled down on the back row of the wooden benches that all had jolly Union Jack cushions on, only to notice that the film that had just started was the superb The Sugar Bowl that I’d seen on the opening night.
Knowing that the film was 20 minutes long I decided not to watch it again but to go back to Bar Lane Studios in the hope of grabbling a seat to watch some of the art films. On my return I looked for a TV that was in a shaded part of the gallery and out of the sun, I managed to sit in front of a telly that was showing “artists screening 2” films and I caught the last five minutes of Samuel Dowd’s Bare Breathwhich looked stunning and I made a note to see all of the full 20 minutes as soon as I could.
The audio and music track was spoilt by the general noise of the Bar Lane café with people talking and in particularly the bloody radio blaring out pop music.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
The next film was Pieter Greenen’s Nocturne #2 (2012) a film using long images that were filmed on mobile phones where nothing seems to happening, I couldn’t tell if there was a audio track because of the noise but the more I watched this film the more I got engrossed and if showed in a correct and sympathetic venue (which clearly Bar Lane is not) this film could be fantastic.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
It was now time to head down to the Bar Lane basement for animation screening 3. This was a large room that was nice and dark although the first chair I sat in on the back row had almost no view of the screen, so I moved to an aisle seat that I could move the chair once the films started. There was the obligatory group of irritating teenager girls in front of me chatting through the first film until I told them to be quiet, they thankfully left after the third film.
Here is a brief one line review of each of the eight films shown:
Thora (2011) – a delightful, three-minute about Thora and her protector, the beast Soloman Score
Ian’s rating: ★★★
999.999.999 (2011) – futuristic clap trap that I didn’t understand
Ian’s rating: ★★
Life And Stuff (2011) – Kumar Satkunarasa’s brilliant take on life from birth to death in under 5 minutes, amazing
Ian’s rating: ★★★★★
Shattered Past (2011) – a man reliving his past as he suffers a stroke, sorry I was bored
Ian’s rating: ★★
Bertie Crisp (2011) is my new super hero, I love him and want to see him replacing Family Guy
Ian’s rating: ★★★★★
Brave New Old (2012) – it didn’t make any sense to me and I was glad when it was over
Ian’s rating: ★
Above As Below (2011) – very short, makes its point perfectly and is incredibly sad
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
The Guest (2010) – a lovely little Danish film that is very witty
Ian’s rating: ★★★
After crawling into the light from Bar Lane’s basement, it was time for lunch and as my youngest son and his girlfriend are in York for the weekend we met up at Plunkets where the food was as good as ever, even if the service post main course was very slow.
I then went to Barley Hall for documentary screening 1. Now Barley Hall is a wonderful room but not for showing film. No concession had been made to the layout of the room to watch these films. I managed to watch Heilig (2011) as the subtitles were minimal, this is a fantastic true story about a Jewish refugee and his parents.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
But when it came to watch the next film Architecture Alive, I have no idea what was said because no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t see the subtitles, so not wanting to leave mid-film I waited until the end and moved on
Unable to score
My next venue was the City Screen basement, for thriller screening 2 where I had a fantastic view of the screen and everything was perfect (well almost – a silly girl with shopping bags that everyone tripped over while she seemed unwilling to move them). Here again is the brief one line reviews of each of the 5 films shown.
Augenblicke (2011)– a German film that was brilliantly shot and had real threat
Ian’s rating: ★★★
Dystopia St (2011) – I’ll never get those ten minutes and 40 seconds back
Ian’s rating: ★
Hostage (2011) – well done but seen it all before
Ian’s rating: ★
Welcome To Leathermill (2011) – superb! This reminded me of Hammer house of Horror and the Wicker Man with a twist
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
La Reverberacion (2012) Not really a thriller just a weird film that sort of goes off the rails after six minutes
Ian’s rating: ★★
My last screening of the day was in the Mansion House which is a fantastic place to show film. The room was packed, large with a big screen and good sound system and I was hoping to watch as many of the films in drama screening 9 as time would allow.
In the end I only managed the first one, Low (2009) by Michelle Fox, which was a contemporary film about a brief connection between two cancer patients which was very poignant.
Ian’s rating: ★★★
This was because I needed to leave to go to see Alexie Sayle perform at The Shed in Hovingham, but fear not dear reader I’ve decided that tomorrow, the last day of the festival, will be all comedy, experimental, Yorkshire Film Archive and another attempt to see the art films in a better location.
York film fest day 4: thrills and spills in the dark
Review: The Aesthetica Short Film Festival - Day 4: Sunday, November 11
On Sunday I got off to a leisurely start with homemade croissants and orange juice before a quick motorcycle ride into the city. My goal today was to visit the rest of the venues and cover the genres not already seen, so some experimental and comedy films were required.
I wanted to see the Yorkshire Film Archive and I also felt that I hadn’t seen enough art film so was planning a trip to St Mary’s Church late afternoon. I was of course late arriving at St William’s College for experimental screening 4, missing Khalil The Great (2011) but catching just about all of Home by Matthew Kennedy from the University of York.Described as “a journey through the subconscious from the perspective of an immigrant”, in this case a Chinese girl, this is a delicate, beautiful film that reminded me of a trip to Hong Kong a few years ago with the sights and sounds of China. Matthew also made very good use of soundscape music.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
The next film was Spare (2011), a filmic interpretation of Vincent van Gogh’s A Wheatfield, with Cypresses – and having seen the painting I don’t see the connection.
Ian’s rating: ★★★
The next showing was a batch of films under the What On Earth banner, billed as a “series looking at the state of species and pressures on our planet”. Here are my one line reviews.
Landfill – a film about, errm, landfill
Ian’s rating: ★★★
Missed the title of this film but I have no idea what it was about except it had an interesting male-sung folk song
Ian’s rating: ★★
Clockwork – had a lot of animated clockwork silhouette rabbits hopping all over the screen
Ian’s rating: ★★
Commonwealth – a very uninteresting film about guess what!
Ian’s rating: ★★
Out of the Blue: photos of the sky with a few aeroplane trails, luckily it was short
Ian’s rating: ★
Einstein And The Honey Bee – what a joy this film is, it’s funny with fantastic animation and you’ll even learn something new
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
The next film as per the programme was L’Invitation Au Voyage (2011), a very strange Australian film and the only one that could be called experimental.
Ian’s rating: ★★
That left us with the last film in this screening, The Strategy of Madam Breto (2012), a brilliantly funny documentary from Spain about how an old lady catches and kills rats
Ian’s rating: ★★★★★
I now had time for some lunch and a visit to Barnitts (to check out kitchen stools – don’t ask!!) before comedy screening 3 at the festival hub 1331. I was still very early so I sat in the bar and had a drink.
Fifteen minutes before the start of the showing I decided to go in, only to be told that it was full to capacity, so for the first time I played the journalist card and asked them to save be a seat at the last comedy show of the festival at 3.30pm.
I decided to go and see if I could see some of the artist films in a better location, in this case St Mary’s Church. As I arrived I noticed that artist screening 2 was showing and I was again watching the end of Bare Breath and Nocturne #2 (see day 2 review).
Although not without its problems, because dark passages of film were difficult to see because the church space is so light, this was a far better location to watch film than the gallery space at Bar Lane.
After enjoying Nocturne #2 again, and making a note to contact the film maker as it has no sound and I’d like to have the opportunity to score it, I watched Doran (2012), which has some interesting film of rural Ireland but has a terrible voice over which made no sense to me.
Ian’s rating: ★
The last film of this screening was Emerald City (2012), a truly experimental film with fantastic soundscape music. It suffered from being very dark and difficult to see in St Mary’s. It also need a better audio system then the mono speaker that was provided.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
Score 4/5.
Next on my list was to watch the Yorkshire Film Archive at York Explore Library (why does the library have to have explore in its name?). I arrived to find the place stinking of burnt food (that’s what happens when you stick a trendy stupid café in a reading library).
Seasons is four Yorkshire shorts, using archive film footage from around the region and has been watch by over 80,000 people. I loved all four films, the only gripe I have is that apart from winter all of the music is really inappropriate.
Spring had dance music with voice over that made it sound like The Avalanches
Ian’s rating: ★★★
Summer used a weird glockenspiel pop soundtrack
Ian’s rating: ★★★
Autumn – suddenly turned into trip hop that would make Tricky turn over in his grave (if he were dead)
Ian’s rating: ★★★
Winter – a perfectly appropriate music score
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
I left the still burnt food smelling “Explore” library and dashed back to 1331 for comedy screening 4 only to find that the films has started early. The ASFF staff had very kindly kept me a seat at the back of the small auditorium, but it was so dark that I couldn’t see my way. As there were people seated in the aisles and on every spare bit of floor, I kept tripping and standing on people as I made my way to the seat.
At this point I have to say I felt rather embarrassed and it does beg the question as to why one of the most popular genres of film was in such a small room. 1331’s small (but perfectly formed) cinema has very comfortable leather armchair seating for about 20 but this place was packed out with at least double that. Next year ASFF put comedy in the Mansion House or the Yorkshire Museum please.
Anyway here are my one line reviews of comedy screening 4:
Just Desserts (2012) – I can’t score as I was busy walking over people to get to my seat
Your Health Ltd (2011) – a very funny Swedish film, spoilt a little by the last ten seconds
Ian’s rating: ★★★
Beast (2011) – flawed but mildly funny black comedy
Ian’s rating: ★★★
For Elsie (2012) – not really a comedy but very good anyway
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
Happy Birthday Jim (2011) – a well-executed but seen it all before idea
Ian’s rating: ★★
I was planning to head home but the following tweet had me heading for the City Screen
Review: The Aesthetica Short Film Festival - Day 1: Thursday, November 8
The idea of covering the Aesthetica Short Film Festival or ASFF as it is known, came in the form of an email from Mr YorkMix Editor asking, “as a short film-maker are you interested in covering this festival for us?”
Of course I jumped at the chance, although calling myself a “short film-maker’ is in fact a gross misrepresentation of what I do. I make short visualisations to accompany my music compositions and have in fact been searching for a real film maker to make some stunning visual interpretations of my music, so who knows who I might meet at this festival?
Aesthetica (if you didn’t know) is an arts and culture magazine based here in York which was founded in 2002 by Cherie Federico and Dale Donley while they were both students at York St John. Aesthetica magazine’s content covers literature, music, film and theatre and has approximately 60,000 readers nationally and internationally.
Last year Cherie decided to start a film festival and so ASFF was born, which I have to say completely passed me by. I wasn’t out of the country last November, so god knows how I missed it.
I turned up at venue number 1, the Visit York tourist information centre on Blake Street (pictured right), to find two very friendly members of the Aesthetica staff handing me a ASFF tote bag with a copy of the magazine, a programme and my three-day wrist band pass. The girls told me they had been very busy meeting some of the film-makers and other visitors to the festival and everything was going well so far. I bid them farewell and said I’d see them at the festival launch.
So it was a quick dash home for food and a shower before arriving at the City Screen (Venue 2) for the 7pm festival opening. I arrived bang on time to find the place heaving; it seemed that everyone was there for the launch. There was a real buzz about the place with free wine and nibbles and a chap in the corner playing the theme music to Film 2012 on a piano.
Here I explained to Helena Culliney (Aesthetica’s marketing officer) I’d be writing about the event in the style of a blog similar to what I’d done at Edinburgh Fringe Festival when I wrote about the 36 shows I watched in five and a half days. She said I was mad and pointed out that I had 200 film to go at.
I said I would do my best.
As we all trouped into one of the cinemas, I bumped into Julian (no relation) Cole from the Press and as we got to our seats we found a goodie bag with magazines, a KitKat, a CD by someone called Vanessa Simmons, a beer mat, soap and other bits and pieces. The room was packed and then the speeches started first by Cherie Federico, then a local councillor (why?) and then a chap called Stuart from York St John the main sponsor of the festival. Stuart did say he’d be really brief (but he wasn’t) anyway after about 15 minutes we settled down to watch a sample of films.
The first of which was Perfect by Anya Camilleri (2005 – Thriller Screening 4). Filmed in 2001 it stars Steven Moyer of True Blood fame and was described in the ASFF programme as: “A redundant estate agent takes revenge on the world.” I found this 14-minute film well-acted and interesting but not thrilling and missing something that I couldn’t put my finger on.
Ian’s rating: ★★
Perfect was followed by Dylan’s Room by Layke Anderson(2012 – Drama Screening 3) which was a different kettle of fish altogether. Here is a very poignant and moving 20-minute film about a mother finding solace in her son’s deserted bedroom, it was brilliant and very well crafted and I will look out for other work by Layke Anderson.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
The third film was a documentary called The Sugar Bowl(2012 – Documentary Screening 5) which was a fascinating 20 minute tail of the rise and fall of a Philippine island’s sugar cane industry. It had some fantastic interviews and was beautifully filmed, I only wish it had been longer.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★★
This was followed by Long Distance Information by Douglas Hart (2011 – Drama Screening 8) a very short but very funny seven-minute film starring Peter Mullan (Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, Riff-Raff and Tyrannosaur) which should be in the comedy section and is a must-see. If I say anymore I may give the twist away.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
Lastly we were treated to Photoshopping by Mark Davenport (2011 – Comedy Screening 1) a darkly comic tale about a celebrity photograph hunter who is obsessed with breaking the world record for the number of celebrities she has had her photograph taken with. This 15 minute film is a delight and very much worth seeing.
Ian’s rating: ★★★
After the films we were invited to an after show party down in the Basement Bar of the City Screen which had a DJ and plenty of fun. I only stayed for one drink before heading home to plan Friday’s viewing.
York film fest day two: Children behaving badly
Review: The Aesthetica Short Film Festival - Day 2: Friday, November 9
I was having trouble deciding which session to go to. I had until 12pm when I had arranged to attend one of the master classes. My choices for 10am were art 1, documentary 1, drama 1, experimental 5 or music video and after looking through the ASFF programme for the 20th time I still couldn’t decide, so I decided to choose the session based on venue.
One of the things I’m trying to do is attend at least one session of every genre and visit every venue at least once. So this morning’s choice was the Guildhall and drama 1. I’d never been there and it was a surprise to find that the films were being shown in the council chamber, full of pomp and oak panelling. Signage to the room was excellent and as I arrived the titles of the first film were just starting so I took my rather uncomfortable seat in the gallery.
The first film was Sunny Boy (2011) by Jane Gull which told the story of Danny who has to live in a world of darkness because of a rare skin condition that makes him sensitive to sunlight. All Danny wants to do is play football in the sunshine and all his father wants to do is protect him.
This fantastic film was spoilt somewhat by about 30 school children stomping into the council chamber half way through. I’m all for encouraging children to see the arts but this was an issue that reared its ugly head throughout the day with school and college children behaving badly or leaving at the most inappropriate times. These films are short why can’t people wait until the end of one film to leave?
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
Next up was Dan Smyth’s Every Good Boy Does Fine (2011) a tale about a reclusive young man who is on the dole but secretly makes violins while fighting with his drunken father. Again this film was very engaging and it amazes me how quickly I cared about the violin maker. In fact all of this first batch of films were very strong.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
The weakest seem to be La Hegira (2011) a love story where Mohammed leaves his village and his girl to become an illegal immigrant in Spain with his father but maybe this was because it had to followed another illegal immigrant film The Roar Of The Sea (2010) which was so brilliant and moving that I had tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat.
Ian’s rating: ★★★
The other film in this batch, Hush (2012), was also really good, but nothing could touch The Roar Of The Sea. I was starting to think that if all of the films in the festival were of this quality I might start sounding like a broken record and “everything is brilliant” would become my mantra.
Ian’s rating: ★★★
After leaving the Guildhall I had 30 minutes to wait at the Theatre Royal before my first master class of the day with Barry Ryan, the head of production at Warp Films so I sat in the café and had a cup of tea. When I took my seat in the stalls I was dismayed to be surrounded by college students and more school children who were very noisy and kept shouting to each other before the start. Barry had the look of an Apple computer executive with his tee-shirt under a shirt and blue jeans, while holding on to a cardboard Costa coffee cup for the hour and a half of his talk but never actually drinking from it.
He gave us a lot of insight about how Warp films works and even gave tips on how to be cool which is “don’t try”. The only problem was the noisy children/students who chatted through the Q&A section although asking them to shush didn’t seem to work.
I had a couple of hours before my next master class so I thought I’d go and explore the little cinema upstairs in White Stuff which was showing music videos on a loop. The cinema seats 12 and as soon as I arrived I was offered a tea or coffee, so I settled for another cup of tea and again seemed to be surrounded by a class of school children. At least they had their teacher with them this time.
I had time to watch nine videos and was slightly disappointed with the music on offer but the visuals were generally stunning. There was only one exceptional song and video and that was Come On for the band Preachers Son with visuals by Vittoria Colonna.
Ian’s rating: Volt by Paul Mumford ★★★★★
Come on by Vittoria Colonna ★★★★★
Road to Recovery ★★
Paul Weller: Dragon Fly ★★★ for visuals ★ for the song
Jamel Defto by Krzystof Skonieczuny ★★★★
Robin Foster:Forgiveness by Peter King & David Proctor ★★★★
Let it Go by Ashley Dean ★★★
!Oye! When I’m Small (remix) by Alex Browning ★★
Black Black Hills: The Celebration ★★
My next master class was at 3pm at York St John University called Art On Film with Ed Atkins and Patrick Ward, which was meant to “explore video art and the boundaries between contemporary practice and traditional filmmaking” – but it failed on so many levels.
The session was chaired by Sam Lackey from the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield. We were told that we would get to see a film not shown before from Atkins & Ward and then have a discussion about contemporary video practice.
Now I am a lover of experimental art but this film Defining Holes had no narrative or story just a load of random images with bits of music seemingly thrown together. In fact I don’t think the film makers understand their own film because they couldn’t explain to us what it was about, which was what I was expecting from the rather laboured conversation that ensued.
I have to say I spent most of the hour bored hoping a well-defined hole would swallow me up.
Ian’s rating: ★
So it was a pleasure to escape to Ravi Amaratunga’s session (Channel 4) on the media revolution. Ravi was engaging, informative and showed us lots of interesting short form video work. He overran a little but that didn’t matter because we were all so engrossed in what he was telling us.
I’d decided that the last thing I was going to see today was the special screening of BAFTA-nominated films at the Yorkshire Museum so it was off for a quick bite to eat before the 7pm start time. The large auditorium at YM has a fantastically large screen which was useful but I felt the sound system let a couple of the films down as the bass seemed quite boomy and distracting.
The first film we were treated to was Abuelas (2011), a brilliant documentary about how from 1976 to 1983 Argentina’s military dictatorship kidnapped thousands of young men and woman. An estimated 30,000 people were murdered during that time. Children born to imprisoned dissidents were often stolen by their captors and registered as other people’s children.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★★
The second offering was Bobby Yeah by Robert Morgan, a deeply distasteful nightmare world, very much in the David Lynch Eraserhead territory but lacking any finesse. As more gruesome monsters morphed into more disgusting things, I felt it was trying to be shocking for the sake of it. It is brilliantly animated though if too long by a good ten minutes.
Ian’s rating: ★★
"Lacking any finesse" – Bobby YeahAs for the rest, A Morning Stroll by Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe (2011) is an entertaining witty animation that starts in 1959 and ends up in 2059.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
Chalk is a fascinating look at children’s gymnastics that has some superb routine performed by the cast.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
Mwansa The Great (2011) is a lovely film from Zambia about Mwansa and his sisters and their search for some magic mud.
Only Sound Remains (2010) didn’t quite work for me as I wasn’t engaged in the characters.
Ian’s rating: ★★
But Pitch Black Heist (2011) with Liam Cunningham and Michael Fassbender as two professional safe crackers was a delight.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
The last film of the evening was Two And Two (2011), an Orwellian school classroom where 2+2=5 with disastrous results.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
This was the end of a tiring but exhilarating day with only a few minor hiccups. The only irritating thing is I’m going to have to sleep with my black plastic festival pass around my wrist until Sunday night.
York film fest day 3: the unwatchable and unmissable
Review: The Aesthetica Short Film Festival - Day 3: Saturday, November 10
Today’s trawl through the ASFF films on show started at the top of Micklegate, at Bar Lane Studios, and what I hoped would be something from the art section. I arrived just after 11am with an hour to fill before animation screening 3 was due to start in the Bar Lane basement at 12pm.
I was disappointed to find that the art films were being shown on TV’s with headphones in the main Bar Lane gallery area (pictured below right). It was very busy and noisy but I managed to sit in an armchair in front of a TV and plopped the headphones on my head.
I’m not sure what the film I was watching was called, it might had been The Future Of Art In A Post Digital Age as that was on a card on top of the telly. But it became obvious after about five minutes that this was unwatchable, not because the film was bad but because with the sun streaming in the gallery space, the reflections from the sun were so bright it made it almost impossible to see anything.
I hung on in there for another few minutes before giving up and as all of the other TVs were taken I decided to pop over the road into the Micklegate Bar Museum and see what was on offer there.
The room in the museum that the films were being delivered in was up two flights of steep stairs but this was a lovely place to show film, surrounded by artefacts and suits of armour. One was about to start as I arrived so I settled down on the back row of the wooden benches that all had jolly Union Jack cushions on, only to notice that the film that had just started was the superb The Sugar Bowl that I’d seen on the opening night.
Knowing that the film was 20 minutes long I decided not to watch it again but to go back to Bar Lane Studios in the hope of grabbling a seat to watch some of the art films. On my return I looked for a TV that was in a shaded part of the gallery and out of the sun, I managed to sit in front of a telly that was showing “artists screening 2” films and I caught the last five minutes of Samuel Dowd’s Bare Breathwhich looked stunning and I made a note to see all of the full 20 minutes as soon as I could.
The audio and music track was spoilt by the general noise of the Bar Lane café with people talking and in particularly the bloody radio blaring out pop music.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
The next film was Pieter Greenen’s Nocturne #2 (2012) a film using long images that were filmed on mobile phones where nothing seems to happening, I couldn’t tell if there was a audio track because of the noise but the more I watched this film the more I got engrossed and if showed in a correct and sympathetic venue (which clearly Bar Lane is not) this film could be fantastic.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
It was now time to head down to the Bar Lane basement for animation screening 3. This was a large room that was nice and dark although the first chair I sat in on the back row had almost no view of the screen, so I moved to an aisle seat that I could move the chair once the films started. There was the obligatory group of irritating teenager girls in front of me chatting through the first film until I told them to be quiet, they thankfully left after the third film.
Here is a brief one line review of each of the eight films shown:
Thora (2011) – a delightful, three-minute about Thora and her protector, the beast Soloman Score
Ian’s rating: ★★★
999.999.999 (2011) – futuristic clap trap that I didn’t understand
Ian’s rating: ★★
Life And Stuff (2011) – Kumar Satkunarasa’s brilliant take on life from birth to death in under 5 minutes, amazing
Ian’s rating: ★★★★★
Shattered Past (2011) – a man reliving his past as he suffers a stroke, sorry I was bored
Ian’s rating: ★★
Bertie Crisp (2011) is my new super hero, I love him and want to see him replacing Family Guy
Ian’s rating: ★★★★★
Brave New Old (2012) – it didn’t make any sense to me and I was glad when it was over
Ian’s rating: ★
Above As Below (2011) – very short, makes its point perfectly and is incredibly sad
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
The Guest (2010) – a lovely little Danish film that is very witty
Ian’s rating: ★★★
After crawling into the light from Bar Lane’s basement, it was time for lunch and as my youngest son and his girlfriend are in York for the weekend we met up at Plunkets where the food was as good as ever, even if the service post main course was very slow.
I then went to Barley Hall for documentary screening 1. Now Barley Hall is a wonderful room but not for showing film. No concession had been made to the layout of the room to watch these films. I managed to watch Heilig (2011) as the subtitles were minimal, this is a fantastic true story about a Jewish refugee and his parents.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
But when it came to watch the next film Architecture Alive, I have no idea what was said because no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t see the subtitles, so not wanting to leave mid-film I waited until the end and moved on
Unable to score
My next venue was the City Screen basement, for thriller screening 2 where I had a fantastic view of the screen and everything was perfect (well almost – a silly girl with shopping bags that everyone tripped over while she seemed unwilling to move them). Here again is the brief one line reviews of each of the 5 films shown.
Augenblicke (2011)– a German film that was brilliantly shot and had real threat
Ian’s rating: ★★★
Dystopia St (2011) – I’ll never get those ten minutes and 40 seconds back
Ian’s rating: ★
Hostage (2011) – well done but seen it all before
Ian’s rating: ★
Welcome To Leathermill (2011) – superb! This reminded me of Hammer house of Horror and the Wicker Man with a twist
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
La Reverberacion (2012) Not really a thriller just a weird film that sort of goes off the rails after six minutes
Ian’s rating: ★★
My last screening of the day was in the Mansion House which is a fantastic place to show film. The room was packed, large with a big screen and good sound system and I was hoping to watch as many of the films in drama screening 9 as time would allow.
In the end I only managed the first one, Low (2009) by Michelle Fox, which was a contemporary film about a brief connection between two cancer patients which was very poignant.
Ian’s rating: ★★★
This was because I needed to leave to go to see Alexie Sayle perform at The Shed in Hovingham, but fear not dear reader I’ve decided that tomorrow, the last day of the festival, will be all comedy, experimental, Yorkshire Film Archive and another attempt to see the art films in a better location.
York film fest day 4: thrills and spills in the dark
Review: The Aesthetica Short Film Festival - Day 4: Sunday, November 11
On Sunday I got off to a leisurely start with homemade croissants and orange juice before a quick motorcycle ride into the city. My goal today was to visit the rest of the venues and cover the genres not already seen, so some experimental and comedy films were required.
I wanted to see the Yorkshire Film Archive and I also felt that I hadn’t seen enough art film so was planning a trip to St Mary’s Church late afternoon. I was of course late arriving at St William’s College for experimental screening 4, missing Khalil The Great (2011) but catching just about all of Home by Matthew Kennedy from the University of York.Described as “a journey through the subconscious from the perspective of an immigrant”, in this case a Chinese girl, this is a delicate, beautiful film that reminded me of a trip to Hong Kong a few years ago with the sights and sounds of China. Matthew also made very good use of soundscape music.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
The next film was Spare (2011), a filmic interpretation of Vincent van Gogh’s A Wheatfield, with Cypresses – and having seen the painting I don’t see the connection.
Ian’s rating: ★★★
The next showing was a batch of films under the What On Earth banner, billed as a “series looking at the state of species and pressures on our planet”. Here are my one line reviews.
Landfill – a film about, errm, landfill
Ian’s rating: ★★★
Missed the title of this film but I have no idea what it was about except it had an interesting male-sung folk song
Ian’s rating: ★★
Clockwork – had a lot of animated clockwork silhouette rabbits hopping all over the screen
Ian’s rating: ★★
Commonwealth – a very uninteresting film about guess what!
Ian’s rating: ★★
Out of the Blue: photos of the sky with a few aeroplane trails, luckily it was short
Ian’s rating: ★
Einstein And The Honey Bee – what a joy this film is, it’s funny with fantastic animation and you’ll even learn something new
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
The next film as per the programme was L’Invitation Au Voyage (2011), a very strange Australian film and the only one that could be called experimental.
Ian’s rating: ★★
That left us with the last film in this screening, The Strategy of Madam Breto (2012), a brilliantly funny documentary from Spain about how an old lady catches and kills rats
Ian’s rating: ★★★★★
I now had time for some lunch and a visit to Barnitts (to check out kitchen stools – don’t ask!!) before comedy screening 3 at the festival hub 1331. I was still very early so I sat in the bar and had a drink.
Fifteen minutes before the start of the showing I decided to go in, only to be told that it was full to capacity, so for the first time I played the journalist card and asked them to save be a seat at the last comedy show of the festival at 3.30pm.
I decided to go and see if I could see some of the artist films in a better location, in this case St Mary’s Church. As I arrived I noticed that artist screening 2 was showing and I was again watching the end of Bare Breath and Nocturne #2 (see day 2 review).
Although not without its problems, because dark passages of film were difficult to see because the church space is so light, this was a far better location to watch film than the gallery space at Bar Lane.
After enjoying Nocturne #2 again, and making a note to contact the film maker as it has no sound and I’d like to have the opportunity to score it, I watched Doran (2012), which has some interesting film of rural Ireland but has a terrible voice over which made no sense to me.
Ian’s rating: ★
The last film of this screening was Emerald City (2012), a truly experimental film with fantastic soundscape music. It suffered from being very dark and difficult to see in St Mary’s. It also need a better audio system then the mono speaker that was provided.
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
Score 4/5.
Next on my list was to watch the Yorkshire Film Archive at York Explore Library (why does the library have to have explore in its name?). I arrived to find the place stinking of burnt food (that’s what happens when you stick a trendy stupid café in a reading library).
Seasons is four Yorkshire shorts, using archive film footage from around the region and has been watch by over 80,000 people. I loved all four films, the only gripe I have is that apart from winter all of the music is really inappropriate.
Spring had dance music with voice over that made it sound like The Avalanches
Ian’s rating: ★★★
Summer used a weird glockenspiel pop soundtrack
Ian’s rating: ★★★
Autumn – suddenly turned into trip hop that would make Tricky turn over in his grave (if he were dead)
Ian’s rating: ★★★
Winter – a perfectly appropriate music score
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
I left the still burnt food smelling “Explore” library and dashed back to 1331 for comedy screening 4 only to find that the films has started early. The ASFF staff had very kindly kept me a seat at the back of the small auditorium, but it was so dark that I couldn’t see my way. As there were people seated in the aisles and on every spare bit of floor, I kept tripping and standing on people as I made my way to the seat.
At this point I have to say I felt rather embarrassed and it does beg the question as to why one of the most popular genres of film was in such a small room. 1331’s small (but perfectly formed) cinema has very comfortable leather armchair seating for about 20 but this place was packed out with at least double that. Next year ASFF put comedy in the Mansion House or the Yorkshire Museum please.
Anyway here are my one line reviews of comedy screening 4:
Just Desserts (2012) – I can’t score as I was busy walking over people to get to my seat
Your Health Ltd (2011) – a very funny Swedish film, spoilt a little by the last ten seconds
Ian’s rating: ★★★
Beast (2011) – flawed but mildly funny black comedy
Ian’s rating: ★★★
For Elsie (2012) – not really a comedy but very good anyway
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
Happy Birthday Jim (2011) – a well-executed but seen it all before idea
Ian’s rating: ★★
I was planning to head home but the following tweet had me heading for the City Screen
It felt like fate or some weird calling from ASFF that I had to go to one last screening, so thriller screening 5 was to be it…
Scarecrow (2012) I found was predictable and a little bit silly
Ian’s rating: ★★
Red Letter (2012) was really good until about the last five minutes. And I have still no idea what the red letter was about
Ian’s rating: ★★
First Date (2012) I quite liked it, with the female lead being very believable
Ian’s rating: ★★★
Red (2012) didn’t make any sense to me but it was only five minutes thankfully
Ian’s rating: ★
The Secret Number (2011) – fantastic drama from the USA that was very well executed
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
So the four days of the festival were over apart from the awards, and my best and worst of the festival which I’ll cover in one last blog.
Ian J Cole’s filmathon: The top 10 (OK, 11)
After his four-day filmathon, Ian J Cole names his top movies from the Aesthetica festival
Well, the Aesthetica Short Film Festival is over for this year and I’ve managed to see 73 films over the four days (or 75 if you count seeing two films twice) – so was the festival a success? Most definitely!
The organisation was excellent and I found the Aesthetica staff nothing but polite and always ready to help. I’ve come away from this event feeling this is an important serious festival and a joy to attend.
Yes there were niggles about some of the venues and their commitment to showing the films in their best possible environment (particularly Barley Hall and Bar Lane Studios) which is not ASFF’s fault.
I loved the quirkiness of White Stuff’s mini cinema at the back of the upstairs shop with free tea and coffee and the wonderful armchair experience of the 1331 cinema, along with turning the Mansion House into a cinema which should become an overspill for the City Screen – do it Lord Mayor and you’ll get my vote!
I was amazed at the high production value of all of the films and although I didn’t like everything I’m sure that all of the films were made by people who are passionate about film.
I thought it would be good to share my top ten (really 11) films with you and as you’d expect a lot of my five star films make my favourites list. So, in reverse order…
10. Come On: Vittoria Colonna’s film (day 2) was the best music video shown at ASFF
9. Welcome To Leathermill: A fantastic horror flick (day 3)
8. Every Good Boy Does Fine: By Dan Smyth (day 2)
7. Life And Stuff: By Kumar Satkunarasa (day 3)
6. Sunny Boy: By Jane Gull (day 2)
5. Abuelas and The Strategy of Madam Breto: I couldn’t separate Afarin Eghbal’s film Abuelas about an old woman in Buenos Aires awaiting the birth of her grandchild (day 2) and The Strategy of Madam Breto, with her fantastic rat catching contraption (day 4)
4. Long Distance Information: A very funny film by Douglas Hart (day 1)
Third place – Dylan’s Room: A superb film by Layke Anderson (day 1)
Runner up – Bertie Crisp: Amazing.
The winner – The Sugar Bowl: My favourite film of the festival is the brilliant documentary The Sugar Bowl from the opening night (day 1).
I wasn’t able to go the ASFF awards ceremony on Sunday night but I did ask ASFF to forward the complete list of award winners on to me and here they are:
So thank you Aesthetica for bringing to York a superbly well organised event and see you again next year.
Orginally Published on YorkMix 9th to 14th November 2021
Scarecrow (2012) I found was predictable and a little bit silly
Ian’s rating: ★★
Red Letter (2012) was really good until about the last five minutes. And I have still no idea what the red letter was about
Ian’s rating: ★★
First Date (2012) I quite liked it, with the female lead being very believable
Ian’s rating: ★★★
Red (2012) didn’t make any sense to me but it was only five minutes thankfully
Ian’s rating: ★
The Secret Number (2011) – fantastic drama from the USA that was very well executed
Ian’s rating: ★★★★
So the four days of the festival were over apart from the awards, and my best and worst of the festival which I’ll cover in one last blog.
Ian J Cole’s filmathon: The top 10 (OK, 11)
After his four-day filmathon, Ian J Cole names his top movies from the Aesthetica festival
Well, the Aesthetica Short Film Festival is over for this year and I’ve managed to see 73 films over the four days (or 75 if you count seeing two films twice) – so was the festival a success? Most definitely!
The organisation was excellent and I found the Aesthetica staff nothing but polite and always ready to help. I’ve come away from this event feeling this is an important serious festival and a joy to attend.
Yes there were niggles about some of the venues and their commitment to showing the films in their best possible environment (particularly Barley Hall and Bar Lane Studios) which is not ASFF’s fault.
I loved the quirkiness of White Stuff’s mini cinema at the back of the upstairs shop with free tea and coffee and the wonderful armchair experience of the 1331 cinema, along with turning the Mansion House into a cinema which should become an overspill for the City Screen – do it Lord Mayor and you’ll get my vote!
I was amazed at the high production value of all of the films and although I didn’t like everything I’m sure that all of the films were made by people who are passionate about film.
I thought it would be good to share my top ten (really 11) films with you and as you’d expect a lot of my five star films make my favourites list. So, in reverse order…
10. Come On: Vittoria Colonna’s film (day 2) was the best music video shown at ASFF
9. Welcome To Leathermill: A fantastic horror flick (day 3)
8. Every Good Boy Does Fine: By Dan Smyth (day 2)
7. Life And Stuff: By Kumar Satkunarasa (day 3)
6. Sunny Boy: By Jane Gull (day 2)
5. Abuelas and The Strategy of Madam Breto: I couldn’t separate Afarin Eghbal’s film Abuelas about an old woman in Buenos Aires awaiting the birth of her grandchild (day 2) and The Strategy of Madam Breto, with her fantastic rat catching contraption (day 4)
4. Long Distance Information: A very funny film by Douglas Hart (day 1)
Third place – Dylan’s Room: A superb film by Layke Anderson (day 1)
Runner up – Bertie Crisp: Amazing.
The winner – The Sugar Bowl: My favourite film of the festival is the brilliant documentary The Sugar Bowl from the opening night (day 1).
I wasn’t able to go the ASFF awards ceremony on Sunday night but I did ask ASFF to forward the complete list of award winners on to me and here they are:
- Festival winner: Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson, The Sugar Bowl
- People’s Choice Award: Rob Sorrenti, Hollow
- Best Drama: Layke Anderson, Dylan’s Room
- Best Comedy: Mark Davenport, Photoshopping
- Best Documentary: Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson, The Sugar Bowl
- Best Music Video: Ashley Dean, Let It Go
- Best Animation: Mark Nelson, “>The Jockstrap Raiders
- Best Experimental Film: Anna Valdez-Hanks and Anna Blandford, To The Sea
- Best Art Film: Joanna Tam, Reduction Study (Ping Pong)
- Best Thriller: Martin Bargiel, Augenblicke
So thank you Aesthetica for bringing to York a superbly well organised event and see you again next year.
Orginally Published on YorkMix 9th to 14th November 2021
