"The World According to Shorts"
film series at BAMcinematek is like a pinata full of bite-size,
exotic treats. Get your fill of animated, narrative, documentary
and experimental short films beginning Sept. 8, when BAMcinematek
presents 12 movies from all over the globe.
Now in its fifth year, the series, curated by Jonathan Howell
of New Yorker Films, is culled from two French short film festivals,
Clermont-Ferrand and Brest.
The "Cartoons and Conundrums" program, screening Sept.
8 at 6:50 pm, and Sept. 9 at 9:15 pm, features Peter Cornwell’s
animated delight "Ward 13" (pictured). In this 15-minute
Australian film, a patient awakens in a hospital to find that
the medical professionals have nefarious motives and sharp instruments.
A highlight of "Cartoons and Conundrums," this hilarious
– yet gruesome – flick features a head-scratching, how’d-they-do-that?
high-speed chase featuring mechanized wheelchairs that whiz down
corridors and careen around sharp, 90-degree turns.
"Cartoons and Conundrums" also features Torbjorn Skarild’s
experimental film from Norway, "All in All," which
is a tour-de-force of editing and sound design; Daniel Askill’s
"We Have Decided Not to Die," with jaw-dropping scenes
of three people’s journeys of transcendence; Hyun-Kyung Park
and Woonki Kim’s "The Old Man with the Knapsack," an
animated parable from South Korea featuring villagers curious
about the contents of an elderly man’s heavy load; and Marc Craste’s
"JoJo in the Stars," a 12-minute animated film from
Britain about one creature’s love for the incarcerated aerialist
in a brutish circus freakshow. ("JoJo in the Stars"
won the Best Animation award in Clermont-Ferrand’s International
Competition.)
Among the tasty morsels of the "Facts and Fictions"
program – screening Sept. 8 at 9:15 pm and Sept. 9 at 6:50 pm
– is Hugo Maza’s "The Bitch."
In Maza’s satirical, 17-minute film from Chile, a domestic servant
dutifully cleans the home of a bourgeois couple while they loll
around their bedroom, fearing and yet becoming absurdly aroused
by the prospect that they’ve hired another pilfering maid.
Other "Facts and Fictions" highlights include Adam
Guzinski’s "Antichrist," a film from Poland about a
parentless gang of boys that demonstrates the pure joy and cruelty
of childhood a la "Lord of the Flies" and Jonas Bergergard
and Jonas Holmstrom’s "Natan," a Swedish film that
won the International Competition’s Grand Prix at Clermont-Ferrand.
"Natan" features a Scandinavian Forest Gump who is
berated and bullied by the pot-bellied boss of a fast-food chain.
Admission to each program is $10. There will be a reception
for ticket holders in the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Natman
Room on Sept. 8 following the 6:50 pm screening. BAM is located
at 30 Lafayette Ave. at Ashland Place in Fort Greene. For tickets,
call (718) 777-FILM or visit www.bam.org. For more information,
call (718) 636-4100.
