Film Streams, located at the corner of 14th and Mike Fahey streets, is currently featuring the Oscar Shorts! 2015 Academy Award-Nominated Shorts (Live Action), and after seeing them, I highly recommend that you check them out as well. The Oscar Shorts! (Live Action) event showcases five short films with a variety of emotional tones.
When you go to see the shorts, they play one after another, so you view all five in a two-hour block. This method of viewing might seem daunting at first, but it really enhanced the experience of the films. Seeing them in relation to one another helps viewers to understand the reasons for which they were nominated and the impact of each short individually and as a collective. In fact, in some ways, the films’ messages were made more clear in the context of their counterparts.
My favorites from the series were the lighthearted “Butter Lamp” and “Boogaloo and Graham.” “Butter Lamp,” directed by Hu Wei, had beauty in its subtlety, showing indigenous Tibetan nomads in front of ironic Western backdrops. I enjoyed how the 15-minute film was able to entertain and suggest a larger concept than the subjects Wei photographed. “Butter Lamp” transforms the deteriorating lifestyle of these mountain people into an amusing anecdote.
“Boogaloo and Graham,” directed by Michael Lennox, tells the audience an endearing tale of two children and two chickens gifted to them by their father.
These two films may have been the most enjoyable, but each film is interesting because of its sense of juxtaposition — pairing innocent subjects against more sinister implications about the society in which we live.
The two films “Parvaneh” and “Aya” tell stories of outsiders in unfamiliar places and their transformative experiences with the people they meet.
“Parvaneh,” directed by Talkhon Hamzavi, throws together the seemingly-different Parvaneh, an Afghan immigrant, and Emily, a blonde and rebellious Zurich resident, and the two become unlikely friends.
“Aya,” directed by Mihal Brezis and Oded Binnun, tells a unique story which follows an unexpected plotline. A young woman is mistaken for a piano teacher’s driver, but she goes along with the events and decides to drive him to Jerusalem. The road trip film concludes in a way that I did not expect, and I think that viewers of the film will be surprised.
Finally, “The Phone Call,” directed by Mat Kirkby, tells what appears to be a classic love story between two awkward people that then turns out to be a pivotal day in a young suicide hotline center employee’s life.
These five short films viewed as one feature offer an interesting composition. I enjoyed comparing each different style displayed by the actors, writers and directors of the individual films. However, I would not say that any of these films are particularly strong out of the context of the combined viewing.
I think the Oscar Shorts! 2015 Academy Award-Nominated Shorts are definitely worth seeing at Film Streams, not only the live action films, but the animated and documentary films as well. Make sure you check them out before the Academy Awards next week.