The Sundance Film Festival is recognized as a showcase for the best in new American independent film. ArtPower! Film Curator Rebecca Webb has handpicked her favorite short films to highlight at tonight’s event, "Five Tales About Six Girls," at UCSD’s The Loft.
According to Webb, these five short films are universal stories about adolescent girls, whose internal struggles are shaped and agitated by their external environments. Addressing enduring themes such as difficult relationships, curiosity about sex, material concerns, and pressures to conform to societal norms, these global tales push our sense of comfort in disquieting ways.
Here are the film listings:
"American Minor"
Director: Charlie White [USA]
This short film is a meditation on the popular image of the American teen girl, focusing on a fourteen-year-old, upper-middle-class blonde girl whose world is defined through products, objects, and perpetual consumption. The film observes a single, protracted morning in the life of a picture-perfect American youth lost in the dehumanizing space that wealth, isolation, and fear can provide. By watching this American teen perform basic acts, from eating cereal, to watching television, to combing her hair, the film aims to reveal the complicated relationship between personal pleasure and politics, youth and sexuality, and class and suppression.
"Anna"
Director: Rúnar Rúnarsson [Denmark]
This beautifully crafted film is about a 12-year-old girl living in a small fishing village who finds herself at an emotionally difficult crossroads with her parents and her own internal struggles to make sense of it all. A Cannes Film Festival highlight, Anna has been featured at numerous festivals and has won the Grand Prix at the 10th Student and Short Film Festival Sleepwalkers, Diploma of the Jury at 39th Kyiv International Film Festival Molodist, Black Pearl Award for Best Student Short at the 3rd Middle East International Film Festival, Best Short Film at Nordisk Panorama 2009, and Best Short Film Award at BUSTER Copenhagen International Film Festival for children and youth 2009.
"Bait"
Director Michal Vinik [Israel]
On their way to the seashore to fish on a sweltering summer afternoon, edgy tomboy Nitzan and her bubbly, attractive sister hitch a ride with a young Filipino guest worker; sexual tensions boil to unexpected results. Talented newcomer Michal Vinik directs an honest portrayal of teenage sexuality in this sweet and saucy slice-of-life story. Bait was screened at the Sundance Film Festival 2009 in competition, won a special mention award at the Jerusalem Film Festival, and has been screened at film festivals around the world.
"Boutonniere"
Director: Coley Sohn [USA]
This film, by director Coley Sohn, is a funny and stylish story about a teenage girl, forced into preparing for a prom she doesn't want to go to. Uncovering a world in which an overbearing mother can generate laughs while presenting an almost deranged, not-so-traditional familial relationship ... this film becomes uncomfortable and quite satirical. A Sundance Film Festival highlight, Boutonniere won the LA Shorts Fest award for Best Comedy, and both Silver Medal and Best Actress for Sara Swain in the 24fps International Short Film Festival.
"Little Canyon"
Director: Olivia Silver [USA]
A teenager’s dad is moving the family cross-country, promising a California paradise and packing half the household into a dented station wagon. All that's missing is Mom. As they travel through forest, plains and desert, stopping at fast food joints, shoddy motels, and a poor substitute for the Grand Canyon, Greta gradually realizes that her family is falling apart.
Catch the Pre-Flix Mix 7:00 to 8:00 pm with live music by Burning of Rome and ArtTalks! With photographer and filmmaker Charlie White.
For tickets, call the Box Office at 858.534.TIXS.
