R&A Shorts: Time Warp
Moving through different times, this short film screening takes us from the witch hunts of the 16th century to the not-so-distant future, where, in a world ravaged by the climate crisis, fruit can only be found in archive films experienced through a VR head set.
The films of this screening float through different temporal planes from days of yore to the future.
Barlebas takes place in 1500s Netherlands, and the final days of headstrong Heylken, whose talent for singing awakens the suspicions of her intolerant village, where the slightest deviation from the norm can cause a woman to be put through the swimming test and sent to the stake. This musically infused, heart-wrenching depiction of the senselessness of these witch hunts conveys centuries old terror and injustice with great impact.
A unique courtroom drama with a dazzlingly pompous soundscape and picturesque cinematography, Loynes transports us to 19th century Liverpool, into the middle of a session where the accused is an unknown corpse. As the case is examined from all possible angles, the trial spins out into an absurd farce, but what, actually, is the case?
Eraserhead in a Knitted Shopping Bag introduces us to 12-year-old cinephile Ro, who has one objective: to get his hands on a VHS copy of David Lynch’s Eraserhead. This pilgrimage, taking place on a sweltering summer’s day in the late 90s, radiates love for cinema and 90s aesthetics.
Seamlessly knitting together documentary elements and stylised sci-fi imagery, Common Pear portrays the world of the near future, where global warming has destroyed humanity’s relationship with nature. The only thing that remains is archival material, watched by scholars to understand what once was and is now lost forever.
Annu Suvanto (translated by Adrian Murtomäki)
Barlebas
Loynes
Eraserhead in a Knitted Shopping Bag
Common Pear
