Rob Munday
With Annecy and Palm Springs ShortFest both taking place in June, we had one eye on the festival circuit last month, as we picked our highlights from two of the most-anticipated events in the short film calendar. With Rod Blackhurst launching his technically impressive horror short Hysteric with Short of the Week, it also provided us an opportunity to put together a Guide to One-Take Short Films, including quotes from Blackhurst, Paul Trillo and more.
With 17 films featured in the 30-days of June, we used the space in calendar to provide updates on our previous featured filmmakers and their latest projects. While our Watchlist including three short film to feature adaptations (Brian and Charles, Emergency & Wyrm), a stack of much-discussed series’ (on Amazon Prime, BBC, HBO Max and Netflix) and a couple of unforgettable horror’s, our In Development post brought news of new Predator movies, Steven Soderbergh collaborations and an out-of-this-world animated sci-fi series. It’s an exciting time to be a S/W alum.
TEAM FAVOURITES
For the trio of films our team picked as our Best of the Month for June, we’ve got some shocks, some stellar animation and a short looking to make you think about the world a little differently. Enjoy.
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Bad Hair by Oskar Lehemaa
An intense body horror that, what Bad Hair lacks in depth, it more than makes up for in execution. You’ll squirm and scream in equal measure as the intensity ramps up – Ivan Kander
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Click on image to play the film.
La Nuit des sacs plastiques (Night of the Plastic Bags) by Gabriel Harel
Love Death + Robots is introducing a generation to the pleasure of unapologetically adult genre animation. La Nuit des sacs plastiques, winner of the 2020 César for Best Animation, tackles survival horror, and, despite its absurd premise, delivers a pitch-perfect Romero-esque night of apocalyptic violence – Jason Sondhi
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The Fourfold by Alisi Telengut
There were a couple of films in our June curation that struck me with their environmental message. While American Scar (see below) provided an impactful insight into the building of Trump’s Wall it was The Fourfold that gets my vote. Based on ancient beliefs, this mesmerising seven-minute explores indigenous perspective to try to present a new way of thinking about the world – Rob Munday
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Most Viewed
American Scar by Daniel Lombroso
A depiction of Trump’s wall, as it is not often seen in the landscape of American politics, Daniel Lombroso’s 14-minute documentary aims to help us really understand what is in fact happening on the Southern border of the USA and how the practicalities of building a physical structure in the middle of the desert are both expensive and hugely damaging to the environment.