Sundance Uk Shorts

Alo  (Director: Xenia Glen, Producers: Amy George, Xenia Glen)
Alo, an undocumented Filipino worker, lives in an overcrowded house share in London. When an unexpected seizure strikes him, and he becomes trapped internally in the throes of his symptoms, the residents feel pressured to call an ambulance, which catapults Alo into the UK health and immigration system.

Treatment from the NHS is free at the service point. Attention from authorities in a climate that was termed a hostile environment. Alo’s journey from being an everyday man to being scrutinised for his MRI being the least invasive is shown and thrown at us with the cacophony of noise and vision that can be hard to process while being processed. It’s a deliberately overwhelming piece that shows cinema can be sensory and emotive while maintaining distance and illumination. Check it out where you can.

Cast: Iverson Yabut , Antosh Wojcik, Ericka Posadas

Essex Girls / United Kingdom

(Director: Yero Timi-Biu, Screenwriter: Busayo Ige, Producers: Angela Moneke, Simon Hatton)
After an incident at her high school, she is shunted into the orbit of the only other Black girl in her year, “Essex Girl.” Bisola is plunged into discovering a whole new side of herself.

I grew up in Lambeth, south London; I remember my first university trip to Essex in 1992. I remember the estrangement,looking around and thinking…” Where did all the blacks go? and I’m pale. I later studied there, and within the university, I felt …ok. But the city was not for me. Bisola is a young black woman at school in the Blackberry era with an immigrant mum and gaslighted by her white friends about being more ‘like them’. I hot comb my hair, but I’m a middle-aged mixed-race man who never makes that sound. It’s a great portrayal of young life and identity and how to assert oneself without fear of alienation. It’s never a binary; we are all greater than the sum of our parts, and the finale brings it home. It brought home young people just being young. And while her trip to London did fill me with the fear of cliches, it does get so much more than that—one of the young at heart.

Cast: Busayo Ige, Corinna Brown, Maisie Smith, Adrianna Bertola, Krysstina Frempong, Rebecca Dike

Good Boy / United Kingdom
(Director: Tom Stuart, Producers: Kay Loxley, Max Marlow, Elettra Pizzi, Tom Stuart)
Danny attempts to rob a bank with his overbearing mum but is scuppered by the appearance of figures from his past. Danny has a growing sense of desperation with his mum in the back of his van and a dead pigeon on the passenger seat.

The thing is, My first thought when I see his face is,  “I’ve seen Paddingtonn’s bu.m.” 

I mean, I don’t think “I’ve seen your bum,” I think “I’ve seen Paddingtons bum”, and that flits quickly away because he’s an actor and in a thing, but the reason I mention it Is a film about bare cheek and emotional necessity. Tom Stuart has created a colourful and dayglow kinetic set of situations between Ben and his mother, who always knows best or thinks the best of her boy. It’s heartfelt slapstick and without giving too much away. Sometimes, we must outgrow our mother’s love and find our own. Check it out. His bum is very adorable.

Cast: Ben Whishaw, Marion Bailey, Dino Fetscher, Jocelyn Jee Esien, Paul Chahidi, Mark Monero, Wendy Nottingham, Bettrys Jones, Ephraim Sampson, Tommy Belshaw

Mamu / United Kingdom, Taiwan
(Director and Screenwriter: Aephie Chen, Producers: Aephie Chen, Emily Beynon, Ingvar Haukur Guðmundsson, Ado Kaliting Pacidal
Indigenous Taiwanese Mayaw raised his biracial British daughter Rina alone in London. As Mayaw’s mind begins to fade, he hears the call of his indigenous Taiwanese homeland and its magical guardians—very far from the grey London he now inhabits, in which he and his daughter dream of each other in languages that they can’t understand anymore. They reconnect in their dreams, and the lullaby leads the way.

My father is an 84-year-old Bengali. I only started learning Bengali and some Hindi in the last couple of years, so I can’t catch my nephew and niece calling me a fat man when they think they can get away with it. But also, he chants my dad in the morning. I worry; I want to know we can always communicate should anything happen. The more I ask, the more stories I understand, and this is encapsulated so well. Our lead, Mayaw, has too much richness to offer and is the centre of many 2nd gen experiences. We see it all, and our love for those who came before us in this, stick him in a care home trend, pops its head. If you think that, where the fuck did you get the money..and why are you so bobbins? Check this film out.

Cast: Aki Rupi, Suming Rupi, Kirsten Forster, Olivia Simmons, Osay Okesan Ciwidian

[S] / United Kingdom, Poland, Bulgaria

(Director, Screenwriter, Producer: Mario Radev)

[S] is an artwork that exposes the lifespan of infinity. The film delves into an immersive loop of organic forms, reflecting on the entangled nature of life and art.

Cast: Mario Radev

At Sundance A. I was in a conversation last year, and now folks are adapting to it this year. I felt, as a whole, there was a certain snobbery towards it that was most expressed by those who then go home and hack the shit out of it while keeping up the p.r face. I use it. It’s on the site headings. If you visit my Instagram, you will find images I prompted. If you want to look at comic book images of semi-clad hot chicks shoving stiletto heels into a werewolf’s eyeball while screaming death to the patriarchy, I’m the guy for you. It’s what my friend Scottish Keith called ‘cheapies’ for the thrill of it. But I also won an Eisener at San Diego. So I know what art looks like. And it’s by Mario Radev and is utterly exquisite. Mixed mediums of stop motion, claymation and intricately cross-hatched pencilled animation with the grain of every page apparent with fantastic lighting and effect, this is, on one level, the point of the infinity that comes with creativity, a biomechanical scherr with shades of Geiger and Videodrome yet still its own organic beating heart. It’s a phenomenal accompaniment to a soundscape, making it more visceral than anything else. While real art is intricate and infinite, it’s the commitment to continue to input. Without that, we could see a cinema with diminishing returns—an utter monochromatic joy for a rainbow of emotions. Get the most giant screen and see and support this film immediately.

Salone Love / United Kingdom, USA
(Director: Tajana Tokyo, Producers: Tabs Breese, India Wadsworth)
A scrapbook of opinions and advice about love in Sierra Leone.

“If you want to be happy and live a King’s life, never make a pretty woman your wife. e”

It’s not a quote from the film, its from ‘the boys’  but that sentiment and wryness evokes the warm humour and sentiment that is  a montage of quips, comments, and compliments about life, love and marriage. Divorce is up 42% in England. Sierra Leone has a different approach that reflects a different life. “They say they have irreconcilable differences; we don’t have irreconcilable differences” Through a style of mixed footage and animation, Tajana Tokyo conveyss the lightness of the comments and the irreverence entwined in love, with a style that occasionally hits on monty python and absurdity because love is..absurd. Check out a feeling filler when you can. It’s a part of life; we don’t see Sierra Leone.

Shé (Snake) / United Kingdom, USA
(Director and Screenwriter: Renee Zhan, Producer: Jesse Romain)
Fei is the top violinist in her elite youth orchestra. When another Chinese violinist arrives to challenge her place, Fei’s internalised racism grows to take a monstrous physical form. They whisper to her, urging her to be the best, no matter the cost.
Cast: Xiaonan Wang, Alina Lew, Simon Paisley Day, Elizabeth Chan, Leslie Ching, Grace Fan

When I was younger, in the early 00s, I would make a point of tuning up early to the comedy clubs I played. It was twofold. The first person there got to pick their slot (and after the interview,  it was always a favourite) and also to see the lineup. If I saw an Asian name on the bill, I would change my attitude completely. I would go second in the first half. Open. Why? Because it’s a business and even with my pale probation, I felt being ‘The Asian Act’ was terrible, but being ‘the other one’ was worse.

When you layer on the levels of imposter syndrome, one would encounter in the world of classical music and the frustrations of being a teenage girl, the disconnect can be febrile and fertile for all our inner demons. Exemplified By fantastic aesthetics and stylistics that end with a sense of how we need to build together and not compete for the attention of an external force, bringing the bare bones that were bequeathed us to build upon and live. Seek this impressionistic poem of a film as soon as you can.