On Saturday, 15 November I had the pleasure of attending the Scottish Shorts night of the Edinburgh Short Film Festival (ESFF) at the wonderfully re-opened Filmhouse cinema. This was the second to last night of the festival, with the Scottish Shorts night usually being very popular (evident in that this screening had sold out). There were 11 short films in the screening, all made by Scottish filmmakers, ranging from Robbie Duncan’s ICARE9000—a comedic commentary on the role of human care in our modern world—to Yannik Ruault’s Silhouettes, in which a consul confronts the nature of loss and memory. From laughter to sadness, from live action to animation, the Scottish shorts I saw were charmingly varied and an exciting celebration of human creativity. Thanks to the festival director Paul Bruce, who kindly accommodated me, I got the opportunity to talk to some of the filmmakers too, which I will return to later.
Of all the shorts I saw, my favourite one was Victoria Watson and Sacha Kyle’s Distance to the Moon, a 10-minute-long stop-motion animation in which a figure (called X) climbs a ladder to the moon, facing obstacles but receiving support along the way. Earth is no longer inhabitable and X must leave it, but the journey itself, though necessary, is gruelling and painful. This liminal space between a hopeless Earth and an uncertain Moon where things may or may not be better is terrifying, where perseverance requires an ultimate strength. But X does not garner this strength alone, and this I believe is the central point of the short. The angel-like figure that aids our dejected protagonist during the climactic moment of despair is our reminder that no journey is walked in isolation. In reaching the Moon and X finding other similar figures there, the short film closes beautifully with the message that we all walk difficult paths but we all may find community within and beyond our hardships. The use of black and white throughout, creating a dark and light contrast, certainly reinforces this fear vs. hope dichotomy where the brightness of the angel figure cannot go unnoticed. Overall, Watson and Kyle’s poignant creation is definitely worth the watch.
Before the screening, at the Filmhouse bar, Paul introduced me to Yannik Ruault, director of the previously mentioned Silhouettes, a 14-minute-long short film described in its poster as “Experimental, Drama, Romance.” Since moving from France to Scotland, Ruault is now considered a French and Scottish filmmaker, and was telling me how, to him, French filmmaking is crafted more “through the structure” whereas there is a friendliness (he said it was “like family”) involved in the approach that Scottish film teams take. We of course had to discuss the differences between short and feature-length films, with Ruault feeling that the latter form gives you more time thus inevitably more to engage with but saying that, with short films, “in a certain way you are more free” due to a reduced amount of preparation time necessary (his film took two to three weeks preparation.)
We then spoke about Silhouettes itself and if it was inspired by real events to which he replied that it is “never [his] process” to “reproduce any event that’s happened”; he seeks through his films to create something new, here experimenting with different layers of colour and light in images. “The motivation is more abstract, it’s more a feeling,” he said. Ruault then celebrated his “knowledgeable” team and the “great, sensitive” actress Laura Bastianini who stars alongside him on screen.
I also enjoyed talking to Linda Hughes, creator of Fairground Fever, who I was sat next to in the screening itself. Her animated short film is comprised of over 3,500 of her A4 acrylic paintings, depicting a teenage girl’s dreamlike journey through the Kirkcaldy Links Market. Her illustration style is unique and playful and she kindly gave me some postcards of paintings that feature in her film (now stuck to my bedroom wall).
Attending the Scottish Shorts night of the ESFF was an altogether exciting and fulfilling experience made possible by talented filmmakers and dedicated staff. I would recommend checking it out next year!
Image via Paul Bruce for The Student