Future Shorts One LogoIn case you don’t know, Future Shorts is a worldwide event dedicated to screening good short films on one day in over 90 cities from around the world; the screening is usually accompanied by other multimedia elements including live music and rescores, performers and installations.

In fact, their motto is ONE event. One beat. ONE audience… ONE worldwide. which nicely fits the concept on which the event is built on.

Going back to the event at hand, this was the second global edition for 2011 but the first one here in Romania (as far as I know), and took place in the Artexpo hall in the Bucharest National Theater. The place was a nice choice as it provided enough space for the audience, even though the main room was split in two smaller ones, each with its own screen for better viewing and distribution of seats; the downside though was that the room was somewhat chilly, especially if you came unprepared and hoping for a cozy atmosphere. The audio and video quality were good overall, even though at times (especially during the last film, Goodbye Mr Chu) it was a bit too loud and thus noisy for my taste.

Another plus is the fact that drinks – both nonalcoholic and alcoholic – could be had and that the main viewing room was a non-smoking area. This is worth mentioning on its own because at many of the “alternative” cultural events of this kind smoking is permitted in the main room which leads to both viewing and seeing problems depending on the venue, the number of people and the ventilation system.

But what’s a film screening without movies? This edition was built around 6 short films and one music video; in order of appearance, they were:

  1. Lars And Peter
  2. Klaxons – Twin Flames (the music video) – Dir: Saam Farahmand
  3. The Mystery of The Flying Kicks – Dir: Matthew Bate
  4. Flying Lotus – Kill Your Co-workers – Dir: Beeple
  5. The Drift – Dir: Kelly Sears
  6. Mary Last Seen – Dir: Sean Durkin
  7. Goodbye Mr Chu – Dir: Stephanie Lansaque & Francois Leroy

The most interesting films in my opinion were The Mystery of The Flying Kicks (you can see part of it embedded at the end of this post), a “documentary” about the random shoes you see hanging from utility wires built on a call and tell your story concept and Mary Last Seen, a strange film a bit open to interpretation, but in my opinion revolves around the stages a (failed) relationship passes through, from the beginning of the journey to the abandonment at the end.

Flying Lotus and Goodbye Mr Chu had the most interesting visual style of the lot, but story wise just seemed bland, a trait which Lars And Peter also shared.

One problem I saw was the lack of small breaks between films, which would make discussing the material just viewed a lot easier as it is fresh in your mind, as well as going and getting something to drink much easier; this would also allow the movies to settle in and make the even seem a bit longer, as the one hour head to head screening can seem a bit short and underwhelming otherwise.

This edition finished with a live performance by Hijack & Giuser, which unfortunately weren’t my cup of tea so I passed on the opportunity to see them play and instead opted for a bite to eat and a small chat.

Overall the event was nice and worth the price of admission (15 RON, or around $5 US), but could be even better with some small breaks between films and some more promotion done ahead of time.

And as promised, here’s a small part of The Mystery of Flying Kicks.