Director of Programming James McNally is attending this year’s Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival from January 31st to February 8th
So as expected (or at least, hoped), Day 2 was a much improved version of Day 1. There were films and people and yes, finally, some fun.
I slept quite well in my full set of clothes and got at least 8 hours of sleep for the first time in ages, so even though I woke before 7am, I was feeling refreshed. Hot water was still an issue, so I washed my hair in the kitchen sink before braving the shower for my daily 60 seconds of lukewarm water. Oh yeah, I also cleaned out enough hair from the trap to make my own wig. Yuk. But at least it kept the shower from flooding.
I was in plenty of time for the first screening of the day at 10:00am at the Cocteau cinema (the biggest one of all in the Maison de la Culture, it holds 1400 people). I even sat at a café on the way and had a café au lait. The first screening was F1 (the first of the selections from the French national competition) and featured five very different films. The standout for me was Adriano Valerio’s 37°4 S, about teenaged lovers on the island of Tristan de Cunha (population 270). Apart from the evocative setting, the film used voiceover in a surreal way and I just loved the concept of growing up with someone all your life until you become romantically involved, and then that person deciding to move away for some reason. Here’s a page with more information on 37° 4 S.
At noon I returned to the Cocteau for the first international competition selection (I1 on your bingo card). Here I found two films that impressed me. Benoit de Clerck’s De Honger (image below) was a typically strong Flemish film, with great art direction and a simple, almost wordless plot that played out like a fable. Here’s a page with more information on De Honger.
The other was from Sweden. Henry Moore Selder’s A Living Soul crossed all genres (sci-fi, horror, comedy, drama) in its 29 minutes, showing life from the viewpoint of a preserved brain in a lab experiment. Incorporating the brain’s own imaginative flights of fancy within an already imaginative storyline makes for some gutsy (and brainy, pardon the pun) filmmaking. Here is the website for A Living Soul.
I did actually meet Dustin Kaspar from SIFF, along with Kathleen McInnis from Palm Springs Shortfest, at the first screening today, but they slipped out halfway through. So at 2pm, when I was hungry, I still didn’t have any lunching companions, so I stopped at Monoprix on the way back to my lodgings and picked up a few more groceries. Then an after-lunch nap in the newly cozy apartment (temperature on its way to 20°C!) and some Hot Docs screening work.
I’d thought of returning to Cocteau for the evening screenings but had also sent an email to Gina Dellabarca, director of New Zealand’s Show Me Shorts festival asking her if I could tag along if she had any dinner plans. Those pushy Canadians, always inviting themselves places! She was gracious enough to invite me along to dinner. I met her in front of the Maison de la Culture at 8pm, where in addition to the lovely Gina, I met fellow Kiwis Adam Gunser (director of Killing Phillip in the international competition) and Hayden Ellis (from the New Zealand Film Commission) as well as Americans Melissa Hickey and Carlos Garza, director and producer of Ni-Ni (also competing in the international selection). Dustin just happened to spot me standing outside with the group and he came along, too.
After being turned away at our first choice, Creperie le 1513, we wandered a bit and found ourselves on the top floor of an enormous brasserie near the Cathedral de Notre Dame du Port. Over a long meal we got to know each other a bit better and it was the first time in several days I could feel comfortable speaking English and stringing more than a few words together at a time. So I’m grateful for that.
Home well before midnight, full but sober, and planning my day tomorrow. The festival has well and truly started for me now.