Our eighth week features films by Claudia Villalon, Isabel Ball, Joaquín Salgado Osuna, Kimberly Tudó Sánchez, Lucca Meloni, Mark Jenkinson, Valerie Steinberg and Jack McDonald.
"The Hat" by Claudia Villalon
Follow Claudia on Instagram @claudiasugeyvillalon
"Tales from the Loop" by Isabel Ball
From Isabel: "I grew up near Chicago, IL where I attended the Chicago Academy for the Arts to study dance. Through the years I have trained in ballet, modern, improvisation, partnering, Gaga, and Alexander Technique. Recently I have developed my own perspective through dance and film, and am inspired to continue pursuing this way of expression. My film Tales From the Loop is about living through this pandemic and feeling like life is running on a loop. For me, the loop has made me feel isolated and I wanted to capture that solitude through film and dance. I also wanted to express the beauty of isolation and not knowing what comes next in life, the excitement of potentially breaking the loop I feel stuck in."
Isabel is on Instagram @izza.wizza
"Ijmagination" by Joaquín Salgado Osuna
From Joaquín:
"Since I was young I was in love of movies, but maybe I was not as a concern of them as I am now. I grew up watching Disney and Star Wars, however, it was in high school, where my curiosity of watching beyond took me to incredible places and times. Being a kind of introverted guy on high school gave me the opportunity to explore the internet, and sooner rather than later I started watching more prestigious if we can label them like this, films. I already had decided to study filmmaking in Mexico, when one day I saw a movie that changed my life. “La Nuit Américaine”, by Francois Truffaut, this was the start of a beautiful and hard relationship with the french cinema from the new wave, a cinema that has been a really important factor in all the shorts I have made, including Ijmagination.
For the last years I have labelled myself as a storyteller, sometimes I prefer that term than filmmaker, maybe because for me when it is time to make a movie, it is more important to ask how I am going to tell it, that what I am going to tell. And as in everything I have made, this was a key factor in the making of this short documentary. I knew the language I was going to use was so important, the deep silences, the long takes, the re-framing, using reflection and the short deep of field, were some of the elements I used to tell the feeling of locking, of frustration, of madness, the loss of time, and senses.
The importance of Ijmagination, is not about the silences, or the composition, neither the colour correction, most of the times, the techniques are in second place, The importance of every movie I make is to be truthful to myself, and to be the most personal as possible."
Joaquin is on Instagram and LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/joaquin-s...
https://www.instagram.com/onelifeinbl...
"ENEMY?" by Kimberly Tudó Sánchez
From Kimberly:
"Director, presenter, model, athlete, stop motion animator, animator, writer, and artist. In the theater I worked in a variety of positions as a stage manager, coach for the actors, actor, assistant of the set, wardrobe area, photographer and other. Worked in films, music videos, and a series as an actor, makeup artist, voice over, camerawoman, clap-board, direction, wardrobe and more. Worked as an extra in Hollywood and American movies. I was in the national Neumatic rifle team presenting Puerto Rico. Volunteered to support the down syndrome association.
A creature finds other strange creatures on an unknown planet. This creature has friends that come in times of need. They don't know who can be an enemy on this planet so they protect each other. They might think that some creatures are good and others aren't. But who knows if these creatures are the enemy."
"A Short Letter to Chantal Akerman" by Lucca Meloni
From Lucca
"I'm a 21y college student from Brazil and telling stories through audiovisual projects is my passion. About the film: I actually wanted to say something about Chantal, for sure, but I also needed to talk about cinema itself. This quarantine made us realize that we can live without many things - malls, restaurants, bars, etc - but one thing that's still holding us all together is art (and, of course, altruism). So, to all the artists/filmmakers out there: thank you!"
Instagram: @melonilucca
Website: https://melonilucca.myportfolio.com
"No Place Like Home" by Mark Jenkinson
From Mark:
"My girlfriend and I wrote a short film. With no access to actors, we had to star in it and with no locations we shot in our home. Luckily for us some talented friends equipped with PPE came to help shoot it with us." Set in the ghost town of lockdown London, this tale with a twist follows a day in the ‘life’ of a young couple who’s normal existence of spending their days with their feet up in the empty homes of unsuspecting others, is suddenly compromised by everyone being at home. Amid a haunting realisation that the ‘new normal’ is testing their relationship, their resolve to stay undetected - and seriously affecting their ability to keep up with the Kardashians; they feel increasingly invisible in a world where everyone has their feet up on their own sofas and it’s clear that there’s no room for two uninvited guests who are all dressed up with nowhere to go.
Mark Jenkinson, like many busy directors whose projects were all abruptly cancelled, found himself at home in lockdown London with no shoots to prep, locations to scout or planes to catch and rather than sitting around playing video games, he thought he’d shoot a short film. The challenge was that he didn’t have a writer, actors or anyone to cast them, access to any locations or indeed any crew or equipment. But he did have an idea - and so, he wrote it down with his girlfriend - with some strict lockdown rules: It would have to be homemade... Literally: With no actors, they’d have to act in it themselves. With no locations available, it would have to take place in their house - and as a bonus, it could also have a scene in their new house which was an empty wreck. For the crew, along with longtime Rogue producer Tom Farley and 10/3 editor Quin Williams (whose wife also wrote and played the music in her kitchen) , he got 8 of his friends who’d worked with him many times before to form a skeleton crew to shoot it over two days - and all of this had to be done in a week before the builders moved in to demolish his house. Panavision came to the rescue with all the equipment - and PPE, which at that point was as rare as hens teeth, was hurriedly scrabbled together for everyone involved the day before.
Not only did they manage to pull it off, but all the restrictions are part of the fun of this unique 8 minute tale of a couple - who look very similar to Mark and his girlfriend Lily - and their tale of how they wouldn’t let ‘the new normal’ stop them doing what they love doing… Which is what Mark and his crew proved too.
Mark says “It was a real challenge to see if I could pull off directing, writing and acting in something that had to be done so quickly… The fact that we managed it is firstly down to Lily who’d never been on a film set before, let alone acted - and the small but brilliant group of craftspeople who all jumped at the opportunity to come together and collaborate on something that was fun, spontaneous and epitomised the moment that we’ve all gone through. It was also a reminder of how much we love this industry and what we can achieve with very little but a great team and an ambition to get out there and make something”.
Find Mark on his website - http://www.markjenkinson.tv
Instagram @therealmarky
"Schism" by Valerie Steinberg and Jack McDonald
From Valerie:
"SCHISM is a meditation on identity, self-sufficiency, and connectivity. It was inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s Persona (1967), as well as Maya Deren’s short film Meshes of the Afternoon (1943), which was shot in the same Hollywood Hills neighborhood almost 80 years ago. In Schism, the protagonist undergoes a schism as she divides into two identities, but she also experiences a convergence: with the natural world, and with her sense of self. Likewise, the global pandemic has caused a schism in our society as we are forced to remain distanced from one another, but it has also empowered us to find new ways to unite, to acknowledge habituated patterns, and to fight for change in the world around us. The film is a collaboration between Valerie Steinberg (who generally works as a producer) and Jack McDonald (who generally works as a cinematographer). When lockdown arrived, we took the constraints as a challenge to do something we'd never done before: work together to make a film entirely on our own, serving as the writers, directors, actors, and editors (with Jack as DOP, and Valerie as producer). The film was chosen as a finalist for the Soho House shorts competition and took home second place. It also won the award for Best Quarantine Film at the Frostbite International Film Festival.
You can find out more about our work at www.valeriesteinberg.com and www.jackmcdonald.me.
Find us on Instagram: @valerierockhill and @jmcdop
Comments