Our new partners for 2018 are Florence’s FilmCorti Festival which holds annual screenings of live-action short films every June and a specialised animation programme each October.
The short film festival is in it’s 5th year and specialises in screening films previously never shown in Italy, while making awards for the best films screened at each event. The festival also partners Slovakia’s Fest Anca International Animation Festival among others and screens between June 14 to June 17 2018. We’re naturally delighted to be asked to bring a programme of some of our Scots, UK and International shorts to audiences in Florence!
The event is scheduled for Friday 15th June and the programme we’ve selected for screening in Florence represents a broad range of films which were Official Selections at the 2017 Edinburgh Short Film Festival:
Danial Lundh’s PEOPLE IN CARS an honest and sometimes painful document of everyday lives, winner of Short of the Week Film of the Month award and previously screened at the Gothenburg Int. Film Festival.
Alia Ghafar’s Scottish short SALT & SAUCE which won the ESFF Rising Star Award 2017, a light-hearted drama that follows Tammy, a girl stuck in a post high-school limbo. While she tries to figure out what to do next with her life, she has no choice but to work in the family chip-shop.
Roozbeh Misaghi’s wonderfully played and confidently directed, Iranian neo-noir TURQUOISE, Depicts life in a rural Iranian village is turned upside down by a rumour that there is a concealed treasure box, hidden somewhere in the village which promises to make the finder prosperous.
We’re also pleased to show Kristian Haskjold’s FOREVER NOW, an improvised tour-de-force that won best short film at SXSW, expertly edited and sympathetically directed. After several years together, William and Cecilie break up. The same night, to treat the sorrow with love, they decide to do the drug MDMA together. The film is a roller-coaster ride of the emotions.
Another strong Scottish doc, OOR WALLY by perennial ESFF favourite Martin Lennon, is a light-hearted documentary short film that follows Scotland’s most unique mascot Wally the Warrior across an eventful football season. Wally also happens to be Eleanor, a mother of eight and and granny of seven. Previously screened at the Pennine Film Festival among many others, Martin Lennon’s charming and delightful character-based docs have been very popular with audiences in Edinburgh.
Niamh McKeown’s comedy GOOD GIRLS won Best Short Film at the 2018 Belfast Film Festival. A darkly ironic comedy with shades of Wes Anderson, Edinburgh-shot Good Girls follows Bonnie, Pinkman’s finest student and head girl takes us on a tour of her school as she tries to round up the school captains in time for the school photo.
We like a bit of sci-fi at the ESFF and THE FISHERMAN by Alejandro Suárez Lozano, is a A gripping and terrifically paced sci fi horror that combines elements of Jaws and Alien and ratchets up the tensions skilfully. Previously screened at the Brussels Festival of Fantasia, The Buffalo International Film Festival and Fantastic Zagreb. Mr Wong is a third generation fisherman in Hong Kong, struggling to keep this tradition alive. One night, he decides to leave the crowded waters of Victoria Harbour, and fish in calmer waters. His luck changes when he catches something that does not belong to this world.
