Shorts Program – BC Based Emerging Filmmakers
RECONFIGURING THE REAL
Friday, Sept 13 at 5:45 PM
The Cinematheque
Guests in Attendance: Sara Galvis, Maria Sarem, Kai Lium-Hall & Adrian Hoz
Running time: 55 min
VLAFF Membership required
COSMIC LOVE
Dir. Maria Clara Sarem
Vancouver/Brazil | 2024 | English | 6 min
Through the use of spoken word poetry and contemporary dance, we follow the love story of Elizabeth and Jules. The couple meets by fate and falls in love, exploring the fragile early stages of the relationship until they are fully in sync and dancing to the rhythm of their connection. However, as time passes, they become out of sync and see their relationship falling apart, despite their strong attraction. In the end, letting go of each other and accepting the ephemeral nature of the relationship requires great effort from both of them.
Maria Clara Sarem, an emerging film director from Brazil, with international experiences in Japan and Canada, incorporates her multicultural and interdisciplinary background to bring a fresh and innovative approach to storytelling. Committed to promoting diversity and representation, Maria addresses themes of gender and race and focuses on exploring personal narratives and social topics while celebrating the complexity and beauty of the human experience.
THE PERFORMANCE
Dir. Kai Lium-Hall
Victoria | 2024 | English & Spanish with English subtitles | 12 min
Although he is beginning to make money from his craft, Daniel is unsatisfied with what awaits him as a professional actor. This disappointment has resulted in a creative slump, leaving him little motivation to pursue the things in life he actually enjoys. As a result, his best friend Hector conceives a plan he hopes will reignite Daniel’s passion for performance. Daniel takes to the idea with such intensity that it begins to drive a wedge in their relationship. Hector, feeling excluded from the very idea he proposed, forces Daniel to question what’s truly important in his life.
Kai Lium-Hall grew up in Victoria BC where he bounced between studying economics and fashion design. Following the completion of his program he pivoted in the direction of visual arts, in the forms of painting, photography, and video art. It was the culmination of these interests which finally led him to film.
Dir. Sara Jael Galvis Vera
Vancouver/Colombia | 2024 | Spanish with subtitles | 18 min
Azai, an introspective teenager, and her annoying younger brother Antonio anxiously await the arrival of their parents while spending holidays with their relatives. Antonio seeks to spend time with Azai, but she constantly avoids him as she tries to hide the fact that their parents are getting divorced. Frustrated, Antonio unleashes a family fight.
Sara Jael Galvis Vera, a Colombian film and television director, stands out for addressing family dynamics from a feminine perspective. Her documentary “Watercolor of my Childhood” explored moral dilemmas of young individuals and their relationships with their mothers, gaining recognition at international festivals. “Azai” is her first fiction work funded by Proimagenes Colombia. She gained experience at Evidencia Films, where she developed an interest in directing actors.
DOG SOUP
Dir. Patricio Alonso Cartas Lopez
Vancouver/Mexico | 2024 | English | 19 min
When facing hunger and fighting to survive, a pack of wild street dogs gets caught painting graffiti, the youngest member (Adr) is kidnapped and taken to an animal shelter, subsequently, she is sold to a veterinarian student to use her corpse as a field to study her anatomy. The pack adventures into an unjust landscape of violent oddities to save her. The limbo of living or dying is always a plausible possibility inside the sisters’ reality.
In the meantime, Lonzo, a rising cooking show host, struggles to follow the robotic instructions his job demands. His commentary as he cooks is passionate when delivering political messages of well-being to the viewers. Since he does not follow the script his job demands, this compromises his job. What he doesn’t know is that the supposed tofu he is cooking is actually dog meat, specifically Adr’s.
After many fights the pack tracks down the two officers who initially took their sister, Eli fights to death to avenge her sister, successfully killing the police officers. Heartbroken, the rest of the pack make their way through the lucid city, finally they stop outside of the TV show cooking building. Where they are offered a bag of “tofu” that was leftover from the cooking show.
Patricio Alonso Cartas Lopez is a Mexican/Canadian multidisciplinary artist. He currently resides in Mexico City where he works as a photographer and camera operator in independent and commercial productions. He is a graduate from the film program at “Emily Carr University of Art and Design”.