Shorts Competition Program 6: Seens

Running time: N/A

Ranging from action-packed to the fantastic to the quotidian, this collection of short films spans a range of emotions and visual styles. Wood Diary is a beautiful look at the everyday life of an outsider artist; a routine that makes a ritual of creativity. Music, to this film, is as important as the stark winter imagery. From Romania, A Lineman?s Cabin takes place along the tracks, in the wide open spaces and farmland next to the Black Sea. The high point of a lineman?s day is betting where the daily mail sack will hit when chucked from the train?that is until a stranger has an accident nearby. A boy looks to an improbable side-of-the-road ringmaster to try out a new set of parents. Life Ride is a bizarre, allegorical story open to many interpretations. Transaction is just that; a stark examination of the exchange of money and emotion by Cinequest veteran Jacques Thelemaque. Chess become active when a chess master is pursued by a strangely confident, new and persistent challenger. It is all part of the game. Hiro take the fish-out-of-water prototype and substitutes rare scarab beetles in a smuggling scam in Vancouver. A meek Japanese entomologist finds himself having to play the hero when the action gets out of hand.

Bill Maxey

Wood Diary - dir. David Meyers
A Lineman's Cabin - dir. Constantin Popescu
Life Ride - dir. Lance Slaton
Transaction - dir. Jacques Thelemaque
The King Hunt - dir. Justin Simms
Hiro - dir. Matthew Swanson