French Short Film Series
Fiction/Documentary. Program B, New York, 10/27/2000, Cantor Film Center.
Shorts directed by Rachel Tilloston (1998), Christophe Loizillon (1997), Faouzi Bensaidi (2000), Hugues Poulain (1999), Danielle Arbid (1999), Serge Avédikian & Levon Minassian (1999), Fred Cavayé (1999), Olivier L. Brunet (1999).
In French, with subtitles, 98 minutes.

For its second year in New York, the French Short Film Series has once again offered New Yorkers quality foreign short films.

The curator, Maeva Aubert, selected what she considers to be the highlights of French short movies from the four past years and divided these into two programs which alternate fiction and documentary. The series' aim is to give the viewer a broad perspective of the current French filmmaking. The eclectic selection favored movies that did not belong to specific genres, mixing fiction, documentary and experimental genres. The carefully thought-out sequence in which they are presented lends a distinctive rhythm to the whole program.

The most interesting aspect of this series, besides the opportunity of learning about the current trends in French filmmaking, is the variety of genres that are shown. Each short film has its own characteristics - a strong rhythm, a clever story line, or a poetic visual rendering. Since the same type of film is not shown over and over again, the program sustains the viewer's interest. Each picture succeeds in its own specific way as a short film by conveying a message, or a feeling, in a very short time. None of these movies feel like the same old, same old: either the content offers a new perspective on a subject, or the manner in which the message is presented is innovative. But some scenes would have benefited from the expression "less is more". The Wall by Faouzi Bensaidi, for example, a continuous stationary shot of a wall and of the people wandering in or out of the camera's frame offers an engaging viewpoint on life. Dramatic, ordinary, comic, even religious events occur in front of this wall. Unfortunately, they are too numerous and tend to become farfetched towards the end. In Fanny's wedding by Olivier Brunet and Antoine Martin, the poetic narrative in voice-over tends to become affected at times, breaking the dramatic intensity. Greater simplicity would have been more effective. But this can also be interpreted as being part of cultural trends, specific to storytelling in different cultures.

A strong point of the series is how well it illustrates France's ethnicity, the positive and negative interactions that take place in this cultural melting pot. The Ferryman by Danièle Arbid, set in a classical narrative structure, is a powerful and poetic representation of relations between people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Tokyo in Bolex by Hugues Poulain captures a postcard image of Japan's capital, by alternating flashes of movement, images and strong colors, which are reminiscent of Japanese cartoons, with duller images of hard working men in the fish markets.

One minor drawback is that the quality of the translations is not maintained throughout the program. Lux Aeterna, by Serge Avédikian and Levon Minassian, is a documentary, shot moments after the Armenian earthquake. Only at the end does the viewer learn what the images relate to, what happened and where it occurred, but this explanation is not translated into English. This knowledge is not essential, but would help the viewer get a better understanding of the documentary. Overall however, the translations are remarkably thorough, especially those of Fanny's wedding, with its elaborate narrative, or The Hands by Christophe Loizillon.

On the whole, this year's French Short Film Series was an entertaining and original program that offered a fascinating look at current French filmmaking and France's multicultural heritage.

© Briana Berg, 2000