Category: BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM ARFF Paris 2023

Original Film Title: Carbon Copy

Director’s Name: Derrick Chan-Sew

Writer`s Name: Derrick Chan-Sew

Producer: Derrick Chan-Sew

Country of Filming: United States

Runtime: 3 minutes 19 seconds

Film Description:

Carbon Copy recently won both the Grand Prize and Best Video at the Cal Performances’ Illuminations “Human and Machine” 2022-2023 Song Contest series. The film is a new media exploration in uploading human consciousness to the cloud. The subject’s memories and life experiences are on display as they are transformed into the digital realm. The film score parallels this conversion through the evolution of analog to digital instrumentation, eventually resolving in the cathartic moment of body death.

The film challenges viewers to think deeply about the implications of technology and its impact on our lives. As brain-machine technology matures and gains popularity, it raises questions about transhumanism: what it means to be human, and what happens to our identities when we leave our physical bodies behind.

All aspects of the film and music were crafted using generative AI with natural language processing, neural networks and deep learning techniques. I used a highly constrained human-in-the-loop process where unadulterated video and music output was used. More abstractly, it could be imagined that this is a piece of work that the subject would create recursively, post digital conversion.

Original Film Title: Where is She

Director’s Name: Laragh McCann

Writer`s Name: Laragh McCann

Producer: Rachel Murray, Emma Hodges

Country of Origin: Ireland

Country of Filming: Ireland

Language: English

Runtime: 8 minutes 40 seconds

Film Description:

Short spoken word film investigating the interconnection of the feminine and the planet through the eyes of a teen protagonist.

Original Film Title: More Than Welcome

Director’s Name: Wen Ou

Producer: Wen Ou

Country of Origin: United States

Runtime: 2 minutes

Film Description:

More Than Welcome is a 16mm analogue film that focuses on the struggle and lost of young Asian woman. It visualizes their painful consciousness of being caught in between cultural value and self value. This short experimental film stands by its own but also functions as a concept/visual trailer of a later narrative short film called 7th Night directed by the same director.

Original Film Title: Háldi

Director’s Name: Ann Holmgren

Producer: Ingvild Evjemo, Mathis Ståle Mathisen

Country of Origin: Norway

Country of Filming: Norway

Language: Other

Runtime: 4 minutes 50 seconds

Film Description:

Háldi is a unique Sámi short film in created in the boundaries of film and music. A film by director Ann Holmgren and composer & actor Mette Henriette.

The film evolves around a Sámi underground world where you can get inspiration and power. In this world Háldi is all living being’s guardian helper. The film focuses on the unity and power of female relations in Sami tradition and mythology.

Original Film Title: Lion of Judah Legacy Movie

Director’s Name: June Daguiso

Writer’s Name: Francis E Anderson

Producer: Francis E Anderson

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 1 hour 36 minutes 40 seconds

Film Description:

Marly, a socially awkward 40-something office drone with subdued daddy abandonment issues learns from a spiritual being that his estranged mother is sick back in Jamaica. He must return home to her side to uncover his legacy, begin his own personal hero’s journey, changing his fate, and, perhaps, the fate of the world as we know it. The legendary comedic origin saga of the first middle aged plus size Pan African Caribbean Latinx superhero! Ras-fyah!

Original Film Title: RUM 444

Director’s Name: Isabela Costa

Country of Origin: Brazil

Runtime: 12 minutes 28 seconds

Film Description:

A lonely young woman belongs more to the sea universe than to the human world.

Original Film Title: RUM 444

Director’s Name: Peter Svenzon

Writer’s Name: Falk Richter, Lars Norén

Producer: Peter Svenzon

Country of Origin: Sweden

Country of Filming: Sweden

Language: English, Swedish

Runtime: 16 minutes

Film Description:

A dance piece for film. An international collaboration with the dance artists and playwrights Lars Noren and Falk Richter who have shared their texts…

” Where do I belong
Who do I referent to when I talk about I
Who am I
To whom or to what does this I belong
What defines you
What makes u recognisable
What do you want people to identify you as
So that people understand who you are
I want to Reboot Restart
Europe can be so claustrophobic”
/Falk Richter

Original Film Title: OO

Director’s Name: Kwan Yeung Tang

Writer’s Name: Kwan Yeung Tang

Producer: Hoi Ching Lai

Country of Origin: Hong Kong

Country of Filming: Hong Kong

Runtime: 5 minutes 50 seconds

Film Description:

For Forever Bound, we wanted to explore the theme of fate’s adversarial role in a relationship, how destiny, if you believe in such a thing, plays an important role in how our lives turn out. It’s an exciting challenge solving the puzzle of how we are able to communicate such a personal, and yet universally experienced, stage in life. Our aim is that through both action and costume we will be able to artistically portray the inception of a separating thought, consequent tensions, and ultimately the final relief and acceptance of such a painful truth.

Original Film Title: Dolores, A Triptych

Director’s Name: Gina Ann Margillo

Producer: Gina Ann Margillo

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Runtime: 7 minutes 17 seconds

Film Description:

Dressed in her clothing and using improvised movement, three dancers channel the complex spirit of Dolores Eugenia, the filmmaker’s deceased mother, in an effort to exorcise demons, celebrate her life force, and process grief.

Original Film Title: Mystery of Art

Director of Photography: Andy González

Director’s Name: Mateo Padula

Writer’s Name: endangerhood

Producer: endangerhood

Country of Origin: Argentina

Country of Filming: Argentina

Runtime: 3 minutes 56 seconds

Film Description:

A meditation on how adding a little mystery can help your life