Cannes and short film have a strange relationship. The best way to experience Cannes is to obtain accreditation, which gives you priority access to the screenings (over the public), as well as entry to the festival buildings. Getting accreditation by submitting a short film is much, much cheaper than any other type of access, and so the number of short films in the market, or ‘short film corner’ has rocketed year on year. However, since there’s no filtering process for shorts, the overwhelming majority of the films are pretty bad, and it takes a brave man to dive in to dig out the pearls!

This year, it seems that the ‘Sundance spirit’ has infected Cannes; by which I refer to the presence of a number of shorts directed by well-known actors (Sundance is renowned for this). The evidence:

● Cherished French actor Louis Garrel (and son of renowned director Philippe Garrel) presents Le petit tailleur in the Director’s Fortnight – a love-triangle with a whiff of the New Wave to it.

● The Kirsten Dunst-directed Bastard (her second short after Welcome which can be viewed in full here, extract below) addresses “the eerie transformation of a familiar myth when displaced to the present”, says its director. This is showing during the closing ceremony of Critics’ Week, alongside…

● James Franco’s The Clerk’s Tale, based on the poem of the same name by Spencer Reece. It’s a psychological portrait of a gay man trapped in the monotonous routine of life at a high-end menswear store – a haunting and delicately observed study in loneliness.

Showing as part of the Director’s Fortnight, Mary Last Seen by US director Sean Durkin has piqued my interest. This 14-minute tale shows us a young woman who embarks on a road trip with her boyfriend. However, a series of strange events occur on their journey, and it becomes clear that their relationship is not what she thinks and their destination is not what was promised. Take a look at the trailer below:

Shikasha by Isamu Hirabayashi from Japan seems eerily intriguing:

“There are investigators searching on a wasteland.
Imprisoned and bound by rope, a mother and child lay in darkness.
Investigators begin to dig a hole in the ground…”

Here is one of Hirabayashi’s previous shorts, Slow Dance:

Our Pick of the Best in Show

Desperation in immigration is a theme that crops up in a number of films, including Zed Crew by Noah Pink, from Zambia. The non-professional actors featured (filmed by a two-person crew)  are intent on making it as rappers in New York City, “but when they find out that getting into the United States is next to impossible, they take desperate measures to pursue their dreams”.

Included in the Cinéfondation programme, Kim Tae-Yong’s Frozen Land presents the tale of Kyung-jae and Byung-jo, who make money from smuggling illegal immigrants from China into South Korea. One day, all the stowaways, except a young woman, die while being transported in a refrigerator van. Kyung-jae and Byung-jo now have to decide whether to get rid of her or not.

The Minutes, The Hours from Cuban director Janaína Marques Ribero tells the tale of Yoli, who has always lived with her mother in a humble neighborhood of Havana. One day, a man invites her out and she decides to wait for him, resulting in her first ever rejection of her mother’s company.

Shelley by US director Andrew Wesman brings a horror-thriller element: one summer night, 14 year old Shelley impulsively commits a horrific crime. Stunned, she and her boyfriend try to comprehend what has occurred and what they should do next. Her life has changed forever.

And there’s a horror of a different kind in Blocks from Chilean Director Marialy Rivas. The short follows the story of Luchito, a 13-year-old boy, who masturbates while he obsessively contemplates Manuel, his 16-year-old neighbor, whom he can see standing by a window in an adjacent project building. The window turns into an erotic cinematographic world that awakens a curiosity in Luchito, with disastrous repercussions for Manuel.

Meanwhile in First Aid from Israeli director Yarden Karmin we have another tricky romantic situation.  A day before his wedding, Shai visits Tamar, his ex-girlfriend, for a final tempestuous encounter. When Tamar leaves him with a hickey, things get complicated!

And finally, the last film I’d be locking myself in the videothèque for is Muscles from Oz director Edward Housden. Richard’s sister Millie wants to be a world famous bodybuilder, but her strength starts to threaten Richard’s own masculinity…