Thanks to the collaboration of the British Council, four of the films were introduced by their directors
In addition, during an exhibition session, the audience had the opportunity to see three shorts by Alfred Hitchcock, Ridley Scott and Sally Potter
The director of the British Council in Spain, Mark Howard; The managing director of Badalona Comunicació, Josep Viñeta Balsells; and Marta Grifols.
The FILMETS Badalona Film Festival today enjoyed an evening of premieres with the screening of the short films presented at this year’s BAFTAs, the prestigious awards of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, which were announced on 10 February at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
During the presentation of the Focus UK session, the director of the British Council in Spain, Mark Howard, explained that ‘there is a need today for dialogue and understanding between people around the world, and the bridges created by culture, as is the case with FILMETS, are fundamental to achieving that understanding’. He concluded by saying that ‘the short films being shown today in Badalona from the BAFTA Awards are windows that will allow the audience to dream and try to understand what is happening in the world’.
The mayor of Badalona, Álex Pastor, explained that ‘FILMETS projects the city of Badalona to the whole world by presenting the best short films from world cinema’.
The managing director of Badalona Comunicació, Josep Viñeta Balsells, expressed his gratitude to the British Council for its commitment to the festival and added that ‘by making the United Kingdom this year’s guest country, we are settling a debt with a country without which the cinema that has been made and is made throughout the world would not be understood’.
Thanks to the collaboration of the British Council, FILMETS showed for the first time in Catalonia the two short film winners from the 2019 BAFTA Awards, namely:
– 73 cows: Winner of Best Short Film. A 15-minute short film directed by Alex Lockwood. A farmer struggles with his conscience every time he takes his cows to the slaughterhouse because he knows he must make a change.
– Roughhouse: Winner of Best Short Animation. A 16-minute short animation written, directed and produced by Jonathan Hodgson and also produced by Richard Van den Boom. When three teenage friends meet a strange but charismatic character, their loyalty is torn apart with terrible consequences.
The six BAFTA short film nominees
The session also included the screening for the first time in Catalonia of the six other BAFTA short film nominees:
– Bachelor, 38: Produced and directed by Angela Clarke, this 16-minute short tells the long-lasting love story of a man living in London.
– The Blue Door: Directed by Paul Taylor, and written and produced by Ben Clark and Megan Pugh, this 9-minute short film shows how Clare, a kind and caring nurse, opens the door to her new job, but perhaps it would be better to leave some doors closed.
– The Field: Written and directed by Sandhya Suri and produced by Thomas Bidegain and Balthazar de Ganay, this 19-minute short tells a story that takes place among the corn fields of Shahzadpur, in the realm of the senses.
– Wale: Written and directed by Barnaby Blackburn and produced by Sophie Alexander, Catherine Slater and Edward Speleers, this 20-minute short film raises a fundamental question: Is it possible to start again in such a rotten world?
– I’m OK: This animated short was directed and produced by Elizabeth Hobbs and also produced by Abigail Addison and Jelena Popovic. A 6-minute short film, inspired by the life and work of the artist Oscar Kokoschka, that explores the wounds caused by anguish and trauma.
– Marfa: This animated short was made by director and animator Greg McLeod and director and writer Myles McLeod. An 8-minute film that presents an existential trip to a city in western Texas.
The session concluded with the participation of some of the directors of the shorts: Paul Taylor (The Blue Door), Angela Clarke (Bachelor, 38), Abigail Addison (I’m OK), and Greg McLeod (Marfa).
‘UK Geniuses’ featured shorts by Hitchcock, Scott and Potter
Beforehand, under the name ‘UK Geniuses’, the audience of the FILMETS Badalona Film Festival was able to see works by Alfred Hitchcock, Ridley Scott and Sally Potter that are scarcely known. That is to say their forays into the short film genre.
During the ‘UK Geniuses’ session, the following short films were screened:
- Aventure Malgache by Alfred Hitchcock
- Boy and Bicycle by Ridley Scott
- The London Story by Sally Potter
Films included in the ‘UK Geniuses’ session
- Aventure Malgache by Alfred Hitchcock
Directed in 1944, this short film is a 31-minute thriller shot in French.
Synopsis: A French resistance fighter reveals to his lover secrets that she later passes on to the Vichy authorities. The plot focuses on the discord between the French when they dealt with matters related to the German army and the complex situation of Vichy collaborators in Madagascar.
- Boy and Bicycle by Ridley Scott
Filmed in 1965, this short is a 25-minute drama with music by John Barry.
Synopsis: The boy who is the protagonist of the film is Tony Scott, the younger brother of Ridley, who later became a director and committed suicide in 2012 at the age of 68 by jumping off a bridge.
Shot in West Hartlepool and Seaton Carew, Boy and Bicycle is about a schoolboy who spends a day away from school, cycling around the factory sites and deserted beach of his city, as if he were the only living being in the world.
- The London Story by Sally Potter
Filmed in 1986, this 15-minute short film is a spy parody humorously choreographed and shot in the most famous and popular places in London.
Synopsis: The plot revolves around the unlikely alliance between three eccentric characters with the mission of overthrowing the British government. It is an anti-Margaret Thatcher satire and parody of Hollywood productions, choreographed to the strains of Sergei Prokofiev’s famous ballet, Romeo and Juliet.
