London Short Film Festival 2018: A vast display of talent from all four corners of the globe

Celebrating its 15^th year of success, the London Short Film Festival is now well established in the city’s cultural calendar. Spanning across ten picture-packed days, LSFF showcased a vast display of talent this year from all four corners of the globe, as well as hosting a variety of intriguing industry events. If you missed any of these, fear not as the ICA is hosting a Best Of event from 27^th until 30^th January. Here are some of the highlights from 2018’s festival.

Brexit Shorts

Remaining a controversial topic of discussion, Brexit continues to divide the nation both politically and socially. A series of shorts commissioned by the collaborative forces of The Guardian and Headlong Theatre provide a platform that gives voice to all sides of the argument, both Leave and Remain. Writers such as Abi Morgan and A L Kennedy wrote scripts visualising the popular controversies dominating social media, with Kristin Scott Thomas and Steffan Rhodri being among the talented performers. The screening was followed by a panel discussion between Jess Gormley and Noah Payne-Frank from The Guardian, Amy Hodge from Headlong and A L Kennedy, who deliberated on the need to portray such opinions in a filmic setting. The set of shorts are currently available to watch on The Guardian’s website.  

In Passing

As well as being a major platform for UK Independent Film, LSFF has branched out internationally to deliver global perspectives on a variety of themes. The In Passing screening focused on films that combined a sense of time and loss, with shorts such as Sophy Romvari’s It’s Him and Jodilerks Dela Cruz’s film Employee of the Month representing the acme of talent across the board. The blend of surrealism and slice of life in the programme symbolise the cosmic array of cinematic styles around the world, proving that it is not just Western film that excels artistically.

Women in the Industry

The portrayal of women in film is forever subject to public scrutiny, yet the representation of women behind the scenes is not often recognised outside of cinematic circles. So Mayer (Club Des Femmes), Jemma Desai (I am Dora), Olivia Howe and Anna Bogutskaya (The Final Girls) spoke about their experiences in the industry and the recent boom in feminist programming. It was all bums on seats at Hackney’s Moth Club as we listened and related with the present issues of female representation and the ongoing battle for equality in a field that should reflect its diverse capability.

Chloe Sizer