Saturday 24 March 2018 – 14:00
113 mins
Certificate: DFF 18
Venue: Dorking Halls
The Dorking Film Festival asked filmmakers in Surrey, the South-East and the rest of the UK to send us their short films. Here are thirteen of the best by adult filmmakers aged nineteen years or more. Find out exactly how much swearing goes into a successful advert campaign, take a stroll in the Surrey Hills with the Dryades Theatre Group’s adaptation of The Quest of the Golden Girl and help two Scots flatmates try to track down the source of an annoying humming noise. A prize will be awarded to the best film in this group at the end of the session.
Adult Short Films programme
Accountable
Director: Ross Lindgren, UK 2017, 12 mins.
In the run up to the 2017 general election an advertising agency is hired to promote the Conservative Party. The pressures piles on as the small company brainstorms itself to within an inch of its life in search of the perfect poster as it hopes to win future business. Expect lots of swearing in this The Thick of It inspired satire.
An Old Man of the Hills and the Schoolmaster’s Story
Director: Harry Pearson. UK 2017, 15 mins.
Whilst walking in the Surrey Hills a young man discovers the tale of the local wife of the squire who fell in love with a schoolmaster. The Dryades Theatre Group present a historical romance based on an early chapter from Richard Le Gallienne’s novel The Quest of the Golden Girl.
Annie Waits
Director: Marnie Paxton-Harris. UK 2017, 9 mins.
Life and love are easy to dismiss for Annie as she criticises the lives of her settled friends and watches her own relationships spin through familiar curves. If there’s something better out there then she hasn’t found it yet. Join Annie for this sharply observed comedy with shades of Fleabag and Daphne.
Antelope
Director: Ben Grace. UK, 2017, 16 mins.
A young woman attempts to reconnect with her family following a mental breakdown. Yet discharge from primary care proves to be just the first step of a hard journey for everyone. Southampton-based director Ben Grace gives his film a real sense of heart in this poignant family drama
Automata
Director: Ben Couzens. UK 2017, 8 mins.
Two lonely automatons living in a dingy apartment block struggle with showing their feelings for each other. University for the Creative Arts (UCA) in Farnham student Ben Couzens creates a mishmash world of two souls inhabiting the same space but never quite meeting in this stop motion animation.
Drone
Director: Robert Duncan. UK 2016, 13 mins.
Two flatmates fall out over the persistent droning hum that only one of them can hear. It’s the Odd Couple meets The Tomb of Ligeia with a diversion into Abel Ferrara territory in this comedy horror. After all, hell is other people.
Fred’s Shed
Director: Stephen Graves. UK 2016, 6 mins.
Find out what goes on behind closed garden shed doors. Inventor Fred is building a mysterious machine in his shed. But why won’t he let his wife Edie see what he’s cooking up? Berkshire director Stephen Graves reminds us that it’s still surprising what a man in a boiler suit with a can of WD-40 can accomplish.
Menage de Trois
Director: Saranne Bensusan. UK 2017, 3 mins.
Couples argue all the time especially over domestic duties. But would we be as sympathetic to the person doing all the cleaning if we knew exactly what she was tidying up after? 3rd Story Productions, the producers of DFF2017’s Nicola’s Shedim, present serve up another slice of scares.
Passages of October
Director: Amy Cutler. UK 2017, 6 mins.
A stretch of river in autumn, leaves floating, willows wavering and water shimmering. Amy Cutler’s artistic short film captures the wistfulness of the seasons changing. All set to a nostalgic electronic soundtrack by The Hardy Tree referencing the lost places that no longer exist.
Seeing Him
Director: Chris Jones. UK 2007, 9 mins.
Sophie and her younger lover, James, are deeply in love. But an ultimatum from Sophie’s sister challenges their relationship and forces Sophie to confront deeply uncomfortable truths.
Sid and Samantha
Director: Molly Brown. UK 2017, 3 min.
Croydon animator Molly Brown returns to the festival with her unique blend of photo montage animation and hilariously absurd observation. This time her target is the world of marine focused online dating.
Stella Erattica
Director: Ben Barton. UK 2017, 9 mins.
Take a low-fi grungy psychedelic trip into space with Folkestone filmmaker Ben Barton. Using props from David Bowie’s Blackstar music video, Barton depicts an astronauts voyage to another world. But where is this spaceman really exploring? The final frontier or the human psyche. You decide on this trip of a lifetime.
Tone Death
Director: Sinead Stoddart. UK 20017, 4 mins.
Playing a concerto to the public is stressful enough but what if you lost control of your hands! Like some dark twin to the Tom & Jerry cartoon Cat Concerto this stop-motion animation from UCA Farnham alumni Sinead Stoddart plays out the physical battle required to hit the final note.
Image from Seeing Him showing in Adult Short Films.
