The best family days out in London and beyond rated by kids and teens
Published: 10th February 2022
This past February I had the good fortune to be able to attend the BFI Future Film festival. This festival takes place in London and is open to submissions from people aged 16 to 25, who present their work.
Attendees get to view these films, as well as educational classes offered by movie professionals. At the end of the festival, films are given awards (see below).
During the course of the event, I watched some short films and attended four different presentations during the course of the festival.
The first one I saw, “ScreenLife”, discussed the technique of making a film using only a computer screen. The recording takes place on the computer as well as the action and some notable films that have used this technique are Unfriended and Searching.
During the course of the event, I watched some short films and attended four different presentations during the course of the festival.
The first one I saw, “ScreenLife”, discussed the technique of making a film using only a computer screen. The recording takes place on the computer as well as the action and some notable films that have used this technique are Unfriended and Searching.
The director Timur Bekmambetov led this presentation and he was the person who first introduced the screen life technique to Hollywood. He produced Unfriended, Unfriended Dark Web and Searched and he emphasised that he believed this technique could be further evolved in the future.
Timur Bekmambetov
The talk was engaging, particularly when it discussed some of the challenges that are faced when bringing certain genres into this style (e.g action, romance, etc.).
The second presentation was “Fighting On Film” and it focused on how filmmakers use camera angles and special effects to reduce the use of stunts in fight scenes.
This presentation was interesting, though I thought the techniques it described had more to do with theatre than movies.
The third class I attended was called “What Video Essays Can Teach You About Filmmaking”.
A video essay is a video explaining a topic through narration, storytelling and/or visual examples. Some examples of these would be movie reviews videos, summary videos, and historical videos. Listening to the presenter as they told us how these can teach you about cinematography, editing and storytelling was fascinating.
The final presentation was the one I found most exciting. It was “Pixar’s Turning Red: Meet the Filmmakers” with the film’s director Domee Shi, and the producer, Lindsey Collins.
They discussed the process of making the film as well as the challenges they faced and changes they made along the way. It was very engaging and gave me a real insight into both the film and Pixar’s process.
While I watched all 50 of the short films, I’ve chosen the 10 I thought were the best and reviewed them below:
Suburb
This short follows a group of foxes who roam around an abandoned neighborhood with a beautiful melancholy accompaniment in the background.
Stellar, astonishing, atmospheric art, animation and music BUT sadly empty when it comes to story and characters.
7.4/10
Lone Wolves
A strained relationship between a father and a son takes a dark turn when the former realises the latter is involved with dangerous people.
Masterful acting, timely topics and exceptional cinematography highlight an amazing and disturbing character drama between father and son.
9.6/10
Stolen
This short is an animated poem regarding the emotions gone through with having your belongings stolen.
Animated poem has curiosity, sadness, anger, and happiness all brilliantly conveyed in under 3 minutes.
8.8/10
Papillons Dans Le Ventre (Butterflies in the Stomach)
A cafe owner works hard to impress their customers but they start to struggle after meeting a beautiful lady.
Simple, appealing animation hides a funny, layered and heartwarming story about the scariness of first love.
8.5/10
Nestor
A sailor on a boat has a strict order to things, however everything starts to go wrong when he’s caught in the middle of a storm.
Despite having beautiful animation and a deep story about anxiety and panic attacks, its disturbing realism of the topic and its creepy use of sound may make it difficult to watch more than once.
8.3/100
Fart Car
A man suffering a recent death of a family member, talks to the audience about his life experiences to cope.
A personal, 4th wall-breaking story about love, death, grief and pain has outstanding acting and message.
8.6./10
Exhale
From multiple povs, we see the pain and fear that something bad to happen to them because they’re black.
This horror short about racism brilliantly uses lighting and sound to evoke the sense of being in a theater production and to encapsulate the fear of being deemed a threat by others.
8.8/10
Perfect
A stickman likes to draw perfectly but when things go wrong, he will have to change his way of thinking.
Surprisingly deep and abstract ‘Harold and the Purple Crayon’ story has satisfying and appealing animation.
9/10
Backpack
A girl goes to school everyday with a broken backpack and fake friends and she begins to wonder if it is worth it.
Creepy, Disturbing and brilliantly scored black-and-white horror short has imagery that will make you shudder and tear up long after seeing it.
8.2/10
Heart Failure
A desperate man tries to make his relationship with his girlfriend last but he feels everything is going wrong.
This catchy, raunchy music video will make you laugh all the way through, despite some mixed messages.
7.6/10
The BFI holds lots of events and classes all aimed at a young audience throughout the year. If any of this interests you, make sure to check their website for details and dates about upcoming events and festivals and also how become a BFI Member.
Seb is a keen movie buff and has reviewed films for us here at KidRated
