A thoughtful post from @ajenkins that we're publishing to the Filminute blog. I have been a big fan of Filminute since its inception. As a filmmaker and film lover, festivals have been my source for the new, the potentially overlooked and the thought provoking films. Festivals are especially critical for supporting documentaries and I count myself fortunate for the access to documentaries that festivals like Filminute provide.
I will never forget seeing the premiere of The Crying Game at TIFF and heard the air get sucked out of the theatre from the audience’s collective gasp when the film’s secret was revealed. It’s those unforgettable moments of surprise, joy, tears, anger and wonder that festivals are all about and Filminute has been able to provide those moments every year.
What’s more impressive is the power that the films are able to convey in just sixty seconds. Filminute illustrates how filmmakers can say so much with so little. It has been said that innovation comes from constraints. Filminute provides filmmakers constraints in spades and they respond with innovative stories, approaches and truly high calibre product.
Out of the twenty-five semi-finalists, the five films that really resonated with me this year in no particular order were:
5:27 - a juxtaposition of lots of activity with little movement Dark Valley - adhering to Hitchcock’s mantra that what you don’t see is always scarier Echoes - two periods in the same life connected through a mirror Madam A. - sound and visuals married for powerful effect and a single object, a piece of barbed wire, telling so much without saying anything
I encourage you to take a few minutes, pardon the pun, and view the films. You will be provoked, touched and, most of all entertained.
Andrew Jenkins
Filmmaker in a previous life
