Aesthetica Short Film Festival returns to York

Richard Claxton (@MaraidDesign) previews the upcoming Aesthetica Short Film Festival as it returns to York (November 8 – 11).

I’ve experienced many film festivals and I’ve always enjoyed the short films before the main feature. It reminds of a period of my childhood when all movies would always start with a short or a cartoon (apparently Steven Spielberg decided against the Snowman being the intro film for ET because it was too similar in plot line). A good short is an amazing thing in itself that often contains original ideas and concepts that often push the cinematic envelope and almost always made on a minuscule budget. They are a showcase for upcoming talent and a test bed for established directors to test ideas, they are also a clever small unique entity in themselves like a Japanese Haikou or a well written tweet.

With all these thoughts already in my head I was incredibly excited when I heard about the Aesthetica Short Film Festival was returning to York from 8 to 11 November. In a four day period films ranging from drama, documentary, animation, comedy, music video, thriller, experimental and artists’ film will be played throughout the city centre, offering the chance to view film in some unique locations.

As well as showing over 200 shorts from 20 different countries the festival contains several talks from industry insiders that will be interesting to both film makers as well as your average cinema goer. Some of the highlights of this part of the festival include Danny Cohen, Cinematographer on The King’s Speech and the new Les Misérables discussing his craft, Tabitha Jackson, Channel 4’s Commissioning Editor talking about television and the visual arts, and also Chris Jones, the author of the incredibly influential Guerilla Film Makers Handbook will be giving, what I believe, will be the most practical and useful of the talks for any budding film makers.

To celebrate the fact that Sheffield’s Warp films is 10 years old the festival have helped to select a series of Warps early short films, as well the more recent The Organ Grinder’s Monkey by Jake & Dinos Chapman into a package together. When seen together you suddenly realise how important Warp have become in such a short space of time for the film industry in this country and if you have never seen Chis Cunningham’s Rubber Johnny then this is a great opportunity for you!

Out of the several strands that will be running throughout the festival the ones that I’m more drawn to most are the artist and experimental films. It is rare for a film festival in this country to embrace and celebrate art films in such a positive way and ASFF should be supported for doing so. Films being shown include the work by David Jacques, winner of the Liverpool Art Prize 2010, Norwegian born Linn Karen Foerland whose Come To Heaven Of Hearts (pictured), and the award winning Ely by Andrea Dojmi and Lorenzo Bona.

When I asked Grace Henderson from ASFF about these strands, she talked about the importance of visual art to the Aesthetica Magazine and how this follows through into the festival.

“The primary focus of Aesthetica Magazine is visual art, so it made sense to place emphasis on this in the festival itself, and work with some of the fantastic organisations operating in the region, such as The Hepworth Wakefield. One of their curators, Dr Sam Lackey, is coming to lead a masterclass with the renowned artist filmmakers Ed Atkins and Patrick Ward, which will be fascinating for enthusiasts and those newer to the concept of artists’ film alike. Also, I think that showing audiences how accessible the art/experimental genre can be is part of our intention with this branch of the festival; the brilliant films on show in this section will demonstrate that this category of film can be, and is, for everyone.”

There is a huge variety of work on show throughout the four days and with the low cost tickets I believe it’s great value for money. The festival also gives you a great opportunity to get inside those York buildings you rarely have a chance to explore so take this opportunity to experience the best historical architecture the city has to offer. Grace talked about York as a location for the festival…

“We are so fortunate that York, as a location, offers so many unique and interesting spaces that we can literally turn into cinemas during the festival weekend.”

It’s great to have a contemporary cultural event in York that caters to more than the visiting tourists and the tea room crowd, and last year’s festival certainly created a buzz. It’s an atmosphere which I really looking forward to feeling again.

When looking into the future Grace talks about extending the programme of industry master classes and also embarking upon a large-scale national tour, an exciting prospect…

“It’s all about bringing these amazing films to a wider audience and increasing access to them.”

Visit the Aesthetica Short Film Festival website