Short – New Zealand / Scottish Première (Abiogenesis)
Short – UK / Scottish Première (A Morning Stroll)

Abiogenesis: Showing @ Filmhouse 3, Sat 30 Jun @ 12.00 & Sun 1 Jul @ 15.15
A Morning Stroll: Showing @ Cameo 1, Sun 24 Jun @ 15.10

Richard Mans / New Zealand / 2011 / 4 min 20 sec
Grant Orchard / UK / 2011 / 6 min 47 sec

Abiogenesis:
A Morning Stroll:

In many ways, these two short films are worlds apart – quite literally. Abiogenesis sees a galactic A.I. machine crash land on a foreign planet to transform the waste and sewage into plant life; A Morning Stroll however shows a businessman’s surprise as a plump chicken saunters past him in the street.

But they’re both about shifting paradigms. Abiogenesis shows an encouraging glimpse into a semi sci-fi future which sees sewage and bacteria harnessed as renewable energy sources. A Morning Stroll skips forward from 1959 to 2009, and on to 2059, to display the different degrees of shock as our reactions become numbed by social alienation and reification. The computer-game graphics of Abiogenesis contribute to its geeky animation and subject matter, as the machine disassembles itself and reorganises into different shapes and sizes; meanwhile the stickman-type, pencilled drawing of A Morning Stroll retains the authenticity of the story’s birth in a 1986 New York Times Literary Review by Casper G. Clausen. This short is the more interesting of the two, though Abiogenesis’ animation is far superior. Both detail how our attitudes can and, to an extent, must change if we are to advance new values in future civilisations.