Showing @ Hidden Door 2014, Edinburgh, Fri 04 Apr only @ 19:30
Before Edinburgh’s lampposts are repurposed as unwilling advertisers of the myriad shows descending in August, there are a few smaller festivals for the city’s inhabitants to enjoy. One of these is Hidden Door, a week-long artistic frolic which has opened up the Russian doll-like parade of vaults running along Market Street, filling the long empty rooms with music, art and film.
Ahead of their new programme in June, the Edinburgh Short Film Festival take over one of these caverns, curating an evening of the best of their 2013 entries. There are eleven shorts in total, with viewers dropping in and out as they choose, mumbling ‘excuse me’ and ducking the silhouette of their head below the projector.
There are a range of styles and genre’s including documentary, drama and animation, sandwiched together in an intriguing running order that saddles a black comedy starring Brian Blessed as a blood stained Santa battling a disgruntled youth, with a visually striking but intense Japanese infused mediation on death.
Highlights include Kate Sullivan’s documentary Walk Tall; a brief introduction into the importance of posture presented by gymnast and spine-straightening fanatic George. Telling about the difficulties he faced getting into the UK’s Olympic team with animated cut scenes, the 90-year-old’s combination of good humour and passion for body position makes for a kindly and homely reminder to sit up straight.
Sticking with non-fiction cinema, Emma Dove’s On Another Note peeks into the life of Scottish based artist Sarah Kenchington who recycles “junk” into quirky mechanised instruments. Frames of Kenchington in her workshop spliced with general footage of her rural grass-roots community living a low-carbon un-commoditised lifestyle, give this portrait of a somewhat eccentric artist a strong human grounding.
Isabel Peppard’s steam-punk animation Butterflies, about a girl whose dreams of being an artist are oppressed by society, has something of a Tim Burton edge. Like Corpse Bride the gothic renderings are both creepy and beautiful, and the simplicity of the film’s sentiment – to believe in your self – makes the beguiling story appropriate for all ages.
This is a very enjoyable collection of international short films, made even more atmospheric by a ramshackle mismatch of furniture huddled under the arched stonework ceiling of the Market Street vault.