MY CITY

This short film is by Fraser Murdoch. It was the winner of the Fife Independant Film Expo in 2015 for Best Animation, and was selected by Ickle Film Festival in 2012. Starring Brian Cox as one of the three aristocratic powerhouses, ‘My City’ is uniquely told. Using animation and studies in cinematic storytelling, the audience is provided with different points of views. The visuals represent a melancholic and nostalgic reminiscence of Lloyd Fudlegh’s controversial career and romantic life, whilst the voice over of the journalist represents the domineering influence of the media.

OTHERHALF AND FUGU & TAKO

Starting his career as an architect, Ben West is now an award-winning film maker specialising in visual effects. Developing cutting edge techniques, he has been visual effects supervisor at Academy Award winning studios Framestore and his films have been screened at the Comic Con International in 2015 and 2017. This evening we’ll be screening two films by Ben West, ‘OTHERHALF’ and ‘FUGU & TAKO’.

‘OTHERHALF’ is a short film about a man who breaks up with himself. After his legs walk out on his body, he visits a therapist to try and find a way to put himself back together.

Following, ‘FUGU & TAKO’ is a film about two Japanese salarymen who after becoming fish mutants, must battle against their own ineptitude, a legion of yakuza, and a Godzilla-like monster in an epic journey to find the one person who can return them to normal, the Sushi Chef who transformed them.

MY STUFFED GRANNY

Released in 2014, ‘My Stuffed Granny’ was directed and filmed by Effie Pappa and won both the McLaren award for Best British Animation and the Best International Student Award at the Montreal World Film Festival in 2014. This short film is a stop frame, puppet animation which depicts hope during the Greek socio-political and economic crisis. It is about a young girl Sofía who lives in Greece with Father and Granny. Father lost his job and Granny’s small pension is not enough to quench Granny’s seemingly endless appetite. Little Sofía comes up with a plan to help her Father feed Granny and decides to grow her own plants. This soon proves to be a little bit more difficult than she had originally planned. Will Sofia be able to turn her family’s fortune?

ASH TO ART

In light of the recent tragic events at Glasgow School of Art this short film seems especially poignant. In 2014, The Glasgow School of Art’s Mackintosh building, a symbol of British art, was reduced to ash. This film by Sharon Liu is a charcoal animation using ash salvaged from the fire and documents the Ash to Art project which transformed the worthless by-product of the first fire into 25 priceless works of art. 25 world-famous artists including Grayson Perry, David Shrigley and Sir Antony Gormley were asked to turn a piece of charcoal salvaged from the Mackintosh Building fire into art. The work was auctioned then auctioned to fund the rebuild.

BLADERUNNER 2049

Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what’s left of society into chaos. K’s discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard, a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years. Blade Runner 2049 won two awards at this years Oscars for Best Achievement in Cinematography and Best Achievement in Visual Effects along with a BAFTA for Best Cinematography.