As usual the week after the H. C. Andersen
Festivals here in Odense, Denmark, it was time for the Odense International
Film Festival called OFF and as it is 2018, this year it was OFF18. The
festival took place from August 28th to September 2nd.
OFF18 consisted of a little over one
hundred short films, animations and documentaries placed within five competitions:
the main competition, the Danish competition, the animation competition, the
documentary competition and the youth competition. I was especially happy to
see that the documentary competition was back again after it had been absent last
year.
Between four and seven films were screened
at a time in different “programmes” put together loosely based on themes. The
screenings took place in Odense city in different theatres within the Brandts
Cultural Centre complex as well as in Theatre Momentum that has an amazing
interior. As usual the screenings were free of charge, but you had to book
tickets in advance to be sure to get a seat. You also had to book tickets to
the “Focus” events, which this year included things as diverse as an animation
workshop, open-air screening of “Pulp Fiction”, “E.T.” and other famous feature
films, a film quiz night, Slovak animation, virtual reality experiences and
games, a Danish space pop concert and much, much more.
As usual the jury of the main competition
was purely Danish, consisting of film director Anders Refn, actor Mads Riisom
and actress Iben Hjejle. They chose the following winners:
Winners
of the main competition: The HCA Award (the
International Grand Prix): “Detainment” by Vincent Lamb, Ireland, a fictive
story based on the James Bulger case from England where two ten-year old boys
were detained by the police for abducting and murdering a toddler.
The OFF Storyteller
Award: “Haunted” by Christian Einshøj, Denmark, a
loving but dryly comical documentary about a middle-aged mother made by one of
her four sons.
The OFF Artist Award for the film with the
strongest artistic expression: “Fauve” by Jeremy Comte, Canada, about two boys
engulfed in a power game on the edge of a mining plant.
The jury of the Danish competition was also
largely Danish, although it used to be mainly international. It consisted of
Danish director Heidi Maria Faisst, Danish director Ulaa Salim and Shorts
Programmer for Tribeca Film Festival, Ben Thompson. Their picks were:
Winners
of the Danish competition: Best Danish Short Film: “Maja”
by Marljana Jankovic about a six-year old immigrant girl from Serbia who has
only recently arrived in Denmark.
The FilmFyn Talent Award: ”Haunted” by
Christian Einshøj – see “The OFF Storyteller Award” mentioned above.
The jury of the animation competition
consisted of the Danish animation director Ida Andreasen, the Danish visual
effects supervisor Jonas Wagner and the Slovak festival coordinator at the
Academy of Performing Arts, Film and Television Faculty in Bratislava,
Alexandra Gabrižová. They chose
these:
Winners of the animation competition: The Børge Ring Award for the best animated film: “The Night of the
Plastic Bags” by Gabriel Harel, France, about whether or not to have children
in a world full of plastic.
The Animation
Talent Award (Danish filmmakers only): “Egg” by Martina Scarpelli about eating
disorders.
The jury of the
documentary competition was made up by Danish journalist Anders Agger, Danish
documentary consultant at the Danish Film Institute Cecilia Lidin and
London-based director Eva Weber. Their picks were:
Winners of the documentary competition: Best Short Documentary: “Prisoner of Society” by Rati Tsiteladze,
Georgia, about a transgender woman who is trapped between her desire for
freedom and her parents’ traditional views.
The Soapbox
Award for the short documentary that best uses its platform to have a
meaningful influence on society: “Everything has a Beginning” by Marie
Limkilde, Denmark, about three young girls examining each other’s vulvas with
specula, flashlights and mirrors (!).
The jury of the
youth competition consisted of an 8th grade from a local school.
They only had a limit amount of films to pick from, twenty-eight to be exact,
and they picked this:
Winner of the youth competition: “At Dawn” by Julien Trauman, France, about
three teenagers at a graduation party who end up lost at sea.
Finally, there
was the Audience Award where the audience was able to vote for their favourite.
Winner of the Audience Award: “The Referee” by Jesper Quistgaard, Denmark, about an aging referee
who makes friends with the neighbours’ little girl – which has unexpected
consequences.
As usual I
didn’t see all the winners, partly because of my bad health, partly because
there are never tickets enough to the different screenings, so of course I
don’t know if I would have agreed with the juries in all categories. I very
much doubt it, though. You see, in previous years I have complained about the
quality of the competition short films as although there were no really bad
films in OFF16, there were no extraordinarily good films either and in OFF17
there were no good films at all amongst the ones that I watched, but several
really bad ones. This year in OFF18 there was only a handful of good films and
several really bad, whereas the vast majority was… meh. Rather bland and
boring.
Usually I do my
own winners-list when reviewing the Odense International Film Festival, but
this year for the first time ever, I didn’t see enough good films to fill all
eleven categories. Maybe I would have been able to fill them, had I seen all
the films, but previous years I haven’t seen all films either, but still been
able to pick winners for every single category. My list this year is therefore
going to look a bit weird.
I don’t have a
winner of the main competition, the International Grand Prix. I truly didn’t
see any films on the festival that I would think worthy of the title. Maybe the
pick of the jury, “Detainment” by Vincent Lamb, Ireland, was indeed the best
film on the festival. I can’t tell as I didn’t see it, but I very much doubt
that I would have picked it as making up a fictive story based on the horrific
James Bulger case seems like an easy way to get sympathy and awards. But oh
well, I have nothing with which to replace it.
The OFF Storyteller
Award I would have awarded to “Astri and Tambulah” by Xeph Suarez, Philippines,
which was a touching but heartbreaking story about the transgender woman Astri
who wants to marry her boyfriend but has to become a groom herself in an
arranged marriage to a woman. I think it is very weird that it didn’t win any
awards at all.
I don’t have a
pick for the OFF Artist Award, as once again I didn’t see anything suitable, but
here I am sure that the jury’s pick, “Fauve” by Jeremy Comte, Canada, was the right
one. I heard so many people talk about this film during the festival and I
would have loved to see it, but unfortunately the programme it was in, was only
screened at times when I wasn’t able to attend.
As winners of
the Danish competition, for Best Danish Short Film I would have picked “Haunted”
by Christian Einshøj, the one that the main competition jury picked for the
Storyteller Award. I’m not quite sure about the storytelling skills of this
documentary, but it sure was interesting, touching and funny, and I must say
that meeting the mother of the documentary for a Q&A with the audience
after the screening made it even better.
The FilmFyn
Talent Award I would have awarded “Nerd Cave” by Mads Reuter. The story about
the avid (adult) computer gamer who lives with his mom as well as both of their
reactions when the power fails in the middle of an important game is funny,
relatable and even touching.
As winners of
the animation competition, I would have picked “Raymonde Or The Vertical Escape”
by Sarah Van Den Boom, France, for the Borge Ring Award for the best animated
film. How this beautifully animated film about the catholic owl lady who is
tired of her lonely life and rather exceptional job and longs for love and sex
didn’t win ANY awards at all is beyond me.
The Animation
Talent Award I would have awarded to “Bacchus” by Rikke Alma Krogshave Planeta,
Denmark, as this animation about grabbing the chance to get away from a dull
and grey everyday life was one of the best Danish animated shorts in my
opinion.
In the
documentary competition, I have no winner of the Best Short Documentary, so I
just have to believe the jury when they say that “Prisoner of Society” by Rati
Tsiteladze, Georgia, was the best documentary.
The Soapbox
Award I would have awarded “Egg” by by Martina Scarpelli, Denmark, the one that
the jury picked for the Animation Talent Award for Danish filmmakers only. I
think that its message about eating disorders was important enough to win the
Soapbox Award, though, and its rather gross visual side combined with the
sensual narrative was perfect for the subject.
For the OFF
Youth Award, I have no idea what I would have chosen among the twenty-eight
films that the young jury had to pick from, so I guess I’ll just go with the
jury and say “At Dawn” by Julien Trauman, France.
As for the
Audience Award, I was certain that “Good Morning” by Elaine Mongeon, USA, about
a young woman and her sick father, would win because of its amazing plot twist.
It was in one of the Main Competition’s very best programmes, Programme OFF6,
but none of the six films in it won anything, which is incomprehensible. Strangely
enough, “Good Morning” was produced and distributed by Warner Brothers, so of
course it was in a class of its own as most other films didn’t have a Warner
Brothers-budget!
Other films
worth mentioning, although they were not quite award-material, were “Excuse Me,
I’m Looking for the Ping-Pong Room and My Girlfriend” by Bernhard Wenger,
Austria / Germany / Sweden, where a young man at a wellness resort is looking
for… you guessed it, and then “Instant” by Ceren Sahan, Turkey, which was very
short and rather surprising.
Well, apart from
the competition programmes I also attended some of the “Focus” events, which
used to be called “OFF Focus”, but the “OFF” was dropped this year. Anyway, the
last couple of years I have only been able to attend one event due to my bad
health and although my health has not improved, on the contrary, I attended
four different events, as this year I was not on my own but had friends and
family helping me out.
The first event
was a screening of animation expert Jakob Stegelmann’s personal favourites
among animated shorts. Stegelmann is a “hero” of mine as since 1989 he has had
a wonderful programme (“Troldspejlet”) on Danish TV about cartoons, animated
films, computer games etc. I have heard him speak about films many times, but
this was special as it was his own favourites -and thereby weird animated
shorts – that he introduced, and as he was the recipient of the OFF Honorary
Award 2018.
Another event
also featured one of my “heroes”: the writer, animator, director, former teacher
at the National Film School of Denmark and last but not least the man behind
the legendary Danish TV-series “Skrumpen from Outer Space”, Gunnar Wille. The
event was a homage to the Danish animator and director Cav Bøgelund who passed
away earlier this year, only thirty-nine years old. Gunnar Wille was to talk
about him as he had been his teacher and later colleague at the film school,
but the event turned into a wake almost, as many of Cav Bøgelund’s personal
friends were there, sharing their memories about him. We also saw two of
Bøgelund’s animated shorts and held a minute’s silence. It was very touching.
The third event
I went to was “25 Years of Slovak Animation”: a screening of twelve Slovak
animations from 1993 and up until today. Some of the films were truly awful,
but there were also great films like “In the Box” by Michal Struss,
“Cowboyland” by Dávid Štumpf and especially the hilarious “Pandas”
by Matúš Vizár. Had it been possible to vote for these films, I would have
picked “Pandas” as the winner of the International Grand Prix as it was by far
the best film at the festival this year!
The last “Focus”
event I went to was called “Planet WTF” and here we were promised seven
“beautifully bizarre films handpicked by animator Sara Koppel and director
Martin Strange-Hansen”. In the programme this “selection of new and old
wonderfully twisted films bouncing with cinematic playfulness and dark
fantasies” was hailed as some of the most bizarre and strange films ever, and
the two “handpickers” were even more enthusiastic in their comments at the
screening. The only problem was that the films weren’t particularly twisted or
weird compared to what you could see at the festival, and several of the films
had been aired either on telly or screened at previous festivals, so the
audience already knew them. I wish that this event hadn’t been hyped so much as
you were bound to be disappointed.
All in all, the
“Focus” events were better than the competition programmes this year and
although I expect I will be back next year, I’m not sure that I’ll see as many
competition programmes when my sparse energy due to my bad health could be used
much better on other things.