Virtual spotlight shines on short films
Two local organizations presenting online festivals that offer something for everyone
Short, experimental films hit the right buttons during a pandemic that has twisted time into an abstract concept.
But do mark a calendar: Two Houston film organizations have made this a must-watch week for catching out-of-the-ordinary screen fare that ranges from poetic to ecstatic to eye-bending and funny. Viewing is free, although donations are encouraged.
The Houston Cinema Arts Society has partnered with the Dallas film series PSA to present “Memory Strata,” a free, virtual screening of seven short films that run from five to 14 minutes — a pairing of works by two critically acclaimed young talents, Sky Hopinka and Simon Liu. Hopinka’s “Lore” also is screening on the Satellites page of the Aurora Picture Show’s website — where, starting Friday, the unrelated and wildly popular annual Extremely Shorts Film Festival returns as a virtual experience.
Born on opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean, Hopinka and Liu both explore the crossroads of
personal expression and cultural memory.
Hopinka, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation/ Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians from Washington state, probes the spiritual and aesthetic traditions of First Peoples within the U.S. His films sometimes blend subtitles and the Chinuk Wawa language indigenous to the Columbia River Basin. Landscapes also are an important element, although in the elegiac, 10-minute “Lore,” they appear on fragments of film that are layered and mixed on an overhead projector as friends play and sing Bo Didley’s “Heart-O-Matic Love.”
Liu, born in Hong Kong and based in Brooklyn, captures the richness and anxiety of diaspora from an Asian perspective. His work is faster-paced that Hopinka’s, more urban and people-filled — but with a similar approach to frenetic camerawork.
“Memory Strata” runs through 10 p.m. Saturday. Hopinka and Liu speak with Houston film lecturer Michael Sicinski at 7 p.m. May 13 on YouTubeLive. Hopinka also is scheduled to appear — truly in person — at Aurora in September.
Aurora’s Extremely Shorts Film Festival is an eclectic, hourlong program of 23 films that run under three minutes each. This year’s guest juror, Mexican artist and writer Miguel Calderón, will introduce them.
The filmmakers are from across the world and the U.S., including a few from Texas — Houston’s Mark Nelson and Sarah Sudhoff, Dallas’ Gabriella Mykal, Austin’s Liz Rodda and Fort Worth’s Chris Wicker.
Cash prizes will go to Calderón’s favorites plus an Audience Choice winner chosen by online voting. The festival streams May 15-22; awards will be announced May 24. The winning films will stream for an encore on Aurora’s website.