The Beast from the East may have passed a week or so prior, but it was still-wintry in Glasgow for the 2018 edition of GSFF.
We defied the conventional definition of short film with a screening of Kevin Jerome Everson’s eight hour Park Lanes, alongside three programmes of the prolific American artist’s shorts. We stayed up all night with the dreamy creations of Thailand’s Apichatpong Weerasethakul as part of our focus on South East Asia. The cult Dutch hip-hop documentary Big Fun in the Big Town was supported by a programme of hip-hop shorts and a memorable afterparty. We Need to Disagree was a collaborative response to current events in Europe, in partnership with Vienna Shorts and L’Alternativa, Barcelona, and festival favourite Don Hertzfeldt’s work reappeared at GSFF three years after World of Tomorrow took home our International Audience Award.
It was also a triumphant homecoming for Tony and the Bull, last year’s Production Attic Pitch winner. Not only did it receive a special mention in the judging for the Scottish Short Film Award, but it found its way into the hearts of our audiences and clinched the Scottish Audience Award.
We’d been pursuing Kevin Jerome Everson for over a year, and due to work commitments he could only give us 48 hours. He had to take three flights to reach us from Charlottesville, Virginia, so I was pretty nervous about his mood on arrival. I needn’t have worried. With unfailing good humour, he bowled us over with his generosity, enthusiasm and stories. As it happened, he was stuck in Glasgow for twice as long as originally intended, but he took this with remarkably good grace. It was also a joy to put together three programmes from his 130+ films. He has such a wide ranging practice, yet certain themes and interests reappear again and again, offering unlimited choices to a programmer. Kevin gave great Q&A chat after each screening, liberally peppering his answers with ‘mothaf*cka’. As Technical Coordinator Lewis Den Hertog put it, “Kevin Jerome Everson is a top lad.”
Matt Lloyd, GSFF Director 2010-present
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Award Winners
Bill Douglas Award for International Short Film
Strange Says The Angel (Etrange dit I’ange) – Shalimar Preuss | France | 2017
GSFF Scottish Short Film Award (Sponsored by Blazing Griffin)
Salt & Sauce – Alia Ghafar | Scotland | 2017
International Audience Award
The Burden (Min Börda) – Niki Lindroth von Bahr | Sweden | 2017
Scottish Audience Award
Tony & The Bull – Tony McFarlane | Scotland | 2017
Hilton Earl Memorial Award
The King & I – Daniel Cook | Scotland | 2017
Production Attic Short Film Pitch
Bouba and Kiki – Jack Goessens
Jury
Douwe Dijkstra – Filmmaker (Bill Douglas Award Winner 2017, Green Screen Gringo)
Daniel Ebner – Co-founder and Artistic Director, VIS Vienna Shorts
Madeleine Molyneaux – Producer, Picture Palace Pictures