Film Dash: Judge statement

Film Dash took place over 48 hours in Birmingham, with teams putting together films of less than five minutes in length, in a competition organised by Created In Birmingham’s Chris Unitt, honouring the memory of Birmingham-born Ealing comedies producer Michael Balcon. 4Talent Commissioning Editor Catherine Bray was one of three judges.

I’ve seen short films that people have spent thousands of pounds and months or even years of their time on. Some of those shorts have fallen below standards set by some of the inaugural 48 hour Film Dash shorts.

If there was an award for Best Facial expression, Mars Elkins in Love On The Rocks would be taking home the gong for her five second cameo, and while I’m mentioning Mars, I’d like to thank her for putting together so much of the Hello Digital festival of which Film Dash was just one part.

Fans of atmospheric, fascinatingly shot shorts won’t be disappointed by Stef Lewandowski’s enigmatic entry Xela - ‘Ut Nos Vivicaret’. I’ve asked Stef for permission to screen his film at 4Talent’s Gigbeth stage on the 8th, as it fits perfectly with the request made by one of the bands for carefully crafted experimental films of total artistic integrity to play during their set. Falling into a similar category, The Ascension intrigues and baffles in equal measure.

At the more conventional end of the spectrum, gangster-style film Black Widow, from Stickleback Productions, features the largest, and in my opinion, most skilled cast. The Bid, also filmed in a naturalistic style, should strike a witty note of mockumentary realism for those familiar with the language of development strategies in corporate Birmingham.

The Landlord offers the broadest characterisation of the competition in the larger than life grotesquerie of its eponymous character - you can read about the process of putting together that film on the 4Talent blog. One of my favourite on-page concepts was that of Mobile, where a character follows texted instructions on a randomly discovered mobile phone - at least as worthy of being made into a film as Phone Booth starring Colin Farrell.

I’d like to thank all those involved, both those I’ve mentioned by name and those where there hasn’t been time, and huge thanks to Chris Unitt for bringing it all together.

But there can, of course, be only one winner. My favourite short brings together an at times experimental ethos with quirky, humourous narrative. It’s also one of the shorts that most utilises the underused film location that is Birmingham, from the commercialism of the Bullring and its environs to the graffitied underpasses and abandoned wastelands.

That short was Pete Ashton, Rachael Marchant and Danny Smith’s Dunkirk, in which light-responsive synthesiser Thingamagoop goes on a journey around Birmingham, encountering cityscapes, street art and a failed hope of love that is oddly touching when you consider that you’re empathising with a piece of bleepy noisemaking hardware on an entirely human level. This short is both amusing and experimental, two things associated with Michael Balcon’s work, so in the spirit of Michael Balcon that informed Film Dash, Dunkirk ultimately seemed to be the short that most deserved to win.

It was a difficult call however, with more than one serious contender - perhaps because as a new competition, the ethos has yet to become set in stone. It’s been an exploration for filmmaker and judge alike, and one that I very much hope will be repeated. Only next time, I’ll hopefully be making a film and not judging them.