UK Competition: Eye Of The Duck
Friday, 21 January 2022
Image: Culling, Matty Crawford, 2021
"When you're working on a film, a lot of times you can get the bill and the legs and the body and everything, but this eye of the duck is a certain scene, this jewel, that if it's there, it's absolutely beautiful." - David Lynch A surreal journey into the realm of the uncanny, this programme veers into horror, from screaming calves and eerie premonitions to nightmarish mirrors and monstrous puddings. Featuring Rachel Maclean (Make Me Up), visual artist Diego Marcon and Sophie Littman (Sudden Light, Jellyfish).
Curated by Varun Raman
Know The Grass
Sophie Littman
14'
2021
United Kingdom
Fifteen year old Mattie has dreamlike premonitions which she is encouraged to ignore by her older brother Marco. But during a trip out of town, Mattie senses her visions could have some substance and that her brother's life might be in danger.
Culling
Matty Crawford
14'
2021
United Kingdom
A young man tries to save a cow from slaughter, while two boys trawl through treacherous and desolate terrain, escaping an invisible threat.
upside mimi ᴉɯᴉɯ uʍop
Rachel Maclean
12'
2021
United Kingdom
Lost in a dark fairy tale forest, Mimi picks up a magical mirror and sings to her reflection: ‘mirror, mirror in my hand, who’s the cutest in the land?’. She is delighted to discover that 'it's mi'. However, it's not long before doubt creeps in as her youthful appearance shows signs of aging and a mysterious presence competes for her coveted status. Upside mimi ᴉɯᴉɯ uʍop looks light and playful on the surface, but becomes dark and unnerving once you get beyond the glossy veneer. Critical of a culture obsessed with youth and newness, the film updates familiar fairytale tropes to comment on growing old in the age of social media.
A Film About a Pudding
Roel Van Beek
9'
2021
United Kingdom
After Ronin neglects to clear up her dropped groceries, they start to mix and bubble, transforming into a small pudding. Whilst this initially seems odd, for Ronin, it is easily ignorable. Over the next few days, the pudding grows bigger and bigger. As it threatens to engulf the entire city how far will she, and the other inhabitants of her city, go to continue ignoring it?
Fields of the Bygonese
milo creese
9'
2021
United Kingdom
As we journey through near-future landscapes, populated by alien creatures and spectral figures, a narrator expresses feelings of confusion, precarity and loss in the face of total obliteration.
CALVING
Louis Bhose
12'
2021
United Kingdom
In a rural Irish village, a strange calf is born. And it won’t stop screaming.
The Parents' Room
Diego Marcon
10'
2021
United Kingdom
A family gather around a bed to sing a lament to their own deaths, accompanied by a blackbird.