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Watch This Space Festival

Written by Marissa-Catherine Carrarini
Tuesday, 19 August 2008 00:00

As part of the National Theatre’s Watch This Space festival, London’s South Bank is turning into a sky-high, outdoor cinema featuring some of the best (BAFTA winning) British short films around.

With big names clashing against smaller movie directors, this short festival shows off just how great British cinema can be. Plus it captures BAFTA’s philosophy of supporting rising artistic potential as well as renowned artists past achievements.

“I think this collection underlines how vibrant a tradition of short films Britain has. We tend to produce more than our share of outstanding short work, with UK filmmakers regularly taking top prizes at major film festivals and awards (UK short films or animations won the Oscars 2005, 2006 and 2008),” said Tricia Tuttle from BAFTA.

Many of the shorts on show are early works by well-established directors. “It’s interesting to see how much of the talent on show has gone on to bigger and greater achievements, and continued to make excellent work. We have shorts from Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot and The Hours) and Lynne Ramsay (The Ratcatcher), who have both made acclaimed feature films. There is animated work from new talent at established animation studios Aardman (who are best known for Wallace and Gromit) and Passion Pictures (who worked on the first Gorillaz videos). At the same time we are also featuring films from rising stars in both animation and live action such as Toby MacDonald, who will, without a doubt, be delivering features in the coming years,” said Tuttle.

Some of the delectable film treats include: the warming and witty Heavy Metal Drummer (directed by Luke Morris & Toby MacDonald) which takes a look at Moroccan teenage metal fans. The Baker - a sweet and wise thought about the apparent age of babies on tap, as a lonesome lab technician in a sperm bank takes a liking to one of the clients. Plus Lynne Ramsey creates a film as beautifully twisting and humane as the Ratcatcher in Gasman. Finally for animation buffs: Rabbit (directed by Run Wrake) turns 1950’s animation stickers into a dark fairy tale.

The festival ends with a screening of Flyboy - a teary tale told through the use of shadows and music that sings and screams all the way up and down the National Theatre’s fly-tower.

With such an eclectic and exciting mix of shorts, surely this is further evidence that British cinema is happily on the up? “From a creative point of view this does seem to be true. An exciting new generation of filmmakers who first made their mark in short films is emerging as well as newer directors, like Duane Hopkins whose first features will soon be released. We are also seeing outstanding and varied new films from directors who originally trained in TV or other arts, such as artist Steve McQueen. While this is certainly suggests a creative boom for British Cinema, it remains true that raising finance for British films and getting audiences into cinemas is still a major challenge,” said Tuttle.

While this year’s summer may stop us enjoying these shorts in our own shorts, don’t let that put you off. Grab a beer (or hot chocolate) and head down to the South Bank (almost) every weekend from July 25th to Sept 6th.

Films start at 9.30pm, with the exception of Flyboy which starts at 8.30pm.

For more information, visit the National Theatre website