24/02/21
A lack of films available to us during this troubled time is always a bummer. But what these lockdowns have taught us is to explore films we haven’t seen before and what better way to explore new cinema through a brand-new film festival. Visability Film Festival is a new festival experience that looks to “invigorate seasoned cinephiles and Sunday sofa streamers”. The festival presents us with 15 short films, one feature film and the winner of their Best Documentary award. All this for £5
Available online through Eventbrite until 28th Feb. Visability Film Festival will donate 50% of its profits to dasharts.org, a disabled-led visual arts charity. See link at end of the review to get your tickets.
The short films explore cinema from countries like the UK, France, Switzerland, Australia, Iran, The US and Denmark. Having the ability to experience all these different voices and stories from across the globe is a unique occasion. All ranging from different run times from 3 minutes to 38 minutes, it's easy to jump in and out of the shorts, and what’s better, once you buy your tickets, you have up to the 28th February to watch them all! If there would be one short film to look out for, our personal pick would be “My Name is Souleyman” - a short documentary about a visually impaired Paralympian runner.
After experiencing the short films, it was onto the sole feature film of the festival. A French and Argentinian film based on a character’s journey to hunt a cougar that is stalking their community. A strong character-based film is a fantastic way to showcase your first film festival. There is no surprise that ‘La Vida En Comun’ was picked to spearhead the festival as its only feature film.
As you come to the end of the festival’s films, you end on a high. The documentary ‘While We Wait’ is directed by Norwich filmmaker Alyssa Girvan. The documentary explores the shortcomings and failings of the mental health services in Norfolk. A damning and emotional watch highlights the struggles and difficulties that local people have had to endure due to the lack of quality service for mental health. Easily one of the best short documentaries that we have experienced, this is our highlight of the whole festival.
The Rotation
In addition to all of these fantastic titles, when buying a ticket and having access to the festival, you also get access to industry talks and Q&As with people from the films and experienced people from the industry. This gives you the ultimate experience of learning more about the industry and is very much worth a watch. If you are more inclined to learn more about how films are translated from script to screen, then a few select scripts have been made available for you to read. Again, I find this to be a fantastic addition to the film festival, one that we haven’t encountered in previous film festivals.
What you waiting for, get your ticket on Eventbrite here
'Divine Decadence Darling'