When Shooting People created their Herzog competition, they weren’t specifically looking for docs. The brief was pretty open – ‘The film can be a self-contained short or an extract from a longer film. It can be shot brand new for this competition or it can be clipped or remixed from a film you made previously. It can be any genre – not just documentary but fiction or hybrid. It can be a personal film with your own voiceover – or not. It can be live action or animation or both.‘ However, whilst my fellow judges and I (from Barbican, Revolver and Sheffield Doc/Fest) waded through the 179 entires, we couldn’t help but notice the quality of the short docs. They just stood out amongst the rest. We all instantly warmed to Amie Williams’ film Amasan, Women of the Sea (see below), which looks at seven women who have been diving for shellfish off the coast of Shirahma in Japan for over five decades. What’s really fascinating about Amasan is the way it smashes Western assumptions around women and their role in Japanese society. In fact, it questions the role of older women full stop. To see this tight-knit group of friends squeeze into their wetsuits, go diving without equipment and chew the fat about the damage caused by greedy (male) divers, they quash the idea that Japanese women are submissive, stay-at-home figures who uphold a ‘womanly’ demeanour at all times. The women in Amasan are inspiring and entertaining in equal measure, making this doc a real pleasure to watch.
One of the most impressive features of these docs was the way the filmmakers handled pace and tone – particularly Frederico Urdaneta with his film Hunter, which explores the tension between the meditative and the violent nature of hunting. Urganeta’s beautiful shots of Swedish woodland are offset with images of dieing animals whose bodies twitch from the aftermath of man’s gunshot. This combination of the peaceful and the banal, alongisde blood and death, invites the viewer to consider the contradictions surrounding this sport, and goes some way to explaining why hunting continues to be loved by some and loathed by many.
As well as Hunter, Aurora by Piers Sanderson and A Patagonia Tale by Santiago Burin des Roziers also have distinct lyrical qualities , reflecting the sensitivity and maturity of the filmmakers. And finally – last but by no means least – Pinny Grylls (Peter and Ben) and Andy Wilson (Jospeh) have created short docs that are poigniant and funny, reflecting their skill at getting the most from their subjects.
Tags: A Patagonia Tale, Amasan Women of the Sea, Amie Williams, Andy Wilson, Arora, Frederico Urdaneta, Herzog, Hunter, Joseph, Peter and Ben, Piers Sanderson, Pinny Grylls, Santiago Burin des Roziers, Shooting People, short documentary