Australia - KING OF MAJESTY
This animated music video for The Marphoi Project's 'King of Majesty' tells the story of a king of a forgotten, alien world as he embarks on a quest for power and knowledge. But the lesson of his journey is not what he expects.
Director Statement
Similar to my earlier 'Ozymandias' animation, this piece examines ideas of pride, hubris and the search for meaning. The stark, alien, desert landscape provides the perfect canvas for illustrating these universal themes. I have also tried to create a dreamscape that marries well with The Marphoi Project's evocative, surreal sounds.
Director Biography
Stephen Hamacek is an Australian filmmaker, animator, actor and musician. He first came to animation at age seven, drawing onto clear 8mm film with OHP pens. He has since directed, animated and composed for numerous short films, including the award-winners, 'The Curse of the Hangman’s Stool', 'Café Noir', and 'Nuggety Bucket'. His 2007 film 'The Messenger' was selected for Tropfest’s “Best of the Rest” Australian screening tour, and more recently, his animated directorial debut 'Quandamooka Dreaming' was selected for the Lines in the Sand Film Festival on Stradbroke Island. This year he completed his Bachelor of Creative Industries (3D Design) and is in preproduction for another major animated short film and writing his first feature film.
Belgium - UFO
Boy meets girl. He turns out to be an alien.
Writer/Director - Kevin MeulDirector
Producer - The Subs (thesubs.be)
Director Biography
Kevin Meul (1979) graduated at the Sint-Lukas Film School in Brussels in 2003. His debut short film The Extraordinary Life of Rocky was selected for over 80 festivals worldwide and has won many awards (including the top prizes at the British Independent Film Festival, the Chicago International Film Festival and the Seattle International Film Festival) and was on the long list for the Academy Awards. - http://www.torinofilmlab.it/people/480-kevin-meul
Brazil - DON’T YOU HAVE A GOOD FEELING?
A young man decides to play a prank on a street cleaner in order to get the attention of a lady. But the lady has a much better idea.
Writer/Director/Producer/Actor - Regis Terencio
Canada - WONTON RAPTOR
Don't just eat the soup of life, be the Wonton Raptor!
Director Statement
I had been quite fascinated with children's chalk drawings for a while and was in the habit of filming them, using the motion of the smartphone to create a sense of movement and animation. I was looking at some of the footage, and suddenly had this image of the shark that gobbles up his soup with such a zest for life that he becomes the "Wonton Raptor." I wrote and recorded a fun voice-over track and bundled it all together into this micro short film.
Director Biography - Robert David Duncan
My core training in acting is from the Stella Adler Studio in New York. I love acting and filmmaking and Vancouver where I now live is a beautiful place to make films. I am interested in the dramas, delights, passions and heartbreaks that take place in everyday interactions (or lack thereof) between ordinary people. Most of my films have dealt with human-scale issues such as tough choices, love, dreams, hope and finding meaning and fun in life. I love an underdog story! My motto is don't let anything get in the way of telling a story that might uplift someone - film it with your smartphone if that's what you have, but get it done and share it with the world.
Finland: THE IMPERSONATORS - RODEO
Writer/Director/Editor: Elina Suominen
"Listening to Spotify one day, I heard the word 'rodeo' used in another song by the same name in exactly the opposite sense. The phrase in the tune was, 'You ain't my first rodeo.' I liked the song and the lyrics a lot but yet, found my mind drifting off to thinking how terrible it feels to go through one's very first relationship rodeo. We've all been there. It's hell and something we'll remember for the rest of our lives.'
"It was in this state of mind that I wrote most of the melody and the words to the chorus. Antti provided the remainder of the lyrics and voila, another Impersonators song was born. Well, not quite...I still had to finish the tune off with my wife Elina Suominen, who wrote the melody to the middle eight and that haunting guitar riff that begins the song. And then as always, I sent the multitrack over to Janne Saksa, who did an outstanding job with the production...just listen to the strings alone and you'll know what I mean.'
"The music video was scripted, directed, filmed and edited by my wife Elina and shooting it was great fun. There are a lot of humorous parts in it that I truly love but my favorite one is where Antti gives me a few flicks with a riding crop. You'll need to see it to believe it!"
France: SONG NO. 23
Marianne Queval, who was voted Deaf Miss France and runner up for Deaf Miss World in 2013, performs "Il me dit que je suis belle" (He Tells Me I'm Beautiful) by Patricia Kaas, a song about women's desire to believe in men's flattery. The deaf beauty pageant parallels the regular competition but does not benefit from the same media profile.
Director: Céline Trouillet
Director Statement
I’m deaf (partially) and my student videos were mostly about the problem of communication in general and some specifically featured deaf or other handicapped people. At the same time, I grew up in the 1980s when video clips for pop songs were a new thing in France, as was karaoke and the idea that anybody could be a « pop star » (at least for a few minutes in a nightclub). Nowadays this seems to have mutated into a trend for TV talent contests where eveybody can enjoy their Warholian 15 minutes in public.
As a child I wanted to be like Madonna (the singer, not the saint) but soon came to realise that it wasn’t really possible for a deaf person. So maybe making my own videos of other people singing was a way of channeling my frustration at a later date!
The idea of the SONG series is to present a sort of non-scientific cross-section of the society around me through portraits of people I happen to meet by chance in my everyday life (I met one lady in a post office queue, for example). Some of the singers are pro or semi-pro but mostly they are amateurs or not singers at all. The quality of voice is not important. I work with the performers to find the right song that most often relates to their personal history. Otherwise it might refer to a wider social issue. Although the individuals are all quite different from one another, the format of the films is always similar (ie a close-up of a face in a shallow space) and I try to make the background as relevant or meaningful as possible.
Germany: SUPERGIRL
Music video for the song "Supergirl" by Berlin based singer Delphine Maillard.
Director: Alexander Lony
Starring: Delphine Maillard and Jerry Kwarteng.
ALM: The aim of this interview is to focus on Afro-German actors and their experiences. As far as I know, you were born in Hamburg, but your biological parents are from Ghana. Do you feel more German or African and why?
JK: This is not an easy question. First, I feel like I am from Hamburg. This is the city I was born in. As well the most important thing about Hamburg is, that the people accept you as you are.You are seen as a German no matter wherever your roots lie. In my case, I grew up in a German family and not with my Ghanaian parents. So, I feel more German than Ghananian. But, with the years I developed a strong interest in Ghana . It started with interests in Ghanaian food. When I was teenager, I started having contact with my siblings living in Ghana;that also increased my interest. Getting to know them better and getting to know what is important to them. Even though, I have not been to Ghana yet, it is on my wishlist. But Germany is my home and I work hard in the public eye to show that we Afro-Germans are part of Germany too. If you look in the media, people do not know much about Afro-Germans. They do not see us as Germans in the media. We are always foreigner . That is why I work very hard to establish a new definition of the word “German”. I want a definition which includes us and not a definition that only fixates on the colour of our skin. It is getting better in the media, but it is still a long way to go. I believe that the people in Germany, are much more understanding and have accepted that fact long ago. Of course, you have some people who cannot get their head around that fact, but well…. like I said. It is a long way.
Kenya: TAP
Director: Joseph Ochieng Obel
Music: “Aha” by Kenyan rock band Murfy’s Flaw
“Cheating in relationships has been heightened by the advancement of technology. TAP is a drama about how a young couple compromise on their relationship by failing to communicate, instead, each of them is an unfaithful. Official SELECTION by ROFFEKE Film Festival Kenya!”
You can watch all 50 of the featured short films and music videos via the ROFFEKE Audio Visual Heritage Day Youtube Playlist