Friendship: ROFFEKE Official Selections 2023 (Partial Listing)

“Bad Syne” by Illysa Spencer and the transmedia tripartite by Robert David Duncan “Alley Senses”, “Alley of Lost Friends” and “Old Man’s World” speak to and with each other, even though they have many differences. Bad Syne is longer (15 minutes) than all three of Robert’s microfilms (5 minutes 40 seconds in total). Robert uses a smartphone and artificial intelligence. Bad Syne is a student project filmed in Armenia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. while Robert’s microfilms are three of very many that he has done over the years (including "Room 254 Spinoza Hotel" that I had the honour of being a part of).

One similarity is that both Bad Syne and Robert’s microfilms feature street art/graffiti. About Alley Senses, Robert says: “I was revisiting some alley footage I had shot and was struck by the energy and sensory vibrancy of it, raw sound and all. I decided to capture some of its essence and share it in this film – enjoy!” The first few minutes of Bad Syne feature a graffiti artist in the middle of creating his street art as we hear his views via voice over: “…establishment, you’re not thinking about the better good of people by surrounding them by monochromatic, flat, dry and just dead-looking, absence of life environment.”

Both Bad Syne and Robert’s microfilms are about friendship. In Bad Syne: “Two artists collaborate on music and life in an epic roadtrip” while the three microfilms are “interconnected pieces on themes of friendship and art.” You can check out the Alley of Lost Friends transmedia story world at https://alleyoflostfriends.weebly.com/

The theme of friendship and art also shines through in “Time”, a screenplay by Mario Luis Telles: “After trying their luck at rock and roll fame, 4 friends embark on a hilarious journey to get their fame and fortune.”

Creative differences are part and parcel of the friendship and art package. The key is to know how to navigate these differences. “So it goes” touches on this topic. Director Jenna Cornell writes that it is “a beautiful song written by musician, producer and filmmaker Marc Golde. Tackling some of the current issues we face, it reminds us that we are all in this together. We all have common humanity even if we disagree.”