The Journal of Short Film is a locally published quarterly DVD collection of short video/film from around the world.
In its newest volume, #15, the Journal continues its voice of democratized film distribution, while offering a selection of films along the perimeter of both experimental and documentary practices.
One of my favorite short films in the collection is 200,000 Phantoms. A 20th century history exploded through hundreds of photographs of the Genbaku Dome in Hiroshima, spanning a century or more.
A thought provoking statement in layered images, Phantoms leaves me pondering over a new language found in our ever increasing collective public documentation. The filmmaker, Jean-Gabriel Périot, brings us something fresh in the ubiquitous form of a slide show. Phantoms is a truly transcendent piece that remains with me long after a single viewing.
Within the playful space of a minute and a half, Digital Underpants by Columbus’s own Matt Meindl exposes a playfully animated romp through old love letters and notebook sketches. A secret message, as if from the desk of a small child, layered with meaning and whispered innuendo.
How much difference can one man make? Recycle by Vasco Lucas Nunes and Odi Timoner describes a kind of homesteading on a small tract of unused land. Recycle is a Sundance short documentary about a homeless poet who recycles for his own reasons, and gardens in a wedge of existence between two streets in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. (clip)
Self sustainability becomes a prayer to the viewers as we celebrate the small gifts. Applaud the water hose, a ravaged plant rescued from the dumpster, and the curbside gardener.
Read entire review here or check out the journal of short film for yourself.