imagineNATIVE 2013: Red Justice League – Shorts Program

The imagineNATIVE festival has a strong social conscious, allowing for a natural focus on activism and social justice. The “Red Justice League: Shorts Program” is a series of important and highly influential  short films that centre around these themes in very different but equally compelling manners. We take a look at two films that use differing techniques – one, animation, the other, poetry – in order to convey their messages of struggle and understanding.

Repercussions

Director: Terril Calder
Country: Canada
Runtime: 4 min
Rating: 14A

Repercussions is a simple yet incredibly fascinating short that exposes the true magic of stop-motion animation.  With no specific plot to follow, it allows for the formal elements to shine and collaborate in order to really bring the piece together in a noteworthy way. The lighting in the short is fantastic, and the urban lighting of the initial shot is incredibly realistic. The feel of animation remains, but the ambiance is wonderfully crafted. Along with this strength, the characters’ movements are beautiful; not perfectly fluid, but entrancing nonetheless. The sequences where the main character is free-falling are a delight to watch, and the great attention to detail the creation must have entailed is clearly evident. The music perfectly compliments the dynamic settings and movements, and the song “Electric Pow Wow” by A Tribe Called Red truly gives the piece a unique identity.  Lasting a mere 3 minutes and 45 seconds, Repercussions accomplishes the difficult task of not only being visually and musically compelling, but being filled with interesting concepts about the city and its relation to history that, being largely open to interpretation, allow for the spectator’s enthrallment with the piece.

Overall Rating: 4/5

Pre-Occupied

Director: R. Vincent Moniz, Jr. and Jonathan Thunder
Country: USA
Runtime: 7 min
Rating: 14A

Intelligent and compelling, Pre-Occupied is a visual interpretation of a poem by Heid E. Erdrich. Edrich is already a highly recognized artist and poet in the indigenous community, and it’s great to see a person with her talent being exposed in festivals like imagiNATIVE. This highly political and engaging piece utilizes numerous different media such as poetry, animation, and video footage in order to create a work that compliments the audio very well. The short has a very home-made feel, as if the pieces had been glued on screen, thus creating a very interesting experience for the viewer that doesn’t overpower the narration. The piece can be interpreted in multiple ways: an analysis and critique of what the word “occupy” can mean, or an outlook into the contemporary struggles of indigenous communities in the USA, as well as that which current environmental policies and movements signify to said communities. The message of the short is hard and heavy, and it impacts those watching. The visuals are dry and simple, thus giving the film even more of a harsh edge. This work is a great example of how mixed media comes to life to create great content that is not only beautiful, but filled with truths and significant arguments.

Overall Rating: 3.7/5

Correction (May 9, 2014): Title “Three Poems by Heid E. Erdrich: Pre-Occupied” changed to “Pre-Occupied”, and director changed from “Elizabeth Day” to “R. Vincent Moniz, Jr. and Jonathan Thunder”