Since 2000, The World According to Shorts, a program curated by Jonathan Howell, has exhibited an annual selection of the world’s best short films at the BAMcinématek in Brooklyn. Qualifications include participation in a major European short film festival (the majority of films have been... [More]

Since 2000, The World According to Shorts, a program curated by Jonathan Howell, has exhibited an annual selection of the world’s best short films at the BAMcinématek in Brooklyn. Qualifications include participation in a major European short film festival (the majority of films have been selected from the International Competition at Clermont-Ferrand's prestigious Festival du Court Metrage). The goal of the program has been to introduce some of the best short films and their directors to U.S. audiences (most are U.S. or New York premieres), thus giving the films a chance for broader exposure, while allowing audiences here the opportunity to witness innovations in the field. Past programs have included premieres of Oscar-nominated shorts, films subsequently selected for the Cannes Film Festival, and work by directors now noted for their feature films, e.g., David MacKenzie (Young Adam) and Hans-Petter Moland (Beautiful Country). The six films in this program are intended to reflect a diversity of visions in contemporary short filmmaking and include a broad range of styles and genres, from animation to fiction to semidocumentary and experimental. Between them, the films have been honored with numerous awards from all over the world.

• La Perra (Dir. Hugo Maza, Chile) In this sexy satire, a couple with an empty life invents a fantasy about the new maid in order to satisfy their sexual obsessions.
• We Have Decided Not to Die (Dir. Daniel Askill, Australia) Three rituals. Three figures. Three modern day journeys of transcendence.
• United We Stand (Dir. Hans Petter Moland, Norway) Eight old-timers come upon a young woman stuck in a swamp. A short film inspired by Arbeiderpartiet (the Labor Party), and part of the omnibus film Most People Live in China, made up of short films representing each of Norway’s political parties.
• Antichrist (Dir. Adam Guzinski, Poland) A group of boys play in a barren, seemingly postapocalyptic landscape. The group's leader believes he is the Antichrist. He goads the others into increasingly daring games until events spiral out of control.
• The Old Woman’s Step (Dir. Jane Malaquias, Brazil) An old lady travels from the fishermen’s village where she lives to the city to sell a chicken so she can buy her grandson a present.
• Ring of Fire (Dir. Andreas Hykade, Germany) Two cowboys spend their days in the cool shade of a rock, but at night they make their way to the bazaar of sexual desire. Drifting further and further into the bazaar, they encounter many dangerous and fascinating figures. Replete with outrageous sexual imagery, this tale of innocence lost and ultimately redeemed is accompanied by a lyrical voiceover (in appropriate cowboy drawl) that seems to have only the loosest of connections to the action on-screen.

-- © New Yorker Films [Less]