Norwood Cheek @ Uni Cinema
11:00am, Sun 22 Feb 2004
Score: 8
Short Review: Illuminating
Flicker, the Super 8 and 16mm film festival, was created by Norwood Cheek as a result of the financial (and creative) frustration he felt as an independent filmmaker in trying to get an audience for his short films. As a result, the festival has become a refuge for the truly independent filmmaker on a miniscule budget, and is currently running in 8 US cities.
Not that this means that the films are of low quality – one of the eight short films presented (all were 15 minutes or less), “Tom Hits His Head”, reflected mainstream cinematic qualities. The opener, “A.P.E. #9”, was a beautiful bit of sci-fi, and “Strip Mall Trilogy” was a wonderful cacophony of sound and vision.
The wierd and abstract were ably represented, too – “French Fries” demonstrated the obsessive, and “Not Too Much Remember” was a disturbingly surreal mockumentary. The collection of images and interviews in “Have you seen Axl Rose?” painted its namesake as a bizarre entity of Jackson-esque behaviour.
The fabulous “Clean” was used as a tease for the following show, “Attack of the 50 Foot Reels”. In all, this was a fabulous way to spend a Sunday morning – the creativity on offer was tremendous.