Shorts Program 2

A volcanic eruption off the coast of Sicily, the opening shot of Diary of a Country Priest, and a central concept of Scientology are manipulated to diverse effect in these three nonfiction shorts.

Lampedusa
Philip Cartelli & Mariangela Ciccarello, Italy/France/USA, 2015, 14m
English, Italian, and French with English subtitles
Interlacing its multilingual narrative with high-definition panoramas and black-and-white Super 8 footage, Lampedusa revisits the 1831 volcanic eruption off the coast of Sicily, which created a short-lived landmass that provoked multiple European nations to claim it as their own.

The Mesh and the Circle / A Trama e o Círculo
Mariana Caló & Francisco Queimadela, Portugal/Italy, 2014, 34m
Portuguese with English subtitles
Using a restaged version of Diary of a Country Priest’s opening shot as a recurring framing device, Mariana Caló and Francisco Queimadela depict, deconstruct, and show the movement-based connections between obscure rituals and daily domestic activities from across Portugal. These actions exist simultaneously as symbol and document of the quotidian, a fascinating, accessible experimental and anthropological study. North American Premiere

Engram of Returning
Daïchi Saïto, Canada, 2015, 35mm, 19m
Featuring a driving minimalist score by improvisational musician Jason Sharp, the latest film by Daïchi Saïto (Trees of Syntax, Leaves of Axis) literalizes the Scientology concept of an engram (a mental image that contains pain and a threat to survival) using only darkness and distorted landscapes shot on 16mm. Eerie and intense, Engram of Returning is an apt metaphor for the cinematic experience as well as a singular one of its own.