As If No Misfortune Had Occurred in the Night

Director: Larissa Sansour, Soren Lind

Year: 2019

A sci-fi short set in the aftermath of an eco-disaster. An abandoned nuclear reactor under the biblical town of Bethlehem has been converted into an enormous orchard. Using heirloom seeds collected in the final days before the apocalypse, a group of scientists are preparing to replant the soil above. In the hospital wing of the underground compound, the orchard’s ailing founder is on her deathbed, as her young successor, who is born underground, comes to visit her. The talk between the two scientists soon evolves into an intimate dialogue about memory, exile and inherited trauma. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2019 - Official Short Film Competition - Experimenta Strand

Director: Polina Chizhova, James Stephen Wright

Year: 2018

The work “A Skulk in London” explores the human projections onto animal life from a satirical perspective. Its aim is research the life of urban foxes amid the Anthropocene environment of central London and the mythologies surrounding them to highlight the human tendency of understanding and perpetually interpreting the natural world limited by the point of view of “man”. The main character is a city man who becomes fascinated with finding nature in the city and is following urban foxes to fulfil his dream of wilderness. The character lives in a world of fantasy and does not consider the perspective and agency of urban wildlife. His obsession is so blinding and absorbing that he doesn’t realise that the fox he finds is, in fact, a dog in a costume.

Director: James Stephen Wright, George Finlay Ramsay

Year: 2020

Following the threefold journey of a rock through distinct layers of reality. June’s the best month, June’s the brightest month isn’t it? June’s the best month, June’s the brightest month isn’t it? June’s the best month, June’s the brightest month isn’t it? With narration from the rock in its mother tongue (usefully subtitled), it plays in the parallel mirror-image universe as hypothesised by a prophetic laminitic Shetland Pony based in Perthshire. Like a stoney Virgil, the rock guides us through its attempts to do only the realest of things.