July in February

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the name Miranda July? Performance artist? Author, maybe? How about musician? She is one and all of these things. But it’s the artistic polymath’s filmmaking that we’re interested in here as a retrospective of her short film works is being screened as part of the Shorts Film Festival.

Before earning the indie-darling tag after winning the Special Jury Prize at Sundance and the Camera d’Or at Cannes with her feature debut Me and You and Everyone We Know, July was already making her mark with videos. In her short film Atlanta (1996, 10 mins) she recreates a press conference where a teenage Olympic swimmer and her mother (July playing both roles) talk to journalists about her goal to win gold. But who’s goal is it? In The Amateurist (1998, 14 mins) July again plays two parts, that of the amateur woman who is under constant surveillance from the “professional” woman. The longest of her short films, at 27 minutes, is Nest of Tens (1999). Three alternating stories involving an abandoned sexual flirtation between a babysitter and an older man; an airport encounter between a businesswoman and a young girl; and a young boy performing a bizarre ritual with a baby are all connected by a lecture on fears and phobias. And finally Getting Stronger Every Day (2001, 6 mins) is about the sense of being lost and then found again. Her eccentric and quirky films have been shown at such prestigious institutions as the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim and so it will be a real treat to view these shorts in the CCA, regarded as one of Europe’s leading contemporary galleries and of course, as we all know, one of Glasgow’s hippest venues. The CCA is where it’s at on the opening weekend.

Highlights of the Shorts Festival include a two hour seminar Screen Academy Scotland: From Shorts to Features. Speakers, including Douglas McKinnon, who directed The Flying Scotsman, and Eleanor Yule, discuss how they made their way from short film to feature film. The world renowned Oberhausen Film Festival (where Miranda July won the main prize for Nest of Tens) pays a visit to showcase seven works that are caught somewhere between art and film in Oberhausen on Tour 2009: Best of Artist Film and Video. Of course what would a film festival be if it didn’t big-up some of its home-grown talent. GMAC presents the Scottish Short Film Showcase, eight new works from exciting and original film makers from all over Scotland. And if you’re a struggling artist yourself and are looking for a wee boost up the ladder, you would do well to pop along to the CCA Bar, have a pint and indulge in some hobnobbing with the folks at Shooting People and Screen Academy Scotland and find out how you can get your film made and seen.