Commemorating its tenth anniversary this year, the London Short Film Festival provides its genre with the same compelling spotlight as its lengthy, blockbuster counterparts. Showcasing the best of the UK’s independent film scene in venues all across town, from the ICA to Curzon Soho, the festival has divided the work of the nation’s rising talents into according themes such as Fucked Up Love, Femmes Fantastique and Youth Of Today.
Screening this Saturday, I am Dora by Jemma Desai is a special highlight. A collaboration with designer Claire Huss, the project is an ongoing personal study of fellow female identification, and the flaws and misunderstandings that come with it. This edition will focus on the legacy of Sylvia Plath. “Perhaps when we find ourselves wanting everything, it is because we are dangerously near to wanting nothing,” Plath wrote in 1955, and the weight of her words are studied in two versions of Lady Lazarus — Sandra Lahire’s 1991 film and the Mad Men episode — plus an ‘In Conversation’ discussion between Desai and psychotherapist Sandra Hebron.
Alongside this intriguing project, the short film compilations, documentary screenings and special events like Club des Femmes presents… The Art of Conscience: A Pussy Riot Fundraiser are all the more reason to get your cinematic fix this week.
The London Short Film Festival runs until January 13.