This might have been the only programme that got a proper title from me. Like most of my contemporary curating/programming colleagues I was on the lookout for short films that explored environmental themes this year. I wanted to draw together films that looked beyond statistics or talks of recycling. I wanted films that looked at human interaction with environments, how we shape them and are in turn shaped by them, and I found some beautiful and incredible films that did just that. Most of these are rooted in the present moment, documenting existences around the world, but one is flung into a speculative future and another is set in a folkloric fearful past. In fact a few of the films capture an eerie dread within them, which felt very appropriate for a programme about environment and change.
Radia
Directed by Erica Beebe, UK, 2020, 14mins
In Deutschland
Directed by Christoph Rath, Germany, 2020, 15mins
At the River
Directed by Angelo Madsen Minax, USA, 10mins
This is one of six programmes I curated for the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2020, which was cancelled due to Covid-19. The rest of the programmes can be viewed here, and if you have any questions or want further information, please get in touch.