LCF School of Media and Communication x Aesthetica Film Festival 2022
- Written byJ Igiri
- Published date 30 November 2022
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For the 12th edition of Aesthetica Short Film Festival, sixteen films by students from the School of Media and Communication at LCF were selected and screened within the NEW WAVE showcase. The films celebrate innovative approaches to moving image, with a focus on ‘Understanding the body as a Creative Site’.
The selected films were developed by undergraduate and postgraduate students, who are working at the intersections of disciplines and communities to create meaningful experiences and creative solutions to critical issues of our times.
TRACES OF LOVE
Zoe Cheung and Lauren Bilodeau | MA Fashion, Film and Digital Production
Traces of Love is a fashion film based around a British Asian character dealing with internal struggles on her queer relationship and her culture’s expectations. It showcases intersectional second-generation identity and explores the ideas behind Asian family traditions and acceptance
ROOMIES
Ajun Yao, Haizhu Dong (Hazel) and Yingzi Wu (Chelsea) | MA Fashion, Film and Digital Production
Roomies is an absurdist fashion film inspired by Miu Miu, incorporating silent film, art and fashion. It finds connections between order and freedom in everyday life, with two actors portraying two sides of contemporary youth.
KALA PANI
Nitin Parmar | MA Costume Design for Performance
'Kala Pani' (Hindi - 'black water) is an ancient Hindu, religious concept that represents the taboo of traveling the seas outside of India, resulting in the loss of one's cultural and religious identity, status and values.
ARIEL'S FREEDOM
Christine Skowron | MA Costume Design for Performance
An adaptation of William Shakespeare’s famous last play The Tempest. This film explores the unique perspective of Ariel’s loneliness and desire for freedom from Prospero’s control, and her willingness to conjure wind in order to break free.
HOW
SoEun Park | MA Fashion, Film and Digital Production
This film reinterprets the meaning of heavy-duty fashion wear with Dépaysement (surrealism). The purpose of this project is to make the audience feel intimacy and warmth through the details of fashion that can be overlooked.
THE OPEN
Kit Pilosof | MA Fashion, Film and Digital Production
The Open follows a dancer as she learns to embrace her anxiety instead of battling it through childlike play. She is trapped and not in control; on the other side, she is fearless and free.
UNDER THE LIGHTS
Charlie Ellis | BA (Hons) Fashion Imaging and Illustration
We follow a lonely and tormented individual who has physically taken on the attributes of the industrial and monotone surroundings of London's skyline. He despairs over being left to fend for himself following a breakup, only to realise that he is not alone when he comes together with his peers in the local music scene.
BECOMING A POSTHUMAN
Rafal Arkadiusz Miszczak | BA (Hons) Costume for Performance
Arousing curiosity, delight and even fear, this is the story of the first artificially bred being that was created to replace the human race, and its escape from the laboratory to the real world.
THE ULTIMATE SAMSARA
Chenshuo Xu, Guanzhen Gao and Ziyi Wang | MA Fashion, Film and Digital Production
This film looks at the authenticity of digital identity in ancient Chinese rituals, portraying digital fantasia between folktale, metaverse and reincarnation. It is an exploration of hybrid Chinese culture, fashion and identity; Using a 3D space to express the connection between Chinese traditional culture and modern society on cultural responsibility.
A PLACE WHERE WE BELONG
Asmae El Ouariachi | BA (Hons) Fashion Styling and Production
A short film about breaking down stereotypes of Muslim women in this society. Five powerful Muslim creatives are interviewed and filmed within their practice in the creative industry. They belong in any place they want to belong, and are not defined by race or religion.
Ομορφιά (BEAUTY)
Yang Liu | BA (Hons) Costume for Performance
Questioning traditional beauty through the medium of plaster, Yang Liu creates a stunning character transformation – from a pleated dress to a fat suit – that take inspiration from the masters such as Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
BEAUTY OF GROTESQUE
Frankie Bogg | BA (Hons) Fashion Styling and Production
This short film is based on fashion’s obsession with non-conformities. It focuses on youth culture, radical fashion, individuality, current affairs, and highlights diversity and uniqueness through expressing beauty in the grotesque.
ROSEBUD
Luke Edwardson | BA (Hons) Fashion Photography
Presenting as a superficial and commercial 3D world, this new media film – set in a VR space – is built on the queer compulsion to parody social consensus. Statues are models of a queer friend and the flowers are queer coded.
THE END OF SILENCE
Maria Dyshkant | BA (Hons) Fashion Photography
Alice, a 40-year deaf woman found herself isolated from society with the sudden onset of hearing loss at a time when all healthcare was focused on tackling Covid-19. Through an alternative therapy, Alice came to terms with the new reality – reclaiming her sense of control and power.
THE TEMPEST
Francisco Sampaio | MA Costume Design for Performance
This film shows Prospero, the protagonist of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, neglecting his duties as Duke of Milan. Once exiled, he is now able to regain power over his story by taking a pill. But this power is somewhat flawed, as he fails to see Trinculo’s growing greed.
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Runqi He | MA Fashion, Film and Digital Production
A digital fashion film combining reality and virtual reality through special effects.
The story follows a protagonist appearing in a new dimension. The surreal sense leads the audience to rethink – perhaps the virtual world is the beginning of the real world.
