Ezekiel Kingsbury, Editor-in-Chief

Last Thursday, April 11, the Beloit International Film Festival (BIFF) put on a showing of six short films, all centered around queer experiences. The films were selected as part of a class taught by Professor Michael Dango by Jazmin Gomez’27, Clayton Jenny, Ella Martin, Maddy Mathey, Flora Milford’24, Niana Rooney’25, Katelyn Shroeder’26, King Snider, Gillian Tam, and Kaci Watanabe. 

The short “(Re)Call,” an animated film directed by Sam Atmane, Pierre-André Blanc, Faustine Guisse, Camille le Boucher, and Léo Resende explores a man’s relationship with his mother (expressed for the majority of the short as a screaming undecipherable blob of scribbles), won the festival, and it is clear why (though I do have a different personal favorite). 

The delightfully drawn scenes change in style and aesthetic as we follow the man from an office to the nightmarish white void of his childhood, a strong artistic choice that captured both the experience of desperately trying to remember something pushed very, very far down and the actual terror (which we, as adults refuse to acknowledge) that is childhood, especially when one’s parental figure is unwilling to be attentive and understanding to their child as a result of cultural and ideological differences. The score was well suited to the whimsy of the cosmic piece, though not overbearing. It is apparent why this won the festival. 

“Emerald City,” directed by Josef Steiff, was easily the longest of the shorts, and while visually well put together, the tale of two men falling in love and reconciling with their departure from their home while hitchhiking through the southwest seemed to heady a topic for both the directors and actors. The dialogue, both in its text and performance, was unable to convince me that it represented anything either real or symbolic. To say that I understood the plot and the intended impact was not enough. However, the cinematography heightened the intended effect, through an initially jarring use of a 21:9 aspect ratio (crazy long) that was able to effectively capture the endless sky and desert of the southwest as well as the duets between the two lovers in their tent. 

The opening film, “The Washing Machine,” directed by Diane Malherbe, was a fun and quirky exploration of fantasy, as our protagonist traveled through different imagined scenarios of love and lust. The style was bright and the score matched it well. The final scene, which was a HOT ORGY, was actually very sweet and gentle.

“Ofrenda,” directed by Tyler Garcia, and “The Lonesome Pony,” directed by Milo Blaec Richards, both suffer from a lack of movie-making experience. “Ofrenda,” a depiction of grief after a woman loses her lover, is extremely genuine and earnest and for that it is commendable. “The Lonesome Pony” was a far more silly Willie Nelson drag king number, and while it was extremely fun, the editing and performances were slightly sloppy. This isn’t too bad a thing though. 

My personal favorite, “I Remember What It Was Like When It Was Possible,” directed by Lucia Alegre, was a musical number between two women performing for a small crowd in a beautiful theater. The song itself was melodically beautiful, the lyrics were silly but real, and the cinematography was excellent. This short was a small idea executed in the best way it could have been. It was absurd and dream-like, sincere and straight. It was exactly what a short is supposed to be: a small idea done extremely well.