The Fan Carpet’s Marc Jason Ali shares his Reviews for Shorts Block 7 at the 2019 Edition of the London Independent Film Festival

The London Independent Film Festival (LIFF) is the premier event for first and second-time film-makers, micro-budget and no-budget films in the UK. LIFF offers a fantastic opportunity for indie filmmakers to showcase their achievements, with spaces reserved for first and second time filmmakers and for films that have been overlooked by other events.

LIFF presents the best of low-budget filmmaking from around the world, and mixes it up with relevant industry discussions and targeted social networking events. LIFF’s audience is London’s sizeable independent filmmaking community. It’s an indie film festival for indie filmmakers.

Here, The Fan Carpet's Marc Jason Ali shares his Reviews for Shorts Block 7 which showcased the films Clarity and Chaos by Vittoria Rizzardi Penalosa, 3 Sleeps by Christopher Holt, Edward by Jerome Bell, Secret Times by Montanah Blue and There Are No Dividends by Joe Haughey....

Clarity and Chaos
Vittoria Rizzardi Penalosa’s Clarity and Chaos is set in a dystopian society where individuals are forced to go around wearing labels indicating their sexuality and gender, however when the government in their infinite wisdom to remove 'Asexual' from the pool of available option, Penelope, is forced to enroll in a sexual deviancy hospital that at the end of the ‘treatment’ she is forced to choose a new label.

Thought provoking and poignant, Clarity and Chaos is beautifully and thoughtfully Written and Directed by Vittoria Rizzardi Penalosa.

Acted beautifully across the board, wit a stand out performance by Yanthe Louis as Penelope, Clarity and Chaos is a must watch for anyone, and not just those struggling with these genre issues.

Thankfully our society isn’t as bad as this.

3 Sleeps
This award winning Short Film from Christopher Holt is another slice of life film, that sees the nine year old Casey (Mollie Cowen) left home alone with her two younger sisters; Megan and Taylor (Kiera Thompson and Amber Callaghan respectively) by their troubled mum, Mandy (Emily Haigh).

Leaving a nine year old alone is a bad thing to do but Casey displays a lot of maturity and responsibility, but when her youngest sister falls seriously ill. Casey is caught between protecting her mum and saving her sister's life.

This film is incredible, beautifully acted by an incredibly young cast, that display so much range and acting prowess, my only real criticism is that Emily Haigh was reduced to little more than a cameo; but in the context of the film it works.

Clocking in at eighteen minutes, 3 Sleeps is worth a watch, the young cast; especially Mollie Cowen have a bright future ahead of them.

Edward
The only animated short that I saw at LIFF this year was Edward by Jerome Bell, and it is great. With no dialogue the story is easy to follow and is beautifully animated.

Secret Times
This short Documentary, Directed by Montanah Blue, is incredible, it follows photographer Cathleen Naundorf, as she prepares for her solo exhibition show at the Fotografiska museum, in Stockholm Sweden.

Expertly Directed and Edited, this Documentary is worth seeing, you can’t go wrong with a six minute runtime.

There Are No Dividends
There Are No Dividendsis a Comedic Short film written and Directed by Joe Haughey that tells the story of Darren Hobbs, an entrepreneur and owner of Unique Automation Consultants, he sneaks into a hotel conference room to conduct a careers day, in his search for an engineer to work on his prototype, a device that enables warehouse owners to make their workforce, in Darren's words, semi-autonomous, things look promising when hobbyist Phil shows a keen interest, but when Darren unveils Eazy Guidance,

This nine minute short film is brilliant, superbly acted by Toby Williams (Darren) and Marc Pickering (Phil), sketch comedy is tricky, but with the incredible comic timing, There Are No Dividends is a winner.