Viewers Choice Screening: alt.pictureshows

Viewers Choice Screening: alt.pictureshows

The Viewers Choice Screening: alt.pictureshows was a special screening held on October 12, 2010 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, which showcased the audience’s favorite short films of this year. Several short films were presented during this two hour-long screening. Of the various short films, the most memorable short film for me was “Kavi”, a short film shot by Gregg Helvey for his master’s thesis film at USC to portray that slavery still exists even now in today’s world.

The story, set in Maharashtra, India, begins with a young boy, Kavi, working at a brick kiln with his parents to pay off the debt, 10,000 rupees, his father owns to Sumrat, the kiln owner. Kavi dreams of going to school and playing cricket like the boys he sees passing by instead of working at the brick kiln and playing with an imaginary farm with his plant. The turning point of the short film occurs when Kavi, being punished by Sumrat, discovers two reporters hidden behind the bushes asking a slave questions about the brick kiln. Kavi, intrigued by the food he would receive in exchange for giving the reporters, Arvind and Vishal, information, goes towards them, gives them his name, and runs away with a bottle of soda. However, the guard discovers Kavi with the soda and reports this to Sumrat, who punishes Kavi again. After this event, Kavi no longer plays with his farm, which symbolizes Kavi’s innocence as he believes the farm really exists, showing that Kavi has come to a realization and his change. Kavi becomes rebellious and is being chained to the wall by Sumrat as a punishment. When reports that people are coming to free the slaves, Sumrat sends all of his slaves away except for Kavi as he is still chained in his room. The people that came are none other than Arvind and Vishal, whom Kavi met previously. The two demands Sumrat to free his slaves, but after finding the brick kiln to be empty, they no longer can do anything about Sumrat. Kavi, in Sumrat’s room, overhears the whole conversation and tries desperately to escape out of his handcuffs. He succeeds in escaping with bloody wrists and runs to the two to confirm that there was a slavery camp and that Sumrat held them there to repay their debt. As Kavi leaves the brick kiln, he steps on the wet brick laid out to dry, leaving his footprint, which symbolizes Kavi’s first step to freedom from making bricks.

Another short film that caught my attention was “Vomit Pig/Lustful Fistful”, a film without any narration except the music in the background playing. This film depicts an emotionless girl smoking and drinking while the camera adds many effects to emphasize her loss of self. The effects almost overpower the girl in the film with its music, the color changes to portray the distortion of the girl after she drinks and her loss of control on her life. Her lack of voice in this short film represents how the girl has lost her own voice in life, metaphorically; she is no longer able to make her own decisions or she has lost her drive. She simply smokes and drinks to fulfill her pitiful life. The title, named “Vomit Pig/ Lustful Fistful” shows how eccentric the film is: the girl may experience all these different emotions, but she can no longer do anything to change as she is stuck in this lifestyle.

Helvey, through his lens, exposes the issue of slavery to the viewer. Without the technological advances we have made in cinematography, Helvey would not have had the chance to shoot this short film. These advances have led to a broader range of information presented to the people, but nevertheless negative effects of these changes are also present as further advances in this technological era are made that focus more on the technology itself rather than the people they are suppose to assist. Therefore, people lose more of themselves at times when the technology becomes overbearing, as shown in “Vomit Pig/Lustful Fistful”, where the girl loses her self to the effects within the film. Overall, this Viewers Choice Screening: alt.pictureshows was very interesting even though it was not what I had expected the screening to be like.