Sahamatha Film Society, M'lr to Screen Four Short Films at Sahodaya Hall on Apr 29

Mangalore, Apr 27: Sahamatha Film Society will be screening four short films on Sunday April 29 at Sahodaya Hall, Balmatta, here at 6 pm.The movies to be screened are 'An Occurance at the Owl Creek' (1962) of 28 minutes in French, 'A Chairy Tale' (1957) of 12 minutes, Animation, Canada, 'The Red Balloon' (1956) of 34 minutes, France and 'Schwarzfahrer' (1993) of 12 minutes in German. Entry is free to watch these movies.

'A Chairy Tale' is a black and white movie directed by Claude Jutra & Norman McLarren, starring Claude Jutra, animation by Evelyn Lambart, music by Ravi Shankar, Chatur Lal, Maurice Blackburn, distributed by National Film Board of Canada. The movie was released in 1957. The movie is about a young man who wishes to sit down on a plain white chair in order to read. The chair resists this whole idea strenuously. Finally the young man admits defeat and sits on the floor. But left on its own the chair becomes lonesome. The music is provided by Ravi Shankar, years before the Beatles spread his name far and wide.

'The Red Balloon' is directed, produced, written by Albert Lamorisse, starring Pascal Lamorisse, music by Maurice:Leroux, cinematography by Edmond Sechan. The movie was released on October 15, 1956. The movie is about a boy who makes friends with a seemingly sentient balloon, and it begins to follow him. It follows the boy to school, to the bus, and to church. The boy and balloon play together in the streets of Paris and try to elude a gang of boys that wants to destroy the balloon. The film ends as the other balloons in Paris come to Pascal's aid and take him on a cluster balloon ride over the city as the narrator states that other balloons took Pascal up to a magical world where balloons and children can be friends forever. The movie is the winner of the Best Original Screenplay Oscar, and there is almost no dialog spoken in the film.

'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge' released in 1962 is directed by Robert Enrico and is based on a short story by Ambrose Bierce. The movie is about Peyton Farquhar, a Civil War civilian prisoner and spy, is about to be hanged from Owl Creek Bridge. As he is dropped, the rope breaks, and as he swims away the soldier's bullets miss him. After avoiding capture, he arrives at his home, and sees his wife and child. He runs toward his wife and she toward him. Just as they are about to fall into each other's arms, however, the scene cuts to Farquhar being dropped from the platform and hanged on the bridge. The entire escape was a dream or hallucination that he experienced in the moments
before his death.

'Schwarzfahrer' (The Black Rider) went on to win an Academy awardin 1994 for best short film. German Director Pepe Dunguart, made the short film in 1993 about racism in Germany. The short film ‘Schwarzfahrer’ or The black rider is a play in the German word meaning Fare Dodger and that the man on the train is a black rider. In the film a black man boards the train and sits next to an old lady who verbally abuses him while people on the train sit quietly and say nothing. The end of the film has a humorous twist, and allows the viewer to reflect on what the message of the film is.

(media release/daijiworld)