shorts from underground

Presented by Full Spectrum Features and Mana Contemporary, Shorts from Underground is a new series that highlights boundary-pushing filmmakers from around the world. Every Monday, a new featured artist will be highlighted through weeklong access to one of their short films accompanied by an exclusive filmmaker interview. Selections comprise experimental, DIY, and underground shorts.

Shorts from Underground aims to replicate the joy and connective experience of going to the movies, all without leaving the house. The screenings also seek to celebrate original voices in film and amplify the work of women, POC, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized filmmakers.

The Archive

Featured

Selection of Shorts by João Cândido Zacharias

Os Ultimos Romanticos (The Last Romantics) - 2019, Brazil, 13 min. Portuguese with English subtitles. Two young men share different points of view of the same sexual encounter in a public space.

Sandra Chamando (Sandra Calling) - 2017, Brazil, 12 min. Portuguese with English subtitles. “Grieving, longing… a downer, right?”

Selection of Shorts by Tetsuya Mariko

The Far East Apartment / 極東のマンション - 2003, Japan, Super 8 transferred to digital video, 32 min., Japanese with English subtitles. A man who wants to express himself on film takes on the challenge of more extreme production in order to smash his ego.

Mariko's 30 Pirates / マリコ三十騎 - 2004, Japan, Super 8 transferred to digital video, 23 min., Japanese with English subtitles. At the turn of a new era, the film pays homage to the decaying university student hall and 8mm film.

Selection of Shorts by Ben Popp

László Lassú - 2011, U.S., 4 min. Made with music from the band A Hawk and a Hacksaw, two lovers are separated by the recesses of space, only to be reunited by the music they share with one another.

A Thauma-Tale - 2014, U.S., 2:30 min. A digital optical toy comes to life to tell the tale of a person making a leap into the unknown.

Juxtaposition - 2015, U.S., 2:30 min. An in-camera roll of Super 8 film juxtaposing colors, textures, and imagery.

The Limits of Vision (Excerpt) by Laura Harrison

2020, U.S., 3 min. Housewife Marcia is coming unstuck amidst shifting gender norms in South London, 1974.

Drifting (漂流) by Hanxiong Bo

2019, China, 16 mins. Chinese with English subtitles. A teenager in the suburbs of China expresses his emotions through drifting his father's old taxi in the abandoned parking lot, where past and future meet.