Film Devour 8 at the Black Box

Two short film festivals in two days, what a great time to be a film fan in Belfast! Having to decide between this and Joe Lindsay's "Shower of Cults" film night across town at the Hudson Bar showing Grind House Star Wars was a tough choice. So, having promised myself I'd go to the last Few "Film Devour Short Film Festival" and not quite making it I finally made it to number 8. As I arrived at the Black Box I noticed a huge crowd gathered before the doors, this is always a good sign. Soon we filed in paid our £4 and were ready to see some of Northern Irelands finest shirt films.

With 20 films in all covering many Genres - Horror, Drama, Thriller, Comedy, Sci-Fi...I could go on-it's safe to say there was something for every one. We started off with a film I'd heard a lot about but never seen "Looking for Al" essentially a documentary about 4 lads from Northern Ireland travelling down to Dublin trying to meet Al Pacino at the premiere of his latest film. An absolute geg with much banter included it's a great way to kick off the fast and a welcome opening 15 mins it's worth saying at this point that these films area lot longer short films than the ones shown last night. Where the longest film shown there was 3 mins 30secs these films range from 5 mins to 15.

"The Beach" is a wonderfully shot black white horror film about a man finding himself on a lonely island where he encounters a not so friendly apparition. The Portrush backdrop makes this a beautiful film to watch and the black and white adds a touch of gravitas. We have a few technical difficulties as Intermission is called after 7 films but after we're all refuelled were back for the long haul an date last 13
McKeever and Jones have 2 films shown here tonight. Both filled with classic Belfast humour and the 2 extremely likeable characters. The shorter of then2 was my favourite "McKeever and Jones Dreams Come True" filmed outside Victoria Square in the Cornmarket it features a chucklesome almost dance sequence about a man whose every wish comes true as he walks by the world, from nicking a chicken burger to swooping in for a snog with his dream girl and with a fun ending that everyone creasing with laughter.

Other mentions would be "Nuts and Robbers" by Aiden Gault and Marty Stalker. A very black comedy about bungling robbers that's worth a watch. Special effects mention of the night goes to Chris Thompsons "Skyhawk". With SFX that would look at home in any Hollywood Bloackbuster it's really surprising what the guys working in their bedrooms can come up with. "Spiderland" ended off the night with an usual ode to the muppets via the festive imagination of Paul Currie. A tale of spices in Belfast and their camp Rottweiler this was a dark slice of twisted comedy that finished off the night perfectly.

The main thing if notice tonight was the quality of all the films shown and the sell out crowd that came to pay in, while the Olympics are on, on a sunny day, to come and support these films. As I left the black box having been in there for over 4 hours I did quip that it was the longest Short film festival I'd ever been too, but long may it continue. Vive la Film Devour!

By Chris Caldwell

The Found Footage Festival - The Black Box

 Where else can you see a kitten playing the piano, a man wearing tubs of peanut butter for shoes, an angry motor-home salesman, or a vibrating face exercising mask? The Found Footage Festival has arrived. 

On Tuesday 10th July my brother told me that he had won tickets to The Found Footage Festival being held in The Black Box and asked if I wanted to go along with him. I didn't really know what I was getting myself into, but I happily agreed and soon found myself in The Black Box in the Cathedral Quarter sipping on a cider. The room was quite full for a Tuesday night and shortly before 8pm the lights went down and the projector screen at the front of the room lit up. What followed was an hour and a half journey into amusement and madness.

I really didn't have any idea of what to expect, and for some reason I literally thought that they would just play funny movies, one after the other and that would be it. So I was surprised when two American guys stepped out to compere. It soon became clear that these two guys, Nick Prueher and Joe Pickett had dedicated their lives to finding the most unintentionally weird and funny VHS tapes from around the world and their witty banter between videos really tied the night together and made everyone feel a part of their descent into weirdness.  As a massive Mystery Science Theater 3000 fan I was very excited to find out that these funny guys had contributed, and their other comedy credits also include The Onion, Late Show With David Letterman, and The Colbert Report. So you have some idea of the hilarity which ensued throughout the night.

Personally, I think that the two rules stated on The Found Footage Festival website really sum up what The Found Footage Festival is all about: "Two rules govern Found Footage Festival: 1) Footage must be found on physical format.  No YouTube. 2) It has to be unintentionally funny. Whatever it’s trying to do, it has to fail miserably at that." These videos aren't of posers trying too hard; they are genuine, serious videos which people have produced. Which to be honest, makes them all the funnier. 

The night was filled with weird and wonderful videos, most of which were montages which the guys had compiled over the years and we saw such classics as: magic rainbow craft sponging, exercise videos, public access footage, a song about every single astrological sign,  Arnold Schwarzenegger at Rio Carnival, various home movies, "Rent-a-Friend", How To Seduce Women Through Hypnotism and a dating video montage. 

Between videos, we were told the history of the video we were about to watch and some funny anecdotes to match. These were very entertaining and there are all kinds of extras and interviews on the 5 volumes of 'The Found Footage Festival' DVDs, which are available to buy. The sixth volume is due to be released on 28th July and can be pre-ordered here.

The quality of the comedy was spectacular, we didn't see a single un-funny video and the room was in stitches all night. It's basically like someone showing you the funniest videos on YouTube and weeding out the stuff that it isn't worth seeing. Joe and Nick have done all the work - so we don't have to.

By Laura Caldwell