[Editorial] North Bend Film Festival 2021

Set amongst the mysterious town of North Bend, which was the original shooting location for David Lynch’s ‘Twin Peaks’ , this year’s North Bend Film Festival brought the fantastical, eclectic and surreal to the big screen and it’s audiences.

In its fourth fantastical year, the North Bend Film Festival worked with emerging filmmakers to bring a vast collection of movie pieces to suit every possible taste, as well as celebrating the 20th anniversary of Richard Kelley’s peak surrealist science-fiction horror, Donnie Darko (2001) featuring an appearance by the director himself. 

Short film features were sorted into categories such as Home Transmissions, Something Strange and Beyond The Void. Home Transmissions took on somewhat of a body horror viewpoint featuring Goitre from filmmaker Anna Weltner covering historic and modern obsessions with bodily “deformities”, Zombie Walk by Rollyn Stafford with an apt narrative of walking your pet zombie through a pandemic hit city neighbourhood and the extremely hard hitting The Body Of Levi from director and writer Freddy Cheung which follows what happens when faith does more damage than good. The stand out short movie of this section was the Cronenbergian nightmare fuelled The Altruist from Matt Smith, which demonstrates in a full- on body horror metaphor, the sacrifices people make to help others. 

The short movie section Something Strange took on the subject of the uncanny, starting with a picture perfect picnic being disturbed in You Wouldn’t Understand from director Trish Harnetiaux. Mostachio by Victoria Warmerdam is a heartwarming short tale about looking to childhood memories for comfort in a time of grief. Grab Them by Morgane Dziurla-Petit hilariously imagines what it would be like to date as a person who looks like a certain former president of the United States. The David Ferino directed Picnic Pals In Dreamland blends dream-like cartoon states with real life action in this demonstration of a woman with serious FOMO. Think Adventure Time on acid. The Nipple Whisperer from Jan Van Dyck is so whimsical and nonsensical as it follows a man with a very special gift.  The highlight of Something Strange is Andrew Jaksch’s Today which follows a woman stuck in a Groundhog Day (1993) like time loop with her increasingly volatile husband. An amazing take on what a toxic and abusive relationship can do to a person and their sense of time. 

Mustachio

The segment Beyond The Void mixed horror and fantasy elements, and as a collective whole, was perhaps the most enjoyable short movie collection of the festival. I’m not a fan of musicals, at all, but if the short Stuffed from Theo Rhys was turned into a full length horror musical, I would be at the front of the queue to get in. It tells the story of a lonely taxidermist looking for the ultimate taxidermy challenge… a human. From turning the living into inanimate objects, to the transformation of inanimate objects into humans, Still Together by Christopher Piazza is a blood soaked romantic comedy like no other! Lucid directed by Deanna Milligan tells the tale of a severely misunderstood and underestimated arts student who finds her voice with gory consequences. The Isolated from Jay Giampietro is a documentary style short movie that follows a very lonely New Yorker as they navigate the pandemic and the isolation that ensues from the lockdown. Skinner 1929 by Aaron Blanton is an interesting mix of podcast style audio and vintage movie footage which immerses the audience in this mystery. Skinner 1929 has touches of creepy pasta and feels like it could easily become a subject for television series Channel Zero. 

The first of the feature length movies is Tailgate, by way of Dutch director and writer Lodewijk Crijns. It is a nail biting and suspenseful tale of a family stalked and terrorized by an assailant in a hazmat suit wielding poisonous weed killer, all because of the father’s tendency towards road rage. It is a cautionary tale of toxic masculinity that delves into slasher territory with added hints of home invasion. The antagonist is delightfully twisted and evil, playing the part with a quiet and unsettling ease.

Animated feature Cryptozoo is a colourful and whimsical movie that marries the fantastical of cryptid creatures with the entirely human act of over-consumption. Cryptid zookeeper and conservationist Lauren navigates the underground black market with a team, hunting for a mysterious and rare Baku. The animation is stunning and mesmerizing and envelopes the viewer into the world of cryptids. 

Cryptozoo

The feature length Superior by Erin Vassilopoulos is a retro inspired thriller that tells the story of Marian as she seeks an escape from her abusive husband by going to stay and swapping lives with her twin sister Vivian, who has fallen into a monotonous routine. Despite the fact that Superior has some serious Hitchcock meets the eighties vibes, it suffers from unnecessary and lengthy sequences. However, it’s commentary on gender roles and the different types of toxic relationships is worthy of note.

The real standout of the whole entire North Bend Film Festival is the documentary Luchadoras directed by Paola Calvo and Patrick Jasim. The feature follows the lives of female wrestlers as they navigate life inside and outside the ring in Ciudad Juarez. Surrounding them is the real life horror and threat of femicide and violence which has resulted in the women of the city being given a curfew. The feminist rising within their environment is an amazing backdrop to the struggles of these women who are also mothers, and the strength that they display is second to none. It’s difficult for me to remember a film, let alone a documentary film, that evoked such emotion in me as a viewer and the filmmakers and of course the Luchadoras should be commended for making such an innovative and awe inspiring piece. 

The fourth North Bend Film Festival was a thoroughly enjoyable melding of genre spanning features that introduced audience members to the talents and unbound imaginations of emerging filmmakers. It’s careful curation of fantasy, whimsy, horror and the unexplained was a success, and much like Lynch’s Twin Peaks was a thorough exploration of worlds that may lie beneath our subconscious. 

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