Putting the real life horrors of past month aside I'll focus on the Final Girls Berlin Film Festival (FGBFF) which took place February 1 -5 in this first part describing my cinematic experiences. For those of you who don't know - the FGBFF is a festival that showcases movies directed/written/produced by women* in order to strengthen their perspectives in the horror genre. The festival usually spans over four or five days in February and comprises feature films, horror talks, a self-defense workshop and my favorites, the short films. This year the short films were divided into the subcategories Female Pacts, Body Horror, Menacing Presences, Close to Home, Creatures, Bodily Autonomy, Queer Horror, Midnight, Young n Deadly and High Tension.
I haven't been able to go and be at the City Kino Wedding physically this year due to personal reasons, but my heart and mind was with them. Thanks to their online range I was able to rent and watch the shorties despite not being there and was, as usual, in awe with the selection. I'll quickly pitch my highlights below, but before that I want to urge you to support them as events like these are so important. All of the Final Girls Berlin put their heart and soul in this work so we can enjoy these great films - and we do!
Visit their patreon page, their FB page, their website and mark your calendar to visit the festival next time there's an event; apart from the main festival in February there's also a Halloween special on the last day of October and online talks in the summer.
That being said, here come the shorties I loved, they're all fantastic!
Female Pacts
Directed by Alexandra Mignien, France, 2022
A witch trial coming to an end. The persecutor and prosecutor sums up the reasons a group of women is being killed then and there, with the usual hypocrisy and cruelty that women of a certain status had to endure during centuries past. Some nice violence scenes and a very satisfying ending that will leave a happy smile on your face!
No Man's Land
A young man has gathered a group of women into a kind of suicide cult in which they patiently wait for atonement, though they're not very sure about what will happen to them when the time has come. When it indeed does come, things don't go as planned, and comedy ensues.
No Man's Land is a hilarious short piece of acting perfection in which almost each one of the characters is dumber than the other, but most of them lovable.
Body Horror
Love is a Fire
Directed by Sofie Somoroff, US, 2022
This year period horror was big at this festival! My god, things, fluids, super powers, gross stuff poring out from down there all over.
Though not at all related to menstruation, Love is a Fire also focuses on the vag, but in certainly more lethal and acidic ways and when I say lethal and acidic, I mean not for the woman. The ending is the stuff of nightmares!
In the Flesh
Directed by Daphne Gardner, US, 2022
Can a girl jerk off in the bathtub in peace, please? Not this girl here, nope. All our protagonist wants is to have some me-time in the tub but the tab shooting a thick, black, gross substance cuts her self-romance short.
When a talk with the building management ends up in her not being taken seriously, she decides to take matters in her own hands and goes down into the basement where there's a nasty surprise waiting for her.
Actress Edy Modica was life in this short film, no need to look for more.
Menacing Presences
There are two categories this year which featured short films unanimously great and it was seriously hard to try and choose a "best of" in both these divisions. One of them is "Menacing Presences". I was taken aback by the great writing, originality and quality of each and every one of these. Nevertheless, here are the "favorites", but don't forget that all were good and these films raised the bar for the whole festival.
Deshabitada
Directed by Camila Donoso, Chile, 2021
Literal snippets from the past life of an older woman sitting naked in her room in the last moments of her life.
Stunning. I'm not going to lie, this experimental stop motion brought tears to my eyes. Apart from the substantial and emotional weight of its topic, the technique, the visuals were sheer breathtaking. If you're interested you can take a peek at its trailer here, on praxia cine.
Night Work
Directed by Savanna Hunter-Reeves, US, 2022
A young new mother who is also a workaholic takes a night away from her family to work through the night but soon realizes that she isn't alone in the house.
Although this one wasn't really spectacular or striking, it was a solid little horror story with a surprise ending that explains its mysteries satisfactorily.
Knit One Stab Two
Written and directed by Alison Peirse, UK, 2022
A very amusing and intriguing ten-minute-documentary which follows the representation of knitting, knitters and knitting needles in horror films of the last century.
From a harmless diversion for innocent elderly ladies to an unpredictably bad-ass murder weapon, this pastime has come a long way and undergone a radical change in the way it is perceived.
It is a lovely, very captivating short film which gave me something to think about something I never spent a thought on. I'm always amazed by the high quality of film productions from the United Kingdom, very impressive.
Close to Home
The Forfeit
Directed by Phoebe Brooks & Josie Charles, UK, 2022
A posh English family welcomes the younger son's new girlfriend to their home on Christmas Eve and expect her to play and master a very peculiar traditional Christmas game. As she is getting better at playing the game, she gradually recognizes dark family secrets embedded into the game. Can she adapt?
This one is AMAZING! So professionally done, has got the umph, the pace, the meat. Loved this.
Scooter
Directed by Chelsea Lupkin, US, 2022
A woman is abandoned by her controlling jerk of a boyfriend in the middle of the night and finds a scooter with which she travels in the night. On the parking lot of a fast food place she discovers a woman trapped in the back of a van. What should she do?
It's not that this is a super authentic or stunning film at all, but I just thoroughly enjoyed watching it. I liked the acting, the idea of scooting into the night, letting go of harmful people...
White Devil
Directed by Mariama Diallo & Benjamin Dickinson, US, 2021
If the FGBFF had a winner, I think this should be it, this punch in the gut kind of awesome film about an important topic. And unlike many horror short films it is chillingly scary too.
It is the peak of the COVID lockdown and George Floyd is murdered. A Black woman quietly notices little changes in the behavior of her white partner which take alarming dimensions.
Just wow...
Creatures
You're My Best Friend
Directed by Chell Stephen, US, 2022
Ever since I moved from one of Berlin's busiest, most trafficked streets Warschauer Strasse to a quieter side road with lots of trees a couple of years ago, I have a bug problem. Whenever I open my window to let in some fresh air, I can one hundred percent count on the fact that I'll be collecting bugs at night to throw them out again. I have a special jar for that purpose.
Luckily I have never encountered one big enough that would stop me in my tracks, but that's exactly what happens here. And it's in the bathroom too! Good thing this bug understands that our protagonist needs alone time in the bathroom and gives her privacy when needed and it even turns out she has quite a sassy character too. So much that they become best friends and do lots of fun stuff together.
I'm not sure if I could go that far, but I'll certainly think twice next time I'm throwing bugs out. Talking about it made me realize it would be better to just buy an insect screen.
Mantra
Directed by Stef Meyer & Pascal Bourelier, France, 2022
A woman whose husband leaves her isolated in their insanely big and rich and creepy mansion develops an interesting bond with a praying mantis - I'm not sure anymore if they keep it as a pet or if the animal was just there when they moved in, but they connect somehow.
Super artsy, lots of sexy choreography, again about a relationship between a woman and an insect during the absence of a man in their lives.
I am insanely phobic of mantises, although I know they won't harm me, but I used to watch the French cartoon Clémentine when I was a child, in which a demon from hell is sending agents after a little girl and when they fail to kill her, the demon turns them into mantises in hell and burns them. So this is my trauma and now you know it, I will never be able to like or even look at them, so this short film was absolutely unbearable for me. But well done, to give the devil its due.
Fishwife
Directed by Beth Park, UK, 2022
A short film I wish I had the chance to watch a second time and maybe a little more attentively as I think there's lots of details and symbolism I missed.
A folk horror tale about a woman living alone in a remote cottage in Britain. She notices a stranger around her house who seems to show interest in her. After a visit from a strange man, an eerie encounter, her life will change.
Bodily Autonomy
Sleep
Directed by Alexandra Pechman, US, 2022
Short and sweet movie about a woman who has PTSD due to home invasion, but re-lives her biggest fear in life.
Probably not very helpful to watch unapologetic, shockingly pessimistic movies in which our worst fears come true, but there's a certain appeal there, can't say exactly why.
Sangue Nero
Written and directed by Ophélie Nève, Belgium, 2021
A dark, sad story of a young girl who lives in the Belgian backwoods with her sister and her sister's boyfriend who is an abusive asshole. A traumatic experience will cause her to make an empowering discovery in the woods.
Queer Horror
Violet Butterfield: Makeup Artist for the Dead
Directed by Brooke H. Cellars, US, 2022
Violet Butterfield, kick-ass Southern lady and mortician beautician keeps on being interrupted during her work by people who need her service. Her true passion belongs to pretty up the dead.
I loved this character so much I wished someone did my pedicure and makeup like she does when I'm gone.
Hundefreund
Directed by Maissa Lihedheb, Germany, 2022
Who would have thought that of all the people I would some day praise a cinematic work from Germany, but here we are.
A date turns nasty when political differences surface. That's Hundefreund in a nutshell, but for those who live here in this country it is a whole life, a whole world of this happening all the time. Another punch in the gut kind of movie.
Midnight
She's Killing It
Directed by Jamie Rice & Nicole Machon, US, 2022
It is a very tempting, enticing idea to stumble upon a perfect text, the perfect material for whatever branch of arts you perform in and have the opportunity to steal it and present it as yours without any consequences. This happens in She's Killing It where a struggling comedian finds a book full of jokes, but it is in fact haunted. So she too becomes cursed. I guess there is a price to pay for everything we think we get for free.
I loved the acting here and the nightmarish atmosphere!
Big Weekend Plans
Directed by Tesha Kondrat, US, 2022
A woman has big plans for the weekend; she hired an assassin to kill her. But when the hired killer bails out, she needs to find ways to realize those plans herself.
Short but nice.
Young n Deadly
The second category where in fact all short films are perfect is this one, "Young n Deadly", where the audience has the pure bliss of watching these incredibly, in-cre-dib-ly talented young actresses. Just wow!
Spell On You
Directed by Sarah Lasry, France, 2022
Young Salomé has a wart on her nose and it keeps getting bigger. While she herself is petrified already and tries to come to terms with it, it doesn't help that her father treats her differently, distances himself from her for fear of being contaminated. In their house there's strange things going on, the parents' marriage is strained and Salomé is old enough to see all of it. While all this happens she gains a strange ally, giving her advice. All this accumulates into a spectacular performative climax which makes it impossible not to admire young actress Inès Angelina Mnafek-Amandio's talent. I was left speechless, with a huge smile on my face. Merci Inès!
Hiama
Directed by Matasila Freshwater, Solomon Islands, 2021
A teenager who has to face heavy bullying at school receives a visit by a guardian spirit of her family, Hiama, and teaches her her power.
Another dumbfounding performance by a young and talented actress. I was really impressed and definitely would have freaked out if someone at my school had performed that dance!
Plus it's the first movie from the Solomon Islands I ever saw, so congratulations to me, I guess!
High Tension
Face Not Recognized. Try Again.
Directed by The Also Sisters, Spain, 2022
A woman wakes up in the middle of the woods with her head cemented shut. While she tries several methods to break it off, her only way to call for help, her cell phone with face recognition, is rendered frustratingly useless.
Take a breath of relief and lean back, enjoy this film if you have fingerprint identification on your phone. Unless they cement your hands and you wish you had face recognition.
I had a wonderful time watching this year's selection, thank you so much FGBFF, see you next time!
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