Even though this festival presented a really good range of films - many centred in or around Iowa, or on Iowan filmmakers, but definitely not all - there were, as is is often the way, really not that many in the programme by women. This, of course, is hardly the "fault" of the festival programmers alone (as they chose a very diverse set of films), but reflects the fact that filmmaking remains somewhat dominated by men - even, it seems, in more independent arenas such as those highlighted by this rather fabulous festival, now in its fourth year.
One set of shorts offered two films by one female filmmaker, Pat Atkinson. The first, One Bullet (USA, 2010), is an interesting look at what we are willing to do for someone we love - and perhaps wouldn't seem to comment on gender as such, were it not for the programming of it alongide the next film by Atkinson, Trophy Wife (USA, 2010). In that short, a taxidermy enthusiast with a mean streak handles his dissatisfaction with his wife in a predictably but nonetheless horrifyingly unpleasant manner. Trophy Wife therefore comments on the role of wives and their treatment at the hands of violent men, while One Bullet takes a look at self-sacrifice in a different, less clear context.
I the same programme was a longer short(!) entitled Clemency. Directed by Joseph Albanese (USA, 2009), this was I think by far the most well made film I saw at the festival. Again, I don't want to ruin it by setting out what happens, but suffice to say that it's no loss if you get a chance to see it, to know that it involves a serial killer's torture of two women. What is interesting to me is how it comments on what the State is willing to forgive, and how the film is located in the context of how films show men and women being chased and/or murdered in different ways. It's certainly interesting to watch a short like this in tthe context of mainstream film's tendency to focus on women's terror and fear (close-ups of their faces when they're afraid/about to die, for instance, as well as the tendency to show extended sequences of them before they die, as opposed to having male characters killed without such precursive imagery, or off-screen, etc.). And this is often, of coure, what is interesting about short films - how they comment and interact with mainstream films of the same genre, for instance, and how far they can (or cannot) do things differently.
I think my favourite film of the festival, though, was about a little chicken who was giving its excuse for being a little bit late for school. It was called Kidnap, and made by Sijia Luo(USA, 2009). I liked that I couldn't tell if the said chicken was male or female, for a start. (That said, I doggedly refuse to believe that Road Runner is necessarily male, so maybe it's just me? LOL.) But mosty I just loved the essential idea that the chicken was kidnapped muliple times - even by aliens - and that THAT is why s/he was late. It was just so sweet and engaging, and so devoid of gender representation, which is always good!
That said, a short from the same programme, Damsel Distressed (d. Tiffany Schmidt, USA, 2010), DID have some cool gender stuff, but managed to still be very sweet and popular with the children in the audience. In a nice combination of live action and drawn animation, it plays a little with gender stereotypes, without being too heavy-handed.
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