Review - Shifting Patterns of Light and Shade

Review by Hagan Mathews

Candlelight, a whirring projector and fuzzy images tripping over themselves on a rolling canvas. That’s what waited in Brooklyn Project Café on Wednesday night. Super 8 film creates an unavoidably nostalgic ambience that, if used with restraint, makes for simple and effective short films. And the stuff on show here was certainly short. None longer than five minutes, most less than three, Shifting Patterns of Light and Shade collected ten surprisingly engaging works as a follow-up to a the Inaugural Super 8 Backyard Film Festival held in April this year. All shot using black and white film, a couple of films contained more shifting patterns of shade rather than light. But these were firmly in the minority. The stuff on show was best when shot in full sunlight, the warmth of the images contrasting with a slight draught trickling through the café. I was disappointed that nobody used colour film. It would have been interesting to see modern scenarios shot in the fuzzy sepia of seventies newsreel footage. Black and white created an almost imposing artiness that detracted from the simple fun of most of the work. But that’s something to look forward to next time.

Shifting Patterns of Light and Shade was held in The Brooklyn Project, 18 & 19 August.