Madeleine Seidel
, January 22nd, 2021 09:26
This year's virtual edition of the London Short Film Festival understands our fraught definitions of home more than ever, Madeleine Seidel finds across several key titles
A lot can happen in a minute. Nothing shows this better than the short film. The London Short Film Festival has been an incubator for exciting new filmmakers working in this truncated format since 2003, and this year is no different.The 2021 virtual line-up features both established names and upcoming international talents redefining what’s possible in the short film format, showing us new worlds and perspectives in a matter of minutes. Although there is no overarching theme for the festival, the connecting element of many of the best shorts is how our relationship to our environs is malleable and ever-changing, and our definitions of home are affected just as much by time and place as they are identity. These shorts turn the concept of home inside out: they attend to how the political, racial, and economic restraints of place can shape our countries and communities––and in turn shape our very identities. In a time where our relationships to places both public and private are changing due to the continuing constraints and challenges of COVID-19, this exploration of home, and