Preview: Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2014
This weekend the city of York is set to host Aesthetica Magazine’s fourth annual Short Film Festival, and 2014 looks to be their biggest year yet. Showcasing over 300 films from 39 countries in various pop-up venues, the BAFTA-recognised event has a reputation for delivering diverse content in a warm and unique atmosphere.
From Aesthetica’s press notes:
This year’s festival will take place in 15 iconic venues across the historic city of York from 6 – 9 November. One of the UK’s most exciting site-specific events, ASFF is the only UK short film festival to transform an entire city centre into pop-up cinema. Moving between medieval halls, galleries, museums and cinemas, audiences are invited to create their own unique viewing experience.
ASFF is the place to discover and fall in love with independent cinema, presenting new cinematic voices in a dynamic programme of exciting genres and filmic styles, spanning advertising, animation, artists’ film, comedy, dance, documentary, drama, experimental, fashion, music video and thriller. Choose your path through the city centre, venturing down York’s historic cobbled streets and snickleways, and inside the city’s most treasured and iconic buildings, to uncover unforgettable works from all corners of the world.
Aesthetica’s “new strands” of fashion and advertising will bring something different to proceedings this year, with a London College of Fashion-sponsored slate of productions from Vivienne Westwood, Louis Vuitton and the like.
While most of the films are independent productions, expect some familiar names and faces to crop up. Actors Adeel Akhtar, Hugo Weaving and model Lily Cole all make an appearance in some of this year’s entrants, which is surely a indicator of quality for the work on show.
I’ll be in attendance over the weekend, hopping across the city from venue to venue at (in all probability) quite reckless speeds on my rickety bicycle in an effort to see as many of the festival’s offerings as possible. While I’ll be running down my highlights of the weekend on Nerdly, you’ll probably get a better impression of the work on show if you actually join me there. Day and weekend passes are very affordable, so if you happen to be in Yorkshire this week you could do worse than catch a few dozen movies before dinner.
The Aesthetica Short Film Festival runs 6-9 November at various venues in York. For more information on the festival and the films on show visit the festival’s site and buy tickets here.