2016-02-15-offblockfeature-experimental
As expected, the experimental block at Oxford Film Festival is full of nuance, oddity, and pushing back against stereotyped expectations. Here are three that were especially interesting.
Screening on: Friday, 11 am, Malco; Saturday, 1 pm, Shelter on Van Buren
cyberGenesis (13 min)
Directed by: Andre Silva
cyberGenesis is a thought-provoking mixture of filmmaking techniques based around some of our biggest questions: consciousness, intelligence, and the future of the human race. The film’s visual style fluctuates throughout its various themed chapters, but never ceases to engage the viewer on both purely visual and thematic levels.
You Can Stay Here (3:00 min)
Directed by: John Veron
You Can Stay Here is an exercise in setting a mood, and that mood is “creepy.” Gorgeous cinematography belies the unsettling tone, and deft sound design draws in the viewer and never lets go. At just under three minutes, it’s a short one, but the open-ended brevity adds more than it subtracts here. You might want to make that trip to the restroom beforehand.
Take The Bus On A Hot Summer Day (4:40 min)
Directed by: Gloria Chung
Take The Bus On A Hot Summer Day is, more or less, exactly what one expects to see in an experimental block; the film is not so much a display of storytelling as it is an exploration of a cinematic idea. Urban landscapes from the view of a city bus are best taken in passively here, lest the viewer miss the point: that sometimes the most mundane things can be perceived in a totally fresh way. 
