FILM

Aurora Picture Show presents Pretty Dark, Thursday, January 12, at 7PM. Location: Barnevelder Movement Complex, 2201 Preston Street.

Visit the dark side with Aurora Picture Show at “Pretty Dark,” a screening of short films that are visually stunning and unilaterally disturbing. With themes such as tragedy, gluttony, and isolation, this screening will take you on a tour of emotional and psychological issues that affirm the existential brutality of the world, but also reveal beauty in the darkness of these masterfully crafted films that will stimulate your eyes and soul.

While the holiday season is filled with films that sparkle and shine, these short films definitely are not “feel-good” flicks. Culled from selections seen at prestigious film festivals such as SXSW, Slamdance and Sundance by Aurora Curator Mary Magsamen, these are films that, despite their high caliber talent and compelling subjects, carry unnerving or heavyhearted tones. Combined in one esoteric program, each film is equally somber and bewitching.

Please note that minors are not allowed to attend, 18 and up only due to the adult subject matter.

Dark beers from Saint Arnold Brewery will help suppress fears and sorrows. Are you ready for “Pretty Dark”?

The screening includes the following short films:

Next Floor, 11 min, Denis Villeneuve
During an opulent and luxurious banquet, complete with cavalier servers and valets, eleven pampered guests participate in what appears to be a ritualistic gastronomic carnage. In this absurd and grotesque universe, an unexpected sequence of events undermines the endless symphony of abundance.

Sister, 6 min, Michael Rittmannsberger and Sonja Aufderklamm
During a tragic incident in a public swimming area, a girl’s conflict with her sister has a disturbing outcome.

Poppy, 11min, James Cunningham
Poppy is set on France’s western front in World War I, where two New Zealand soldiers are trapped behind enemy lines. They find a baby in a muddy ditch, under its dead parents. One of the men wants to save it – the other does not. Based on true events, Poppy was written by the great-grandson of one of these soldiers.

The Inviolability of the Domicile, 7 min, Alex Piperno?
In the garden of a provincial summer home, a series of operations is carried out, involving a man, a woman and a group of individuals with certain convictions.

Nightfall, 5 min, Margarida Paiva
Nightfall is a fragmentary montage of night shots recalling feelings of loneliness and melancholy. Its photographic quality and the flowing rhythm of images turn the narrative into an enigmatic atmosphere of dreamy mental states.

Bunny Boy, 5 min, Brandon LaGanke
When a young child walks home from school he encounters a strange-looking man in a full bunny costume laying in his back yard. The man is not moving and appears to be dead. Instead of fleeing, the child is intrigued and engages in a silent conversation.

Gravity, 13 min, Pamela Romanowsky
Mae lives a quiet life in the north woods with her estranged husband. Amid alienation and brutality, Mae forms an unexpected connection with a wounded rabbit, and finds that its fate is tied to her own.

Bedtime Story, 8 min, Ben Bruhmueller
Evocative visuals and melodies form a haunting, soothing lullaby in this stop-motion animated/mixed-media film, as a deathbed dream becomes a connection to the mysteries beyond.