从岛屿到群岛
一个愈演愈烈的现象是，电影和电影节正在成为各种意识形态观点交锋的斗争地。这一年我们见证了太多围绕电影爆发的论战：影像映射出极度割裂、乃至难以对话的现实；而另一方面，我们所理解的“现实”也日益被无处不在的影像所包围、所塑造。
我们该如何观看短片？这一问题指向的不是观看的方式，而是观看的期待与评判的标准。相较于长片，人们对于一部短片的判断更难以达成一致：这不仅因为短片的形态更为多样，也因为观众对短片的期待尤为不同。而影展所做的不仅是筛选出年度优秀作品，同时也是透过展映-观看的行动来持续与观众对话，重塑人们对于短片与影像的期待。
或许我们可以以岛屿来想象短片。在卡司、票房与主流叙事主导的院线电影所构成的当代华语影像大陆之外，短片犹如一个个微小的岛屿，尝试以自己的方式创造独有的风景与世界。而任何一次有能量的创作都是一次有企图的发言：透过这些形态各异的作品，我们可以识别作为个体的创作者如何回应我们正身处的充满震动的时代。
时代的印痕或许首先在一批“后疫情”影像中显现：《过山车经过的岛》（陈新彦、张靖晨）、《热河》（尚骥）、《是日访古》（林诣涵）都尝试以隐喻来映射现实的混乱与秩序的崩溃，以此揭示某种真相；《送行》（颜皓轩）、《新年旧日》（秦海）则代表了后疫情时期乍然涌现的一批关于“哀悼工作”（grief work）的作品，处理着人如何面对丧亲之痛这一既老又新的问题。《小丑》（陶立海）、《中场休息》（张曜元）、《火箭发射时》（刘博濠）不同程度触及了阶级、国族、性别身份下的个体处境、挣扎与选择，一种对人的关怀贯穿始终；也有作品选择了相反的的路径，尝试解构人类作为万物尺度的中心地位：《银杏和其他时间》（唐菡）是从自然、文化的角度对银杏的物种考古，去人类中心叙事中传递出另类时间感；《风吹小三亚》（于哲）则是对一个大型热带温室遗迹的凝视，当人类撤退后，自然如何重新“夺回”空间。
视觉图像在当代社会的中心地位、数字媒介与人工智能技术的颠覆性发展，令对图像文化的反思变得迫切：《如何想象不可想象之物》（刘广隶、陈梓睿）从私人经验开始，对恐龙图像展开一段数据库般的考古之旅，折射出想象、图像与资本、技术之间复杂关系。《象的失踪》（冉楚逊）是一个有关语言与图像、能指与所指的游戏，并对制造图像的物质条件予以揭示。《隧道漫步》（李泽昊）回归到古典的蓝晒摄影术以审视图像与真相、可见与不可见的关系。《历历如画》（陈东楠）将大芬村画工的访谈文字、绘画以及其所陈列的空间并置，图像的生产、观看与消费等面向均被囊括其中。
聚焦女性身份经验的作品依然引人瞩目，彰显着女性作者的创造力：《海都是海》（郭昕盈）通过纪录、搬演、动画等多种形式的混搭呈现了女性自我认同与他者期待之间的张力，充满想像性的创作本身构成对问题的揭示也是一次自我疗愈；《她这样度过了一天》（金子亦） 以咖啡馆女侍者的几个生活片段来捕捉日常的无聊、幻想与顿悟时刻；《这是跳舞的时刻》（李秋舒）则是课间集体舞时间两个女孩的私语与白日梦。三部作品中，幻想成为了女性对庸常的片刻逃逸，也预示着建立新的自我身份的可能性。
有关家庭的创作也从不缺席，且横跨了实验、纪录与虚构等多个类型，愈加趋于多元：《投掷》（张晓）以光线的闪烁、明暗的流动暗示着记忆的暧昧与飘忽，家庭旧照宛若来自过去的回声；《之江》（张京昊）则将个人口述史与对家庭照片、之江风景的凝视并置，以河流作为线索打捞家族历史的碎片；《少昌》（徐佩瑶）中，一家人在对逝者温柔的回望中重新走进了彼此，令我们再次意识到创作的意义在于最终文本，也在于过程本身。
《马桶，断指，新西兰》（王逸飞、吴逸飞）从青年导演拍片这一常见叙事切入，其走向却出人意料，最终落在人物内心的小小隐秘，轻盈、风趣而可爱。 《收楼的決心》（朱健安）明显创作于香港类型片的丰厚土壤之中，短短二十分钟里融入了喜剧、恐怖与温情等元素。《表演》（晋江）以两个长镜头构成生活的对比蒙太奇，这部被创作者称之为“捡的”作品成为对纪录短片形式的一次尝试。
最终这23部BISFF2023华语竞赛的短片构成一个群岛，一个相互关联、共同建构的岛屿空间：每个岛屿拥有独立的生态；岛屿之间又彼此关联，形成更大的生态系统，也共同昭示出当下华语短片创作的一种面貌、一种境况。
群岛，是一种展示的方式，也是一次观看的冒险。
From Island to Archipelago
A growing phenomenon is that movies and film festivals are becoming a battleground for various ideological viewpoints. This year we have witnessed too many debates surrounding movies: images reflect a reality that is extremely fragmented and even difficult to talk to; on the other hand, the "reality" we understand is increasingly surrounded and shaped by ubiquitous images.
How do we watch short films? This question does not ask the way of viewing but the expectations of viewing and the standards of judgment. Compared with feature films, it is more difficult for people to reach a consensus on a short film: not only because short films have more diverse forms, but also because audiences have particularly different expectations for short films. What the film festival does is not only to select outstanding works of the year, but also to continue to dialogue with the audience through the action of screening and viewing, and to reshape people's expectations for short films and images.
Maybe we can compare short films to islands. Outside of the mainland of contemporary Chinese film dominated by casts, box office, and mainstream narratives, short films are like tiny islands, trying to create unique landscapes and worlds in their own way. Any energetic creation is a statement with intention: through these works of various shapes, we can identify how individual creators respond to the shocking era we are living in.
The imprint of the times may first appear in a batch of "post-pandemic" images: "Roller Coaster" (Chen Xinyan, Zhang Jingchen), "Memories of the Yellow River" (Shang Ji), and "Sojourn To Shangri-la" (Lin Yihan) all tried to use metaphors to reflect the chaos of reality and the collapse of order, revealing a certain truth; "On Another's Sorrow" (Yan Haoxuan) and "A Year Apart" (Qin Hai) represent a batch of "grief work" that suddenly emerged in the post-epidemic period. "(grief work), deals with the old and new problem of how people deal with the pain of bereavement. "Guilin Clown" (Tao Lihai), "Half Time" (Zhang Yaoyuan), and "When a Rocket Sits on the Launch Pad" (Liu Boyao) touch on individual situations, struggles, and choices under class, nationality, and gender identity to varying degrees, a kind of care for people; there are also works that choose the opposite path, trying to deconstruct the central position of human beings as the scale of all things: "Ginkgo And Other Times" (Tang Han) is an archeology of the ginkgo from a natural and cultural perspective, removing the human-centered narrative to convey an alternative sense of time. "Wind Blows the Greenhouse" (Yu Zhe) is a gaze at the ruins of a large tropical greenhouse. How nature "takes back" the space after humans’ retreat.
The central position of visual images in contemporary society and the disruptive development of digital media and artificial intelligence have made it urgent to reflect on image culture: "How to Imagine the Unimaginable" (Liu Guangli, Chen Zirui) starts from personal experience, A database-like archaeological journey into dinosaur images reflects the complex relationship between imagination, images, capital, and technology. "The Elephant Vanishes" (Ran Chuxun) is a game about language and images, signifier and signified, and reveals the material conditions for creating images. "Tunnel Wandering" (Li Zehao) returns to classical cyanotype photography to examine the relationship between image and truth, visible and invisible. "14 Paintings" (Chen Dongnan) juxtaposes interviews with painters from Dafen Village, paintings, and the spaces in which they are displayed. The production, viewing, and consumption of images are all included in it.
Works focusing on women’s identity experience are still eye-catching and highlight the creativity of female directors: "The Tomato Girl" (Guo Xinying) presents the relationship between women’s self-identity and others’ expectations through a mix of records, performances, animations, and other forms. The tension between the two, and the imaginative creation itself constitutes the revelation of the problem and is also a self-healing; "Her Times" (Kanako Yai) uses several life fragments of a waitress in a cafe to capture daily boredom and fantasy. and the moment of enlightenment; "It's Dance Time" (Li Qiushu) is two girls whispering and daydreaming in the school’s group dance between classes. In the three works, fantasy becomes a momentary escape for women from the banal, and also indicates the possibility of establishing a new self-identity.
Creations about family are never absent, and span multiple genres such as experimentation, documentation, and fiction, becoming more and more diverse: "A Throwing Forth" (Zhang Xiao) uses the flicker of light and the flow of light and shade to suggest the ambiguity and erraticness of memory. Old family photos are like echoes from the past; "Upon that River" (Zhang Jinghao) juxtaposes personal oral history with gazes on family photos and Zhijiang scenery, using the river as a clue to salvage fragments of family history; In "All About Shaochang" (Xu Peiyao), a family gets to know each other again while tenderly looking back at the deceased, making us realize once again that the meaning of creation not only lies in the final text, but also in the process itself.
"Take Me To New Zealand" (Wang Yifei, Wu Yifei) starts from the common narrative of young directors making films but with an unexpected description, and it finally falls into the little secrets of the characters' hearts. It is light, funny and cute. "No Place For Old Men" (Ju Kin-on Chu) was created in the rich soil of Hong Kong genre films, incorporating elements of comedy, horror, and warmth in just 20 minutes. "Performance" (Jinjiang) uses two long shots to form a contrasting montage of life. This work, which the creator calls "picked up", becomes an attempt in the form of a documentary short film.
In the end, these 23 short films from the BISFF2023 Chinese Short Film Competition constitute an archipelago, an interconnected and jointly constructed island space: each island has an independent ecology; all the islands are interconnected with each other, forming a larger ecosystem, and jointly presenting the Chinese short film creation.
Archipelago is a way of display and an adventurous viewing experience.
（Proofreader：Hong Chengxi）
银杏和其它时间｜Ginkgo And Other Times
唐菡
2023｜00:15:00｜Germany, English｜世界首映 World Premiere
如何想象不可想象之物｜How to Imagine the Unimaginable
刘广隶，陈梓睿
2023｜00:23:23｜China Spanish, Castilian, Chinese Mandarin ｜世界首映 World Premiere
风吹小三亚｜Wind Blows the Greenhouse
于哲
2023｜00:19:45｜China｜No Dialogue ｜世界首映 World Premiere
小丑｜Guilin Clown
陶立海
2023｜00:43:38｜China ｜Chinese Dialect, Chinese Mandarin｜世界首映 World Premiere
马桶，断指，新西兰｜Take Me To New Zealand
王逸飞，吴逸飞
2023｜00:29:02｜China｜Chinese Mandarin, Cantonese｜世界首映 World Premiere
少昌｜All About Shaochang
徐佩瑶
2023｜00:25:07｜China｜Chinese Dialect｜世界首映 World Premiere
海都是海｜The Tomato Girl
郭昕盈
2023｜00:26:11｜Chinese Mandarin｜国际首映 International Premiere
热河｜Memories of the yellow river
尚骥
2023｜00:18:33｜China｜Chinese Mandarin｜国际首映 International Premiere、
象的失踪｜The Elephant Vanishes
冉楚逊
2022｜00:16:21｜France｜Thai｜国际首映 International Premiere
表演｜Performance
晋江
2022｜00:08:54｜China｜Chinese Mandarin｜亚洲首映 Asia Premiere
她这样度过了一天｜Her Times
金子亦
2023｜00:14:17｜China｜Chinese Mandarin｜亚洲首映 Asia Premiere
火箭发射时｜When a Rocket Sits on the Launch Pad
刘博濠
2023｜00:12:00｜China, USA｜Chinese Mandarin, Sichuan Yi; Nuosu｜中国大陆首映 Chinese Mainland Premiere
之江｜Upon that River
张京昊
2023｜00:28:44｜China｜Chinese Mandarin｜亚洲首映 Asia Premiere
收楼的决心｜No Place For Old Men
朱健安
2023｜00:20:00｜Cantonese, English｜中国大陆首映 Chinese Mainland Premiere
投掷｜A Throwing Forth
张晓
2023｜00:06:04USA, China｜Cantonese｜中国大陆首映 Chinese Mainland Premiere
历历如画｜14 Paintings
陈东楠
2023｜00:24:22｜China｜Chinese Mandarin, Chinese Dialect
送行｜On Another's Sorrow
颜皓轩
2022｜00:32:06｜Chinese Mandarin, Chinese Dialect｜中国大陆首映 Chinese Mainland Premiere
是日访古｜Sojourn To Shangri-la
林诣涵
2023｜00:19:24｜China｜Chinese Mandarin
过山车经过的岛｜Roller Coaster
陈新彦，张靖晨
2022｜00:21:40｜China｜Chinese Mandarin｜中国大陆首映 Chinese Mainland Premiere
中场休息｜Half Time
张曜元
2023｜00:30:00｜Japan, China｜Chinese Mandarin, Japanese
这是跳舞的时刻｜It's Dance Time
李秋舒
2023｜00:04:12｜United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland｜English
新年旧日｜A Year Apart
秦海
2023｜00:17:15｜Chinese Dialect
隧道漫步｜Tunnel Wandering
李泽昊
2023｜00:10:40
Japan, China｜Chinese Mandarin
more info：https://www.bisff.co/selection2/2023ch