Future Frames 2016 Review - Forest of Echoes

Future Frames is a platform which highlights new groundbreaking European cinema and the promising young directing talent behind it. The selection of ten outstanding film students and graduates from schools throughout Europe brings the next generation of European filmmakers to the attention of the industry and press during 3 days of events and screenings at this year's Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Cineuropa Shorts will bring our readers reviews of the works of the films selected for this years event

More than magical, a world of illusions is powerfully created in Forest of Echoes (Dir.Luz Olivares Capelle, 2016, Austria) a film from Film Academy Vienna. Delimited in time and space by a summer holiday and the forest, Capelle introduces us to a world of sensations and rituals where 3 girls, Jasmin, Calista and Katharina - cousins, and, friends-, meet Christina, a teenager lost in the woods.

The short film portrays a fantastical world of imitation and reflection created in a timeless space frame where the boundaries of reality are only conceivable in a cyclic vision of time, framed by the idea of the “myth of the eternal return” as formulated by Mircea Eliade. As in a dream, connections between different worlds are formed through friendship and child play. The forest becomes the playground, where the girls explore their childhood whilst using symbols and recreating holy rituals and, ultimately, shadowing adult life. Life and death are questioned in a dreamlike way.

From still shots to movement, the camera reflects the constant shifting of the forest shaped by a connection with the nature, represented by visually powerful takes and sounds. Furthermore, the performances of the girls are theatrical and playful, allowing the audience to quickly experience and feel this naturalistic fairytale-like world.

Finally, Forest of Echoes, presents an absolutely feminine world where there is a continual transgression of the subjective reality and a questioning of the roles and representations. In the style of a work of art, this film effectively uses images to create sensations and explore the limits of the symbolic and the real.

Review by Luisa Riviere (Colombia/ France)

The above review is by one of the journalists from Nisimazine, the scheme from NISI MASA which gives young writers the opportunity to hone their craft whilst experiencing a film festival. You can read this review - and other texts from Karlovy Vary - at http://www.nisimazine.org/