The Face of Time - POV - Aarhus Universitet

110 p.o.v. number 13 March 2002
before that, that won many awards. He made an extraordinary
documentary called In Spring One Plants Alone, about an older Maori
woman and her handicapped son, who live in a very remote com-
munity in the North Island. He lived with them. He also made an
incredible film called State of Siege, based on a Janet Frame short
story that's really devastating. He's an inspiration.
I'd like to ask a more general question now about the art of the short film.
Do you think that storytelling in the short film is essentially the same as
storytelling in the feature film?
No, I think it's very different. There are only certain kinds of stories
that can work in a short film. It's so much about compression, and it
can't be as psychological. It has to somehow suggest those things
while having a simpler trajectory or story line. It's actually hard to
find a story that can work in fifteen minutes. It's about compression,
it's about suggesting things as opposed to developing something
over time. That's one of the things I find exciting about it.
What advice would you give to student filmmakers who were in the process
of designing their own short films?
I guess the main thing is: keep it really short. I've seen a lot of short
films in my time and occasionally I've been a judge for short film
festivals, so I've seen a large number, and my main criticism of at
least half of them is that they are too long. The shorter the better.
[laughter] Under fifteen minutes is good. Even ten. Other than that,
it's hard to say. Studying short films that really work. And keeping
it simple.
New York, 11 April 1998