Short Series, a series of seven short films by various directors: Worldwatch, Bermuda, 20 minutes; Little Man, USA, 13 minutes; For Coloured Boys Who've Considered Homicide, USA 28 minutes; Soap, UK, 10 minutes; Through My Eyes, Canada, 14 minutes; Babyface, USA, 1996; Phil Touches Flo, USA, 1997, seven minutes. Bermuda International Film Festival. Next showing: Tomorrow at 6.30 p.m. Little Theatre.

These are not the shorts shown before the features at the film festival.

Instead this is a package put together by the organisers out of 150 submissions. I'll rate them on a relative scale of one to five, with five being the best of the seven.

`Worldwatch', the 20 minute submission by Bermudian Bill Madden, is a one joke short that ekes as much as it can out of the premise the Island has been invaded by aliens. Audiences laughed throughout, but I suspect it's more the familiarity of the place and the people that gives it the buzz for the local audience. Among others, you'll recognise Premier Pamela Gordon and US Consul General Robert Farmer denying knowledge that Bermuda has been invaded by aliens.

The film is done as a news report, with a TV journalist who sounds like one of the Monty Python gang investigating the Alien Abduction Society's quest to uncover the truth. Unfortunately the joke goes on for too long. It would have been funnier as a shorter version. Mr. Madden made the film as an afterthought to a television advertisement along the same lines he made for Gosling's Black Seal rum, which makes an appearance in the spoof. The film swelled to double the size with the additional material Mr. Madden filmed to try and get away from his original commercial. The film gets a three for generating laughs and for effort.

`Little Man', by director Amyn Kaderali, is about a young boy whose birthday basketball shoes are stolen by an older boy. It's a nice set piece, and is based on the cult around Nike shoes that occurred in the black community. Mr Kaderali did the short as a second year project while studying film at New York University. It gets a three for being accomplished and for telling a story straight and simply on what was probably a small budget. `For Coloured Boys Who've Considered Homicide' is a commentary about murder in the black community. It's mostly an argument between a black cop and a black murderer in an investigating room. The opening scenes and cuts are excellent, serving to give the film a tension and emphasise the impact of the killing. The police investigator and the black man both give credible and even memorable performances as they work each other over, verbally then physically. The music flows with the scenes, as does the moody lightning. Director Narcel Reedus has made a message movie which demonstrates he has a lot of talent. The movie was made in 1994. I hope he was able to carry that talent on. The 28 minute short gets a four for technique, good acting, interesting dialogue, and a well paced story.

`Soap' by director Dave Ainley is the best of the lot. Shot mostly in gritty black and white, the movie is superbly done as a slice of life study into a mechanic at a coal mine and his lack of relationship with his wife. His obsessiveness with scrubbing the grime off his skin is a metaphor for the failed relationship as he cheats on her at the pubs. This is a real gem and shows class throughout. The 10-minute short gets a full five for expertise, professionalism, superior shooting and cuts, and for being interesting.

`Through My Eyes' by Director Kathryn Martin tells the story of the rape of a professional singer and a court appearance in which the rapist gets off after performing a ballet dance before the judge and jury. OK, we get the message.

The 14-minute short is much too sylised for my liking. The ballet scene takes up too much of the time once we immediately get the metaphor between dance and the justice system where performance matters. This gets a one for being dull.

`Babyface', a 24 minute short by Don Gaille, is also a one-joke movie like Worldwatch. However I'm sure I've seen this joke before. Young children are put in the roles of adults in a gangster movie in which `Babyface` really does have a child's mug. Like `Worldwatch', the joke is carried on for far too long. The movie is technically well done and follows the typical gangster movie plot. I give it a three on the technical aspects.

`Phil Touches Flo' by director David Birdsell is a quirky performance that goes backward in time. I won't tell you the premise of the joke behind the short for fear of spoiling the laughs. While `Worldwatch' and `Babyface' were too long, Mr. Birdsell takes just the right length of time for a zany piece of humour. The music and the technique of going backward in time to explain scenes adds to the fun. I give it a four for doing the right thing.

AHMED ELAMIN RATING THE SHORTS Soap 5 For Coloured Boys... 4 Phil Touches Flo 4 Worldwatch 3 Little Man 3 Babyface 3 Through My Eyes 1 MOVIE MPC REVIEW REV