Appearing last year, the Pop-Up category highlights fiction on YouTube and reflects the festival’s desire to create a bridge between emerging digital creation and film festivals. For this 45th edition, five short films have been nominated in the Pop-Up category and the winner will win the “YouTube prize for short fiction film”, worth 5,500 euros.I have selected my three favorite achievements for you.Disclaimer: There is no order in this Top 3.See also on KonbiniThe fig tree, by Jimmy ConchouChamp-contrechamp. Large plan. Simple but effective. The short format and the simplicity of the frame highlights the actors and the text, with a humorous character. If it’s not the kind of production I’m usually fond of, the fair interpretation of the actors makes it all pleasant and funny.Ulyx, by Émeric Leprince and Hugo RoblinI never thought I would one day have feelings for a robot pool. You quickly get used to the crazy script of the film, and it is partly the shōnen spirit of the work that seduced me. How not to get attached to this little pool robot, ready to do anything to free itself from its chains, such as running away to conquer its lifelong dream, the ocean. At first, when I saw that the protagonist of the work was a robot that cleans swimming pools, I expected the 20 minutes of viewing to be long. However, I didn’t see the time pass and, icing on the cake, there is even a message of prevention in the film.Hippocampe, by Éléonore Costes and Amaury DequéThe best for last… OK, there is definitely a ranking in this Top 3. Anyway it shows, the more I liked, the more I write. In Hippocampe, we live the daily life of a woman trying to mourn her deceased father. The slow unfolding, almost in real time, makes the immersion total, we share our pain. Leaving a room, the only thing I know how to say about a film is that there were a lot of length. Here, the short film is full of it, but the term is no longer pejorative. All these “lengths” are well brought. The slow shots convey to the viewer the intensity of mourning. Superstitious, the main character is subject to anxiety attacks and seeks an explanation, to finally return to what is simplest in life, nothingness. This is the message that this film tries to convey, life is an eternal restart and you have to accept being nothing and one day return to nothing. It is an intimate film, since the director and main actress , Éléonore Costes, plays herself. If you take the time to watch this short film, then add ten more minutes for the making of, in which she confides on the set: “I almost didn’t act because I was in that state at the time of filming.”
