This piece was an animated selection - Live Outside the Box, by Shu-Hsuan Lin. I don't think there could have been an any more perfect film to wrap up the curation of features on the evening we attended. After viewing serious selections such as the thought-provoking Hip Priest, the dizzying juxtapositions reflecting Occupy Wall Street shown in We're Part of the City, and No Wine Left Behind, which addresses the survival struggles of war veterans, the mood loosened up with the laughter caused by Another Dress, Another Button. The two films by Tiffany Shlain that were shown stirred up awareness about technology in today's society - Yelp! urged us to "unplug!" while Declaration of Interdependence clearly depicted the connections that exist in our world beyond all the boundaries of language, religion, culture, age, and location.
This series of films challenged us to dig deep, to think about a wide variety of topics and how they all fit together. After all just the fact that these films were created, submitted, and chosen for this festival at this particular point in time means something. It reflects the importance of issues being considered and experienced in our world, right now. It was a kaleidoscope of sights and sounds, like Anima Mundi, which opened the evening's selections.
It was a mark of genius for the Black Maria Film Festival's founder and director, John Columbus, to choose Live Outside the Box as the final piece in the sequence we were shown. After viewing films that could possibly leave us divided as to where our opinions fall, Live Outside the Box is a piece we could all relate to. Who doesn't need to play more? Who isn't frustrated when work takes up too much time in life? This short animation contains such a sense of humor along with its thoughtfulness and impressive composition.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT:
"The inspiration of my story is actually from my personal experience.Before being an artist, I was working in a semiconductor company and nearly lost everything meaningful to me. It is very common for an engineer to work at least twelve hours a day and do overtime during the weekend. Basically my life at that time followed an invariable schedule: seven days a week I was required to stay in the lab maintaining machines from 8 AM to 9 or 10 PM. After work, since it was late, the only place I could go was home. If I was lucky enough to take the weekend off, I usually slept or absent-mindedly watched TV all day long since I no longer had any energy to participate outdoor activities.Finally I sensed that the only spaces left in my world were just my home and the company. I lost almost all my social contact and my private life. This awareness made me rethink the meaning of existence and what I really want for my life. It was also the motivation to drive me to pursuit my dream, that is, to become an artist.Since right now I have a chance to make a short animated film, I would like to share this experience with others. I hope my animation can remind people of their passion for life and help them to find their true selves. Life is priceless; we should never lose our eager devotion to it."
After rolling around the many thoughts that sparked in my head because of these films, an idea came to mind. What if we could sent art that contained messages of the importance of enjoying life to Wall Street businesses? People wanted to make a statement through the occupation. I am sure it raised awareness, but I wonder if it reached the right people? It would be great if the business employees could view this film. In it's short few minutes, such a strong message is contained.
We want change in our world, and to watch films and have time for thoughtful consideration is important. We have to change individually before we can expect change in our world. The more we change, the more we can influence change. Such important messages flowed through the curation of films we were shown at the Black Maria Film Festival, and I appreciated the time and effort that went into creating this experience for us. What I learned will remain with me and continue to grow as I contemplate and return to the films shown as I revisit the posts in this series.
I am always interested in further discussion, and have appreciated email conversations with my friend who desired to interact with me about one of the films shown. I miss this kind of thing. If you are interested in discussing, please feel free to leave a comment at any time: weeks, months, even years later!
I plan to continue to view and write about short films here, and already have some waiting in the queue based on other films shown at the Black Maria Film Festival, which I did not yet see but were also chosen to be included in the program.
Many thanks to my sister for joining me that evening, and I look forward to more film festival adventures in the future!
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