Next Generation 2008

Yesterday, apart from all my troubles seeming so far away, I went to the Curzon Soho on Shaftesbury Avenue to see a presentation of twelve short films collected under the title Next Generation 2008. It was a selection of stuff by German film school students, and is part of the 11th Festival of German Films.

I went because my pal Lars had a film being shown. Now, this sort of thing is often a problem. Someone you like shows you a piece of their work: what if I don't like it? How does one smile and say "It's great!"? Luckily for me, I had no idea which was his film - not even the title - so when the lovely first film finished, and I saw his name at the end, I was especially happy.

As if often the case with this kind of thing, the selection was a mixed bag. But, for me, half of them were good, so if it sounds like your sort of thing, I'd recommend going along tomorrow for the second screening. It is at 11am, though, so you either need to skip work, or get up early if you're unemployed.

Apart from Lars' film, my other favourite was an animation called Our Wonderful Nature by Tomer Eshed, which - helpfully for those of you not in London or able to go to a cinema at 11am on a Wednesday - is online here. Shame the MySpace video quality isn't up to much, but it's good enough, and should you need a giggle on this overcast morning, you could do a lot worse than watching it right now.