NOAH
2013 · 18m · Canada
Directed by Patrick Cederberg
Genres: coming-of-age, drama, experimental
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, provocative
Written, Directed, and Edited by Patrick Cederberg & Walter Woodman
Picked by Felix
The scouts
Everyone's doing the 'screen-life' thing now, but Cederberg and Woodman actually commit—they let the real-time constraint strangle the narrative until jealousy becomes literally watching someone type, which is bleaker and funnier than it has any right to be.
A formally sophisticated piece that inherits from both structural cinema and the grammar of digital interfaces, positioning itself in a lineage of constraint-based storytelling while documenting a specific cultural moment with archaeological precision.
The genius move here is the sound design—muting everything but the clicks and notification pings forces you into the protagonist's paranoia, turning a $0 budget limitation into the entire affective machinery of the film.
Reviews
A 17-minute short that captures the texture of modern digital life by taking place entirely on a computer screen.
A sharp, innovative portrait of a millennial relationship told through the lens of a desktop, and a deserved Short of the Week selection.
Festivals
- Toronto International Film Festival 2013, Best Canadian Short Film
- Canadian Screen Awards 2014, Best Live Action Short Drama