Zerowards
2010 · 15m · France
Directed by Samuel W. Hefti
Genres: drama, fantasy, romance
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, tense
Adam can see numbers on people's skin indicating their remaining days to live; when he sees '3' on a woman named Liya, he becomes determined to intervene — a 35mm-shot drama that won Grand Prize for Best Fiction Short at EICAR, Paris.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
The 35mm stock isn't a stylistic choice here, it's an argument — Hefti is making a film about numbered days on actual film that will itself degrade, and whether or not that was intentional, the decision makes every frame feel irreversible in exactly the right way.
"Adam sees death-countdowns on people, finds a 3 on Liya." 35mm doesn't redeem In Time on a smaller budget. EICAR is a film school — the Grand Prize is institutional, not industry.
Shooting on actual 35mm gives the countdown premise a grain digital can't replicate — the medium and the mortality are inseparable. The In Time idea done with proper texture.
Festivals
- EICAR Film Festival 2010, Grand Prize, Best Fiction Short Film
- Solothurn Film Festival 2010
- Festival du Court de Bern 2010