IFI IRISH SHORTS
This screening will include Alan Holly’s IFB-funded animation, The Red Ball.
3 minutes, Colour, 2007.

Father bonding with son, man in harmony with nature, the simple things of life unfolding under brilliant skies – sounds like a dream, but it’s the substance of Mexican filmmaker Pedro Gonzalez-Rubio’s rapturous hybrid of drama and documentary. It’s based on an actual family conflict, an Italian woman’s decision to move back to Rome with her son, leaving behind her Mexican husband and his life on the unspoiled Caribbean coast. Time for one last fishing trip then, where dad will teach his boy how to catch snapper, feed an egret by hand, and learn the names of flora and fauna alike. The camera follows them – perhaps recording their sun-splashed adventure, perhaps staging it – though the emotional bonds on view, and indeed the crystal-clear waters of this idyllic marine environment are certainly as real as they come. Knowing all this is about to end in parting adds chastening poignancy, but, for now, simply bathing in such beauty is a cinematic tonic indeed. (Notes by Trevor Johnston).