Game of Chance
A programme of National Film and Television School films connected by the theme of chance encounters, curated from our collection by Massimo Ianetti.
Laika and her Scientist trainer gaze out to the stars (2010) by Avgousta ZourelidiNational Film and Television School
Are our decisions causally defined by a purpose, a scheme, a plan, or casually shaped by world’s chaos, unpredictability or someone else’s will? Is the perceived influence over our own life just entirely a game of chance?
Mass of Men - a still from the film, 3 of 5 (2011) by Gabriel GauchetNational Film and Television School
This strand, comprising Fiction, Documentary, Animation and TV, digs into the conflicting and dichotomous relationship between choices and circumstances, examining to what extent we are really in control of our actions or instead constantly at the mercy of casualties, luck or external forces.
Solstice (2010)
Nominated for a BAFTA New Talent Award, a BAFTA Scotland award and winner of the best short film at The Hamptons International Film Festival, Solstice is a drama set in rural Scotland where the lives of a young school girl and a woman become inextricably linked in events leading up to a fateful night on the summer solstice.
Solstice Still - a still from the film, 6 of 8 (2010) by David StoddartNational Film and Television School
This delicate coming of age story unceasingly overlaps characters, lives and stories, where sense of place and belonging mixes with an incessant feeling of threat, and the unpredictable and commingling sequence of events displayed on screen seems standing right in between pure casualty and astral order.
First Light (2013)
Daniela lives in a city that is always building, moving, climbing, where you never know where your house will be taken next. One evening, when she opens the door to find her house gone, she chases her apartment unit to the scrapyard, reaching unknown parts of the city, and shedding new light on the place she calls home.
First Light Still - a still from the film, 2 of 6 (2013) by Lilian FuNational Film and Television School
This finely crafted animated short takes us into a dystopian world dominated by external forces, which alter the concepts of roots, home and freedom. Provided your house and few possessions might be hauled away at any given time, your life is constantly threatened by casualness, temporariness and transition.
The Confession (2010)
The story follows a quiet and sincere 9-year-old boy named Sam who can't think of any sins to tell the priest at his first confession. He worries that he won't be a real Catholic if the priest doesn't absolve him of some misdeed. Jacob, Sam's friend, devises a solution, yet their initially ingenuous prank turns unexpectedly tragic.
Lewis Howlett as Sam in The Confession (2010) by George FooteNational Film and Television School
The film, which won the “Best Foreign Film” Student Academy Award and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Live-Action Short, is a visual escalation of atonement and guilt, where innocent choices spiral out of control, slowly building tension towards an emotionally powerful ending that is a definite detour from where it all begins.
Secret Studio (2013)
In this hidden camera TV show one contestant plays an entirely hoaxed game, answering questions and facing ethical conflicts in order to walk away with life-changing money – or so they think! In fact, family and friends secretly watch their loved one from a secret studio, having to predict his choices in order to win the grand prize.
Secret Studio - a still from the film, 2 of 3 (2013) by Sipho SondiyaziNational Film and Television School
A show within a show that mixes psychology, perception and prediction, Secret Studio plays with control, manipulation and moral dilemmas, deconstructing the premise of truthfulness of a TV quiz. Blending and blurring the boundaries between fake and real, it challenges the meaning of choices’ ownership and empowerment.
Back of Beyond (2007)
Back of Beyond centres on Peter, whose night shift at the petrol station is interrupted by a young smart-talking guy named Gabriel, who is gathering up supplies for a long road trip. As the conversation between the two unravels, it becomes clear Gabriel is much more than a road traveller, forcing Peter to make a dangerous choice.
The tension builds in The Back of Beyond starring Martin McCann (2012) by Matthias PilzNational Film and Television School
This dark psychological thriller revolves around a single conversation where dark humour alternates with genuine tension. Building on truthfulness and deceiving, the film plays with the difference between making choices and suffer from someone else’s, enduring and reacting, feeling trapped in and being allowed a way out.
Laika (2010)
This animated short is an imagining of the journey undertaken by Laika, the first dog launched in space in 1957 by Soviet Union. Once in orbit, Laika daydreams of her life before space travel, her training at Space City and her friendship with the soviet scientists, which will soon be revealed flawed.
Laika, The first living creature in orbit (2010) by Avgousta ZourelidiNational Film and Television School
Laika delves into the meaning of trust and disillusionment, as both being chosen and choosing hide dreadful dangers. Indeed, the film questions if an alternative has ever been possible, or instead if everything experienced on screen was just meant to be.
The Mass of Men (2011)
Richard, an unemployed 55-year-old, arrives 3 minutes late for his appointment at a job centre, and his advisor has no choice but to penalise him for his tardiness. However, while she berates him, another man, armed with a nail gun, attacks her. To avoid plunging further into destitution, Richard takes desperate measures.
Mass of Men - a still from the film, 5 of 5 (2011) by Gabriel GauchetNational Film and Television School
“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation”. Following Thoreau’s quote, the film examines the casualties of the UK benefits system’s rigid bureaucracy, and the extremes the rejected people can be pushed to when treated as nothing more than a number on a screen. Then, the line between choices and casualties dramatically blur.
China’s Wild West (2008)
Every winter the Yurunkash River in Western China dries up, revealing an expanse of river worn stones. There, hidden within the rock, lies a buried treasure forty times more valuable than gold - jade. Hundreds of people gather in the riverbed, endlessly scrabbling at rock in search of the jewel.
China's Wild West - a still from the film, 6 of 10 (2008) by Ula PontikosNational Film and Television School
Partly observational and partly impressionistic, China's Wild West describes a day in the life of a miners’ community hoping to strike it rich. The film uncovers hopes and expectations of a group of faithfully optimistic people who give it up all to wander and toil a desolate, lunar landscape in search of an improbably lucky chance.
