Monday, October 17, 2011

Short Film: Skwerl

Check out Skwerl, a short film a few of my friends put together recently for Kino Sydney that has since become a Youtube phenomenon. Now approaching 300,000 views in just over a week, this interesting and funny film is a depiction of what the English language would sound like to foreigners. The actors speak in a fake language, a mixture of actual English and gibberish.


Skwerl was written and directed by Brian Fairbairn, who directed a production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and stars Fiona Pepper, a Sydney based actor and WAAPA graduate, and Karl Eccleston, a writer and language enthusiast. Thom Jordan, who worked on sound and lighting, is a Sydney based actor and short filmmaker. I know all of these talented young people personally, and it is really great to see them creating great work, and being recognised for it.


What are your thoughts? 

2 comments:

  1. Wow. That was a deeply fascinating, extremely well put together piece of work. I applaud Fairbairn, and all involved, for what was arguably one of the most original and well-executed short films of recent years. Thanks for sharing that, Andy.

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  2. It was a spoof on American English and how opaque the meaning can be to a British (or otherwise foreign) audience where the intonation and "accent" serve as a substitute for recognizable content. There are enough real words to keep you hooked, trying to grasp wisps of meaning which are every time swallowed up in the perfectly convincing noise the actors are making. Brilliant. Especially since the little scene evolves from domestic bliss through misunderstanding through to final hostility, and you don't know what the f--k they've said to each other to make it get there.

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