THE PANDEMIC ANTHOLOGY

With the COVID-19 situation continuing to affect all manner of circumstance, people are still finding creative and imaginative ways to fulfil their time and obligations.

One such initiative came through Fantaspoa, who created a competition for film-makers around the world to submit their best efforts to reflect the current crisis with stories relative to how various cultures and individuals are handling the present status quo.

THE PANDEMIC ANTHOLOGY is a series of shorts from across the globe focusing on how people cope in lockdown in a mix of genres and visual ideas. Naturally, a lot of the shorts, of which quite a few came from Brazil, tended to focus on the end of the world personified in films like I AM LEGEND and 28 DAYS LATER.

The shorts were as follows:

ENDLESS QUARANTINE – BRAZIL – Two lovers have to deal with the issues in their relationship when they are separated by the lock-down.

THE LAST DAY – URUGUAY – Two youngsters who are told via a radio the lockdown is over, but encounter something unexpected when they step outside.

STUPIDEMIC – BRAZIL – A couple have to deal with the spread of infection via robots over the internet.

BALDOMERO – ARGENTINA – Comical short in which a woman finally meets the man of her dreams over the internet, but doesn’t realize who he really is.

JEROME: A CHRISTMAS CAROL – BRAZIL – A lonely cat starving resorts to unorthodox methods to get fed.

HATCHING OUT – ARGENTINA – A quartet, focusing on what they want to do when lockdown is over, have to deal with a mysterious animal in the vicinity.

STAIN ON THE WALL – BRAZIL – A woman in isolation has paranoid visions of a human-shaped stain on her wall that keeps appearing and disappearing.

MACABRE HIDE AND SEEK – BRAZIL – A man in isolation performs a ritual on a baby doll.

ROACH – USA – A man puts essential items up for sale on an online auction, but gets an unwelcome bidder.

SOMETIMES SHE COMES BACK – BRAZIL – A young woman deals with her sister’s infection.

UNEARTHED – UK – Whilst doing some home DIY, a man discovers a buried reel of audio tape.

PSYCHOPOMO – BRAZIL – A sound recordist monitors various audio transmissions.

STRAIN ROULETTE – CYPRUS – A bunch of friends play an online social media game called STRAIN ROULETTE. in which they have five minutes to determine who has the virus.

DISNEYLOKA 2023 – BRAZIL – A man reflects through his film collection the memories of four pandemics which have decimated a good deal of the world’s population.

Given the limitations of what can be achieved presently, these shorts are all innovative and imaginative efforts, with a host of genre ideas within and all are to be applauded for their initiative when making these movies without the boundaries of restriction. Well worth a look if you get a chance.

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