The Bill Douglas Award at Glasgow Short Film Festival showcases new international short films that reflect the qualities found in the work of Scotland’s own Bill Douglas: honesty, formal innovation, and cinematic storytelling that places sound and image centre stage. In 2021 our thematic programme Absurdity of Labour considered working conditions in the context of COVID-19, with reflections on exploitation, value and care.
This competition selection traces the trauma of rapid, constant modernisation, and notes that the contradictions of economic growth are not confined to the human workforce. Whilst casual labourers risk life and limb for literal handfuls of grain, or ceaselessly pace the boardwalk pounding in nails, others have found a way to foist the hard work onto machine learning or giant talking newts.
All films captioned for d/Deaf viewers.
Tickets available here.