KVIFF review: “1:10” (2024)
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
Future Frames – Generation NEXT
The butterfly effect of a relatively harmless fight between two pre-teens leads to a chain of unfortunate events in Sinan Taner’s graduation short dramedy 1:10, which masterfully illustrates the banality of conflicts that children and adults alike face. The film continues its festival journey after its world premiere at the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, followed by its selection for the Clermont-Ferrand and Max Ophüls Film Festival, before reaching Karlovy Vary (KVIFF). This finely accomplished movie is presented in the Future Frames – Generation NEXT of European Cinema segment of the festival, alongside nine further titles from Finland, Ireland & the UK, Poland, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Croatia & Slovenia, the Czech Republic, and Spain. The film is heading for Locarno in August.
It’s a sports day at a Swiss elementary school, and while the pupils are getting the most out of it, their parents are displaying signs of utter boredom, unsure of what to do with themselves. Some are gathered in the schoolyard, while others are lined up in the canteen to purchase vouchers for drinks and food served outdoors between various sports activities in which their offspring are participating. It is during one of those that tennis buddies Noah and Vincent start pushing each other around until the situation escalates a bit further, leaving one of them in tears.
Taner builds tension on multiple levels by placing his protagonists in various stress situations, each constructed to highlight the obvious: no conflict is one-sided or straightforward. The camera is rarely on eye level with the actors, instead hovering above them, starting with a wide angle and then slowly zooming in closer to the person of interest, or doing exactly the opposite by distancing itself from the individuals to put them back into a broader context. Behind this dynamic experimentation with lensing is cinematographer | director Manuel Karel Seiler, who turns the perception of exteriors and interiors upside down by infusing the sense of entrappement in the schoolyard and a false promise of liberty indoors.
The film’s title most probably refers to the exact beginning of the story’s defining scene, in which one father confronts the other before the whole thing escalates into an avalanche of insults and promises of violent revenge. Sinan Taner is getting us there with a steady pace, not losing control of any of the subplots, and knitting them close together into an intricate story that manages to address everything from racism, hypocrisy, “boys-will-be-boys” attitude, petty and justified jealousy, and human ability to bend the rules of decent conduct as it pleases them. The most difficult customer (Manuela Biedermann), who drives a young canteen worker (Annina Walt) close to a nervous breakdown, happens to be the one to approve of her child’s thievery. Likewise, Vincent’s father Marcel (Leonardo Nigro) is ready to use violence as a weapon of choice to prevent the continuation of violence over his son. Likewise, Noah’s father, Can (Serkan Tastemur), is met with scorn by other parents because of his otherness, particularly in terms of breaking the small cultural norms. While this is happening, the boys make peace and join forces to raise havoc, as if no conflict had ever occurred.
1:10 is a well-executed drama with comedy elements, based on a good script with depth that exposes the ease with which we misinterpret the codes of conduct.
Country: Switzerland
Language: Swiss-German, Turkish
Runtime: 18′
Production: Zürcher Hochschule der Künste ZHdK – Departement Darstellende Künste und Film
Producer: Jaelle-Marie Grossklaus
Written| Directed by: Sinan Taner
Cinematography: Manuel Karel Seiler
Editing: Sinan Taner, Nevin George
Location Sound Mix: Annaka Minsch, Dominic Curseri
Sound Design: Marvin Mata, Kevin Kandl
Re-Recording Mix: Kevin Kandl
Music: Sinan Taner
Production Design: Jan Petzold
Special Effects: Nevin George
Cast: Leonardo Nigro, Serkan Tastemur, Manuela Biedermann, Annina Walt, Cihan Inan, Stefan Schönholzer ,Wanda Wylowa
