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    • EuropeNow
      • EuropeNow 2020: Shorts I
      • EuropeNow 2020 Features: Quiet Life | 31.07 | 6 pm BST
      • EuropeNow 2020: Shorts II
      • EuropeNow 2020 Director’s Spotlight: Dekel Berenson | 5 pm BST
      • EuropeNow 2020 Features: Salt and Pepper | 1.08 | 6.30 pm BST
      • EuropeNow 2020: Shorts III
      • EuropeNow 2020 Features: The Mayor’s Race | 1.08 | 3 pm BST
      • EuropeNow 2020 Features: Humanity Last: Refugees Still Hope | 2.08 | 5.30 pm BST
    • WoFF Goes Online: Weekly Film Events
    • Balkan Musicals: My Father the house-painter (Bulgaria)
    • Romanian Classics: Veronica (1972)
    • Balkan Musicals: Greek night with ‘Some like it cold’
    • 2.11 | WOFF X SCOTTISH BORDERS | WILD ROSE SCREENING & DISCUSSION
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    • WoFF 2020
      • Thursday 8.10
        • Shorts Competition 1 | 2 pm
        • Shorts Competition 2 | 4.30 pm
        • European Film Academy Shorts 1 | 7 pm
        • The Woman Who Ran | Opening Film | 7 pm
      • Friday 9.10
        • Shorts Competition 3 | 12 pm
        • Female Perspective Shorts 1 | 2.30 pm
        • This Is Where I Meet You | Female Perspective Competition | 5 pm
        • European Film Academy Shorts 2 | 7 pm
        • 15 Years | First Feature Competition | 9 pm
      • Saturday 10.10
        • Animation Day in Glasgow: Third Edition | All Day
        • Shorts Competition 4 | 12 pm
        • The Donbass Children | Balkan Cinema Competition | 4 pm
        • Rotten Ears | First Feature Competition | 6 pm
        • Female Perspective Shorts 2 | 7.30 pm
      • Sunday 11.10
        • Mezquite’s Heart | Female Perspective Competition | 12 PM
        • Female Perspective Shorts 3 | 1.30 pm
        • Shorts Competition 5 | 4 pm
        • Focus on Balkan Cinema: Short Films | 6.30 pm
        • A Picture with Yuki | Balkan Cinema Competition | 8 pm
    • WoFF 2019
      • AWARDS 2019
      • WoFF 2019: Opening Night
      • Dream State
      • Short Films Competition: Part 1
      • Animated Women UK: Panel discussion
      • Virgin Money Lounge Programme
      • World Animation
      • Balkan Focus: Shorts
      • Female Perspective Shorts: Part 1
      • A Moon For My Father
      • Queen of The F***Ing World: Performance
      • Family Animation (All ages)
      • Short Films Competition: Part 2
      • Stories of Women in Film: Panel Discussion
      • Pitch Session: Ideas from Script to Screen
      • Female Perspective Shorts: Part 2
      • Breathe
    • FESTIVAL 2018
      • Sgt Stubby: National Cinema Day Family Screening (Animation)
      • Pre-Fest Party + International Shorts Screening @ Nice N Sleazy’s (FREE)
      • Opening Film: A Balkan Noir | 4 Oct | 7 pm
      • Special Screening – Musical: The Island Of Doctor Moron
      • Clay Pit | 5.10 | 6.30 pm
      • Shorts Competition | 5.10 | 8.15 pm
      • Animation Day: VR Experiences
      • Animation Day: UK animation screening | 6.10 | 12 pm
      • Animation Day: International Shorts | 6.10 | 1.15 pm
      • Animation Workshop with Sharon Sorensen | 6.10 | 2.30 pm
      • Shorts Competition 2 | 6.10 | 6.15 pm
      • Hermanos | 6.10 | 8 pm
      • The Best Of All Worlds | 7.10 | 1 pm
      • Panel Discussion: The Female Perspective – Stories of Women in Film
      • Female Perspective Shorts | 7.10 | 5 pm
      • Gregoire | 7.10 | 7.30 pm
    • FESTIVAL 2017
      • Invisible: WoFF 2017 Opening Film
      • Friday, September 29
        • Project Papa
        • Paris 5:59 (Theo & Hugo)
      • Saturday, September 30
        • Short Films
        • Short Film: Female Perspective
        • Short Films: Free Charity Event
      • Sunday, October 1
        • Women’s Tales: Panel discussion
        • Junod: Japanese Animation
        • Brexitannia (+ Damned Dolls: Short Film)
        • Closing Screening: Vergot
      • AWARDS 2017
      • JURY 2017
    • EuropeNow Festival 2017
      • July 12 Schedule
        • Short Films: Western Promises
        • Brexitannia
      • July 13 Schedule
        • Short Films: Antiphysis
        • The islands and the whales
      • July 14 Schedule
        • Four Passports
        • Sin + Illy Still Alive
      • Brexitannia to open EuropeNow Fest
    • Festival 2016
      • Opening Ceremony & Screening
      • Friday 30.09
        • Uncle Tony, Three Fools and the Secret Service + Immortalising memories
        • Shorts #1: Visions
        • Shorts #2: Connexions
        • Get Happy
        • Shorts #3: Journeys
      • Saturday 1.10
        • Tierra Caliente + The Land of Exodus
        • The Gift
        • Capsule
      • Sunday 2.10
        • Shorts #4: Brave
        • ‘FREE EVENT’ Animation Screening: Short Films
        • Sin & Illy Still Alive + Shorts Selection
        • Closing: Awards & Screening
      • Film Journalism Workshop with NISI MASA @ WoFF 2016
      • AWARDS 2016
    • FESTIVAL 2015
      • PROGRAMME
        • Opening Night
        • 2 October
          • Shorts Programme: Memory
          • Shorts Programme: The Hyperphysical
          • Short Films Programme: Laugh attack
          • The First Summer
          • Shorts Programme: Age of Oblivion
        • 3 October
          • Oblivion Season
          • Theatre: Life is Shrinking
          • Theatre: Losing Games
          • Shorts Programme: It’s rights o’clock
          • Camera/Woman & On the Edge: A tribute to Moroccan cinema
          • Shorts Programme: European Short Pitch
          • Silent Sea
        • 4 October
          • Animation Shorts Programme
          • Theatre: Life is Shrinking
          • Theatre: Losing Games
          • How To Stop A Wedding
          • Shorts Programme: Through The Art
          • Short Films Programme: Women of the world
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REVIEW: I’m Talented

Review by Joseph Bibby

Living among detritus and struggling through the days, families across poverty-stricken areas of Nigeria try to make the best future they can for their children, but in such unforgiving situations the talents of their young are too easily buried, and their dreams forgotten. Abimbola OGunsanyo’s ‘I’m Talented’ is a requiem to dreams, set against Nigeria’s economic troubles.

The documentary follows the aspirations of talented children growing up in destitute environments; focusing on such a universal and touching foundation as the dreams of naive children, in order to express the impact of the nation’s economy on its citizens. While this focus does over-simplify the problem of poverty in Nigeria it creates a deeper sense of empathy, interpreting the issue through innocent eyes, and allowing the audience to recognise the tragic hope of the children who fight to keep their aspirations alive with a seemingly oblivious optimism.

OGunsanyo avoids dramatisation, leaving the stories to be told anecdotally through the interviews, and while this does limit the scope of communication the film feels more personal for it, relying on the subjects’ delivery to illustrate the emotional significance. While at times the interviews seem as though they are treading water, the subjects are more than capable of showing the despair and anger that are born from their situations, as well as the strong sense of hope that shines through in the young talents.

Similarly to the storytelling, the visual style takes a very simplistic approach, focussing mainly on capturing the subjects through tight close-ups. This works well, but considering its short running-time the film never fully takes a moment to explore its surroundings and examine the derelict Nigerian landscape in its full beauty. It is possible that this is a conscious effort to avoid any embellishment of the story, as the film is set in juxtaposition to the extravagant and exaggerated ideals of western culture.

One of the young subjects dreams of performing on Nigerian Idol, and her visit to one of the highly stylised shows contrasts significantly with the rest of the film’s bleak setting. There is a an evident clash between the idealistic world presented in the media, and the reality that she finds herself in, and it is a potent conflict that highlights the misfortune of those living in poverty.
Having said this, there is still beauty present in simple and pure forms, with the singing and dancing talents of the children being shown at length: seeing a young man smiling and kicking up dust as he dances barefoot for a crowd is both visually striking and emotionally charged.

This isn’t a film that will teach you about Nigeria’s economic turbulence, but rather it is an unpretentious cross-section of life in conditions unthinkable to most, that has a simple and affecting principle at its heart. OGunsanyo aims for simplicity and plays to its strengths, creating a poignant portrait of impoverished life that is both saturated with anguish and glowing with hope.

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