Short Films : Cordelia Beresford

Already a sought-after cinematographer in her own right, Cordelia Beresford, as a director, reveals qualities that are uniquely hers, including a startling ability to direct her players to transmit emotion through movement, and then a truly unsettling gift to put the resulting action into a framework of unremitting intensity. As a result, she can fill a few minutes with hours and years of psychological action. Bergman would have recognized her as a kindred spirit, and indeed Bergman’s favourite cinematographer, Sven Nykvist, was one of her early subjects of study. The works showcased here range from a student production through a film commissioned for TV to other films made with very limited resources, yet the production values in each are luxurious in their completeness. She has already developed a personal look, feel and pitch of concentration that can’t be paraphrased, so I won’t try, except to say: prepare to see something you won’t forget.