The Light Box was bathed in pink light as festival guests streamed in to take their seats. First up on Borscht's short film schedule was Spectre in Wire, a quasi-acid trip exploration of life on the water as well as under it that was shot on Google Glass. A collaboration between Dylan Romer, Dim Past and Coral Morphologic, Spectre gave the audience a taste of the absurdity to come, and kicked off a host of cerebral mind fucks.
The transition into more darkly poignant films began with #PostModem, characterized best by the lyric "Who needs physical when you've got digital?" and bolstered by a slew of intensely visual (think forehead tech implants and full-frontal bush) scenes. The satirical sci-fi pop-musical tells the story of two Miami girls dealing with technological singularity. It screened at the Borscht Film Festival last year, and was hailed by HuffPost as one of the "Ten Most Stunning Independent Movies at the [Sundance Film] Festival."
See also: Borscht Film Festival's #PostModem Accepted to Sundance
After a flock of lethargic shorts, C#CKFIGHT, a Julian Yuri Rodriguez work that also screened at the Borscht Film Fest last year, shocked the audience back to life. Extraordinary cinematography lent an almost too-personal feel to the rape of a defeated underground fight club member by a leather-bound masochist, leaving some spectators in tears.
