DAY 3:
Tom: We both decided to venture down to City Screen Basement, dedicating ourselves to an afternoon of thrillers. I thought the basement itself was not the finest of venues. It was small and cramped and had no raised seating, which meant that reading subtitles could turn into quite a tiring task as you tried to read them over a really tall man, who selflessly took a seat at the front. Nevertheless, there were a few very exciting films to be seen, including 108.1 FM Radio, which was about the suspicions a driver has that his passenger is a serial killer on the loose. With excellent dialogue and assured performances, it succeeded in being fun yet retaining the dramatic pacing, which made it such a thrill.
Augenblicke was shown soon after and was, for me at least, the best film shown at the festival so far. Director, Martin Bargiel, expertly created the unsettling nature of the film, by using a yellow tint in most of the scenes and used creepy shadowy effects to demonstrate the protagonist’s uncertainty over his situation. With Bargiel proving such a tour-de-force at directing, it is only a matter of time before he moves on to bigger things.
A couple of other thrillers attempted to create the same tension that Augenblicke had created. There was one called Dystopia Street, which was a mess of a film that had very few redeeming qualities. It seemed to be random acts and scenes that were neither clever nor subtle. A man gets gassed inside a red telephone box for no real reason other than it looks quite funny. This film was actually funded by the UK Film Council, which is surprising considering it was far worse than some other low budget British films, which were not given this sort of backing.
Rory: Day 3 completely sold me on the fact that I’d been passing by European film-making for too long. After the Swedish Caretaker was the highlight of my first day, the German Augenblicke and Italian 108.1 FM really stood out on Day 2. That’s not to say I used to disparage European film-making before;I just never had taken as much interest in it as I had to Anglo-American films, but that’s definitely changed after this. And I think that’s kind of how it is in general for a lot of cinema-goers, mainly people with a casual interest in film, and so a lot of good film is completely ignored.
However, I have to completely agree with Tom, as a lot of films we saw on this day were foreign language there was a lot of subtitles, and thus a lot of plot obscured by large gentlemen sitting in the front row. I’d also say a lot of what I saw today failed to stick out or impress, let down by poorly written dialogue or just uninteresting formulaic ideas. I also really enjoyed Welcome to Leathermill, a short about a rather unusual village in the English countryside with a well thought-out plot that keeps you in the dark for long enough that it’s interesting. The visuals weren’t bad either. New With Tags was interesting, as was Bon featuring Noomi Rapace and horses. Although it struck a chord with both me and Tom, we were left wondering why this 1m 52 video was in the thriller category and not experimental.
Day 4
Rory: Today, alas, we parted ways and saw different categories. Tom went for dramas (which there were, predictably, a lot of) and experimental and I went for dramas and documentaries.
Both dramas and documentaries were on in the same venue, Barley Hall, which was stunning and bizarre in equal measure. They had converted the medieval dining hall into a cinema screening room with everyone sitting along the long tables which was incredibly novel, eliciting the same response (‘wow, what’) from everyone. They even left the fake bowls and cups on the table, for your thirteenth century cinema watching realism.
The standard of the documentaries were high, but I wasn’t really blown away by much I saw. The Sugar Bowl, later to be Best Documentary and Festival winner overall, was predictably very well-made but stuck to the traditional confines on documentary making – there wasn’t anything new or particularly involving here. My personal favourite of the few documentaries I saw was Back on Road by Fliss Buckles, which followed three UK prisoners as they prepare for release. 
It was the most genuinely engaging of the documentaries and (spoilers) the fact that it turned out all three had reoffended and ended back in prison really made you question the credibility of the UK justice system (as well as the statistics the video leaves you with at the end, that 60% of people released reoffend in the first 12 months).
The dramas were more consistently enjoyable, with some slick scripts and strong performances by the actors involved. Blue Monday was simple but effective in communicating the banal nature of the 9 to 5 and Dublin told the harrowing story of a young asylum seeker beautifully if not a bit convoluted edging on 30 minutes in length. Glick’s Last Tour by John Henry Owen was the strongest outing I had seen all day, which covered the distressing misfortunes of a veteran ventriloquist who still clings to his past successes. The depressive situation the protagonist finds himself in with his dummy, Mr. Glick was communicated with an amazing performance by the lead and solid visuals. All in all, Day 4 was a very consistent day and a great end to what was a fantastic weekend. It was a pleasure to go to Aesthetica, and the Awards was a wonderful round-off in the lovely grounds of the Yorkshire Museum.
Tom: I ventured forth to St William’s College which was beautiful, especially the actual screening rooms themselves. They were long narrow rooms with a few dozen chairs set out with a large screen projector overhead. I started by watching some drama films and, to be honest, most of them were very disappointing. The first film was Magwitch, which was a period drama about the antagonist of Great Expectations. Its films problems are numerous, with poor acting and stereotype locations. The court scene in particular is like the sort of court scene you see in history programs that have a target audience of 6-12. Even more disappointing was the sets, including this cringeworthy graveyard sequence that looked like it should have been used for one of Queen’s camper music videos.
A few films later, we had The Shed which sounded wonderful. It was about a child who pretends his shed is a spaceship. It’s a concept that is capable of great moments though this film fails to find many. The mother is diagnosed with cancer and has to undertake chemotherapy in order to return to health. After overhearing this 
conversation, the child goes to his shed and tries to fly to “the planet Chemo” because he doesn’t know what it is. This might be the sort of thing that appeals to some people but not to me. Though I can tell exactly what the filmmaker was trying to achieve, doing it in such a hacked and unsubtle manner should not be applauded. It gets even worse when the child cries to his mother that he couldn’t reach the planet and that he’s sorry. You know, I think that’s supposed to be a metaphor?
Though the dramas were disappointing, there were some experimentals that made up for it. The film, Metachaos, was excellent even though it was just interesting images being tossed about the screen, giving a nauseous effect on the viewer. It reminded me of the images you see when trying to get to sleep whilst feeling ill. It was a remarkable film that is currently on YouTube and you should seek it out. Or I’ll just link you to it here, if you’re too lazy: