Shorts and all

An award-winning filmmaker tells Nadine Botha why anyone can and should be making movies

Architect-turned-filmmaker Christopher Bisset does not regret not having studied film. "Everything I've been able to accomplish so far is because I don't do things the way film students do," says the mohawked 25-year-old.

"My training in architecture really enabled me to explain concepts - whether on set, to potential funders or when pitching," he says.

Bisset has just returned from Berlin, where he attended the premiere of his short film, Five Ways to Kill a Man, at the Berlin Film Festival. The film is the result of Bisset's participation in the Berlin Today Award 2012, a product of the festival development programme, the Berlinale Talent Campus. The award offers five young directing talents the chance to produce a short film in co-operation with a Berlin or Brandenburg-based production company. The film will premiere at the third annual Toffie Pop Culture Conference and Festival in Cape Town this week.

The 10-minute film visualises the effects of every economic decision a man makes during a day. For instance, after he puts on his sneakers, two Vietnamese kids appear in front of the character and they nod when he asks if they made the shoes.

"Every time he spends money - orders coffee or buys petrol or eats a sandwich - the unseen implications of those decisions, which we all know about but ignore, are made visible. At the end of the day, he has to figure out what to do with all of these people he's amassed," says Bisset.

He spent three months in Berlin making the film with co-writer and friend Stephen Hitchcock. The prevalent themes of environmental, economic and social sustainability pose poignant questions about the designer world that surrounds us.

Bisset's previous, and first, film Searching for Pancho, also uses a short-story format as a vehicle to explore topics of design. Inspired by the retrospective of architect Pancho Guedes, held at the Iziko National Gallery in 2009, the film follows a student who goes to Mozambique in search of the spirit of the legendary Maputo architect.

Besides winning numerous awards, the film enchanted the octogenarian Guedes, who has subsequently shown it all over the world before speaking, including at the Serpentine Gallery in London. Just last month, the film was nominated in three categories of the DStv short-film competition.

Although Bisset agrees that everyone in film is working towards a feature film, he is in no rush to shrug off the opportunities of short film. Partly due to YouTube and Twitter, short films are experiencing something of a renaissance. Just consider the number of short-film festivals that have suddenly cropped up, or the fact that the Museum of Modern Art in New York has started procuring YouTube videos for its permanent collection.

"The thing with a short film is that, if you like it, it delivers on its promise quite quickly, and if you don't like it, you don't have to endure it for too long," says Bisset.

For young filmmakers too, he adds, there are numerous funding and development opportunities for those wanting to make short films. But, most importantly, the Canon 5D, which came out in 2009, is an "absolute game changer". Although a stills camera, it gives everyone the ability to shoot incredible video footage at a fraction of the cost of film.

This is what Bisset will be talking about at the Toffie conference: "How easy it is to make films now and how everyone can and should be doing it."

Going forward, it is ironic that the disillusioned architect turned filmmaker has found himself a new architectural project with which to return to the fold. After all, Bisset is young enough to be part of the slashie generation of multiple professions - filmmaker/architect/cool kid.

• The Toffie Pop Culture Conference and Festival 2012 takes place in Cape Town from March 30 to April 1. See http://pop.toffie.co.za