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Five shorts displaying the Safdies' lyrical and slightly surreal outlook on the small things in everyday life.
This showcase of the Safdie brothers' short films begins with their fever-dream comedy John's Gone (22 mins), in which Benny Safdie stars as the title character, an aimless, emotionally lost young man from Queens dealing with the death of his mother.
Black Balloon (21 mins), the brothers' Sundance Jury Prize-winning tribute to Albert Lamorisse's The Red Balloon, is a charming fantasy following a rogue balloon that escapes a bouquet of its brethren to float about New York interacting with humans and experiencing life as an individual.
Benny winningly plays an everyloser John again in the bittersweet physical comedy The Acquaintances of a Lonely John (12 mins), which screened in the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes 2008 (in front of The Pleasure of Being Robbed).
Josh's student film We're Going to the Zoo (14 mins) sees real-life brother and sister Giacomo and Mickey Sumner (Sting and Trudie Styler's oldest and youngest children) accidentally pick up a hitchhiker on their way to the zoo.
Finally, Back of Her Head (21 mins) is the story of a shy daydreamer who develops a crush on a girl in his building, even though he's only seen the back of her head.