imagineNATIVE 25 FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW! Proving that taking it to the streets hasn’t gone sappy is the punchy Canadian short The Fourth World Problems Collective. Writer-director Kira Doxtator adapted the short story “Plight” by Leanne Simpson. Out in the streets of Toronto, X (Cas Ward), Lacy (Miyo Cheecho), Kwe (Averi Doxtator), and Sabe (Taye Alvis) gather together to defy the structure. They are planning to organize the production and distribution of a valuable substance humans have been using for centuries: maple syrup. It comes from within the trees, and it is time for the people to reclaim it. So out in the dark these folks go, following traditions that have been followed for hundreds of years during a hundred seconds past midnight.
“…planning to organize the production and distribution of a valuable substance humans have been using for centuries: maple syrup.”
The Fourth World Problems Collective gave me a huge LSD flashback, taking me back to the day; am I the only one? Doxtator summons up that old-time underground magic throughout the 7-minute runtime, which made all those cinema of transgression shorts of the 1980s glow in the dark. Much of this is due to the director’s genius decision to shoot on 16mm, which lends it a retro texture. The atmosphere of street-level actions from marginalized creative people is spot on, right down to the cigarette smoke.
The quasi-exploitation feel injected, like an afternoon fix, in the interactions between the characters lends another rebellious layer to the piece. Doxtator is cooking with the same burning urban flame that has drawn filmmakers like John Waters, Richard Kern, and Lizzie Borden during the 20th century. I also grew up tapping maple trees in Maine, and to see that decades later portrayed as a revolutionary act gives me a five-pound chub. The Fourth World Problems Collective is the kind of short we used to witness during the days of high rebellion. It’s good to see that kind of power again.
The Fourth World Problems Collective screened at the 25 imagineNATIVE Film Festival.
"…summons up that old time underground magic..."
