PVTV Fringe Flicks: Reality+ & ‘Altered Selves’ Short Films at DoES Liverpool

Liverpool’s People Versus TV presents Fringe Flicks, an underground short film night for culturally curious art fiends and movie freaks looking to move beyond the multiplex. July’s edition features a programme of bold, strange and subversive shorts headlined by Coralie Fargeat’s Reality+, which sets the tone for an evening exploring transformation, fractured identity, and altered realities.

Film fans will know Fargeat as the director of 2017’s Revenge and last year’s surprise smash hit body horror, The Substance starring Margaret Qualley and Demi Moore. The 2014 short film Reality+ is billed as a “stylish proof of concept” for The Substance, as it depicts near future version of Paris where a brain implant allows people unhappy with their appearance to enhance their perception of themselves, and the people around them.

Joining Fargeat’s film are ten more shorts, sourced from Liverpool, the UK and across the world. These include Sjhlrùl, a Belgian documentary written by pigeons (a fact that is apparently completely true), American surreal comedy Dastgir is Disappearing, and Colors of Passion — an Indian reworking of Hollywood hit My Best Friend’s Wedding.

Also screening as part of the evening at DoES Liverpool are a pair of Scouse shorts. ADHD Potpourri, is described as a chaotic, heartfelt journey toward an ADHD diagnosis, while cut-out animation When Anxiety Leaves is about a girl who chases whales while fighting  back panic.

People Versus TV (PVTV) are an artist-led collective specialising in lo-fi experimental films, hybrid animation, and collaborative community cinema. For those wanting to support this kind of small-scale, DIY-minded initiative there will be a limited edition screen-printed alternative film poster by Liverpool artist, Rhonda Davies, available on the night.