The choice to showcase the short film Before Dawn was not difficult to make. As the Welcome Message states: Independent Film is, "land where Story is King," and Before Dawn illustrates this beautifully.
Written (with Gyorgy Reder), produced, and directed by Hungarian filmmaker Balint Kenyeres, Before Dawn is a suspense/drama that holds perfectly to a traditional beginning, middle, end structure, while employing some brilliant filmmaking techniques to support that structure.
The film's synopsis reads, "Before dawn, people will rise, and other people will take away their hope." There's much to be said about the human-struggle taking place here, but let's focus on why this film works because of Kenyeres' filmmaking.
The Plot (Spoiler Warning)
Two guys in a truck pull to stop along a road cut into a tall wheat field. When the truck's horn sounds, several dozen refugees rise from the wheat and file into the back of the truck. They drive off behind a hill, out of our view. Suddenly, they reverse and return to our view, now pursued by the authorities (not one, but a small army of cars, trucks, and a helicopter!). Surrounded, the truck stops and all are taken into custody and whisked away. The end? Nope. As the camera pans, a lone man emerges from the windswept wheat; he's obviously one of the refugees. But has he escaped capture? Has he lost his family? Or was he the one who turned the others in? The film leaves that to us to ponder.
Kenyeres does all this in a twelve-minute continuous shot. There is no dialogue, no music, no special effects, no shock-value violence, and only one close-up on an actor - the lone refugee at the end. I would imagine that budget played a role in some of these decisions (he shot on 35mm film and had a helicopter,) but the truth is Before Dawn is a better story and a better film because of what was left out.
Shot by Matyas Erdely, the look is muted in grey tones. Color is primarily used with the truck (hope) and the lone refugee (hope destroyed). Sound is used purely for story and suspense - from birds taking flight (freedom), to the truck (hope), to the chaotic captures (hope destroyed). Everything here is laser-focused on the story.
Before Dawn has been screened at many festivals, including Cannes (2005) and Sundance (2006). Kenyeres has written and directed two other short films, Kolónia and Zárás, and I hear he is currently developing his first feature - stay tuned for an article on that project.
You can watch Before Dawn at the Sundance Film Festival website (Thanks guys!). Sit back for twelve minutes of wonderful filmmaking. Afterward, write and let me know what you think.
