Funny Sh&t at the ICA

By Marcie MacLellan

I’m all about short and sweet. At 5’1, it's a saying that fits. This could be why I’ve developed a particular penchant for short films. And so has the ICA. The 7th Annual London Short Film Fest kicks off there tonight, complete with requisite mingling and mixes. First up is a collection of films appropriately titled ‘Funny Shit’ (with a shocking lack of ampersand that suggests the ICA is far less politically correct than we are). Scan the programme and you’ll find Go Away Please, a not-so-sweet short that is so inappropriately naughty, it’s irresistibly good. While this film doesn’t talk in riddles, it does talk in opposites – literally. Up is down. Black is white. Do is don’t. So when a patient’s husband is told by her morally-depraved doctor that his wife is alive and well, you’ll be left amused and abused in the best possible way. In other words: skip the ICA tonight if it’s the first thing you don’t.