FAST FEED (Indiegogo)*****

 

By Cal

Link: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/fast-feed-feature-film--2/x/25148831#/ From €6

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Fast Feed is depressing and uplifting at the same time. Depressing because the events referred to really happened and are still happening. Yet also uplifting because it makes you feel things can be better than that because there are people who care. There are some terrible things going on in the world, but most of us know they’re terrible and that means we can try to make things better. But, as this film shows, it’s important that we don’t try to take on too much.

In Fast Feed, the central character (wonderfully portrayed by Ira Mandela Siobhan, who also co-directs this film alongside AdeY) is aware of what’s happening in the world. It flows past him on his social media feed (unseen by the audience) and it takes over his mind and body. He has no words of his own, only the words spoken by various public figures on various subjects. At the same time as playing the main character, Ira also plays the public figures whose words he is using. His movements, often including clever props to enhance the words and make you think in different ways, also fit with what he’s saying. Ira’s body moves rhythmically and there is something mesmeric and beautiful about it (Ira is a trained dancer and it shows), but there’s still a sense of wildness and desperation and a lack of control. Somebody who is stuck in a habit and doesn’t know how to get out of it – in this case, how to step away from social media. No sooner has he finished reading about one crisis, he is submerged in another.

Many public figures appear in this. There’s a prime minister and a president who is finally on his way out (whatever he says), both of whom have been heavily-criticised (by me, among many other people), but there are also people I do agree with. The main character is mentally and physically consumed by their words – whichever side the speakers happen to be on, they are describing a horrific and deeply upsetting situation.

I will be honest and admit I didn’t recognise all the quotes and voices, though some were guessable from the context. I had to google some (well, I didn’t have to, but the urgency of the film really made me want to know who every person was) and even then, a couple of the names were unfamiliar. Yes, I am horribly ignorant about some quotes and people, even if I mostly knew about the subjects being described, but this is the part of the power of the film. You don’t need to recognise the quotes or know who these people are in order to feel what these people are saying – and to feel the effects they have on the character.

There are connections between the issues, some very obvious, some less so, but it’s all connected.  It’s all part of the same world. If you focus on one issue, then sooner or later, you bump into one of the others. This film is not trying to suggest that these issues don’t matter or that we should all ignore them – it’s saying more that sometimes we need to ignore them; to take a step back. Because sometimes you have to consider another extremely important issue which you don’t want to brush aside. Your mental health.