Slamdance: Sweet 16

In the cultural tradition of pop psychology, the number 16 is celebrated as a coming of age. For young girls, in particular, the allegorical figure is a worn as insignia to symbolize the connate transition from girlhood to young womanhood. Even so, while most ceremonies are are marked by high spirits and  jubilation, Boolab and The Ebeling Group, in their main title for film festival, Slamdance, get the party started with “Sweet 16.”

Palpitating to the rumbling beat of a drum and unfurling at a frenzied pace, the piece makes haste, borrowing from sweet 16 folklore by illustrating the benchmarks of pubescence through a surfeit of rousing imagery. By way of the first shot, the audience catches a glimpse at the awkward portrait of innocence: a sweet young girl with wide eyes, buck teeth, and  straggly hair.

Wrought with a series of literal and figurative transformations, the cinematography is elegant: brimming with quick cuts that fire in rapid succession, leaving the audience in a stupor to the evocative imagery and reverberating beat. As the storytelling visuals swell into motion, viewers are shepherd through a turnstile of tactful visual effects that exist solely to reinforce the conceptual underpinnings of the enduring, sweet 16 mythos.

For process imagery and insight from the Boolab director, Nico Casavecchia, continue here.