Sadness

William Yang's Sadness is a short, poignant and powerful piece about loss and identity. There's something amazingly warm about it, despite the grim subject matter.

If you've got a spare hour, you should watch Sadness.

Fair warning though: as if the title didn't give it away, Sadness is a powerful and exceedingly sad film. It will make you feel things, and some of those things aren't pleasant. But they are important.

You can watch it RIGHT HERE, now.

William Yang is a social photographer, who has made a living taking pictures, but also uses his pictures to perform unique storytelling pieces in art galleries. In 1999, Tony Ayres directed a film based on one of those performances: Sadness. The performance basically consists of what is pictured above: Yang sits on a stool, facing the audience with an unwavering neutral expression. Behind him, a slide projector casts images on the wall from his photography. In monotone, he tells stories that link with the pictures.

If you want to be surprised by this film, stop reading now and go watch it. I'm going to give a little detail about the stories he tells, but it may be that they are more effective if you don't know what you're in for.

Touching The Void

Based on a true story, Touching The Void delivers an extraordinary tale of human survival, with breathtaking re-enactment that packs emotional punch.

In 1985, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates attempted to climb the west face of the Siula Grande - a 6.3km ascent that had never yet been completed. The pair climbed alpine style; this meant no camps halfway up, and no more equipment than the two of them could carry. Joe admits, in hindsight, they were a bit stupid.

Touching the void is a 2003 documentary based on the book by Joe Simpson, detailing their climb, and almost fatal descent. The film uses talking heads (that is, interviews with the climbers themselves), along with performed re-enactments filmed on location at the slope, to convey their struggle to survive, and the brutal decisions each had to make.