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The Ann Arbor Film Festival\u2019s short film collections are known for pushing the boundaries of experimental filmmaking, and the works shown in Films in Competition 11<\/a> certainly rise to the occasion.\u00a0From the dual vision technology of \u201cAu Hasard\u201d to the tediously stitched together \u201cCrystal Palace,\u201d these six short films<\/a> push cinema and reveal the beauty of avant-garde filmmaking.<\/p>\n \u201cAu Hasard\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Before entering the theater, all moviegoers were given a pair of either red or blue 3D glasses, which were required to watch Darren Heroux\u2019s experimental short \u201cAu Hasard.\u201d The film uses dual vision technology that overlays two different films in two different colors. The film that you saw depended on the color of the glasses you were given before entering. In French, \u201cAu hasard\u201d translates to \u201cat random,\u201d and it is the perfect name for a film where what you see is determined by chance.\u00a0<\/p>\n During my viewing, I saw the red version of the film. \u201cAu Hasard\u201d appears as a collection of various clips, from people walking on the beach to cats playing in a basket. Over the seemingly random videos is a French narration that delivers the core message of the film. \u201cAu Hasard\u201d comments on polarization from one another, touching on it literally, as two people sitting next to each other at the theater will watch two different films. However, there is a moment of unity in the end when the film instructs us to remove our 3D glasses, again returning everyone to the same version of the film. The narrator asks the audience to decide whether they want to put the glasses back on or not, asking us to choose between division or unity. \u201cAu Hasard\u201d feels incredibly timely and presents social polarization in a fresh and novel way that will stick with audiences long after they take their glasses off.\u00a0<\/p>\n