It is worth buying a $10 ticket just for pleasure of watching the short 'The Audition' - all four minutes of it.

This movie has a lightness of touch and humour that no doubt heralds good things to come from Alexander Winfield and Jeremiah McDonald.

The young movie makers have made a black and white flick whose grainy quality adds to the cartoonlike quality of the film and emphasises the anxiety of an actor trying out for a part.

In the short, the director is at first portrayed simply as a director's chair that edges into the spotlight, and beckons the angst-ridden actor into the empty hall. Then a set of hands and forearms to rest on the chair and to each flick of a finger and sweeping gesture, the set changes and the actors move.

All is watched in vague horror by the main character as he tries to keep up with the director's vision and movements.

It is also the first film made by Bermudian film student Winfield, who codirected this short with McDonald. The 21-year-old Winfield is the youngest entrant in the film festival.

It is short, sweet and humorous, and well worth a trip to cinema to see and tips its hat at Eastern European movie makers - a visual treat.

The main show of the this slot is 'Revelation', by Stuart Urban, and is dubbed the thinking man's 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'. Dream on.

This movie has all the ingredients for a good film - a legend, the occult, a secret sect, forces of good versus evil and a reasonable cast. So why does 'Revelation' feel like a 1950s "B" movie?

Don't get me wrong, it is entertaining enough - it is visually pleasing with wonderful camera work and great shots of landscapes around the world. The special effects are excellent and really quite gory. And the acting is not bad... And you want to find out what happens in the end.

But this film is missing the one thing that lets you suspend your disbelief - a good script. You get the feeling with a bit more editing and a lot more focus, this could be a great film.

At the moment it is part cult, part horror, part religious epic, doomsday movie, computer hacking film, love story with a bit of sex thrown in for good measure and a touch of "what are we doing" about genetic engineering.

The plot, which based around a religious relic called the Loculus and its powers, that has so many twists and turns that none of these elements are actually developed properly.

I am not sure whether it is the screen play adaptation or the original idea that let this down, but there are too many plot lines to make this a really "gripping mystical quest" that the promotional blurb promises.

But it is entertaining and anything with Terrence Stamp is worth a gander. The special effects get a ten out of ten for mediaeval gore and the occasional scares will now and then make you jump out of your seat. If only they had stuck to scaring us all out of our wits it would be a great movie.

Mairi Mallon