Hamas have just won the Palestinian elections and a chocolate bar in a Rotterdam hotel room eventually reminds the filmmaker that there are more important things going on in the world outside. Exactly one year later he returns to the same city and checks in at a very different hotel.
“The best piece in Program 2 is John Smith’s Pyramids/Skunk (Hotel Diaries 5/6). Smith’s visual and voice-over comments on the minute details of two hotel rooms have a wry self-indulgence that sets up his observations on the real-world horrors in Palestine.” Fred Camper, Chicago Reader 2007
“John Smith’s Pyramids / Skunk is as witty and elegant a distillation of political rage as any video in this series.” Maximilian Le Cain, Senses of Cinema 2007
International Festival of New Film, Split, Croatia 2007.
Grand Prix (best short film)
Lucca Film Festival, Italy 2007
Grand Prix (ex aequo)