One of those films whose intensity is painful to watch, but whose images get hooked into the memory, The Joyless Economy made the audience go very quiet at its premiere in the Directors Fortnight. In 58 minutes of increasing tension, director Marjorie Conrad boldly delivers a high-emotion story on a split screen. On the left, colorful film posters race past; on the right appear high-contrast black-and-white still photographs of a young woman, who guiltily tries to hide her face from the camera.