Toronto Youth Shorts Film Festival - Part 2

Continuing where I left off in Part 1, here's the rest of my preview of the Toronto Youth Shorts Film Festival (taking place on Saturday June 2nd at Innis Town Hall) which consists of three more documentaries and two further fictional films.

First up is "A Slice Of Life", an awfully charming 15 minute short about an Ontario pie contest and the filmmaker's attempt to enter it. In the short running time, we not only see writer/driector Emily Powell learn how to make a pie (from some of the experts that run the contest), create it and then bring it to the big competition, but we also meet several other contestants and hear about past winners. The occasional pie-making secret is even thrown in for good measure (for example, adding a touch of liqueur to your filling). It's shot very typically, so you won't be getting any groundbreaking visual flair here, but the film doesn't really require any. It would intrude and divert away from the well-told, engaging story. One of my favourites for sure.

The second film is focused on the stories of pet owners, their fond memories of their pets and how they felt when they died. Though this could easily have been awash with sentimentality as the owners relate their stories, it completely avoids this by recreating the experiences with actors, animation and puppets. Each of the stories is just a couple of minutes long, so the cute factor doesn't wear thin and the bonds that the people felt with these animals still come across. In some cases the owners had not had the animals for very long, but still grew quite attached. The title of the film ("Our Best Friends") is as close to gushiness as the 10 minute running time gets.

"Dolime Dilemna - Waterproof?" is a far more conventional approach to its subject, but certainly no less effective. The city of Guelph Ontario depends on an underground aquifer for their water supply, but the local quarry is slowly eroding the aquitard protective layer. I know this because the short does a pretty good job of laying out the geological terms that are relevant as well as the possible threat to Guelph's water. While the construction company's representative minimizes the danger and tries to emphasize the NIMBY syndrome (Not In MY BackYard) as the excuse for those who argue against the quarry continuing to dig, the rest of the film calmly lays out the issues (through professors, scientists and the mayor of the city). The danger is that when they stop pumping, the surface water will mix with the underground supply and the contamination will begin. Unfortunately, since the danger is not immediate (ie. there are no results of testing the water that indicate contamination has occurred), it's very hard to get government attention. The film has its biases obviously, but its rational, straightforward approach helps to not only get its specific point across, but also allows it to expand to a wider issue - everyone assumes that our fresh water supply is unending.

The last two films are dramatic works of fiction and unfortunately suffer in comparison to their documentary counterparts. Both are set in very real worlds and depend on natural sounding characters, but neither quite hits the right tone. Granted, these are very small films, so the quality of the acting is actually quite fine for the scale, but both tend to go for the big emotion inside their scripts. I'm glad they aimed high, but it feels like they overshot. Having said that, the construction of both films is solid. "Heart Of Perception" shows us the story of a homeless man and pretty young woman who brings him food and money. It tends toward the over-dramatic (or over-melodramatic due to the overuse of tinkling piano and plucking guitar), but it doesn't immediately tell you the relationship between the two so leaves a bit of mystery. He buys her an old camera on the street and it appears to create a bit of a spark in her as they take photos of each other. Because of where it winds up, it felt like it needed much more context and back story, but it's a fine effort for a two character story.

"Breaking Over Me" is also a bit too self-consciously serious with a pretty blunt script (and another plinking piano score that tries to handle all the heavy lifting of the emotion). A teenage girl attends the funeral of her estranged father and sees his new family. He deserted her and her Mom when she was young ("Did you hear about Dad? I heard he passed away." "Probably for the best. World's better without him."), so she doesn't mention to her mother that she actually went to the funeral. However, she starts going to the funeral home and sitting in on random services. One day she walks into one of them and only one other person is in attendance. She lies about knowing the man's deceased wife and they begin to chat since each has a need to talk to the other. The dialogue is still somewhat forced ("So, what did you do?" "Before I got old?") and the emotional climax isn't quite as effective as it could be, but it's quite the chunk to attempt in a short piece. There's a lot to be said for the effort - not just the execution, but the goal of reaching for a larger idea.

So if you're looking for some of that kind if inspiration, grab yourself some tickets for the Saturday June 2nd screenings from the Toronto Youth Shorts Film Festival web site.

Toronto Youth Shorts Film Festival - Part 1

It's best if I just take the description of the Toronto Youth Shorts Film Festival (starting this Saturday June 2nd) straight from their web site:

"The Toronto Youth Shorts Film Festival is a volunteer-run not-for-profit initiative that works to bring a series of events for local young and emerging filmmakers in the Greater Toronto Area to showcase their talent and creations to an audience of independent film lovers."

It's more than just a showcase though...It's a forum for the filmmakers to meet with industry people, share ideas and - most importantly of all - get feedback from experienced filmmakers and their peers. In its fourth year, the festival appears to be growing and gaining steam. Given the overall quality of the sample of films I had a chance to see, it feels like the staff of the festival are getting the word out to some of the best young local talent. You can't help but want to fast forward 5-6 years into the future to see what these "kids" (not to offend any of the filmmakers, but I'm way older than all of ya...) will have created by then.





The three animated films I saw (all between 1-2 minutes) are all wonderful, charming and feel like much more mature work. The stories are somewhat simple and straightforward, but each has a distinctive feel to it and a real sense of creativity. The tools of today may make it easy for "anyone" to create, but they don't necessarily provide the imagination and inspiration these filmmakers all had. "Blind Luck" was the first of the three and it put a lift in my day straight away. There's just something about an animated character (even a dog) that, when drawn with certain details and attributes, can immediately make you smile. A working dog leading his blind owner across a street is distracted by a bright red ball and must choose between his instincts and his training. The gags and outcome are well realized, but that dog (and all his subtle expressions and movements) is quite fantastic.

The second film entitled "Vernal Equinox" depicts, as you might expect, the arrival of Spring - though not without a fight. The Winter wolf is not ready to cede its time, but a helpful warrior is there to do battle with it to allow Spring to take its rightful place. Using imagery from fantasy, manga and probably video games, the mini-epic is over and done with in under a minute-and-a-half, but it leaves a lasting impression (if you can look past the image of a scantily clad feminine Spring needing the male warrior's help). The last of the three ("Amare") is the simplest in both design and colouring, but is probably the most charming - partially because of that simplicity, but also due to its story of a woman scorned and the man who looks past all of that to her inner true self. An idea simply, but quite lovingly, expressed.

If the live action films (both fictional and documentary) don't quite live up to the animated ones, it's understandable. Typically running closer to 15 minutes each, the live action films tend to feel padded or like they have extended their reach a bit too far from their original ideas. Having said that, they tend to share a commonality: good solid ideas. I'll mention three of the eight I saw and hopefully follow up with a second post covering the rest before the festival starts on Friday. The first ("Backwards Rider") is a documentary about a local artist/environmentalist named Lesley Slowley. His claim to fame is riding his bike (at regular speed) backwards on the streets of Toronto (glimpsing behind him every couple of seconds to see where he's going). Given Lesley's recycled paper art, involvement with the Occupy Toronto movement and rather obvious dislike of rules, he definitely looks backward to move forward as a general rule...The film loses its sympathy with him, though, during an encounter with the police. Whatever your opinion is of his views and politics (e.g. whether you agree that the police are correct to cite him for dangerous riding OR that Lesley is correct to point out the pollution caused by their cars), it's all too obvious that he isn't interested in having the discussion as he shows no attempt to understand another viewpoint. It paints Lesley as less of a complicated person (not to mention less interesting) than I originally thought he might be.

The next short called "Prolepsis" has one of the more interesting frameworks and central concepts, but unfortunately ended up being one of my least favourites. One example of the definition of the title is "the anachronistic representation of something as existing before its proper or historical time" which corresponds nicely with the faux-doc's plot point of a news report from the future somehow slipping into a standard news feed. As the government works the angles and the public frames it according to their own cultures, dissent arises, riots break out, etc. The film is patched together with TV news footage from various actual news networks, but also has some of its own "interviews" and footage near a barricade. A common issue with these type of films is trying to make the interviews appear natural and unscripted - an issue that certainly stands out here. As well, it exceeds its required running time by about double what it really needs, tends to stay with its interview subjects far too long and ends up restating numerous points. However, it's an interesting concept that shows promise.

The last is "Loss Together", a story built around the idea of "friendships" in the office and online that aren't really built upon anything of consequence. On a single day, the colleagues in a non-descript office have to deal with the death of a co-worker that no one really knows (except for the occasional Facebook status update) while preparing to go to a pub gathering in the evening for another co-worker's birthday (again, one that is mostly unknown to everyone). It's never quite as funny or dark or biting as it could have been with a stronger script and some needed editing, but it's still quite well constructed and has the makings of something far stronger.

The festival is screening its 31 films in three separate blocks (mixing animation, documentary and fiction into each one) on Saturday June 2nd. Check their web site for details on tickets and times. It's a worthwhile event that should provide bursts of inspiration for any attendee.

Toronto After Dark 2009 - Canadian Shorts

The Toronto After Dark Film Festival has been a great believer and supported of short films - in particular Canadian ones. Though I missed the International Shorts program this year, I did catch all the Canadian shorts that screened before each of the feature films I saw. Some of my favourites follow, but unfortunately only one of them is the complete film - the others are just trailers, but hopefully they will whet your appetite.



Captain Coulier (Space Explorer) - Canadian space explorer on a low budget. His to-do list is as follows:

1. Discover planet
2. Find love
3. Quit drugs
4. Stop hating yourself

That should give you an idea of the humour. The trailer below isn't from the actual short film we saw, but the tone is the same.





Hirsute - I love time travel as a construct for stories and this is a great example of finding a fresh way to work with it. What happens when you meet your future self and he's arrogant, smarmy and hairless? The full 13 minute film can be found here. The trailer has a sampling:





Becoming - An amazing look film with an opening tracking shot along a stream that is just stunning. The wordless story is pretty great too, though it's more of a dance/fight. You may think twice before messing with Mother Nature after seeing this. Or even gardening...





Git Gob - One and a half minutes of complete silliness. You can't argue with that. Enjoy the full film below:





Danse Macabre - Equal both in its beauty and disturbing quality, "Danse Macabre" recently won an award at the Worldwide Short Film Festival for its depictions of the last "death dance" that a human body might go through...





Next Floor - Winner of the best short film at Cannes. The trailer doesn't give much away, so I probably shouldn't either. A table full of aristocratic types gorge continuously on all manner of food being rolled in by a dedicated wait staff. Consequences follow...

Worldwide Short Film Festival 2009 - Awards

It's funny how time just kind slides away from you...The 2009 Worldwide Short Film Festival wrapped up 8 days ago and had their awards out before I even posted my first set of reviews.

Here's a quick round-up of the winners:


Audience Award
"Paul Rondin Is... Paul Rondin / Paul Rondin est... Paul Rondin" - directed by Frederick Vin

Best Live Action Short
Winner: "My Name is Dominic / Tous les enfants s'appellent Dominique" - directed by Nicolas Silhol
Honourable Mention: "Sand / Zand" - directed by Joost Van Ginkel

Best Emerging Canadian Filmmaker
Winner: Aparna Kapur for "Amma"
Honourable Mention: Joseph Johnson Cami & Ayelen Liberona for "Becoming"



Best Cinematography in a Canadian Short
Winner: Miroslaw Baszak for "The Water"
Honourable Mention: Pedro Pires for "Danse Macabre"

Best Animated Short
"Slaves" - directed by Hanna Heilborn and David Aronowitsch

Best Canadian Short
"Land of Men / Terre des hommes" - directed by Ky Nam Le Duc

The Best Experimental Short
Winner: "Danse Macabre" - directed by Pedro Pires
Honourable Mention: "Inscape" - directed by Servane Phillips and Nathalie Robison



Best Documentary Short
"Skin" - directed by Rhys Graham

Best Performance (Female)
Leora Rivlin for "Wind Chimes"

Best Performance (Male)
Jack Wouterse for "Sand / Zand"

Best Performance (Ensemble)
Kil-ho Kim & Tae-hoon Lee for "Auld Lang Syne"

Screenplay Giveaway Prize
Kate Hewlett for "She Said Lenny"

Worldwide Short Film Festival - "Midnight Mania: Freaky"

First the creepy films and now the freaky ones. They sure know how to live up to their titles.



Glottal Opera (directed by John Fink) - 4 minutes of 4 women singing as seen from inside their throats. It's weird, wonderful, certainly freaky and a bit too long. It is pretty interesting matching the sounds you hear to the way a human body makes them though.



The Snake Mountain Colada (directed by Calvin Reeder) - Probably my least favourite of all the films I've seen in any of the screenings. I think the filmmakers actually achieved what they set out to do - recreate a Texas Chainsaw Massacre style vibe, mixed in with drug binging and internal organs. In all honesty though, I hated pretty much every single frame.



Danny's Magical Potion (directed by Gaute Hesthagen) - How do you even try to review a film 1 minute long? Danny drinks a special potion, becomes nice and we see how the effects ripple. Why is it freaky? You need look no further than the screencap below.




The Sexiest Stories on Earth! No. 2 (Las historias mas sexy del mundo! No. 2) (directed by Eric Cheevers) - As an homage to euro sex comedies of the 60-70s, it seems to nail the period and style. I couldn't find the film online, but here's the original film by Cheevers entitled "The Sexiest Stories on Earth! (Las historias mas sexy del mundo!)". You should get the idea:




The Heart Of Karl (directed by Steven Kostanski) - Kostanski and his Astron-6 Video team produced one of my favourite films from last year's Toronto After Dark Film Festival - the great and highly entertaining Lazer Ghosts 2: Return To Lazer Cove. This time out it's a full story as opposed to a simple fake trailer, but there's less of a fun goofy spirit to it. That's not to say it isn't good or funny, it's just a different tone. More downright...um...oh what's the word...oh yeah, freaky. Another film that goes on a bit longer than maybe it should, but there's some particularly brilliant moments contained within.

Here's the trailer:




Eel Girl (directed by Paul Campion) - A scientist observes an Eel Girl and then things go pretty much exactly how you figure they will. And you're glad they do.



The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon (directed by Richard Gale) - Most of the work here was done when they came up with the concept and the title. Especially when they decided that the weapon would be a spoon. Unfortunately this too goes on longer than necessary, but you can't help but laugh pretty much every time the insane murdering guy whacks his victim with the convex side of the spoon - leaving darker and darker bruises as the story goes along.



Everyday is a Fish Day (Høydepunkter) (directed by Jens Lien) - The daily grind of the life of a fresh fish for sale. Who knew they had longing in their hearts?

Here's the entire 1 and a half minute film:




The Sleuth Incident (directed by Jason Kupfer) - I just liked the different ways that the filmmakers created to make this big stuffed bear appear to be moving on its own - walking, sitting, lunging at someone's neck to rip it out...



My Rabit Hoppy (directed by Anthony Lucas) - Aren't bunnies cute? Until they grow up to be big and strong that is.



Git Gob (directed by Philip Eddolls) - More short animated goofiness. Fun, entertaining goofiness, but goofiness all the same.

Here's the entire 1 and a half minute film:




My Love Lives in the Sewer (Mi amor vive en las alcantarillas)
(directed by Manuel Arija De La Cuerda) - The black and white photography only emphasizes the grungy, grimy and overall disgusting washroom and sewer scenes. A young man (as the title indicates) believes he has found his true love who lives down in the sewer. He communicates with her via letters printed on a certain brand of toiler paper. It's even stranger than you're imagining right now.

Here's the trailer:

Worldwide Short Film Festival - "Midnight Mania: Creepy"

This would have been a more effective set of films had I actually been in the theatre with an audience watching them at the midnight screening, but alone in your dark basement (this is just not my wife's cup of tea to say the least) still allows for some unsettling moments.

One note: Just go ahead and assume that none of the video clips are safe for work and we'll all be much happier...


The Intruder (directed by Mikael Kreuzrigler) - The twist isn't overly surprising and some of the ghost images aren't very original, but the film is very adept at making you constantly shift your focus all over the screen for clues or hints of what is to come next. Add to that a couple of good jump scares and some other eerie moments and you have a very well done film that was a great opener.




Out Of Control (Fuera de Control) (directed by Sofia Carrillo) - Beautiful and creepy. Think long form Tool video and you're getting close to the feel of this stop motion animation film. I can't deny the artistry, but it simply didn't captivate me after the first couple of minutes and became rather dull. Geez, I feel bad for even saying that considering the amount of work and creativity on hand.




Laura Panic (directed by Adam Wingard) - You can accomplish a lot in 3 minutes and Wingard is able to convey character history, empathy, humour and some rather disturbing turns of event all within that time frame.

Here's the entire 3 minute film:




Mom (Mama) (directed by Andy Muschietti) - There are a couple of extraordinarily effective scenes in this film, but they wouldn't be quite as effective if the tension built from the start hadn't already put you on the edge of your seat. You may know where it's going, but the ride is a lot of fun.




Breed (Dos manos zurdas y un racimo de ojos manchados de gris) (directed by Antonio Trashorras) - Billed as a tribute to 70s Giallo films (though perhaps not completely successful in that regards), Trashorras (one of the writers of Guillermo Toro's "The Devil's Backbone") keeps you wondering as to whether the central female character's point of view is accurate or not. Most horrifying of all is the thought that an abusive husband may pass along those same tendencies to his son.

Here's the entire 20 minute film:




Full Employment (Arbeit für alle) (directed by Matthias Vogel) - A great little zombie film wrapped inside what initially appears to be a day in the life of a volunteer helper for old people. He just happens to be helping a zombie killer on this particular day.

Here's the trailer (no subtitles, but you should get the gist of it):




The Chest (Sandik) (directed by Can Evrenol) - A rather terrifying concept that is - if I'm being honest - completely bungled. The film manages to make you very curious as to what is in the chest a young boy is pulling. Even with some poor quality camera work, you're still waiting to see the reveal and can't help but wonder why this boy is bringing the chest to this particular family. Unfortunately, once the blood and guts start flowing, it loses any kind of tension or even reference point. It really felt like the director had just learned how to create gore and just can't help himself...He doesn't even seem to care why it's flowing.



Boob (directed by Honest) - "Boob on the loose! Boob on the loose!". I think that's all I really to say, isn't it?

Here's the trailer:




Dara (directed by The MO Brothers (Timo Tjahjanto, Kimo Tjahjanto)) - I can't help but steal the basic marketing pitch already used elsewhere for this film - "Audition" meets "Saw". That pretty much describes this Indonesian effort in a nutshell. Dara's skills in the kitchen are matched only by her way with men and she seems to have found the perfect way to combine them both...

Here's the trailer:

Worldwide Short Film Festival - "What You See Is Not What You Get"

Because of some other things going on, I wasn't able to make it out to any of the Short Film Festival screenings this year. Fortunately, the fine publicity folks for the festival were kind enough to pass along some screeners, so I selected my top 4 anticipated sessions.

My first choice to view was the Official Selection set entitled "What You See Is Not What You Get" - each film was to follow a bit of a different path than perhaps you may have expected initially.



Section 44 (directed by Daniel Wilson) - A man gets abducted coming out of his house and is brought into a dark interrogation room. He's peppered with questions and then threatened with what appears to be some sort of torture device. Why is he there? Is it because of his online screen name? Will he crack? This was a solid, humourous beginning to the set that preps you to avoid setting your expectations too rigidly.

Here's the entire 5 minute film:




Coagulate (directed by Mihai Grecu) - A man's head is under water and yet the rest of him is dry and he's standing upright. Less a play on your expectations than a total breakdown of all physical laws. A wordless and beautiful film that I couldn't even begin to try to explain.



The Last Breath (directed by David Jackson) - A great concept: while a group of SCUBA divers are under water, all the air on Earth suddenly disappears. What happens when they come up with air tanks that are starting to run out? Not a wholly convincing realistic follow-through on that idea, but still worthwhile and with an appropriate ending.



Pencil Face (directed by Christian Simmons) - A human sized pencil able to stand on its tip (and with a freakish looking face) appears before a young girl. She quickly figures out that whatever you draw with it actually becomes real. Of course, you need to be very careful to be specific in what you're drawing - otherwise you might not get what you expect. Creepy music adds to this well-directed, slightly disturbing and very strange piece.

Here's the entire 4 minute film:




The Hunter and the Bear (Der jäger und der bär) (directed by Joachim Brandenburg) - Anything set to the music of Sigur Ros can only get better. The story in this short of a hunter determined to find a polar bear is well thought out, but the music just simply elevates it. Though I couldn't stand the animation (especially of the faces), I think that's mostly my own personal taste - it was kind freaking me out.



The Refuge (Les réfugiés) (directed by Emile Proulx-Cloutier) - A lonely Quebecois man falls in love with a Mexican woman and brings her back to Canada. Will they find true love together or is there some other reason behind the marriage? I appreciated how the film took its time with the characters, but I have to say it never really engaged me - I couldn't help thinking I should feel something stronger by the end.



Pawnshop (directed by Andrew Bush) - An old man behind the counter of a pawnshop plays mind games with a young man looking to buy an engagement ring. What should have been a nice switch-a-roo at the end doesn't amount to much because by then you don't really care about either of the two characters. The writing lets this story down from pretty much the first line.



Top Girl (directed by Rebecca Johnson) - A wanna-be girl rapper and her friend bring their talents to the house of a local teen who has his own recording studio set up in his room. Though unable to really strut her stuff, she ends up gaining a great deal of life experience and maturity from that day. Surprisingly effective and genuine.

Here's the trailer:




The Kinda Sutra (directed by Jessica Yu) - My favourite of the bunch. Filmmaker Jessica Yu ("Ping Pong Playa") intercuts several adults talking about their childhood memories of where they thought babies came from with animated Indian characters recreating those descriptions. Very funny, sweet and finishes up with a modern view from some real kids.

Here's an abridged version (embedding disabled).

Worldwide Short Film Festival 2009

I was chatting with my friend James the other night and we got on to the topic of short films. We bounced around some of the pros and cons of not only watching them, but also looking at them from the filmmaker's perspective as well.

We agreed that in general it seemed that it was a difficult form to use for straight narrative pieces and how it can lead to shortcuts in establishing character - that can certainly lead to cliches, but it can also be an opportunity to explore interesting ways of accomplishing the creation of a fully fleshed out character in a short time frame. It was also noted that many shorts (comedy and sci-fi ones to a large extent) tended towards finishing with a "punchline" or a reveal. Nothing wrong with that of course...This can lead to incredibly entertaining surprises.

It seems that most modern day filmmakers begin their careers in the short film arena - of course, those coming out of film school would likely have done several shorts during their courses. We speculated as to whether this occurred with the same frequency back in the 60-70s (does Scorsese have a library of his own shorts?), but expect it is much more the case today especially with the pervasiveness of new technology and the relatively low cost entry point. Considering that, can short filmmakers make a career of not straying past a 20-25 minute length for their creations (obviously commercial and music video directors can to a certain extent)? Would they like to if they could? Or do most of them really truly desire being full length directors and use their shorts as "calling cards"?

All this discussion was driven by the almost-upon-us opening night of the 2009 Worldwide Short Film Festival. I've been the last 2 years and always find examples of innovative ideas, techniques and simply pure creativity - which means that I love going to this festival.

As always, the programmers have broken their selections into vaguely themed screenings, with each one containing 6-10 films. The Sc-Fi themes usually work best whereas the less obvious themes (food?) can be a total roll of the dice. Having just said that, two of my favourite films from last year, "Le Grand Content" and "Procrastination", were found in the "You Are What You Eat" and "Human Resources" categories respectively (give them both a look - each is about 4 minutes long, animated and masterful in transitioning from one thing to another).

The full schedule is here, but these are some of the screenings I'm most excited to see (the italicized sections are direct from the web site):



What You See Is Not What You Get - "Don't believe what you see or trust what you hear. From pawnshop owners with ulterior motives to shady smiley-faced pencils and beheaded bears, nothing is as it seems in these sly and surprising shorts." I love the idea of a whole set of twists and turns - that can be a tough act to keep alive throughout a feature length film, but could fit perfectly within the typical length of a short.


Sci-Fi: Out There - "There's a whole lot of nothing in space, and if the Earth's gravity won't keep you in your seat, your stabilizers will definitely kick in for our collection of out-of-this-world adventures, including strange scientific cures, a robot invasion, crash landings on hostile planets, and a Canadian space captain with a lot on his mind." Usually the most fun collection - maybe it's due to the plethora of sci-fi short stories available or just the kick start to the imagination the genre supplies.


Tech-Neurological - "In a world saturated with gizmos and gadgets, shouldn't life be easier? Technology can be crazymaking, leaving wires crossed and exacerbating the human condition. Leave your cell-pod-face-twitter machine at home and surf these tech-shorts instead." Who doesn't like to see technology get taken down a few notches?


Scene Not Herd - "Scene Not Herd is back for its sixth year! Our annual cavalcade of music video madness is sure to delight and amaze fans of cutting edge visuals and amazing new music alike. As a special bonus, we're including a collection of N.A.S.A. videos, curated and in many cases co-directed by legendary Los Angeles animator Syd Garon." Wide set of videos that will never likely get air time on any music station - R.E.M. is the only big name here, but bands like My Morning Jacket, Royksopp and Fleet Foxes are represented so I'm very curious...


Midnight Mania: Creepy - "Zombies, ghosts, cannibal serial killers, and a breast implant run amuck! Welcome to CREEPY: a six-nation tour of things that go bump in the night. A collection of the most unsettling, eerie, and flat out frightening shorts that the world has to offer, laced with the occasional dose of comic relief." I can't really add anything further to that description...Apparently Todd Brown of Twitch was involved in the selection (along with the other Midnight set of Freaky films).


Picture Is Up! - "From the First Assistant Director's call for "Quiet on the set!" to the Director's final cut, the process of filmmaking blends a variety of crafts. In this tribute to filmmaking, each short celebrates a specific cinematic element: picture, sound, writing, acting, and editing. "And action!"" Includes a 40 minute look back at John Cazale's career...


Midnight Mania: Freaky - "Ominous teddy bears, giant bunnies, a day in the life of a white collar fish, vampire hitchhikers, and an assortment of cinematic oddities which defy description. Want to leave the theatre thinking "I've never seen that before!"? Then you've come to the right place! Welcome to FREAKY." Description of "The Eel" --> "He's in love. She's mostly a fish. This can't end well." And yes, that's a fish driving a car in the image above. I don't think I have to further explain why I want to see this screening, do I?

Rejected

This particular frame from Don Hertzfeldt's Oscar nominated animated short "Rejected" just kills me...I think it's funny enough by itself ("Sweet Jesus - more sodium!"), but in the context of the film (which is a number of supposedly "rejected" commercial spots he made all strung together) it just takes on that added level of absurdity. As if those two blob-like things with stick legs weren't already just a wee bit absurd...And the end of the film is sheer brilliance as everything starts to spin out of control.

As I rewatched this the other day, when it cut from the poor stick guy (who has just walked head first into a Yield sign after having had his eyes unceremoniously removed by a visiting alien) to the fish sticks I laughed out loud. For longer than should reasonably be expected.

Here's the whole (and let me repeat this again) Oscar nominated film. There is some colour that eventually appears by the way. That colour is red. Be forewarned that there are some scenes where there is a lot of red.

Worldwide Short Film Festival - Sci-Fi and Award Winners

The final screening I attended during last week's Worldwide Short Film Festival was the Sci-Fi session entitled Out There. It certainly was nice to finally get a thematically consistent set of films in one grouping, but that seems to be an easier task with the Sci-Fi submissions. This year's batch wasn't quite as consistently entertaining as last year's set, but it still provided some great moments and one of my favourite films of the fest.

• Homework - A man appears trapped in a strange room with no chance of escape. Things get even more odd when a cat is suddenly thrust into the room as well. The two must fight it out for the food that's been dumped in with them until we find out why they've both been imprisoned. Though the twist wasn't overly surprising by the end, it was still pretty satisfying and there was enough humour in the story to keep it entertaining throughout.
  
  

• Primitive Technology - A small band of outcasts rebel against modern technology by stealing people's cell phones, laptops and other electronic devices before smashing them to bits. They recruit a new member who not only buys into their ideas, but becomes reinvigorated after having settled into a rather dull existence. Along with destroying modern technology, they also try to build their own machines out of scrap without the use of electricity - to varying degrees of success. The film has a great deal of energy, so if one gag doesn't quite work another picks up the slack shortly thereafter.
  
  

• Rocket Science - Imagine an animated 50s Sci-Fi film populated with film noir characters who perhaps weren't quite the sharpest tacks in the box. Aliens have landed and it's up to the local police and a visiting scientist to decide what to do. Once you get into the flow of the script, the great lines keep on coming - two of my fave examples: "Don't think Billy. Thinking is for Liberals." and "Some things a man needs to see with his own eyes. Like his new born son or anything that goes into his mouth." The biggest laughs of the fest.
  
  

• Ascension - It seems that all of my choices from the Sci-Fi section this year were comedies. That's not to say that the rest of the set weren't interesting, but none quite grabbed my attention as much as the funny ones. Case in point: "Ascension" follows an innocent neighbourhood guy who stumbles across an alien worshipping cadre hidden in his own building. Their plans require a sacrifice in order that they may be saved before the entire Earth is destroyed. Funny thing is, they may actually be right...
  

Award winners have been announced (unfortunately I only saw two of them). Both "Manon On The Ashphalt" (Best Live Action Short) and "Boar Attack" (Best Animated Short) are now eligible for Academy Award nominations.




Other award winners:

• Audience Award - "Getting Out"
• Best Canadian Short - "Can You Wave Bye-Bye"
• Best Canadian Emerging Filmmaker - Audrey Cummings for "Burgeon and Fade"
• Best Cinematography in a Canadian Short - Brendan Steacy for "The Answer Key"
• Best Documentary - "Zietek"
• Best Experimental Short - "Roastbeef"
• Best Performance in a Live Action Short - "Death of Shula" by Yusef Corman-Korman
• Special Jury Prize for Comedy - "Aquarium"

Worldwide Short Film Festival - Genius Party Beyond

I'm still relatively new to Japanese animation. I haven't strayed too far from the top names of Miyazaki, Takahata and Kon and haven't delved into the multi-part series that take complicated story arcs to new heights. I've seen enough to make me want to delve further, but I've still really only scratched the surface of the volumes of anime that exist - the gorgeous visual representations of nature, the dystopic visions of the future and what I can only guess to be scenes of wandering travels through the charred remains of minds coming apart.

Studio4°C dabbles in all of the above and have put together a couple of anthology films to display their work. Genius Party and Genius Party Beyond are rarely screened outside of Japan, but both were at this year's Worldwide Short Film Festival. I managed to catch the second of them a week ago Thursday and was lucky enough to hear filmmaker Shinichiro Watanabe give some opening remarks. For him, hand drawn animation is still the real true art form and is much preferred to CGI. It's a debatable point, but what isn't in question was his statement that Genius Party Beyond was, to paraphrase, very non-thematic in content. Examine the trailer for proof:





If your first reaction while watching that is "Holy crap!", then you are correct.

The creativity and imagination present in all 5 of the films in this particular anthology is quite incredible and indescribable. I couldn't always follow the stories or completely get their intent, but I was pretty much consistently stunned. Here's a rundown of the five different sections of the film:


1. Gala - Walking out of the theatre with Thomas (author of the above linked article on Watanabe), he wondered if perhaps this story was actually supposed to be called Gaia - it would've been much more apropos. The closest of the bunch to the "Miyazaki" style of anime, the story takes place in a world of mostly human characters who have a deep relationship with nature. When a massive oval object crashes to the ground, the community fear and attack it but later come to embrace and help it. But what's the scale of this visit by an unknown object? A lovely film with very expressive use of music.

2. Moondrive - Apparently colonizing the moon may not be such a great idea after all. We'll just screw that place up too. Crashing through the bowels of a run down city on the satellite, a gang of petty thieves are in search of a treasure. Whether they find it or not seems hardly the point. 'Anarchic' would seem to be a tailor made description for the action that takes place in this story and for much of the animation as well - it's a harsher style with more angles and rough edges, but it perfectly suits the story and characters. A bit mixed for me as some of the storyline was amusing and some of it was repetitive.

3. Wanwa The Doggy - Headache inducing. The festival web site states "Words fail utterly" and I suppose that's correct if you were trying to describe the events that the animators were trying to depict. But it's a little boy's dream world, so I guess you should just let it roll over you and see where it takes you. Given that, words don't fail me: "Ugly", "Slap-dash", "A mess", "Who spilled the paint on your cells?", "Is it over yet?".

Oh, and "Headache inducing".

4. Tou Jin Kit - Fortunately , the follow-up film was my favourite. It covers some well trodden ground - a depressing, colourless, Big Brother style future - but it does so in subtle ways and takes its time in setting up one young girl's existence. What are those creatures she's hiding in the dolls? Beats me, but the "police" certainly don't want them and their rainbow paisley patterns to infect society any further. Sharp and detailed animation helped make this the highlight of the anthology for me.

5. Dimension Bomb - I have no idea what I saw here. There were some spectacular moments and images that are unquestionably from highly creative minds (particularly that floating body wandering all over the place), but it all seemed...random. That's not necessarily bad - stream of consciousness style stories can still be entertaining - but while this certainly had its moments, it frankly tired me out...


Strangely enough, there was a vague common thread between all the films - they were all representations of worlds that can currently only exist in our imaginations. The inspiration and creation of those worlds though, can currently only come from a very special subset of imaginations.

Worldwide Short Film Festival - Food & Work

As with my other screenings at this year's Worldwide Short Film Festival, the thematic content of Saturday night's sessions continued to be pretty vague - Watch What You Eat ("these food films are so delicious, we bet you can’t watch just one") and Human Resources ("hard-working dramas and comedies") - but yet again we were treated to a mostly terrific set of films.

Overall, it was probably the most enjoyable batch out of the 6 screenings I saw in all. Partly because of the following two films which are included here in their entirety from YouTube. They are both excellent examples of how animation (hand drawn, stop motion, computer, etc.) can be lively, informative and damn funny.

The opening film of Watch What You Eat was the Austrian Le Grand Content (by Clemens Kogler and Karolina Szmit) - 4 minutes of deluxe chartware that moves in an almost stream of consciousness way between factoids and their oddly relevant (and very funny) conclusions. Pie charts roll over to graphs which rise to bar charts which rotate to arrows which point at other pie charts...One thing I really liked about it was the colour scheme - it sticks to different shades of greens and blues and just flirts with some yellow and purple. And I have to admit that the Austrian accented English narration also adds to the humour of the piece.





My other favourite of the evening was another 4 minute piece that was part of the Human Resources set. Johnny Kelley's Procrastination takes us through a variety of different ways of putting things off. The laughter from the audience acknowledged not only the creative ways the film shows these stalling tactics, but also the recognition of having done most of these things ourselves before. The film totally had me when the unsorted books on the shelves suddenly arranged themselves by colour.





And some other noteworthy films from the evening:

• The Frozen City - Winnipeg has been crowned the Slurpee capital of the world (yes the entire world) 7 years running. This short documentary gives an overview - via snippets of interviews with a variety of Slurpee fans - as to why this is the case. Strangely enough, all this talk about ice cold drinks during the frigid prairie winters seems to make Winnipeg look like an awfully warm place to visit.
  

• Key Lime Pie - I was really happy to have another chance to see this great spooky noirish short about a man's craving for Key Lime Pie and the inevitable consequences that follow. I saw this at last year's Toronto After Dark and it was just as good the second time around.
  

• Kentucky Kingdom - A fascinating fever dream of events that slides from one thing to another. The faceless people jumping between these fantastical occurrences show surprising emotion as they must interact with things like large creatures made of bugs who cut off your hair. Filmmaker Nancy Jean Tucker described how live action footage was taken of actors to get their movements and then rotoscoping was used and then Flash animation as well.
  

• No Coke - The timing in this 7 minute comedy is simply spot on - the reaction shots, the editing, the pauses before characters speak - everything has been distilled to bring out the funniest details in one man's quest for a soda and how a Norwegian hotel clerk confuses matters.
  

• Bad Day Good Day Bad Day - I love long tracking shots. So I'm bound to like a single 4 minute sequence with no cuts that moves from a dark brooding miserable noisy day to a joyous lively musically enhanced day. It's well done as the noises and music are timed with the actions and movements of the people and things our hero encounters. Some serious thought was put into getting this to work.
  

• Summer Sunday - An incredibly tense story of a devoted father bringing his deaf son to his job as a bridge operator. When a power outage prevents the closure of the bridge, the father has to make an impossible choice. I fully expect that any showing of this film will cause discussion regarding whether he made the "right choice". It's moot though - there can't be a right choice in a situation like this.
  

• A Fresh Start (Neuf) - An accountant's chain-smoking wife dotes on him after he severs a finger from his hand. Now down to nine digits, he struggles with moving forward with his life, but perhaps this is just the impetus for him to move beyond a few other issues he's been having. Funny and touching as well.
  

• Subservience - Master and Servant done up with claymation. Disturbing.