Short Films Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Watch This: James Franco Freakout
Filed under: Comedy », Shorts », Fandom », DIY/Filmmaking », Trailers and Clips »
You know, I've always gotten an irrational thrill from watching good old fashioned physical destruction -- rock stars trashing hotel rooms, Gallagher sledge-hammering watermelons, you name it. Sure, it's a little immature of me, but I place the blame on my 'inner child', who's been known to be a little destructive now and again. So, personal idiosyncrasies aside, I have to ask: is there anyone who wouldn't enjoy watching lovable stoner James Franco wield a staple gun?
The Room Before and After is a 32-minute short film that appears in the latest issue of Wholpin (McSweeney's DVD magazine), and was directed by McSweeney's founder, Dave Eggers. There are other films included in the issue for the Room series starring Creed Bratton from The Office and comedian Maria Bamford, but I don't know if they contain quite the same level of mayhem as Franco's installment. The clip is the perfect combination of McSweeney's (and presumably Franco's) style of high-art mixed with abstract silliness, and it's a great of example of how Franco has slowly become one of the most interesting actors working today. He has the same great sense for silly comedy that he does for dramatic work -- and without the usual hang-ups of so many 'serious' actors. Not to mention, you have to love a guy that can go from likable weirdo to just plain weird in 51 seconds flat.
After the jump: Franco lays waste to a studio apartment and another of his famous 'freakouts'...
Watch This: Superhero Short, 'Nemesis'
Filed under: Shorts », Fandom », Home Entertainment », Trailers and Clips »
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I'm always on the look out for the next great short film. When I'm not writing on Cinematical, sometimes I'm watching boatloads of festival submissions for various friends in the film world, and while it's definitely a tedious task, I always feel it's so worth it when you discover that one gem ... because it's there, hiding under a stack of blah. It always is. This short film, titled Nemesis, arrived via email yesterday from Cinematical reader Leonard S. ... and I just kinda fell in love with it right away. It comes from Norway, and according to the YouTube description, Nemesis was part of a school project; an exam from last semester. It's scary knowing this is just a school project because I guarantee it could play in some of the larger film festivals around the world.
Nemesis follows a guy named Arne who, ever since he was a young boy, has been convinced he has super powers. However, since he hasn't been able to discover his super powers, Arne decides to put an ad out for an archnemesis in the hopes this person will help unveil his secret abilities. The short is embedded below -- and you can watch it there -- but I also recommend watching the larger HD version over on YouTube. Check it out and let us know what you think. FYI: Running time is about 8 minutes.
SXSW Finally Gets a Little Oscar Consideration
Filed under: Awards », Shorts », Oscar Watch »
OK, this topic might only interest a few movie nerds, but that includes me, so I'm writing it. Most people know that to be eligible for Academy Award consideration, a film must play theatrically for at least a week somewhere in Los Angeles County within the calendar year. But what about short films? There are categories for those at the Oscars (usually announced coincidental with the viewing audience's bathroom breaks), but surely those little live-action and animated flicks didn't play theatrically somewhere. I mean, when do you ever see short films in a theater other than in front of the new Pixar movie?
The answer, which you can read for yourself in the Academy's rules, is that for short films, they either have to play theatrically (for three consecutive days, at least twice a day), OR win a best-in-category award at an Academy-approved film festival. And that makes a lot of sense -- the only way most of us ever see shorts at all is at film festivals.
So which festivals "count" for Academy purposes? I'm glad you asked, because it brings us to the reason for this post. The current list of approved festivals is here, and it has the usual suspects -- Toronto, Sundance, Venice, Cannes, Berlin, etc. -- plus about 60 others all over the world. And the news that's a semi-big-deal for our friends in Austin is that our beloved South By Southwest Film Festival has just been approved as an addition to that list. From now on, any short film winning the top prize at SXSW is eligible for Oscar consideration. SXSW is legit now!
The Exhibitionist: Long Story on Short Films
Filed under: Animation », Foreign Language », Independent », Romance », Shorts », Exhibition », Columns », Cinematical Indie »
When was the last time you saw a short film in the theater? I don't mean an 85-minute animated movie; I mean an actual short, like they give separate Oscars to. Otherwise known as a short subject, defined (by the Academy) as anything with a running time less than 40 minutes. Chances are, unless you attend film festivals, go to see the toured screenings of Oscar shorts, or bought a ticket to Paris, Je T'Aime, it's been awhile since you actually saw a short film on a big screen.
Or, maybe I should specify that it's likely been awhile since you purposefully went to see a specifically timed screening of a short film or compilation of shorts at the theater. Technically some ads for Coca-Cola and other companies, the ones made by novice filmmakers as part of a competition or something, count as shorts. And, I'm fully aware that some arthouse cinemas, such as NYC's IFC Center, run a short film in place of pre-show commercials. But as far as I can tell, such shorts are not specifically advertised as screening at a designated time. Sure, you can go on the IFC Center's website and find out that Erik Rosenlund's Looking Glass is the short currently being shown (as it was this past week when I saw Trouble the Water there), but for most people (myself included), it's a surprise. And I doubt anyone has trekked to IFC just to see that particular film, unless anyone is a huge aficionado of frightening black and white Swedish animation.
Delta Gets Friendly with Gen Art for Fly-In Film Contest
Filed under: Sundance », Shorts », Exhibition », DIY/Filmmaking », Contests »
For the second year, Delta and Gen Art have teamed up for Delta's Fly-in Movies Competition. Five short films have been selected as finalists; the films will be on Delta flights, and you can also watch them online. And the judging panel is comprised of -- you! That's right, you get to determine the fate of these five filmmakers by rating each film on a scale of 1-5. The filmmaker with the highest rating at the end of the contest gets an amazing prize package: $10,000 cold, hard cash, a $2500 Gen Art membership, and a pair of round-trip tickets valid for any international Delta flight. Plus, all the finalists get flown to Sundance for a special celebration on January 23, where the winner will be announced. This year's finalists (with descriptions from the contest website) are:
Kurt Kuenne's Slow -- A traffic safety worker is accidentally caught in the background of a newspaper photo, and his life is changed forever.
Levni Yilmaz's Tales of a Mere Existence: Conversation -- A simple trip to the video store can bring up EVERYTHING that's wrong with your relationship.
Edward McGinty's Morning Fall -- A mysterious man wakes up on the side of the road, injured and confused. Where will he end up when he can't find his way home?
Bob Giovanelli's Tis The Season -- A little girl is disappointed to learn that Santa Claus is on a break-but she soon stumbles on a somewhat unorthodox replacement.
Robert Kirbyson's Ctrl Z -- When a computer malfunctions, an office loner takes full advantage of the chance to magically undo a lifetime of regrets.
All the entries are quite good ... go watch them for yourself and tell us which you like the best. You have until January 15 to get your votes in!
DVD Review: Cinema 16 - European Short Films
Filed under: DVD Reviews », Shorts », Home Entertainment », Cinematical Indie »
For a few years now, Cinema 16 has been packaging great short films on Region 2 DVDs for European release, but as far as I can tell, this new "European Short Films" collection, with 16 short films on two discs, is the first to get the Region 1 treatment. This new set culls shorts from various previous collections; I'm not sure why they just didn't re-transfer the European DVDs for American release, but no matter. What we have here is a wide selection of shorts from many decades, by filmmakers both famous and unknown. Probably not too surprisingly, the best shorts come from folks you've never heard of. Most of these folks provide commentary tracks for their work (almost all of it in English).
Like many authors, filmmakers sometimes try the short form in order to "practice," which ultimately shows a kind of lack of respect for the medium; it's seen as a stepping stone to features rather than a form in itself. But it also sorts those filmmakers that are good at the short form from those that aren't. Ridley Scott's first film, Boy and Bicycle (1965), starring his little brother Tony as a young boy, is a particular example of a failed attempt. Scott admits a fascination with John Schlesinger (Billy Liar) at the time, and his endless attempts at arty realism are painfully dull. This film was also released on Paramount's The Duellists DVD, and both times I sat down to watch it, I couldn't make it through. It's a pretty long 27 minutes.
Middle East Film Fest Adds a Short-Film Competition
Filed under: Other Festivals », Cinematical Indie »
It will be a few more days before we find out the lineup for the inaugural edition of the Middle East International Film Festival in Abu Dhabi, but festival programmers have announced one thing already: a short-film competition open to anyone living in the Middle East.The Hayah Film Competition ("hayah" is Arabic for "life"), sponsored by the festival and by Abu Dhabi Women's College, is taking the theme "life at the size of an iPod screen." Projects must be less than five minutes long and submitted in an iPod-compatible format. All the entries will be watched and judged on iPods; it may not surprise you to learn that EmiratesMac Apple User Group is also a presenting partner in the competition. Entries can be submitted now through Sept. 27, and prizes (including cash) will be given in student, professional, and amateur categories.
The Middle East International Film Festival is new, but it has a few things going for it already. One is its director, Jon Fitzgerald, a veteran festival programmer and co-founder of Slamdance, whose appointment Kim Voynar told us about in July. Another is its location. Abu Dhabi is the richest city in the world and is the capital of the emirate of Abu Dhabi, a modern, wealthy nation on the Persian Gulf. The film festival will be held at the Emirates Palace, a hotel so opulent it makes Charles Foster Kane's Xanadu look like a Motel 6.
For more information on the short-film competition, visit the Hayah Film Competition's website. For more on the festival itself -- which runs Oct. 14-19 -- check it out here.
Spike Lee to Help Judge New Shorts Competition
Filed under: Independent », Shorts », Other Festivals », Cinematical Indie »
My introduction to Spike Lee came through the commercials he shot for Nike starting in the late 80s, featuring Michael Jordan and Lee himself as Mars Blackmon, his motormouth character from She's Gotta Have It. Eventually I caught up with his other work, and over the years I have always admired his ability to switch effectively from narrative features to documentaries to short filmmaking. He's made a flock of commercials for a variety of advertisers as well as numerous music videos, and short films for MTV and Saturday Night Live. His short Jesus Children of America was one of seven that comprised All the Invisible Children, focusing on children struggling "in the face of violence, disease and poverty," according to UNICEF, which partially funded the project. The film played at Venice, Toronto and many other film festivals in the last couple of years, though it doesn't seem to have screened much, if at all, in the US. Earlier this year Lee struck a deal with online video startup Babelgum to show Jesus Children of America exclusively on the site. He will also serve as honorary judge of the new Babelgum Online Film Festival, as announced recently during a press conference at the Venice Film Festival.
The competition is open to short films screened at international festivals between January 2007 and February 2008. While there is no entrance fee to submit films, note that Babelgum will hold exclusive online rights to all accepted films from March 2008 to March 2009. The Hollywood Reporter notes that $27,500 will be awarded in each of six categories. The Babelgum site is still marked as "beta," but you can find out more information about their plans by clicking around a bit.
Short Films Popping Up On Sam Raimi's Ghosthouse Website
Filed under: Horror », Site Announcements », Lionsgate Films », Sony », Shorts », DIY/Filmmaking »
While most fans were preoccupied with whether or not Sam Raimi would be continuing the Spider-Man franchise -- and it seems that that neither Toby Maguire or Raimi can make up their minds on that question -- the director has been focusing some attention on his plans for "multi-platform" projects, which of course means projects that have components designed for the Web, cable and other non-theatrical arms. A few weeks ago, Chris had news about Raimi's collaboration with FearNet (a horror site created by Sony, Lionsgate, and Comcast) for a seven part online series through his own Ghosthouse Pictures. Now, Ghosthouse is premiering some web films of their own, on their own site.There are four shorts in total, and the subject matter includes the usual chestnuts of standard horror films, such as the bimbo and the babysitter in peril. Not to mention a surprising amount of skin snatching. The directors for the shorts are Ben Ketai, Toby Wilkins, John Coven, and Peter Logreco, and Ghosthouse seems to be keeping both Ketai and Wilkins busy, since they are working on the FearNet projects as well. There are five more films promised on the Ghosthouse site, but no word on when that is going to be, or whether Raimi has any intention of making his own short for the site, or how deep his commitment to multi-platform filmmaking will go in the future. Considering the amount of rumored Raimi projects on the horizon, I doubt he is going to have the time to focus on much else.
Can You Make a Film in 12 Hours?
Filed under: Independent », Shorts », Contests », Cinematical Indie »
Gentlemen (and ladies!) start your engines, er, cameras. Film Racing is coming soon to a city near you. Here's how it works: teams meet at a noon at a predetermined location, where they receive a theme and a "surprise element" that must be included in their film. Then they have 12 hours to write, shoot, edit and score a short film no more than four minutes long. A few days later, all the films from that city will screen at a local theater, and winners will be announced and awarded fab prizes. The Seattle International Film Festival does something similar every year with their Fly Filmmaking fun, and it's always one of the more enjoyable parts of that fest. If you're a filmmaker, and you'd like to try your hand at making a film in half a day, you'll find The Rules and everything else you need to know over on the official Film Racing website. Boston and NYC are accepting registration now, and Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Portland, OR and San Francisco (What? No Seattle? C'mon, guys ...) are coming soon, so get with your filmmaking pals and start pulling equipment together.
And hey, if you decide to pull together a team, drop us a line and let us know so we can root for you from the sidelines!
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