alive in joburg Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Somewhere in between last week's heated banter about X-Men Origins: Wolverine and its amnesia bullets, the teaser for August's District 9 (not to be confused with September's 9 or November's Nine) slipped through our nets.

This Peter Jackson-produced piece of speculative sci-fi -- what if aliens landed in South Africa and were cooped up there for a bit too long? -- builds upon director Neill Blomkamp's 2005 short, Alive in Joburg, and seems to revel in a similar mix of high-concept dilemma, low-key effects, and no-name actors.

The Apple page proves to be quite the one-stop shop for the film's viral marketing campaign to date. There's propaganda both for and against the film's central corporate entity, Multi-National United -- they're either harnassing alien technologies in order to produce better energy sources or using that as a cover to develop weaponry (and what kind of movie would we get if the former were true, hmmm?). Hey, there's even some viral marketing for the kids!

So all things considered, are you guys intrigued for District 9? Psyched? Pumped? Utterly uninterested?

Update: Trailer Addict has a version of the trailer that reveals the alien's face (see image above) and translates its pleas. We've embedded it after the jump...

While all folks involved are still working on getting a live-action Halo flick off the ground, that film's producer, Peter Jackson, and director, Neill Blomkamp, have settled on something different to mark Blomkamp's feature directorial debut. Variety tells us that both men will move forward with a live-action, sci-fi flick called District 9, which Jackson will produce through his Wingnut Films. Blomkamp also wrote the script, along with Teri Tatchell, and production is set to begin this spring in South Africa, where Blomkamp is from.

Unfortunately, there are no story details at this time, but based on that "live-action, sci-fi" description, it would appear that District 9 will serve as another calling card for Jackson and Blomkamp to use to convince studios that Blomkamp is the right man for the Halo job. We already know that pre-production continues on Halo in New Zealand, and right now it's all about finding a studio (or studios) willing to eat up some of that high budget and take a chance on the young filmmaker. In addition to his very cool short film, Alive in Joburg, Blomkamp also recently directed three live-action short films promoting the Halo 3 video game. Though there's no word on plot for District 9, I wonder if it will have anything to do with Blomkamp's Joburg. That short told the story of a group of aliens who become refugees in South Africa. It was live action, had sci-fi elements and was shot in South Africa. Could it be a feature-length version? Who knows, but after watching it several times, I'm convinced Blomkamp has one helluva future ahead of him.

It's practically impossible for me to sit here and list the top ten short films from 2006. Not only are there thousands of shorts to sift through, but the majority of them are not available online. So, how does Erik go about putting together a list of the best short films from 2006? Will he randomly spew out names and titles for films you'll never be able to see unless you just happen to show up at a specific festival on a specific day at a specific time?

Of course not. What I've actually done is comb through all the previous Eat My Shorts and chosen my ten favorite short films that I've written about this year. Most (if not all) of them are not from 2006, but they are available online and all of them are wonderful, fantastic and definitely deserve your attention. This has been an amazing year for short films, and I like to think (in my own bizarre fantasy world) that Eat My Shorts truly helped spread the word -- that it helped bring more attention to an art form that desperately needs to be back in front of a mass audience. Oh, and thanks to you for being a part of the revolution. Viva la Shorts!

Man, there's so much to get to today -- I don't even know where to begin. How about: Hello, my name is Erik Davis and welcome to Eat My Shorts. For those of you who are new here, Eat My Shorts is a weekly feature in which I travel around the internet in search of a bunch of short films for you to watch and discuss. Why? Well, quite simply, shorts are cool.

This week, my goal was to find shorts that were different from anything we've watched thus far. Wanna know if this dude Neill Blomkamp has what it takes to direct Halo? Ever wonder what it would be like if network executives were played by your favorite night lights? Do you dig Scottish folktales? What about porn? Or perhaps you'd be interested in a short documentary about undocumented citizens? All different. All unique. And they're all featured in this week's edition of Eat My Shorts.

Also, I'd like to remind you to keep sending in those short films folks. Your help is greatly appreciated. Consider your next imaginary drink on me. Remember, all tips, links and suggestions can be sent to shorts AT cinematical DOT com. Okay, let's go watch some shorts ...