You are currently browsing all entries tagged with 'short film'

This Commercial is Bloody Brilliant!

  • February 21, 2012 1:50 pm

This has been making the rounds, thanks in part to Community creator Dan Harmon posting this on Twitter and making it go viral. He apparently walked into the writer’s room as everyone was watching this video online. The commercial was created by Australian comedy duo Henry Inglis & Aaron McCann to advertise the Central Institute of Technology, a real West Australian tech college that runs film courses. These guys have been getting a lot of notice in their native Australia, and McCann’s short film, Perished, will premiere at this year’s SXSW. I love this brand of dark comedy, that only the Aussies can pull off. It’s amazing that the school allowed them to advertise them this way. Makes me want to enroll there!YouTube Preview ImageIt kind of reminds me of another darkly funny director from Australia, Nash Edgerton. His short films Spider and Bear have been around the festival circuit and are yes, bloody brilliant and cruelly funny as hell. Oh, and Nash is the brother of Josh Edgerton of Warrior and the upcoming The Great Gatsby.  Read more...

Adventures as an Asian American Short Filmmaker

  • November 16, 2011 12:05 am

From “Asian American Jesus,” one of the shorts that I screened with

One of the best things about going to a film festival as a short filmmaker is that you don’t have the same pressure and stress as a feature filmmaker who is constantly worried about promotion, publicity and packing your house. I attended the Vancouver Asian Film Festival a couple weeks back and really had a great time hanging out, meeting filmmakers and going to screenings because I was only showing a short film. Being relaxed and chill, I actually made a couple of discoveries at the festival that started off as a festival showing short films by North American Asian filmmakers.

 Read more...

STUCK

  • June 19, 2011 2:42 am

Hope everyone is having a good Father’s Day weekend. Check out what happens when two young filmmakers are stuck at DFW airport overnight. This film is called STUCK and it’s directed by Joe Ayala. Enjoy!

Short Film Spotlight: SEPHIROTH, THE WORLD’S ENEMY

  • June 14, 2011 2:36 pm

We’re switching things up for this edition of the Short Film Spotlight. Here’s a stop-motion animation piece based on the classic RPG FINAL FANTASY VII, which I believe Offender Jerome has conquered numerous times.  Although, it’s essentially an adaptation from one of the crucial moments in the videogame’s storyline, the sheer idea of the hundreds and hundreds of hours this young filmmaker went through to meticulously shoot every frame of his toy figurines is simply mind boggling. But, hey, when you’re a game nerd and want to commit to a Machinima-inspired piece, you have to go all out. The camera angles, use of shots, and fight choreography rivals any big budget Hollywood movie.  Check it out, after the jump…..  Read more...

Short Film Spotlight: JUNKO’S SHAMISEN

  • April 4, 2011 1:05 am

Hey, it’s another edition of the Short Film Spotlight! I know I haven’t posted shorts in awhile, but this one is well worth it. JUNKO’S SHAMISEN is a hyper-real anime inspired revenge tale that is brilliantly crafted by Toronto-based filmmaker/animator Sol Friedman. It’s traveled to literally dozens of film festivals, wowing audiences with its beautiful visuals and production design. Influenced by the aesthetic traditions of kabuki, contemporary manga illustrations and through the use of CG, stop-motion and cell animation, the director creates a unique world that immediately draws you in.Here’s a one-line synopsis: A young Japanese orphan, and her mystical friend, exact poetic justice on a malevolent samurai lord.  Read more...

Kyoto Filmmakers Lab

  • January 3, 2011 5:10 pm

I had the great pleasure of being invited to attend the 3rd annual Kyoto Filmmakers Lab (KFL for short), which was held last month. Essentially a filmmaker’s boot camp, 20 participants are chosen from an open call, and are split into two groups. Each group must work on a short film. The catch is, the films are jidaigeki and to be shot on the existing sets at the Toei-Kyoto and Shochiku-Kyoto Studios respectively.  Read more...

Short Film Spotlight: MIRACLE FISH

  • November 29, 2010 2:53 am

Since I was busy working with my fellow Offenders with the Interpretations Film Initiative, I’ve kind of neglected the Short Film Spotlight here on the blog. Well, it’s back again and perfect timing, because this edition showcases one of my favorite short films from the past couple of years. MIRACLE FISH, directed by Luke Doolan, is one of those rare gems. Here’s the plotline:

8 year old Joe has a Birthday he will never forget. After friends bully him, he sneaks off to the sick bay, wishing everyone in the world would go away. He wakes up to find his dream may have become a reality.

The film was Oscar nominated last year and is just another example of great, atmospheric film work coming from Australia. A film editor by trade, Doolan recently cut the Aussie crime drama Animal Kingdom, which is another film to add to your Netlfix queue. Enough chit-chat and watch this amazing film after the jump….  Read more...

Short Film Spotlight: PURE

  • June 5, 2010 10:01 am

From our friends at Fantastic Fest, comes a Readers Digest version of every Hollywood cliche (well, more action film-wise). Here’s the rundown on the short, aptly titled PURE:

A meditation on genre, a commentary on visual cliches, and a celebration of the visceral pleasures of cinema. Music by The Jesus Lizard. Please play full screen at top volume!

For some reason, it borrows a lot from Tom Cruise in The Firm. Quick reminder that our Interpretations Film Initiative is fully launched now! Go out there and produce your own short film and be a part of the YOMYOMF community (and also win prizes)! Show us what you’re made of! Details here.

Short Film Spotlight: THE BLINDNESS OF THE WOODS

  • April 9, 2010 12:48 am

In this edition of the Short Film Spotlight, we’re going into NSFW (not safe for work) territory! THE BLINDNESS OF THE WOODS is an amalgam of Ingrid Bergman, ’70s Euro porn, the Muppets and the Brothers Grimm. Produced by a kick ass multidisciplinary creative studio called Amauta with offices in Los Angeles, Lima and Buenos Aires, I helped select this surreal, funny and sometimes bittersweet “cute porn” film for the LA Film Festival last year. Check it out for yourself (Graphic depictions of sex coming up, even if it’s done by puppet people): http://www.metacafe.com/watch/bg-3002165/ You can download the actual film in glorious Quicktime from Amauta’s site.  Read more...

Short Film Spotlight: LA MAISON EN PETITS CUBES

  • February 21, 2010 3:29 am

This edition of the Short Film Spotlight intersects with our Oscar week; my fellow offenders have been writing primarily about films that should have won the most coveted award in the film world. All eyes and ears will be concentrated on the big awards, mainly two ex-spouses vying for Best Director or if any of the other 9 nominees has a fighting chance to win Best Picture against the biggest film in history, is where all the drama will be.

But lest we forget that there are other categories that I find just as compelling, especially the short film nominees. You can definitely check out the next generation of filmmakers, as they go on to making their mark in cinema history. Therefore, I’d like to highlight one recent Oscar winner in Best Animated Short.

Here is LE MAISON EN PETITS CUBES (The House of Small Cubes) by animator Kunio Kato. It is quiet, subtle but full of real emotion, as an old widower attempts to save his house from a rising flood. Magical realism that only animation can transport you to.  Watch the film after the jump…  Read more...

Short Film Spotlight: PHOTOGRAPH OF JESUS

  • December 13, 2009 7:16 pm

I love archives, collections, libraries you name it. I am not necessarily an archive person myself, as in someone who is organized or keeps meticulous records, but I admire people and institutions that do. They store the compilations of human history.  It’s amazing to think of records or items that are stored for years, decades, centuries that have never been touched but are readily there for that one person who is looking for that one particular piece, even if that person is completely batty. PHOTOGRAPH OF JESUS animated and directed by Laurie Hill cleverly presents “what if” photo iconography from the various weird requests that are taken by employees of the Getty’s Hulton Archive.  The photo requests would range from understandable mistakes like “an Edwardian girl in the Victorian Age” to just plain stupid requests like “Hitler at the 1948 London Olympics” to yes, even an actual “photograph of Jesus.” Check out this clever and whimsical film:

Short Film Spotlight: TWO CARS, ONE NIGHT

  • December 1, 2009 9:48 am

For this edition of the Short Film Spotlight , I’m presenting this cautiously charming short by New Zealand born filmmaker Taika Waititi. Here’s the synopsis: While waiting for their parents, two boys and a girl meet in the parking lot of a rural pub. What at first seems to be a relationship based on rivalry soon develops into a close friendship as we learn that love can be found in the most unlikely of places. YouTube Preview Image TWO CARS, ONE NIGHT was nominated in 2005 for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short. Waititi is well known in New Zealand, working in sketch comedy with the likes of comedian Jermaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords (Waititi has written and directed for this cult comedy show). Waititi’s first feature, Eagle vs. Shark, which I like to call Napoleon Dynamite’s geekier Maori cousin, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and is available on DVD (Netflix it!).  Read more...