If someone were to say that the only good animations from the Japanese were the animated movies and television series coming out of the studio system they would be wrong. The Emerging Auteur Animators program is proof of that. The program has 16 shorts, all very different in style and execution, covering such themes as sexuality, a call for unity amongst all creatures, loss of a friend and honesty. Others simply exist to display technical achievement and visual style. They go by quick so if you catch this program during the festival keep your wits about you.
Standouts include Nakedyouth for its combination of animated characters with live backdrops and its compelling content, a young man coming to terms with his sexual identity. Pika Pika 2007 is jaw dropping. It is a shame that you’ll only get to see it once as there is so much that happens in a single frame. I wouldn’t call it a disadvantage that it is a busy animation but there is so much happening between the foreground and background it is easy to lose track of what you’re watching. The Thaw is interesting in that it plays very well with light and shade and it’s almost sinister in its execution that I was surprised that I jumped at the end of it. It is very dark for such a brightly lit short. And you cannot go wrong with Kotatsuneko when a pissed off cat cannot reach the television remote control. Good times. And finally, we have written about Franz Kafka’s A Country Doctor around these parts so it was good to see it. Visually captivating and it has almost a rural gothic feel to it. It too has a dark edge to it and it will be a nice way to cap off the program.
Animation freaks and geeks, your Tengoku has arrived. On a global scale there are few, if any, who can compare to the Japanese and their animation prowess. They are simply deities of the animated world. And when you tap into one of the best studios in Japan, STUDIO 4°C, and create a showcase of their works you have to be prepared for the massive tide of talent. On an unprecedented evening you will bear witness to not one but two collections of short films from this massively talented studio, Genius Party and Genius Party Beyond. You also have to understand what a massive coup this is getting these omnibuses into the festival. This will be only the second time that Genius Party Beyond has screened outside of Japan. Yes. You are the privileged few.
And do not forget about STUDIO 4°C - Animation in Translation Symposium with SHINICHIRO WATANABE of Cowboy Beepop and Samurai Champloo fame.
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Really who wouldn’t like to title their program ‘Short Films Project in Commemoration of the Celebration on the Auspicious Occasion of His Majesty the King’s 80th Birthday Anniversary’? But when the word count is your enemy when it comes to program space calling it ‘Thai Spotlight’ simply saves a lot more room on the page. ‘Thai Spotlight’ is the collection of short films made by Thai filmmakers to commemorate the 80th birthday of their king. It provides a very diverse range of short films with equally diverse approaches to filmmaking, from the very polished and significantly budgeted to the very rudimentary and lo-fi. Some films proved to be a delight to watch, others proved to be challenging. But that is all very subjective isn’t it? Here are some of my highlights.
When it comes to Thai film there are three directors that we talk about a lot here at Twitch; Pen-Ek Ratanaruang [Last Life In The Universe, Invisible Waves and Ploy], Apichatpong Weerasethakul [Syndromes and a Century] and Wisit Sasanatieng [Tears of the Black Tiger, Citizen Dog and The Unseeable]. So when all three directors submit a film you pay attention.
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Good morning everyone! The program preview continues for the Worldwide Short Film Festival. I hope you’ve all bought your tickets, especially for anything that our lord and master Todd has programmed. Tonight we preview the second half of the Midnight Mania program, CREEPY. We’ve got drills, butterflies, psycho hillbillies and a whole lot of biting going on!
The program starts off with the very slick Desmond Coy [left] the story about a young couple out for a night on the town and it goes downhill from there. It’s got a tight script and really good production value. Top notch stuff and one of the more pleasant displays of blood splatter that you just don’t get to see that often. James Wilkes, a good old Canadian boy is responsible for this gem.
Next up is Collector, a very dark and very grim piece from Russia. A young man collects butterflies but he has his heart set on other things. Hardly a word is spoken in this fantastic short from Egor Abramenko. The music by Ivan Sokolov and the cinematography by Michail Kelim help make this one come highly recommended.
Straight out of Norway is Øystein Mamen’s The Dreamhouse. Almost so short you miss it. Sanne Goli is mesmerizing as the little girl, engulfed in manipulating her favorite doll. But how far will this manipulation go? Then, from Spain comes the stop animation Violeta. This is pretty much the most disturbing piece of animation I have ever come across. If the visuals don’t freak you out by golly the sound design will. It makes my skin crawl just thinking about it. The other animated short is X.Pression, from France. Trying to put to words what this really is about is hurting my head and we have other shorts to talk about. You’ll know what I mean when you see it.
I promised you biting and here it is. First, let’s start with Elsewhere/Utkant by Patrik Syversen, also from Norway. It raises the question, what is worse? Experiencing a zombie apocalypse, or, being stuck on a lighthouse island with your brother while the apocalypse is happening elsewhere. Few zombie movies will approach this level of humanity as this film does. Then there is the creature feature from France by director David Morley. His film Bitten/Morsure is very well crafted, very tense, and very bloody. It really is the best way to cap off the program. Biting. Blood. The French. The copy I previewed didn’t have subtitles. Not that I needed them. Biting. Blood. The French.
Saving the best for last? You bet. What else is there to say when you have a short titled Psycho Hillbilly Cabin Massacre! The title really says it all. Psychos. Hillbillies. Cabins. Massacres. Not convinced? Let me add something else. Fraternity girl, stripped down to her lingerie, bathed in blood, running with a pitchfork. Really it is a frat boy’s wet dream this is.
It was only a matter of time when I was going to preview one of the programs created by Twitch’s lord and master, that lovable rapscallion Todd. Now, I cannot say for sure but I will assume that in each program at any festival you’re given a glimpse into the psyche of the programmer. After all what appeals to them or what is deemed suitable for viewing enjoyment by them is in itself also a sign of their tastes and mental fortitude. So when you sit down in a couple weeks to watch the Freaky program as part of the Midnight Mania evenings you will understand what I have known for the past 15 years. Todd is a bit of a freak!
You ever fall in love with a girl and you just cannot stop thinking about her? Did it seem like nothing could get in the way of that crush, that you could not stop staring at her when she was in the room? Would your crush even survive, say, a zombie apocalypse? Aussie director Spencer Susser sure thinks so. I Love Sarah Jane and nothing, not even zombies, is going to stop my love for her.
A trio of animated shorts made it into the roster this year. The Flower is the story of an eternally optimistic daisy and is disturbing at best. I would like to think that Carla Coma took a cue from a Hitchhiker’s reference to Mice and Spiders when she created The Squirrel Next Door but I am very likely reaching here. And I for one am a cat person, I know that Todd has three living in his house, so that makes Melty Kitty the feel-good short of the festival for us.
In what I can only describe as experimental cinema meets puke fetish meets cowboy/horror hybrid the most colorful film of the program is most certainly The Rambler. Boasting a vibrant color palette on grainy film stock it is definitely one of the more cryptic of the bunch. But, it does ring patriotic with a lo-fi synth version of ‘Oh Canada’ in it. Yay! Speaking of Canada, a familiar face from Canadian television Colin Cunningham has his own short Centigrade in this program. To say his short is chilling is rather antonymous but serves as a stark reminder why you shouldn’t beat your children. And while on the theme of keeping clear of picking on minors our trip down into Mexico in Fernando Fidel Urdapilleta Jimenez’ Pretty Little Thing will have you second guessing your thoughts the next time you drive by a pretty girl in a school uniform. His short really has… bite.
We’ll end our tour tonight with a couple shorts busting more of a industrial vibe. Samuel Jørgensen’s film Katie’s Journey visits the inner world of a child in mourning. A child’s own imagination can create events that are more terrible than that which she is mourning. Beware the Tall Man and the Breathing Man. Then proving that you can mash together Horror, Sci-fi and Martial Arts the duo Benni Diez and Marinko Spahic will end your night with Kingz. We’ve spoken a bit about Kingz here on Twitch already and you will be pleased to know that it rewards all anticipation. Kampfansage‘s Mathis Landwehr gets to show off his martial arts skills. I have four words for you. Two. Big. Ass. Knives. At the end of the night remind yourselves this, Kingz was shot as a student thesis film.
Time once again for another preview of part of the program of this years Worldwide Short Film Festival. Today, the safety is off and taboos are set aside as we explore the kinky side of short film with a selection of humorous and sexy shorts.
Things get ‘animated’ right from the start as we here the woes and troubles of Richard in A Day In The Life of Richard, a six foot penis with trouble fitting into normal society. Other animated and funny offerings include two very quick shorts from Wade Vroom, T-Sex and Daddy, Where Does Chocolate Milk Come From?, and The Adventures of Baxter & McGuire - call that one a different take on the buddy flick. Way different.
When approaching the theme of ‘exploration’ I honestly hope that none of my mates ask me what hard-rocking Pera asks of his band mate in A Mate. I think my friends will be pleased to know that I am not… uh… that committed to our friendships. In I’ve Never Had Sex, offering his mobile phone as a digital tell-all and confessional, director Robert Kennedy asks just how far, or where, or how, some folks have gone into their sexual escapades.
In Size Matters and Love is Love the gender and orientation roles are reversed respectively. Does anyone remember that episode of Family Guy where Stewie says something along the lines of, ‘It’s like throwing a hot dog down a hallway’? In Size Matters a woman can’t keep a relationship because she is simply to big for the boys, if you know what I mean. It’s funny, but could have benefited from cutting out the jokes at the end. They felt unnecessary, like grasping at the funny straws. And Turn on your Strai-dar, Love is Love asks what if homosexual relations are the norm and heterosexuals are ostracized. Look for Margaret Cho’s cameo as the butch!
Finally, in what I’ll dub the ‘punchline’ shorts, Souvenir takes a humorous look at landing a celebrity in bed only to be baffled by his apartment’s plumbing the morning after. And in A Dose of the Guilts we see that promiscuity and the hard of hearing don’t always make good bed mates. Both shorts use the length of their films to build up to the big punchline in the end. A Dose of the Guilts chooses to go the funny route while Souvenir fuddles about at a posh Parisian house party before settling down to set up the big joke at the end of film. Nice pay off though.
Round two of our preview of this year’s edition of the Worldwide Short Film Festival. Tonight we look at the Sci-fi program Sci-fi: Out There. Compiled of 9 short films and clocking in over and hour and a half the program will offer viewers a diverse perspective on sci-fi cinema. Personally, I thought the bill started a bit slow but by golly does it pick up after the first couple shorts.
Things really started clicking for me with the animated short Rocket Science which had this great 1950s science fiction film approach but with noir film dialogue. She’s not just a woman, she’s a scientist. Great stuff.
Another favorite of mine was Martians Go Home!, a Spanish language film about alien invaders raising the dead to take over the world. At first I thought the director, Dani Moreno, was channeling Guy Maddin in his first scene but he switches lenses and films the meat of the film in such a way that you’d think you were watching an after school special you found on a VCR cassette at the neighborhood garage sale, Martians Go Home! Is saturated with vibrant colors, gallons of alien bodily fluid and a lead character I swear would pass as a Spanish Geddy Lee. It comes as no surprise that he picks up a guitar near the end of the short.
We’ve spoken a fair deal about Blood Will Tell, the animated short from Andrew McPhillips, and it is clear to see why. Oh. My. God. It is haunting. It is gorgeous. And it features music by Sigur Ros. Really, need we say anything else about it? See for yourself.
The icing on the cake is Ascension. During a blackout a tenant mistakenly walks into another apartment and disturbs a doomsday cult mid-ceremony. Stephen Irwin’s very funny film comes to us from Australia and is guaranteed to make you chuckle not once, not twice, but at least thrice. A very funny piece to cap off a strong program.
Big news for animation fans here in Toronto! We announced a little while back that Studio 4C’s Genius Party anthology films would both be coming to Toronto as part of the Worldwide Short Film Festival in June. When the festival made that announcement we knew that one of the Genius Party directors would be accompanying the films but we didn’t actually know who until today. Coming to present Genius Party as well as participate in an extended on-stage interview and question and answer session hosted by yours truly is Shinichiro Watanabe, director of the landmark anime series Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo and a pair of the shorts included in The Animatrix.
The Genius Party films screen back to back at the Varsity Cinema on June 12th starting at 7:15 pm with tickets now available online. The on stage one-on-one with Watanabe - a session titled Anime In Translation will take place at the University of Toronto Emmanuel College Room EM 108 on June 13th from 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm. Yes, that’s a lot of time with the director and I’m drafting up my questions and approach now so if there are any questions you’d like to see put to him, now is the time to let me know. Fire away in the comments section below!
The short film gods have smiled kindly upon me and I will be previewing a number of the programs for the upcoming Worldwide Short Film Festival. Tonight we start our tour with Shorts For Shorties: Into (And Out of) This World! a program that it tailored for the young and young at heart.
Oh man are you guys and gals in for a treat. To start, this year they programmed three, yes, count them, THREE! Shaun the Sheep shorts from the Aardman Animation series. Stick With Me, Hiccups and The Snore Worn Shaun are laugh out loud funny. Other very funny entries include Because You’re Gorgeous, a story about a warthog with vanity issues, and Twit-Twit, a very sharp CG short about robots on pump trolleys, passenger powered rail cars, meeting at a toll booth in the middle of a desert.
No program for children would be complete if it missed the opportunity to inform and educate them as well. World in Your Hands and Emission Admission touch on taking care of the world we live in. Emission Admission is especially catchy with its hip-hop score. Aboriginality is an absolutely stunning mix of animation and live action, a story about a boy who discovers some traditional First Nations dance while watching television. It is in fact too short, I wish it was longer.
And the man with his finger on the pulse of Canadian and International culture, George Stroumboulopoulos- if ever I had a favorite Canadian on-air celebrity this is the guy- lends his voice to narrate the film Back In ‘93, a story of a young boy living in Toronto who comes out of the Hockey Closet and shows his devotion to the Montreal Canadiens after they won the Stanley Cup in 1993. It features a young boy who wears a fake mustache. How can it miss?
There are 18 shorts in Shorts for Shorties and all help make it a very eclectic and entertaining program.
My lords and masters at the Worldwide Short Film Festival - I programmed the Midnight sections and helped bring in the Genius Party anthologies as well as the series of Thai short commemorating the King of Thailand’s 80th birthday - have just passed along a trio of TV spots for this year’s festival and they make me giggle. And so I share them with you below the break.
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A van of attractive college students heading into the remote woods? It can only mean one thing: time for a bloodbath!
Robert Cosnahan’s Psycho Hillbilly Cabin Massacre is exactly what you think it is: a loopy, blood soaked splatter comedy that sends a car of college students up into the remote Appalachian Mountains and who knows what goes on up there. The film is one of the key pieces in my Midnight programs at the Worldwide Short Film Festival and we’ve got the trailer for you below the break.
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In the official selection at the 2008 Worldwide Short Film Festival Ivan McCullough’s Frankie looks to be one solid piece of work - a film that takes a pretty serious subject and reframes it in a way that makes it both funny and engaging without losing the core of the subject. Plus it’s just really well shot and features a very strong young lead.
Fifteen-year-old Frankie candidly and comically discusses becoming a dad. He’s determined to beat his folks at their own game where parenting is concerned, but can he manage it?
You’ll find the trailer in the Twitch Player below the break.
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As we lead up to the launch of the 2008 Worldwide Short Film Festival here in Toronto I’m finally getting the chance to sort through some of the films appearing in other people’s programs - I was responsible for the Midnight selections - and one of the most intriguing shorts that I’ve come across so far is The Object by Leslie Ali. Beyond the fact that it looks very strange and very cool this one jumps out because of the production company backing it: Michel Gondry’s Partizan Films.
An outlandishly absurd tale about a group of greedy people who become enamoured by a small shiny cube that makes really nice sounds. Greed brings out the neanderthal in all of us.
You’ll find the trailer in the Twitch Player below the break.
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