ONLY THE BEST SHORT FILMS
Film of the Week: Cooped by Mike A Smith
Cooped by Mike A Smith (2014) (USA) (9m) *
Cooped, a fantastic hand-drawn animation, was selected as the Best Short Animation in the competition. Written and directed by American Mike A Smith, Cooped is a comic short film that tells the story of a poor dog that is stuck inside all day while his master is at work. The hound can see the amazing world of squirrels and tennis balls that exists outisde his place of imprisonment, but is unable to open the door. With his master only ever coming back to sleep, it seems that our canine hero will never get out...
Autumn Leaves by Saman Hosseinpuor (2015) (Iran) (4m) *
Written and directed by Iranian filmmaker Saman Hosseinpuor, Autumn Leaves was voted Best Short Short in the 10th FILMSshort competition. It tells the story of a little girl who wants to stay at home and play with a fallen leaf but must go to school instead. We follow her as she makes her way through the streets until she arrives at school, where leaves are no longer a source of amusement. It is a subtle, dialogue-free film full of beautiful shots and showing a side of Iran not normally seen by Westerners.
Intersection by Brendan Beachman (2014) (USA) (20m)
Having played at many international film festivals, Intersection won the Best Cinematogrpahy Award in the 11th FILMSshort competition. It is a black comedy telling the story of two road construction workers who are dropped off in the middle of nowhere to police the non-existent traffic at a desert intersection (crossroads). The monotony of the dusty day is broken by the violent arrival of a meteorite and the belief that this astral object may be worth a lot of money.
Goodbye by Tyler Russo (2015) (USA) (7m)
Goodbye, a finalist in the 11th FILMSshort competition, could be classed as a horror, but is more disturbing than horrific. Having been killed in a road accident, a man finds himself bodiless and faced with a group of gatekeepers, who were once human but are now something else. It is the job of the gatekeepers to interview the man and decide upon an eternal vocation. The current competition is open for submissions.
Ink, Cocks & Rock 'n' Roll by Matt Harlock (2017) (UK) (14m)
Ink, Cocks & Rock 'n' Roll is a short comic documentary - with splashes of fiction - about Krent Able, one of the UK's most unsettling illustrators. Krent is the alter-ego of Steve Martin, the award-winning comic artist who is known for drawing a lot of penises and a lot of really messed up stuff. Really messed up. But where does Steve Martin end and Krent Able begin? Matt and Krent are now crowdfunding a supernatural horror project on KICKSTARTER.
The Pitch by John Hardwick (2015) (UK) (8m)
Written and directed by John Hardwick, now a judge in the FILMSshort competition, you sense that this comedy came from bitter experience. It tells the story of screenwriter, Alan (Richard Glover), who is meeting with a self-satisfied film producer - with a track record in B movies - to pitch him his new script. However, when he finally gets to pitch his idea, he reveals a concept that is something a little bit different - and the producer appears to be in mortal danger.
Monsters by Steve Desmond (2015) (USA) (14m)
Monsters was the co-winner of the Grand Prize in the 10th FILMSshort competition. Directed by Steve Desmond, who co-wrote it with Michael Sherman, it is a sci-fi thriller that tells the story of Jenn, who lives in a bunker with her family because the world outside is full of monsters. Her parents and elder brother do not allow her to venture out with them but she dreams of fighting the monsters herself. So she forms a plan and today is the day she goes out...
Speed Dating by Isaac Feder (2007) (USA) (8m)
With the launch of the new competition, we look back at previous People's Choice winner Speed Dating, a romantic comedy about Greg, who has recently broken up with his girlfriend so trying out speed-dating. He is confronted with a series of comically incompatible women until he meets one woman who is different from the rest and keen to have an honest conversation with him. Is this the girl for which Greg is waiting? With a great script and wonderful acting, short films don't come much better than Speed Dating.
Rate Me by Fyzal Boulifa (2015) (UK) (17m)
Rate Me played at Cannes as well as many other festivals around the world, picking up several awards along the way. Rate Me presents us with a bewildering array of different possibilities as to the true nature and identity of a young woman who is being rated by punters who claim to have used her services. The film highlights the difficutly of knowing what is real in our post-truth, online world. Are these people even talking about the same person?
Yardbird by Michael Spiccia (2012) (Australia) (13m)
Its title refers to the film's heroine, a young girl who lives on her father's scrapyard. It soon becomes clear that she has special telekintic and healing powers (and using them causes a nosebleed). When she comes across a group of teenage boys torturing a cat she feels obliged to save it and uses her powers to intervene and, despite apparently being aware of the girl's awesome powers, the boys come to the scrapyard to take their revenge. Bad idea.
