ONLY THE BEST SHORT FILMS
Film Of The Week: The Cabinet
The Cabinet by Thomas Nelstrop (2018) (UK) (3m)
The Cabinet is a brilliant parody of horror stories like The Enfield Haunting. In this three-minute comedy horror, a woman seeks to return a bathroom cabinet to the retailer after discovering an irksome entity lurks beyond its looking glass. But is the demon all in her mind? This FILMSshort Festival finalist stars Elizabeth Bower and Alexander Kirk.
The Little Astronaut by Kuba Szutkowski (2022) (Holl) (8m)
A beautiful and deceptively simple dramedy about an Amsterdam couple coming to terms with loss. Although an LGBT film on one level, it successfully normalises what is a perfectly normal family, and displays wonderful performances from its small cast. It will surely have you in tears by the end. Amazingly, this Fs Festival Finalist was shot as part of a 48-Hour Film Challenge.
Prazinburk Ridge by Martin Bell (2022) (UK) (10m)
This Fs Festival Finalist is an epic animation telling the story of Douglas Clark, a rugby league player who represented Great Britain before serving in WWI, where his athleticism and never-say-die attitude helped him save himself and his fellow soldiers during a German attack. It is a moving story of heroism with exceptional animation from Bell, who has worked in the film industry for many years, especially as an action visualisation supervisor on Hollywood blockbusters.
Action by Benoit Monney (2022) (Switzerland) (6m)
Action is a brilliant black comedy following the trials of a film director as she struggles to keep her film and herself together as everything about her falls apart - quite literally. Filmed in one take, Action offers a clever insight into the stress and comical chaos that often surrounds filmmaking, but which is hidden by the facade of the finished film.
Emilie Muller by Yvon Marciano (1994) (France) (20m)
It has been five years since I last posted Emilie Muller, which is an oversight on my part. It is a confident and rewarding film: you know some kind of twist is coming but you just don't know what. Emilie is auditioning for a part in a film because her friend has pulled out of the audition. The director asks her to talk about what is inside her handbag. Marciano passed away in 2011 but this will live on for many years!
Dead Enders by Luiz Healy & Walker (2023) (USA) (13m)
Dead Enders is a 1980s throwback Americana horror short that recalls feature films like The Mist (2007) and Alien (1979). The Mist novella was written in 1980. It is a fun story with nice dialogue about a gas station clerk pretending that she has a dream job, giving the amount of cigarette breaks and free beer she can take. However, will she learn the error of her ways when alien bugs invade the area and promise her an eternity of cigarette breaks? It is, for the most part, beautifully made with much effort put into both VFX and SFX.
Foxed! by James Stewart (2013) (Canada) (4m)
Made as a proof-of-concept for a feature film, Foxed! is one of our most popular competition winners, with nearly a million views on the YT channel. It tells the story of Emily, a little girl who has been kidnapped by evil foxes and forced to work in an underground mine. When she sees a chance to escape, she makes a run for it. But what horrors await her when she reaches home?
WOW by Chic & Artistic (2016) (France) (5m) *
A previous competition finalist, the dialogue-free WOW is a palindromic film; meaning that it is the same backwards as it is forwards. This is an interesting conceit in a short film, for when certain scenes are played backwards, their meanings appears to be reversed too. So in a love story, a beginning becomes an ending, a connection becomes a separation.
Office Kingdom by Bertolucci et al (2014) (Italy) (7m)
Made by students at Italy's National School of Cinema, Office Kingdom showcased a team of animators ready to take on the world - like the central character in their film. It tells the story of a customer-facing civil service clerk who is obliged to get a document stamped by a stroppy member of the public. What this difficult customer could not know is that getting a document stamped will be trial of mythical proportions for our well-trained heroine.
Munchausen by Ari Aster (2013) (USA) (17m) *
A beautifully crafted, genre-bending and dialogue-free short written and directed by Ari Aster. It plays like a weepy montage (found in Pixar films like Up) but has a dark, Tim Burton-like heart. This darkness is perhaps given away by the title, as most will be aware of Munchausen syndrome, in which illness is deliberately induced in oneself or another, and thus it is an uncomfortable watch from the beginning as a mother struggles with her son going off to college.
