Stories that exist in parallel universes, that are much like the one we all actually exist in, have always appealed to me due to their ability to make audiences think about exactly how the changes portrayed in the on-screen world would affect their day-to-day lives. Providing much food-for-thought in this regard is Sal Bardo’s 18-minute short Pink Moon, a film which asks its audience to imagine a world where heterosexuals are persecuted and abortion is forbidden.

Bardo has been a filmmaker I’ve had an eye on ever since I saw his previous short Chaser (the story of a promising, young, gay schoolteacher who seeks solace in New York’s barebacking scene) and with Pink Moon it feels like he’s made his most powerful and relatable film so far. His previous film felt like a story which could have been only been told through independent filmmaking, but with his latest short, the lo-fi sci-fi vibe of proceedings feels like something that will appeal to a much broader audience.

Set in a similar universe as the recently featured Stray, Bardo (who also wrote the film) asks his audience to imagine how life would differ if the majority of the world was homosexual and heterosexuals were marginalised within society. With many cultures around the world still persecuting homosexuality, Pink Moon’s story is one that is designed to make audiences consider how would you feel if things were reversed and romantic/sexual attraction between members of the same sex or gender was seen as the “norm”. Would it change how you view attitudes towards sexual attraction? Or would your views towards how we view/judge people stay the same? And it’s this self-reflective power that makes Pink Moon such a powerful watch – its narrative inspiring you to take a look at your own belief system.

Whilst Bardo’s work may largely garner attention due to the strong LGBT themes at their core, underneath this element of his storytelling are tales of alienation and identity that are universally recognisable and identifiable. It’s hard not to discuss the recurring subjects in his narratives when talking about his films, but looking only at this element of his filmmaking is a somewhat blinkered view of a developing director, with a flair for character-driven narratives. Pink Moon is the 4th short film Bardo has directed over the last 4 years and if his filmmaking continues to progress with such assured strides, here at Short of the Week we’re truly excited to see what he does next.

Benjamin Franklin once declared that the only certainties if life were death and taxes and whilst we’re sure plenty of writers out there are feverishly working away on their next tax-based narrative (anyone??), it’s dying that seems to be the most commonly covered of these subjects in storytelling. The Latest filmmaker to attempt to capture the expiry of life, and what happens next, on-screen is Short of the Week favourite Malcolm Sutherland, in his contemplative and touching film Deathsong.

Whether you believe in Heaven/Hell, reincarnation or nothing at all, what happens when we die is one of life’s biggest mysteries. Whatever your nationality, religion or social status, death is undoubtedly inevitable – never fear though, here to help you prepare for this journey into the unknown is this latest captivating short from Sutherland. The story of a monk passing away and his journey into the next life, we experience this voyage through the eyes of this religious figure in what turns out to be a moving and memorable short film experience.

Unknown journeys seem to be a common theme in Sutherland’s work – his 2010 short Umbra follows an explorer into a mysterious world and his latest film shares a lot of similar qualities with that film. Like a lot of his work, Deathsong employs a minimalist style, but probably more noticeable is the reflective, meditative tone once again present in his filmmaking. Sutherland’s films never seem to be insistent on making their audiences take a particular reading from their stories, opting for subtlety in the storytelling, instead of hammering home the obvious. His films always seem to allow space to contemplate and reflect when watching them and that’s surely a sign of a filmmaker supremely confident in his work and his stories. Combine this approach to delivery with his recognisable style (something he attributes to an obsession with a B&W Ninja Turtles comic book he loved when growing up) it’s hard to deny that Sutherland has become one of most of the recognisable animators working in the short film arena (and one of my personal favourites).

Although we missed featuring Sutherland’s previous film StormJumper (another thought-provoking piece) on Short of the Week, it’s great to see his work back on our site. Admittedly, Deathsong won’t be everyone’s cup-of-tea – those looking for more of a traditional narrative might be disappointed – but its lack of dialogue and ubiquitous themes means it’s a film with universal appeal and scope to reach/touch a broad audience and it’s this universality I always really love and admire in his work.

Remember that cult 1992 Pauly Shore film where Brendan Frasier plays a frozen neanderthal who’s thawed, revived and introduced into modern society? Well now imagine that narrative, but with Frasier’s character replaced by a mammoth and you’re part-way to understanding the narrative at the core of Rory Waudby-Tolley’s animated short Tusk.

“I set out wanting to tell an entertaining story with a central character the audience could empathise with.”

Created in his first-year studying for his Animation MA at the Royal College of Art in London, the narrative for his short developed from the filmmaker’s desire to “tell an entertaining story with a central character the audience could empathise with”. Combining this with an on ongoing compulsion for sketching pachyderm/human characters and the storyline for Tusk was soon born. “The film was initially inspired by an obsession with drawing these strange humanoid elephant dudes”, Waudby-Tolley admits when asked about his unusual storyline. “I’m not sure how that started, but the contrast of them interacting with a large mammoth was appealing to me visually. Like a pachydermal King Kong. There were a lot of stories at the time about cloning found mammoth DNA and reintroducing them to the wild. I ended up with a fairly simple plot that allowed me to explore themes that interested me; memory, the passage of time, and feeling alienated in a world you thought you understood…The treatment of the mammoth could be read as analogous to many different groups of people, and I’m happy to keep it ambiguous and up to the viewer to draw their own connections. I was initially unsure of what kind of voice she should have, but I think this quiet eloquence coming from a big hairy mess makes the most sense somehow. For all its silliness, I would like to think there is an emotional resonance there”.

“The visual look was very much informed by constraints. I had to animate the whole thing myself & do my own sound design”

Although the director admits the aesthetic of his film was largely dictated by the constraints of having to do all the animation and sound design himself, Tusk is still a film with a strong and distinct visual style. Contrasting 3-dimensional characters against minimal flat-coloured backgrounds, the look of the piece really gives Tusk the impression that this is a character-driven narrative and helps puts the emphasis on its protagonist. “The visual look was very much informed by constraints. I had to animate the whole thing by myself, and do my own sound design, which was a challenge but also useful to think about all aspects of the films simultaneously…Due to lack of time, minimal backgrounds and a simple colour palate were used, says Waudby-Tolley, which also allowed the focus to be on character. Serving the script was always the main goal, so it was just a case of finding a way to make it happen. For the boring technical stuff: the elephants and mammoth were modelled and animated in 3D in Maya, with the faces mostly drawn over the top in TVPaint. I wrote a little Python script to make the models boil, and rendered flat colours on 2s, to integrate to the 3D and 2D. It was a bit of an experiment, but I think it actually saved a fair bit of time.”.

Having recently completed his RCA graduation film Mr Madila – a hilarious short which chronicles Rory’s encounters with the titular spiritual healer – the filmmaker is currently looking to take his latest creation around the festival circuit, whilst also working on a BBC ident and a music video. If you’re attending a film festival over the next year-or-so where Mr Madila is playing, it’s a short well worth seeking out and in my opinion, one of the funniest you’re likely to see all year.

Perhaps the only thing worse than selling crap to strangers is doing it to your friends and family. During my teenage years in Lansing, Michigan my parents successfully talked me out of pushing Cutco knives onto their friends for fourteen bucks an hour. Little did I know that Amway, the direct marketing behemoth, was just an hour’s drive away in Grand Rapids. 

Amway’s hometown is the setting for this darkly hilarious tale of family, death and the incredible sales opportunities that can result. Our hero is Peter, an everyman who returns home for his parent’s funeral, only to realize that he’s the only person in town not selling “Dreamstar,” a chain of products remarkably similar to, you guessed it, Amway.

An excellent cast led by Brian Huskey (Neighbors, Superbad) always keeps the beats landing funny as Dreamstar’s “golden opportunity” infects Peter’s family one by one. As a Michigander, this reviewer was particularly impressed by the film’s remarkable attention to detail. Everything from the character’s costumes to the cabinets and chairs in their kitchen (Grand Rapids is also famous for furniture) rang true. Without talking to the filmmaker I would never have guessed that the film was actually shot in Los Angeles, which is no small feat.

Grand Zero is part of “The Michigan Stories,” an anthology of shorts from executive producer Nathaniel Eyde. After Michigan’s sudden and devastating elimination of its film tax rebate last month, it’s truly refreshing to see people still dedicated to producing work in and about the Great Lakes State.

Oeser, also an editor for shows on Comedy Central and IFC, is currently working on a feature script called Terrible Parents, which was recently featured through a live reading on the Blacklist Podcast. He’s currently working with the producers of Grand Zero, along with his manager at 3 Arts, to get Terrible Parents made into a movie, ideally with Oeser in the director’s chair.

Created for the Random Acts series that screens on Channel 4 in the UK, I Am Glad We Can Be Honest About This is a bizarre and unusual short that explores themes of murder, vengeance, lust, truth and loyalty. Shifting from saccharine song and dance routine to violent outburst in the blink of an eye, Alexander Gellner’s 6-minute short is a kaleidoscopic journey through the lives of a dysfunctional family.

“The pleasure of watching this film is that of solving a riddle that seemed to be unsolvable moments before”.

Consisting of a series of traditionally-animated, short vignettes that loosely fit together to build a bigger picture, I Am Glad We Can Be Honest About This certainly doesn’t follow a traditional path when it comes to narrative. Never settling in one place long enough for the viewer to really get accustomed to what is going on, it is a film that feels both unsettling and disorientating, but always utterly compelling. “Every scene is just long enough to establish one idea and then left for another”, says Gellner in a Directors Statement over on irresistiblefilms.com, “This creates a hasty mood, like switching channels on the telly, only that every clip has a very intriguing sequence…As the film progresses we can realise that most clips have something in common and interact with each other. Later shots continue actions that were started in previous and characters and signs reappear. We begin to piece things together and make our own conclusion. The “solution“ starts to appear as we see the relations of the characters unfold. The pleasure of watching this film is that of solving a riddle that seemed to be unsolvable moments before.”

Having first witnessed a 3-minute cut of Gellner’s short, totally unprepared on live TV, I was instantly impressed by the unorthodox storytelling approach and ominous tone of his film. Seeing it again now, I Am Glad We Can Be Honest About This hasn’t lost any of that initial impact and if anything, this longer cut has just added to the intrigue and atmosphere of his storyline. Carrying on the impressive style first witnessed in One Minute Puberty, it’s great to see something more narratively complex from this filmmaker and if this is an indication of what Gellner has in his locker when it comes to narrative short filmmaking, lets hope he makes another venture into this field in the immediate future.

Two members of the constabulary Nips and Porkington, a cat and a mouse, are called upon by a pair of goose parents when their almost-new born (an egg) has gone missing. The two heroes take up the trail which leads them to the criminal, a rat planning to cook the egg. The description of the plot might seem a bit simplistic and cutesy, and admittedly it partially is, but that’s not what makes the film special. It’s how the idea is executed that makes it fun to watch. And sometimes it’s nice to just enjoy a lightweight and straightforward, well-made short with a brief running time and just be entertained by its adorable realization.

The Casebook of Nips and Porkington is reminiscent of classic Saturday morning cartoons, but filmmaker Melody Wang adds innovative elements by navigating her characters through an unconventional setting and combining the style of hand-drawn animation with a print media background. When telling the story of a robbery or murder and how the police attempt to track down the suspect, the insertion of headlines and photos in films and television shows is quite common. Wang however takes it to another level by utilizing other traditional characteristics of newspaper design to add a playful spin to her tale. The initial inspiration for the film’s unique style came when the director was “browsing a used bookstore and found a book full of newspaper spreads with wonderfully balanced graphics and intricate designs”. By using these well-known visual gimmicks and elevating them to become part of the narrative it not only adds a nice component to the overall style, but also enhances the story by making the animation technique a part of it.

Using the software Toonboom Harmony in combination with Adobe Photoshop and Premiere, with some help from friends and mentors at Sheridan College Wang was able to complete most of the animation for The Casebook of Nips and Porkington by herself, apart from the score and charming voice-work. The director admits she wants The Casebook of Nips and Porkington “to launch a career in animation and act as a last hurrah to our student days”, and with this strong proof of talent, I can’t imagine which animation house or production company wouldn’t want to take advantage of her skills.

Contrary to what its title might suggest, director Erin Sanger’s Bombshell isn’t some fiery, bombastic action film. Rather, it’s a quiet, introspective drama—a coming of age tale about feeling out of place and finding oneself—you know—typical “growth” movie stuff. But, the approach feels fresh here, combining an authentic representation of pre-adolescence with LGBT themes. Needless to say, there is a lot going on in this film, all of which is handled subtly and honestly. It’s funny when it wants to be funny, touching when it needs to be touching. It’s a film with a lot of moving parts—both thematically and from a character perspective. Yet, Bombshell is the rare short film that manages to juggle many different things without ever giving any of them short shrift. By combining all of it together—from moments of lighthearted humor (a 10-year-old buying condoms, for instance) to weighty subjects such as tolerance and self acceptance—this is the rare “festival-esque” short that is actually more than the sum of its parts.

I say “festival short” because, well, Bombshell played a lot of them, touring the circuit for the past two years. It was even a regional finalist for the Student Academy Awards back in 2013. Will the film resonant as strongly with online audiences? That’s difficult to say—this isn’t the fastest moving short in the world, but I’d argue that it does do an excellent job of really endearing the protagonist to the viewer.

So, many shorts of this ilk—the prototypical coming-of-age film—center on male characters. As such, seeing everything through the lens of Daisy—a pre-teen with a girly name who wants to be anything but girly—gives the film a distinct and understandable point of view that never feels rote. Her character arc is satisfying. And, while her eventual revelations towards the film may not be profound, they do feel honest. The ending—which is backed by a chorus of literal fireworks— is satisfying, but not over-the-top or hamfisted. Sanger gives the audience just enough to cheer for (bullies are confronted) while simultaneously balancing it with the simple, somber idea that growing up is tough—that life is complex, especially as one makes the transition from “kid” to “adult.”

“…the striking instances in which those whom we assume to be good do bad, and those heartbreaking moments when we must reconsider our faith in them.”

In her director’s statement Sanger writes, “As children, we clung to those closest to us, those whom we trusted, those whom we maintained an unwavering desire to please, those without whom we were utterly helpless. Though the events which transpire in Bombshell are fictitious, I believe they reflect certain universal experiences, the striking instances in which those whom we assume to be good do bad, and those heartbreaking moments when we must reconsider our faith in them.”

There are issues with the film—again, the the pacing is a bit slow early on and the “bully characters” are one-note. But, still, it’s a film that is too compelling to deny. Sanger is clearly an adroit filmmaker  with a strong sense of both style and craft. Currenlty, she’s has been tapped to write a feature film for the producers of Mud and 127 Hours. She is also co-writing a feature with Gary Kanew, who’s latest film Wild Oats, will open this fall.

One of the best aspects of writing and curating for this website is being able to see the filmmakers of tomorrow find their cinematic footing today. I feel like I’m afforded a very unique opportunity to watch burgeoning cinematic voices learn and grow. And, after featuring writer/director Joey Izzo’s previous short Stepsister just a few short months ago and now his latest film, My Daughter’s Boyfriend, it’s clear that Izzo is definitely one of those voices that demands to be heard.

To put it directly, I’m a big fan of Izzo’s’s filmmaking style—it’s a naturalistic approach that is character driven, but still propelled by a defined sense of conflict and plot. He comes from the school of Duplass, but supplements his character-driven style with a strong sense of technical craft. Really, it’s the best of both worlds—an independent film that never feels or looks “indie.”

The dramatic crux of this particular story centers on a relationship triangle—that of a well-to-do divorced mother of two, her daughter, and her daughter’s new boyfriend. It’s a film that expertly straddles the line between comedy and drama. The situation may be heightened, but the emotions felt by the characters are real. In her efforts to sabotage the central relationship, are Beth’s actions as a mother warranted? Is it wrong to want what is best for your kid? More importantly, how does a “cool mom” handle dick pics and nude selfies?

As Izzo relates via e-mail, “There was something oxymoronic about the premise, which appealed to me initially. As I further developed the characters, a more provocative and meaningful story emerged – one about a mother’s sexual agency and parental self-sacrifice. I wanted to show a character struggling to work through her hypocritical, moral imperative for the betterment of her daughter. That was the only goal.”

It’s an interesting narrative objective that Izzo manages to effortlessly capture. The titular boyfriend is more body part than human being. Beth imperatively understands her daughter’s attraction to this sort of existential buffoon, and she sort of hates herself for it. Likewise, you understand how her daughter, Sara (played by the awesome Esther Povitsky) can fall for the fantasy.

While the filming style should be lauded—each shot incredibly well framed with terrific, unobtrusive production design—like Stepsister, Boyfriend really sings because of the excellent performances. It’s a film that is just extraordinarily well-performed. Brief interactions are able to comprise entire backstories. Moreover, the facade of the film’s realist style is never broken. Essentially, as viewers we never feel like we’re watching a facsimile of reality. As cliché as it sounds, it actually does all feel “real.”

Obviously, we’re excited to see what Izzo, now a full time Los Angeles resident, will come up with next. He’s currently diligently working on more scripts.

The Going Away Party is a movie about depression. And, as such it’s a short that is bound to…hey, where are you going? Don’t leave…seriously…stick around for the rest of my review…

Okay, okay…I know…indie movies about depression always ring an imaginary alarm in my head too. It’s an overused topic for young filmmakers (depression, grief, and suicide) that is almost always based on generic emotional beats and usually features a lot of people stoically looking at the sunset or a shot of someone pretending to drown underwater.  But, writer, director, and actor Connor Hurley (who we were first introduced to with his spectacular sci-fi short, The Naturalist) has crafted something that I feel is a bit different here—a film with a sharp, sardonic sense of humor that is oddly touching. It’s clear this is a very personal film for Mr. Hurley. Not only does he write and direct, but he even plays the lead character (a man also named “Connor”). In that sense, it’s a very different film from The Naturalist—less a science-fiction “idea” piece and more an internalized character study. It’s a short that focuses on how one can feel “off” and completely detached from the world, but does so with an offbeat comedic sensibility and terrific timing. In other words, it’s a depression movie that never takes itself too seriously. And, thank goodness for that—suicide could use a bit more levity.

I say that last statement tongue in cheek, but The Going Away Party does an excellent job of examining how inherently ridiculous the world can seem when you don’t feel like you are a part of it—from therapy sessions to party-going to grandmotherly visits. When depressed, all of it can feel like bizarre rituals performed by some sort of exotic species.

As Hurley relates via e-mail, “I was going through a rough spot, and was on a slew of medications that didn’t do much for me besides possibly aiding in these crazy vivid dreams I was having.”  One such dream inspired the film—this idea that you would attempt to kill yourself and even hold an event to commemorate the occasion, but really nobody would really care. Obviously, This concept resonated strongly with Hurly.

The film does suffer from “abrupt, unsatisfying ending” syndrome (something that seems to be going around the ether in the short form), and to be completely honest, I think The Naturalist is stronger piece of isolated work. But, it’s clear that Mr. Hurley is a very talented filmmaker with a defined voice—a voice we very much would like to champion on this humble short form curation site. Fortunately, he has a lot more in store for us, including more short films, web series, and a feature film that he will be shooting in 2016. You can keep up to date at his website.

Despite seeming to be one the easiest and most natural things in the world, we’ve all probably felt the doubts (and butterflies) that arise when you’re faced with the prospect of talking to that special someone you’ve had your eye on. Trying to capture the inner turmoil that occurs when you lock eyes with a potential partner, THE TRUTH ABOUT MEETING WOMEN is a sharp and witty short based around the notion that ‘some people will think of the most insane excuses to not say hi’.

Part of a web series (that also features The Truth About Being Single and The Truth About Hookups) written by Paul Gale and directed by T.J. Misny, this 4-minute film follows a single-man as he drifts in-and-out of visions of the future, all featuring the women he finds himself surrounded by at the subway station. Told from a male perspective (I’m assuming largely because it was written by a man), as the film progresses, our protagonist’s fantasies get more and more bizarre as he envisions weirder and weirder reasons to not talk to the woman around him.

Featuring one of the most effective uses of zoom we’ve seen in film, short or feature-length, in a long-time, Misny’s production perfectly matches the off-beat comedy of Gale. Combining to create an “indie” vibe, performance, production and premise work in perfect harmony, creating an off-kilter comedy that fits nicely into this new blend of romantic comedies prevalent online at the moment.

With the duo having just released Why The DMV Screws Up Your License Photo, a follow-up to their viral hit Why Starbucks Spells Your Name Wrong, on The Huffington Post and with Misny having just released his short film collection Intimate Semaphores over on No Budge last week, these are obviously filmmakers destined to not rest on their laurels.

What makes a proof of concept short work? With so many of them being created in the short film world nowadays, it’s a question we here at Short of the Week ask ourselves a lot. To provide some perspective, upon viewing one of these type of films, I often ask myself the following: would I legitimately want to see the feature…would I want to spend 90 more minutes with these characters? In the case of James Sweeney’s Normal Doors—a proof of concept/pitch for his feature film, Straight Up, produced for Fox Digital Studios—the answer is a resounding yes.

We have featured Mr. Sweeney’s work before with his other LGBT short film, The First. Normal Doors feels like a natural evolution for him as a filmmaker. He has refined his voice quite a bit for this effort—developing an interesting tone that manages to be comical, endearing, and emotional. Focusing on all topics that could have all been cloying (from “meet cutes” to obsessive compulsive disorder), Normal Doors manages to supersede these “indie” conventions, by making its characters feel genuine. Yes, the dialogue is heightened and clever, but it’s never “too clever.” In effect, we buy into this interaction and the cinematic “what if” question it postulates.

As Sweeney relates via e-mail, “the initial idea was to write a non-traditional love story. It’s nice to think that there’s one perfect soul mate out there for everybody, but even if that’s true—it’s a big world; so statistically what are the chances of actually finding that one person? I like to refer to Todd and Rory as intellectual soulmates—the question in the feature is whether or not their relationship can sustain without sexual intimacy.”

It’s obviously worth mentioning that the acting is also stellar, featuring two up-and-coming actors we are bound to see a lot more of (Justin Mark and Milana Vayntrub). Part of the reason that so much of the dialogue works is that these two actors are so good at reciting it.

Beyond writing other projects, Sweeney is currently working hard to secure financing and get the indie feature off the ground. We’re rooting for you, James! Normal Doors is hopefully just an amuse-bouche for the wonderful meal that is to come. To keep up to date with Straight Up, get social with the project on facebook.

Maybe it’s because it’s the summer, or maybe there’s something in the air – but love and romance seem to be hot topics on Short of the Week at the moment. Following hot on the heels of recent features Offline Dating, My Daughter’s Boyfriend and THE TRUTH ABOUT MEETING WOMEN, comes A Kiss, Deferred – a short animation from the Moth Collective about childhood sweethearts separated by a Civil War.

They met at age 12. One was Serbian, the other Croatian. Separated by a civil war, they ultimately found their way back to each other.

The latest animation to be created for The New York Times’ Modern Love series – a collection of weekly reader-submitted essays that explore the joys and tribulations of love – the Moth Collective’s entry is based on a moving and immersive article by Nikolina Kulidžan. Fans of the project, after being impressed by the animations of Joe Donaldson, Freddy Arenas and Jimmy Simpson, the Moth team reached out to the producer of the series who gave them the opportunity to create a short for one of July’s articles.

As you would expect from a Moth Collective piece, the aesthetic of A Kiss, Deferred is as beautiful as the story it accompanies, managing to feel both minimalist and intricately designed in equal measures. Eager to find out how much of the style was influenced by Kulidžan’s narrative, I spoke to the lovely Marie-Margaux Tsakiri-Scanatovits to discover how the team came up with the film’s distinct style. “As soon as we got the V.O. and heard it was a story based in Yugoslavia in the 90s, we started doing research on imagery from that era and collecting reference material”, says Margaux. “From that we made a colour palette based on some poster art that felt quite Balkan. We wanted the style to be minimal yet sensitive, so we chose a graphic approach for the backgrounds and a gentler one for the characters, something that is also reflected in the animation technique. Nikolina’s story is a classic teenage love story that most of us can relate to. The school environment is something powerful at that age, so we wanted to incorporate it as the framework for their romance. After reading the full written interview when it was posted up, it was fun to see the details that we had guessed at and turned out to be true : Marco was apparently a skateboarder, and without knowing we placed a skateboard in their rooms in one of their shots. Also that their eventual kiss took place in a restaurant by a river!”.

“As you work with people and you get to know their individual strengths, you gain a vision on which scene to allocate to which person and can predict what they will bring into it”

For those of you unfamiliar with Moth’s Collective’s work, the group is made up of a trio of Royal College of Art graduates in David Prosser, Marie-Margaux Tsakiri-Scanatovits and Daniel Chester, who decided to continue working together after their studies when they noticed they shared the “same interests within the [animation] field”. Not content with the abundance of talent already in their triad, the Moth Team decided that with such a tight deadline for this project they would enlist the help of their talented friends for this latest animation. Bringing in previously Short of the Week featured filmmakers Eamonn O’ Neill and Joe Bichard to help with the film, along with Marcus Armitage, Jonathan Djob Nkondo, Noriko Ishibe and Claudio Salas, the collective was able to form somewhat of an animation “dream team” for this project. “We are lucky to be friends with such talented people and be able to bring them all under one ‘roof’ for projects like this one”, admits Margaux, “as you work with people and you get to know their individual strengths, you gain a vision on which scene to allocate to which person and can predict what they will bring into it. Given the short schedule, we had to concentrate on the design and the direction, so we left the animation in the able hands of all that wonderful team, and let them do their magic!”.

When not creating stunning animations for important causes like the Global Canopy Programme, HIAS and the NSPCC, the Moth team can be found working on their Late Night Work Club film (the new trailer for which has just been launched) and animating for a couple of feature films. A new Moth Collective animation is always a pleasure to watch (and a pleasure to write about) so lets hope we’ll be seeing a lot more of their work on Short of the Week in the coming years.

LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE!! Weighing in at 3mins & 30secs and coming straight out of the Loading Docs stable, J.Ollie Lucks’ high-tempo short Wilbur Force is a heavyweight example of just how much fun you can pack into such a tight duration. Piledriving his camera into the face of ex-pro-wrestling star and friend Wilbur Force, director Lucks has created a hilarious, yet touching short that centres around themes of friendship and fame.

“What if the man I have become gets to meet the man I could have become.”

Created as part of the Loading Docs series, an initiative that produces short (3-minute) documentaries to help promote and develop New Zealand filmmaking talent, director Lucks admits the main inspiration behind by his short, was the desire to work with his friend. “I always wanted to make films with Wilbur”, he says, “it started out as a straight-up documentary about the challenges he deals with regarding his weight etc. But then life happened. Wilbur happened… and things took a different turn….I set out for the process of creating this documentary to help Wilbur get off his ass. And it totally worked…There is a saying that I like and want to address with this film: What if the man I have become gets to meet the man I could have become. Holding on to ones best self is so important but quite hard at times. We all know what it is like. Thereby this documentary is also about the importance of friendship in reminding you of your former, best self”.

Taking around 4-months to complete – 3 months of planning (on and off), 3 days of shooting and 2 weeks in post – Lucks shot exclusively on the Sony F5, edited on Adobe Premiere CC and colour-graded with Blackmagic’s DaVinci, but the filmmaker reveals the hardest part of production was being in the film himself (along with “being on a mountain in winter, in spandex, with no undies, for 5 hours”). However, Lucks’ inclusion in-front of camera plays a vital part in the success of Wilbur Force, it’s the camaraderie and banter between the pair that makes this such a likable film and you do have to wonder if it would have had the same impact if it was made by another filmmaker – one without such a strong connection to their subject.

It appears that Lucks’ film had the desired effect on his friend, “Will loves the film”, the filmmaker admits, “the process of making it has indeed transformed his life. He now has a fulltime office job and a wrestling match (his first one in 3 years)…Ironically he only grants me 17% credit in changing his life for the better (that cunning little shit)”. The pair have had such a strong response to their documentary that they’re now working hard on a Web Series featuring Wilbur, if you like the short be sure to show the series some support over on their Facebook page.

Just when I think found footage movies have become overdone…that they are passé, another film sneaks out of the woodwork and surprises the hell out of me. Just a few weeks ago, I gushed over Neil Harvey’s Detroit 2029. And, now, I am geeking out over Director Richard Boylan’s Timelike—a lo-fi science fiction mindbender that uses the found footage conceit not as a crutch or gimmick, but rather as a sharp tool to build an atmosphere of tension and disorientation.

By using low-budget techniques to convey high-minded scientific theory (in this case temporal paradoxes), Timelike is the best kind of indie short—a film that prides innovation over whiz-bang imagery or production polish. This isn’t to say Boylan’s film isn’t well crafted—it is, especially the way the film uses precise editing and sound design to ramp up the narrative’s pace—but, it does show how effective it can be to invest one’s cinematic collateral in the correct resources. Concept is king, and the VHS footage quality only adds to authenticity of the presentation. In a way, it’s hard not to be reminded of last year’s indie hit science fiction darling—Coherence. Both get inside your head, despite low-budget trappings.

So many short films nowadays boast impressive production values with footage shot on the newest and slickest cameras. With Timelike, Boylan purposefully went in the opposite direction, recording everything on an actual VHS camcorder (as opposed to a modern camera with filters added in post). Over e-mail he elaborates about the process: “Footage was shot, captured and edited on Adobe Premiere, then the edit was dumped back to VHS and copied from one tape to another as many times as was necessary to get that nice worn out look. I did a few run throughs where I really messed up the tracking as it copied for scenes where I wanted additional distortion.”

While the old-school technical process may give the film a defined look, its the science-fiction ideas that give Timelike its real spark. Similar to another low-budget science fiction feature, Primer, this film attempts to tackle some heady territory. Admittedly, I’m a bit of a time-travel junky, so I love when movies explore the more cerebral implications of the concept (Doc Brown and a DeLorean this is not).

Boylan discusses his creative process: “I began reading about paradoxes and became obsessed with trying to figure out what it would actually be like to create one? Not only that, but I read an interesting thought experiment once: If I go back in time with the complete works of Shakespeare and then hand them to him before he writes them, then who actually wrote them?”

It’s definitely a compelling hook. And, while I’m not completely sure Timelike ever answers the questions it presupposes (the ending feels a bit anti-climatic), it’s is the kind of thing that gets your head spinning—a great example of science-fiction concept married with great science-fiction storytelling.

Boylan is definitely a person to watch. He’s currently a Cinematic Designer at Bioware, the video game studio in Montreal, where he is working on a science fiction game called Mass Effect: Andromeda. He’s also finishing up a dramatic short he shot last year called Suicidium, which is about a man who introduces suicidal people to psychopaths. Now, that’s an interesting pitch…

Keep up to date and be sure to follow Boylan on twitter.

An artistic take on young love and the pressures of sex in a digital-age, Peter Vack’s 9-minute short SEND finds new and inventive ways to tackle some relevant and relatable subjects. Although the themes covered in this film may already feel well-explored in the short film arena, Vack’s fresh approach means this is storytelling that always feels distinct and memorable.

“I knew two girls who were exposed to many of their peers after an explicit video or photo was passed around online”

SEND’s storyline originated when Writer/Director Vack realised that he wanted to make a film that focused on communicating on the Internet. Combining this with a desire to direct the gaze away from the computer screen, the filmmaker soon devised a playful approach to representing online space physically and the idea of the Internet as a stage was born. However, like many storytellers, Vack also used a personal experience to inspire his writing – “I knew two girls who were exposed to many of their peers after an explicit video or photo was passed around online”, says Vack. “At the time I was writing the script in 2011, this event was less common than it is now and I thought that it could work as the plot for a short film. Also, I am someone who is effected by what I see online and I know how emotionally large even the smallest piece of information from a significant person can feel. I can relate to having a very raw and complicated emotional experience in front of my computer screen and that felt new and strange and potentially good for cinema.”

Shot on an Arri Alexa equipped with Master Primes over 4 days, the director utilised easily accessible locations in his high school auditorium and producer Sarah’s bedroom, to achieve the desired look of his piece. With a crew of around 40-people working behind the camera and over 150 in-front, Vack’s production certainly wasn’t lacking in ambition. The film’s success rested largely in the impact of his “stage” scenes and what they portray and SEND’s director is appreciative of everyone who helped him in bringing his vision to screen. “I am especially grateful to everyone who came to sit in the audience”, says Vack, “and I adore every person who gave their time and energy to make this film extra special”.

Currently working on two feature projects; a no-budget dark-comedy called Assholes that he will co-direct with sister Betsey Brown and an expansion of the SEND storyline entitled www.rachelormont.com, if you’re a fan of Vack’s work you can follow him on Vimeo through the link below or show SEND some love on its Facebook page

The premise might be somewhat tired, but darn it, I’m You, Dickhead—a comedy/time-travel short from director Lucas Testro—is a real charmer. It’s crude, funny, fast-paced and filled with enough punchlines and plot-turns to keep you enthralled throughout. And it’s all predicated upon the inherently ridiculous proposition of using the power of time travel as a way to get laid.

Although it’s often used as a plot element in “serious” movies, time travel—with all its paradoxes and contradictions—makes for a ripe comedy device. And, Testro—along with writer Larry Boxshall—totally take advantage. While the callous, uncaring hero might be a turn off for some, his lack of empathy for anything other than his own sexual cravings makes for some great one-liners. Would this type of character work in a feature? Maybe not. But, that’s the beauty of the short form—give me a crafty premise, a few dick jokes, and I’m locked and loaded for 12 minutes of comedic/sci-fi bliss. The sight gags (time traveling mustaches!) are as plentiful as the dialogue driven jokes—Testro really has a great sense of comedic pace that keeps the narrative moving at a high-velocity clip. The visuals are also polished, with some very strong cinematography and shot composition.

Testro, communicating electronically, explains his gravitation towards the project: “When I first read Larry’s script, I loved how absurdly funny it was, I loved that it was a time travel story (a genre of which I am a huge fan), but I also loved that it was a little badly behaved. It was a tone of script I would probably not write on my own, and I was excited at the prospect of making a film that would push things a little—a film that would not be afraid of walking up to the line and then sticking its toe over it a little to see how Mum and Dad would react.”

Needless to say, it’s not surprising this film was a hit at both Palm Springs and the Austin Film Festival—it’s a comedic crowd pleaser. It’s crude without being too-crude, clever without being confusing. We’re excited to see what this creative team has in store for us next. Director Testro is currently developing a superhero comedy web series, an action comedy feature, and a supernatural period drama series. See his website for more information. Boxshall is working on a documentary about “the greatest movement in art seen in decades, Drawing Dicks on The Herald Sun.” Yes, you read that correctly…click here for a trailer.

And, if you enjoy your time-travel with a side of laughs as much as I do, be sure to check out these other Short of the Week selections, Time Travel Lover and Future Hero.

What was meant to be a rather perfunctory talking-head interview piece turned into something more soulful when director Charles Frank met his subject. Envisioning a policy style piece with charts and statistics that described the epidemic of incarceration in the United States, Frank was unexpectedly taken by the heartbreaking emotion Clint Smith, a creative writing teacher, was able to relate when discussing the emotional lives of the inmates he interacts with. Smith’s zeal in turn ignited a “burning passion” in the director for the issue, and a commensurate desire in the film team to elevate the artistry of the profile to that of Smith’s words. 

Smith’s process in poetry is self-described as one of “radical empathy”, and that certainly comes across. There is naturally a precision to his words that befits a professional wordsmith, an acuity in describing the anger or machismo that landed these men into prison, and which also explores the loneliness, regret, and occasional hopelessness that has come in the aftermath. He is also a gifted storyteller — the opening anecdote of the film establishing Smith’s own journey, the one he assumes his audiences will still need to make, from a prejudicial attitude towards these convicts to one of empathy. Through it all,  Frank’s camera is tight on Smith, physical intimacy combining with the emotional. 

 The most notable filmic decision both in the storytelling and in the shooting was the inclusion of Smith’s own poem. These sequences, shot in 16mm, infuse his words with a tangible nostalgia. It is a simple trick, but a good decision, and a strong and potentially fraught execution. Frank had never shot on 16mm before, and thus the suggestion from the DP Jeff Melanson required a leap of faith from Frank to accept. It is the missing piece though, the logical culmination of Smith’s thesis that the power of words, of art, can uplift the writer and endear them to the listener. The 16mm sequences depicting flashback sequences between a father and son, heartrendingly depict an inmate’s most painful loss, and through it, becomes the most effective humanizer. 

Based on lead actress Quinn Marcus’s one-woman show Chasing Ballerinas, Drew Van Steenbergen’s Alone With People tells the story of Andie, a high-school girl growing up gay in Georgia and her quest to come to terms with who she is. With the help of an open-minded therapist and their ensuing conversations—which range from funny to revealingly honest—Andie finds the strength to come out to the members of her family, one by one, to varying degrees of understanding.

While her father is the first one she opens up to, he immediately tries to connect with his daughter by watching The L Word together and inappropriately talking about the hotness of some of the show’s characters. The inherent humor of this is both funny and uncomfortably true to life. As anyone who ever watched a movie or TV series with his or her parents knows, the shared experience of viewing sex scenes can be an awkward thing. But, when added with the subtext of the recent revelation of Andie’s sexual orientation and how her father reacts to it, it opens up an even broader context in how parents deal with their siblings growing sexuality. The reaction of Andie’s mother to her coming-out is somewhat reverse, which Andie calls out later during a group session with the helpful therapist. Likewise, her sister’s question of how Andie “knows that she’s gay” is ignorant, but not atypical for a teenage girl who has a hard time seeing beyond her own horizon.

The film takes its time to introduce its characters, all captured through amazing performances by the entire cast. The dramatic situations and the changing family-dynamics feel authentic—an accurate representation of how these experiences might occur in real life. Achieving a lot of its subdued comedic sensibilities through long takes and slow build-ups in various scenes, the filmmakers have managed to craft a convincingly executed portrait of growing up, regardless of sexual orientation.

As the director, Drew Van Steenbergen, told SOTW, “Despite her character growing up gay in Georgia and me growing up straight in Connecticut, I relate to her self-doubt and anxieties. We all experience feelings of loneliness and feeling isolated within ourselves at certain points in our lives. We struggle to discover who we are and whether we fit in with a group of friends or even within our own family. It is through these struggles that we discover the type of person we are going to be.”

I never had to deal with something as difficult as coming out to my family and friends, but I know what it’s like to feel different and wondering if those around me would accept me for who I really am if I would show my true colors. Of course, the hope is that they would not only be fine with my unvarnished personality, but that they would actually embrace it, strengthening my own perception of myself without always worrying about what other people might think. Alone With People’s Andie is lucky enough to have parents and a sister who support her, even if they don’t always know what to exactly make of the situation. They try their best to make her feel comfortable, but due to no fault of their own, they can’t always fully understand how Andie must feel. The strong bond to her psychiatrist shows how much Andie needs someone who listens without judgment. To find another person who completely gets you for who you truly are and to make an honest emotional connection is very rare, and the feeling of being alone or lonely can occur no matter how many people are around you.

Based on her own experience growing up gay in the South, Quinn Marcus, a cast member of MTV’s Girl Code and the host of mtvU’s Quinnterviews, subsequently developed her very personal one-woman show with friend and director Drew Van Steenbergen. Together, they transformed it into this 25-minute short after the filmmaker saw a performance of Chasing Ballerinas and was blown away by the “balance of laugh-out-loud humor, truth and heart showcased through her sheer candor of coming out to her family.”

Completed with the support of a successful 30-day Kickstarter camapaign raising over $15,000 and shot on a combination of an ARRI ALEXA and Blackmagic, filming took place over the course of nine days on location in and around Marietta, GA (the same town where writer/star Quinn Marcus grew up). Currently Drew is serving as associate producer on production company REVEAL 42’s animated feature length film Henry & Me, starring Richard Gere and the New York Yankees. Together with Quinn and their production team, the director is also wrapping post-production on their second short-film, Subpar, and have just entered pre-production on their third short A Lack of Dating, scheduled to begin shooting in Brooklyn this September.

The latest short from Latvian animator Gints Zilbalodis sees him once again continuing his distinct storytelling style, with another dialogue-free film featuring an unmistakable aesthetic. The emotive tale of a musician who loses his hearing after a freak accident, Inaudible is another entry into the filmmaker’s catalogue that once again perfectly highlights the strength of his particular approach.

“A story about a musician who becomes deaf was perfect for my sensibilities as a filmmaker”

With Zilbalodis happy to admit that he usually swerves dialogue-driven narratives because he’s “very bad” at writing conversational pieces, the filmmaker chose his storyline with his approach very much in mind. “I thought that a story about a musician who becomes deaf was perfect for my sensibilities as a filmmaker”, says Zilbalodis, “and I could have an excuse of not having any dialogue because the main character is deaf. I wanted to make a story that is more about internal conflict rather than external conflict. It’s a story about an artist facing difficulties of life and I relate to that. The two central themes are communication and confidence. Subjects that I’m constantly thinking about”.

As a follower and fan of Zilbalodis’ work, his approach to storytelling interests me no end, but what I find even more intriguing is how this lack of speech never seems to restrict the emotive and resonating power of his films and Inaudible is another strong example of this. If anything, the lack of dialogue and some clever sound work means the frustration and despair of our recently deaf protagonist is only magnified and we really get a sense of perspective through the filmmaker’s approach.

Visually, once again Inaudible feels instantly recognisable as a Zilbalodis’ film, but at the same time there are some noticeable differences from his last couple of films. Gone is the roving, handheld-style camerawork and long-takes seen in both Priorities and Followers and in their place the animator has employed a static camera and a much more energetic pace to his edit.

Taking about 7-months to create, Zilbalodis’ created everything in his film himself (except for the music) and his approach to production may go some way to explaining his distinct style. “The unusual thing about my workflow is that I don’t write a script, or draw storyboards”, Zilbalodis admits. “I made only 4 pieces of concept art for this film…I had the backbone of the story and a few key scenes in my head. I started doing some movement tests for the main character. I kept doing more and more tests trying to find a way to display the personality of the character and after a while I realised, that I had already animated a large part of the film. I set up some cameras and created shots from the movement tests. Then I edited all of the footage together. This process was more similar to editing a live-action film rather than an animated film. All of the processes were very organic and blended together. The story kept evolving too. I changed the order of shots and scenes all the time trying to find the right balance between clarity and intensity.”

With the final cut of the film only completed one-week before its online release, although Zilbalodis already has a new idea for his next film, the time spent working on Inaudible means he hasn’t been able to even think about starting work on his next project yet. You can keep up-to-date with Gints’ work on Vimeo, Tumblr or Twitter and at the pace he seems to work, don’t be too surprised if we see another film from him in the not-too-distant future…no pressure Gints!!

The story of a woman looking to escape her problems at the bottom of a Vodka bottle, Samuel Aaron Bennett’s Baby is a contemplative short that centres around themes of parenthood and responsibility. Premiering earlier this year at SXSW, Bennett’s film cleverly mixes dark-humour with some heavy subject matter to create a film which is as entertaining as it is thought-provoking.

Born from the desire to make a film with his friend (and the film’s lead actress) Renée Felice Smith, Bennett’s story quickly evolved into the narrative we see on screen after the writer/director decided it was a story he really wanted to “speak to an audience”. “My friend Renée and I had been talking about making a film together for a while”, says Bennett, “so I had been trying to find a character that I knew she could capture. I also wanted it to be a departure from what she was associated with (she is one of the leads on the CBS show NCIS:LA). Eventually, I came up with Naomi, irritated by the world around her, hiding from something. Those were the themes I was playing with, but when the idea of incorporating a newborn child came about, it changed everything. I learned just how common and suppressed of an experience that is for young parents across the world. Something seldom expressed. From that moment, the story evolved quickly”.

“Our story is about someone very real; she’s not a princess or a super-model and she’s definitely not a hero”.

Undoubtedly a character-driven piece, a lot of the film’s success rested on the shoulders of lead actress Renée Felice Smith and her ability to transform the Naomi in the script, to a more physical and “real” presence on-screen – a challenge the actress obviously relished. “Our story is about someone very real; she’s not a princess or a super-model”, says Smith, “and she’s definitely not a hero. She is a very flawed, complicated young woman trying to deal with the life decisions that have lead her to her present situation. We don’t often get to see this sort of young female character; unabashed, unapologetic but inherently human.”

Taking a real “hands-on” approach to his film, there doesn’t seem to be an element of production Bennett wasn’t involved in when it came to translating his script to screen. Taking about six months to complete (including a four and a half day shoot), the filmmaker wrote, directed, shot (on the Red Epic), edited (with Adobe Premiere Pro CC), colored, co-mixed/designed sound, and composed the music for Baby. Currently in the process of writing two features and a short, whilst also producing tracks for his music project Wales, you can find out more about Samuel Aaron Bennett on his website or Twitter feed.