This week I have added a new page of romantic short films to my short films website.
The first romantic short film on the new page is Validation by Kurt Kuenne (2007) (US).
Validation is an amusing film that could easily be in the comedy section. Validation is a modern-day fable about a guy who is validating parking tickets at the mall but also validating the customers by giving them compliments. He likes to see people smile but there's one girl he meets who appears to be a lost cause.
A slightly mawkish ending is outweighed by Validation's general awesomeness.
House On Little Cubes (Tsumiki No Ie) by Japenese animator Kunio Kato is the next romantic short film.
This short film won the Best Short Animation Oscar in 2009. As his town floods, an old man is forced to add levels onto his home in order to stay dry. But when he drops his favorite pipe into the watery levels below, his scuba-diving search for the pipe prompts him to keep on descending and relive scenes from his life.
It's a real weepy of a romantic short and could be considered the animated version of The Last 3 Minutes...
The next romantic short film is a science-fiction short romance. World Builder was written and directed by a digital effects artist looking to display his skills: Bruce Branit has worked on Hollywood series such as Lost and Pushing Daisies, and this was his fifth (and by far his best) short film.
The final film is Mei Ling, an unusual 'romantic' animation film but I like it!
Monday, 30 May 2011
Monday, 16 May 2011
Best UK Short Films
This week I have added a new page of the best short films from the UK to my short films website.
The first short film on the page is Sign Language by Stephen Fellows, which won the reed.co.uk short film competition and the Virgin Media Shorts competition in 2010. It is a subtle and very likeable romantic comedy narrated by a 'board guy' - those guys standing on London's Oxford Street holding up signs - who spends his life making announcements but is too shy to talk to the co-worker that he fancies.
The next film is This Way Up by Adam Foulkes & Alan Smith (co-written by Christopher O'Reilly). I assumed it was American the first time I watched This Way Up. It shows just how good a short animation film can be even if you're not Pixar. Nominated for an Oscar in 2009, This Way Up sees two undertakers encounter a series of comical obstacles as they try to get their client to the graveyard in time. Events take a supernatural turn near towards the end with moments reminiscent of Disney's Skeleton Dance (hidden here).
The third films is Soft by Simon Ellis, which won the International Short Filmmaking Award at Sundance and was nominated for a BAFTA in 2008 with his great short film. Soft is the gritty story of a son and father tormented by a gang of youths, but with neither apparently being brave enough to fight back. Simon Ellis went on to make the feature film, Dogging: A Love Story, in 2009 but scored less success with this film.
The final film is Creature Comforts by Nick Park... visit the website to find out more!
The first short film on the page is Sign Language by Stephen Fellows, which won the reed.co.uk short film competition and the Virgin Media Shorts competition in 2010. It is a subtle and very likeable romantic comedy narrated by a 'board guy' - those guys standing on London's Oxford Street holding up signs - who spends his life making announcements but is too shy to talk to the co-worker that he fancies.
The next film is This Way Up by Adam Foulkes & Alan Smith (co-written by Christopher O'Reilly). I assumed it was American the first time I watched This Way Up. It shows just how good a short animation film can be even if you're not Pixar. Nominated for an Oscar in 2009, This Way Up sees two undertakers encounter a series of comical obstacles as they try to get their client to the graveyard in time. Events take a supernatural turn near towards the end with moments reminiscent of Disney's Skeleton Dance (hidden here).
The third films is Soft by Simon Ellis, which won the International Short Filmmaking Award at Sundance and was nominated for a BAFTA in 2008 with his great short film. Soft is the gritty story of a son and father tormented by a gang of youths, but with neither apparently being brave enough to fight back. Simon Ellis went on to make the feature film, Dogging: A Love Story, in 2009 but scored less success with this film.
The final film is Creature Comforts by Nick Park... visit the website to find out more!
Monday, 25 April 2011
New Short Animations
I recently added a new page of animated short films to my short films website.
The first new animation film is Alma by Rodrigo Blaas, a Spanish animator who has worked on Pixar features such as Wall-Eand Up. Alma is something close to an animation horror! Alma is the name of the title character, an angelic little girl who is writing her name on a wall when she spies a doll in a shop window that looks exactly like her.
She enters the empty shop. The doll keeps moving but Alma is determined to get her hands on it…
Alma won the Best Animation award at the LA Shorts Fest.
She enters the empty shop. The doll keeps moving but Alma is determined to get her hands on it…
Alma won the Best Animation award at the LA Shorts Fest.
Another new film is Bob’s Birthday by David Fine and Alison Snowden. This short animation is an amusing look at modern, middle-class life and how the best laid plans can go horribly wrong. It is dentist Bob’s 40th birthday and his wife has organised a surprise party. Unfortunately, the depressed Bob loses his pants as soon as he comes in the door and continues to say the wrong things while his party-guests are hiding and waiting to shout ‘surprise’.
It also won an Oscar in 1995.
It also won an Oscar in 1995.
The God is from Russian Konstantin Bronzit, who was nominated for an Academy Award in 2009. In 2004 he created this brilliant film in which a statue of Shiva is irritated by a fly and comes to life in order to rid himself of it. In his increasingly frustrated attempts, Shiva causes himself more and more problems… enjoy!
Sunday, 27 March 2011
New Oscar Short Films
This week I have done a fair amount of reorganising on my short films website. This was prompted by an email from Shorts International, a company of which I had never heard, claiming copyright on several short films.
Anyway, it has forced me to watch yet more short films from those that were Oscar nominated over the last few years and I have found many that I prefer to the eventual winners.
One of those films now added to the Oscar Short Films page is The Substitute (Il Supplente) by Andrea Jublin. The director plays the main character himself – a substitute teacher who seems to be more hormonal than his class and instigates a series of crazy games in which his students are marked on their ability to mimic animals… you’d be forgiven for asking whether this guy really is a teacher…
Another new short film is Miracle Fish, written and directed by Luke Doolan. This is one of only two Australian films on the site and was nominated for its Short Film Academy Award in 2010. It is something of a slow-burner but worth the patience. We follow unpopular schoolboy Joe on his 8th birthday. After suffering at the hands of the playground bullies, Joe sneaks off to the sick bay, wishing that everyone would go away.
He soon finds that his miracle fish may have turned his wish into bloody reality… enjoy!
Monday, 21 March 2011
Short Film From The Rest Of The World
This week I have added a new global page to my short films website.
South America, Africa and Australasia are underrepresented on my website so this page is the first of two pages from the rest of the world.
The first film on the page is No Support (Sin Sostén) by Mexican duo René Castillo and Antonio Urruti. This stop-motion animation was nominated for a Palm d'Or at Cannes in 1998. It sees a suicidal man climb onto the rooftop between two billboards - one with a busty pin-up advertising a bra (the title is a play on words!) and the other with a mounted cowboy. When the time comes to jump, these two huge advertisements come to life...
The next film is Kibera Kid by Nathan Collett. I spent a long time searching the IMDb for short films from Africa and after watching a few decided Kibera Kid was the best. Collett is actually an American filmmaker who won a Fulbright Fellowship in 2006, allowing him to research and make films in Kibera, Africa's largest slum.
Kibera Kid is one of the resultant pieces, a short fiction film focusing on a young member of a gang caught while on a stealing mission. He is saved from the baying mob by a do-gooder, but this man becomes the victim of the gang's revenge and our Kibera Kid is meant to deliver the fatal blow.
The final two films on my page of short films from the rest of the world are Signs by Patrick Hughes, and Alive In Joburg by Neill Blomkamp. I may have already blogged about these films but will leave them for another day today. Feel free to watch them in the meantime!
South America, Africa and Australasia are underrepresented on my website so this page is the first of two pages from the rest of the world.
The first film on the page is No Support (Sin Sostén) by Mexican duo René Castillo and Antonio Urruti. This stop-motion animation was nominated for a Palm d'Or at Cannes in 1998. It sees a suicidal man climb onto the rooftop between two billboards - one with a busty pin-up advertising a bra (the title is a play on words!) and the other with a mounted cowboy. When the time comes to jump, these two huge advertisements come to life...
The next film is Kibera Kid by Nathan Collett. I spent a long time searching the IMDb for short films from Africa and after watching a few decided Kibera Kid was the best. Collett is actually an American filmmaker who won a Fulbright Fellowship in 2006, allowing him to research and make films in Kibera, Africa's largest slum.
Kibera Kid is one of the resultant pieces, a short fiction film focusing on a young member of a gang caught while on a stealing mission. He is saved from the baying mob by a do-gooder, but this man becomes the victim of the gang's revenge and our Kibera Kid is meant to deliver the fatal blow.
The final two films on my page of short films from the rest of the world are Signs by Patrick Hughes, and Alive In Joburg by Neill Blomkamp. I may have already blogged about these films but will leave them for another day today. Feel free to watch them in the meantime!
Sunday, 6 March 2011
Asian Short Films
This week I have added a new page of Asian Short Films to my short films website.
The first of the new films is Two Solutions For One Problem by Abbas Kiarostami, Iran's most illustrious filmmaker. Kiarostami wrote and directed a whole heap of short films in the 1970s and 1980s, starting at the Centre for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (I kid you not!). Two Solutions For One Problem is a simple story of right and wrong that still resonates today (and Ahmadinejad should watch it!).
The next new film is Strangers by Eraz Tadmor. Ezra, a filmmaker from Tel Aviv, suggested I use one of his short films and I was happy to oblige. Strangers is a vignette from his feature film of the same name, but it works very well as a stand alone short and won several awards on the short film festival circuit. Two strangers exchange glances on the Tel Aviv underground but are then joined by an unwanted mob.
The tension rises as they approach the next station... can they escape the situation?
Another new Asian film is Little Terrorist by Ashvin Kumar. Little Terrorist was nominated for an Oscar in 2005. Set on the border between Pakistan and India, where a village has been split in two during the partition, it follows the travails of a Pakistani boy who is caught on the wrong side of the fence when he goes to retrieve a cricket ball. An Indian father and daughter disguise him and shelter him for the day but their deep-rooted suspicion of Muslims is impossible to disguise.
I'll leave the rest for you to watch. Enjoy!
The first of the new films is Two Solutions For One Problem by Abbas Kiarostami, Iran's most illustrious filmmaker. Kiarostami wrote and directed a whole heap of short films in the 1970s and 1980s, starting at the Centre for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (I kid you not!). Two Solutions For One Problem is a simple story of right and wrong that still resonates today (and Ahmadinejad should watch it!).
The next new film is Strangers by Eraz Tadmor. Ezra, a filmmaker from Tel Aviv, suggested I use one of his short films and I was happy to oblige. Strangers is a vignette from his feature film of the same name, but it works very well as a stand alone short and won several awards on the short film festival circuit. Two strangers exchange glances on the Tel Aviv underground but are then joined by an unwanted mob.
The tension rises as they approach the next station... can they escape the situation?
Another new Asian film is Little Terrorist by Ashvin Kumar. Little Terrorist was nominated for an Oscar in 2005. Set on the border between Pakistan and India, where a village has been split in two during the partition, it follows the travails of a Pakistani boy who is caught on the wrong side of the fence when he goes to retrieve a cricket ball. An Indian father and daughter disguise him and shelter him for the day but their deep-rooted suspicion of Muslims is impossible to disguise.
I'll leave the rest for you to watch. Enjoy!
Monday, 14 February 2011
Best European Short Films
This week I have added a second page of Best European Short Films to my short films website.
But I have rearranged the previous Best European Short Films page slightly to make way for it, adding the brilliant Gridlock by Dirk Belien to the first page - primarily to make sure people see it before anything else.
On the new second page, we start with The Last Gunfighter (L'ultimo Pistolero) by Alessandro Dominici, the one and only Italian film to make it on to the website. I have a theory that the cinematic culture of Italy - espoused by the likes of Fellini - simply does not translate well to short films.
In The Last Gunfighter, heavily indebted to the Spaghetti Western, a solitary gunslinger walks through a desolate industrial estate before firing his gun for the last time. It is dialogue free and much better for it.
The next film is Black Rider (Schwarzfahrer) by Pepe Danquart. This won an Oscar for Best Short Film in 1994 but, shot in black & white, it has a much older feel to it. It is a German film about a bigoted woman berating a black man who has sat next to her on the tram. The black rider sits passively as she throws insults out but then gets a comical revenge at the very end. You'll have to watch it to see what that is!
The third film is Sniffer by Norwegian filmmaker Billie Peers. Sniffer, which won the Palm d'Or for the best short film at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006, is an unusual but beautifully shot tale, set in its own grey and apparently gravity-free world, about a man who works as a sniffer (watch it to find out!) and dreams off escaping the leaden boots that hold him down.
The last film is a Christmas film from Belgium, Tanghi Argentini (Argentine Tangos). It is utterly brilliant and was nominated for a Best Short Film Oscar in 2008 (losing out to this). A beautiful comedy drama full of Christmas spirit, it follows a middle-aged office-worker trying to fulfill his Christmas passion and conceal a snowy-white lie. I promise you will thank me for showing it to you. It is in Dutch with English subtitles.
Enjoy!
But I have rearranged the previous Best European Short Films page slightly to make way for it, adding the brilliant Gridlock by Dirk Belien to the first page - primarily to make sure people see it before anything else.
On the new second page, we start with The Last Gunfighter (L'ultimo Pistolero) by Alessandro Dominici, the one and only Italian film to make it on to the website. I have a theory that the cinematic culture of Italy - espoused by the likes of Fellini - simply does not translate well to short films.
In The Last Gunfighter, heavily indebted to the Spaghetti Western, a solitary gunslinger walks through a desolate industrial estate before firing his gun for the last time. It is dialogue free and much better for it.
The next film is Black Rider (Schwarzfahrer) by Pepe Danquart. This won an Oscar for Best Short Film in 1994 but, shot in black & white, it has a much older feel to it. It is a German film about a bigoted woman berating a black man who has sat next to her on the tram. The black rider sits passively as she throws insults out but then gets a comical revenge at the very end. You'll have to watch it to see what that is!
The third film is Sniffer by Norwegian filmmaker Billie Peers. Sniffer, which won the Palm d'Or for the best short film at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006, is an unusual but beautifully shot tale, set in its own grey and apparently gravity-free world, about a man who works as a sniffer (watch it to find out!) and dreams off escaping the leaden boots that hold him down.
The last film is a Christmas film from Belgium, Tanghi Argentini (Argentine Tangos). It is utterly brilliant and was nominated for a Best Short Film Oscar in 2008 (losing out to this). A beautiful comedy drama full of Christmas spirit, it follows a middle-aged office-worker trying to fulfill his Christmas passion and conceal a snowy-white lie. I promise you will thank me for showing it to you. It is in Dutch with English subtitles.
Enjoy!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)