Fantastic Fest 2010 Preview: Selected Shorts

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Jaulas

As mentioned in my blog entry Fantastic Fest Flashbacks: Appreciating the Shorts, you'll never find a lack of high quality and innovative short films at Fantastic Fest. This year, the shorts are split almost evenly between screenings before feature films, or one of the two shorts programs: Short Fuse! Severe Fantastic Fest Shorts and Drawn and Quartered: Animated Shorts. Thanks to Fantastic Fest programmer Zack Carlson, I had the opportunity to preview over 30 of the 50-plus shorts that will be screening over the course of the next week. Hundreds of filmmakers from around the world submitted short films to Fantastic Fest, and judging from the final selections, it must have been challenging to narrow down. Here are some highlights from this year's shorts, including my personal favorites.

Favorites from Drawn and Quartered: Animated Shorts:

  • 12 Years (Germany, Director: Daniel Nocke) -- Breakups can be bad enough for humans, but what if other species had to go through the awkwardness and pain? This 3-D animated short portrays an amazing range and subtleties of human expression for two canines -- I swear the male reminds me of Woody Allen -- but it's the dialogue and climactic ending that make this short film memorable.
  • Atomic Hubbub (UK, Director: Stephen Irwin) -- Best known for his darkly tragic 'flip-book' animated short The Black Dog's Progress, which screened at Fantastic Fest in 2009, Irwin allegedly created Atomic Hubbub while taking a break from a larger project. This short film gives viewers "advice" on how to survive an impending nuclear attack. Check out more of Irwin's work on his small time inc. website.
  • Jaulas (Cages) (Mexico, Director: Juan Jose Medina) -- After Jaulas made its Texas premiere at Cine Las Americas earlier this year, Jenn Brown declared this dark animated film "Fantastic Fest worthy" in her Cine Las Americas 2010: Day 2 dispatch. I wholeheartedly agree, Jaulas is currently at the top of my list for this year's short films. A man treads across a post-apocalyptic landscape carrying a bitter, vengeful burden, portraying a cycle of abuse and exploitation in the midst of desolation. 
  • Pixels (France, Director: Patrick Jean) -- Shot on location in New York, this short chronicles the mayhem that happens when 8-bit creatures invade the city. Jean's 8-bit film has garnered lots of attention on the Internet and apparently also from Hollywood. Watch the original video here:

  • Rise of the Living Corpse (Canada, Director: Chris Walsh) -- Rotting flesh breaks soil and the fun begins. The shortest short in FF history, don't blink or you'll miss the hilarity. 
  • Teclópolis (Argentina, Director: Javier Mrad) -- I'm fascinated enough with the use of everyday objects by fictional characters such as Stuart Little and The Borrowers, but this film utterly amazed me. Mrad creates a riveting story and mesmerizing landscape out of the mundane.

United Monster Talent Agency

Favorites from Short Fuse: Severe Fantastic Fest Shorts:

  • Deus Irae (Argentina, Director: Pedro Cristiani) -- This film boasts quite a bit of production, and Zack Carlson mentioned that originally the filmmaker had intented to make a feature-length film. An interesting bent on exorcism and the "priests" who travel the countryside, saving souls.
  • The Legend of Beaver Dam (Canada, Director: Jerome Sable) -- A bloodthirsty campfire terror legend becomes a reality, complete with a soundtrack for the heroic camper who saves the day. I had to wonder if this story is really what would have happened if Oliver from The Brady Bunch had been sent away to summer camp.
  • United Monster Talent Agency (USA , Director: Greg Nicotero) -- As a special effects master, Nicotero has worked with the likes of John Carpenter (In the Mouth of Madness), Frank Darabont (The Mist, The Green Mile), Robert Rodriguez (Grindhouse, Spy Kids), and Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bill series) and many more masters of genre filmmaking. Nicotero pays homage to the classic monster films of Hollywood's golden age in this amusing short black-and-white film. Pay close attention, as there are several cameo appearances from some of the aforementioned filmmakers and favorite actors.

Finally, here's a couple of shorts I enjoyed that will be paired with feature films during the fest:

  • Culebra (U.S., Director: Sean Carter; screens with Undocumented) -- Crossing through the desert into the United States from Mexico is a terrifying ordeal, but what if there were supernatural forces at work? We're not talking chupacabras here -- this creature is even more frightening in its methods of ... I'm not going to spoil the surprise, just watch!
  • King Jeff (UK, Director: Phillip Dale; screens with Norwegian Ninja) -- Two costumed medieval wannabes that are archenemies must unite to fight off the real foes. This fictional short film reminded me a little of Darkon, but is much more light-hearted quick entertainment.
  • My Invisible Friend (Spain, Director: Pablo Larcuren, screens with Agnosia) -- An autistic young man who cannot communicate with his parents or others finds a way to breach the gap with his unwelcome new friend -- an alien fish-man with special talents.
  • King Chicken (Canada, Director: Nicolas Bolduc; screens with Tetsuo: The Bullet Man) -- Is love possible for an eccentric lonely man who is known as "King Chicken"? Maybe with a visit to the local language lab, and Amii Stewart's "Knock on Wood" as your theme song. Cute and indiosyncratic short film I thoroughly enjoyed.

Sasquatch Birth Journal 2I'm also intrigued by a local short film screening before Primal that wasn't available at preview time -- a peek at the mysteries of nature in Sasquatch Birth Journal 2 by Austin filmmakers David and Nathan Zellner (Goliath). I don't think Marlon Perkins ever encountered anything like this on Wild Kingdom. Speaking of the talented Zellner Brothers, Fantastic Arcade attendees might be interested to learn that Nathan Zellner is the voice of "Andy the Bomb" in Rooster Teeth's Red vs. Blue web series, including the upcoming Red vs. Blue: Revelation which will premiere at Fantastic Arcade on Thursday, September 23 at 7:15 pm.

Find out about many more of the entertaining short films playing at Fantastic Fest's B-Side schedule.

[Photo Stills: Jaulas, United Monster Talent Agency, Sasquatch Birth Journal 2, courtesy of Fantastic Fest]