Independent Short Film

It’s that time of year again…all the presents have been returned or run out of batteries, most new year’s resolutions have been broken, and the Sundance Film Festival is just around the corner.

Incredibly, we’ve been invited to cover the many Independent Short Films being screened at the festival.  We’ll be able to blog, vlog, tweet, and  otherwise document the goings-on of the fest.

I’ve seen various trailers for some of the Sundance Shorts, and I’ve gotta tell you, there are some treats to be found, and I’m positive that our team at the festival is looking forward to viewing them.

To whet your appetite, I’d like to highlight some of the things I’ve found.  For today: Drunk History.

Filmmaker Jeremy Konner has found a clever trick for creative storytelling–filming drunk people and having them talk about historical events.  He then has A-list actors re-enact the story as told by his subject.  The results are….interesting.  Some might find them hilarious, some might find them offensive, but mildly amusing.  At any rate, these short films are sure to find an audience.  Two such films are screening at this years Sundance Film Festival, Drunk History: Douglass & Lincoln and Drunk History: Tesla & Edison.

Douglass & Lincoln features Don Cheadle (Oceans 11,12, & 13, Crash) as Frederick Douglass and Will Ferrell (Step Brothers, Stranger Than Fiction) as Abraham Lincoln.

Tesla & Edison features John C. Reilly (Step Brothers, Walk Hard) as Nikola Tesla and Crispin Glover (Beowulf, Back to the Future) as Thomas Edison.  You may remember these two actors from the movie What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? or heard their voice-acting this past September in the animated feature, 9.

As a taste of what to expect, here’s the first installment featuring Michael Cera.  And remember, if the humor isn’t your cup of tea, you’ll most certainly find something at the festival that suits you better.

Be sure to check back here for more updates on the festival. And leave a message in the comments about what YOU want to see at or from Sundance!

In other news, we’ve recently acquired a new domain and will be transferring this blog to it over the next few weeks.  (If you remember my last post, I’ve been having a lot of problems with hosting, and since this blog is a subdomain of brighterplanet, which I don’t own, I need to find a more reliable solution.)

The past few weeks have been a nightmare because every time I would post a new blog entry, the site would go down for a few days, presumably because of high levels of traffic.  Long story short, you can now find us at independentshortfilms.org which means that you should be sure to update your bookmarks, subscribe to the new feed (RSS or ATOM) for free, automatic updates, link to the new domain from your blog, site, or social networking profile(s), and tell all your friends about the move.

In the meantime, you can check back here, and I hope to officially “launch” the new site in February.  (It’s up already, but I’m still working out a couple of things, so just consider it a beta version.)

Looking forward to our future!

First a preface, and then a disclaimer:

I’d like to begin by saying that I have very strong personal objections to creating a music video and slapping the name “short film” onto it.  I’ve seen it done numerous times and it really irritates me.

That said, I’ve decided (perhaps subjectively) that the short film in this post is, in fact, an Independent Short Film and not a music video.  Here’s why:  The film was made by a film student, not the artist.  Although the story has its origin in the lyrics, the independent musician had nothing to do with the production of this short film.

And now the disclaimer:
This short film will probably offend some viewers.  The lyrics of the song contain words which many find to be inappropriate.  They also describe a scene of violence and abuse, which in the short film, although animated, is nonetheless disturbing.  However, I found the film to be powerfully moving, and the social and spiritual messages conveyed are what compelled me to post it here.  I do hope that you’ll watch it, but be advised that it is not suitable for everyone.

This Independent Short Film was more than I expected, honestly.  I’m constantly surprised by the ideas people have, especially for animated short films.

What do you think?

This is an interesting, not to mention remarkably well-done Independent Short Film put out by the New Zealand Book Council.

Leave Me from Daros Films on Vimeo.

Simply beautiful.

This prize-winning Independent Short Film was produced by Vinn Bay and Tee Boon Leng for a video competition as part of the ADI (Alzheimer’s Disease International) conference in March 2009.

I’ve been sitting on this Independent Short Film for a while, hoping to contact the filmmaker, but no luck so far.  It’s been long enough, and I have to keep you entertained.

This is really well done, and I hope you like it.

Noteboek from Evelien Lohbeck on Vimeo.

This Independent Short Film has been getting a lot of attention.  The film is aptly named Synesthesia,  which is a myriad of sensory stimulation.

I hope you enjoy it.

I actually found this Independent Short Film last November, but I thought it would make mare sense in October.  Welcome to the harvest season, everyone.

This Independent Short Film was recently brought to my attention, and while I’ve seen a few similar short films, (done with spraypaint, for example) I liked that this was done with cardboard cutouts.  I especially loved the soundtrack, and I really enjoy anything bizzare or surreal, so I just had to put it up here.  Happy viewing!