Lila

Hankies out. This is one of the most charming short films I have seen in a while and if this doesn’t bring a tear of joy to your eye then I am afraid nothing will! Lila is a young woman who helps people through her art, in a way you might not quite expect. At its heart I think Lila (written, animated and directed by Carlos Lascano) is a single extended visual metaphor about how individuals can help others through small acts of kindness. Hankies at the ready? Then press play…

Everything's Not Lost

Sometimes life if about as desperate as it can be yet there is something about the human condition which often fails to preclude hope.

If you are having a bad time of it at the moment, this short film, written and directed by Tomasz Goralczyk may cheer you up a little. It is short and sweet, to be sure but the message is there for all of us – everything is not lost.

They Grow Up

Did you ever have an imaginary friend? Can you remember the time that they disappeared, were no longer necessary as you started the process of entering the adult world? They Grow Up centers on such an occasion when childhood innocence comes to an end. It stars Christa B Allen, best known for her role as Charlotte Grayson on the ABC drama series Revenge and was directed by Emma Holly Jones.

Fish Friend

Every child should have a pet or at least one that does not have too many murderous intentions.  Yet for ten year old Sally, the goldfish that she chose at the pet store is not quite what it seems.  The neighbourhood may never be quite the same again. Combining live action and animation, Fish Friend is inspired by 1950s Americana, Tim Burton, and the shorts of Pixar.  It’s a great combination and this short film certainly makes a splash.

Everybody Wants to be Unique

All it takes is something small to ruin your commute – and in the case of one guy it’s a pair of red glasses. Until that point red was his color on the platform he had been using for years. All the other daily passengers knew it was his color, respected his choice and avoided it themselves out of that strange courtesy you get between familiar strangers. Not today though, oh no. And once this sort of things start, there can be something of a snowball effect.

This charming short by Killscreen Films (aka filmmaker Andrew Dunstan) is a lot of fun. You may have seen it at a picture house – it was screened across the USA by Cinebarre from April 3 - May 17, 2012. Everybody Want to be Unique proves - again - that the age of the silent comedy is not yet over.

Blind Spot

So, despite all the warnings and forecasts the apocalypse, end of the world or whatever you might like to call it, failed to transpire.  As many people pointed out at the time, however, when people say the end of the world is coming they almost always mean the end of humanity as a species, rather than the entire third rock going pear shaped.

So, will it happen any time soon? Who can say but it sometimes pays to keep a sharp pair of eyes about you. Steven, the hero (I guess) of Blind Spot couldn't see how his day could get any worse, but that's because he was is looking the wrong way. Blind Spot is a short film by Matthew K. Nayman, a director and cinematographer from Canada.

Stanley Pickle

Stanley’s life works like clockwork – literally.  He lives within his own self-contained world but everything changes when he spots a girl from his bedroom window.  This charming stop motion short movie is something of a bittersweet tale – one of loneliness, isolation and, finally, freedom.  I am sure that the end will put a smile on the most cynical of faces but I still have to wonder how Stanley’s life came to be as it was in the first place!

Stanley Pickle was shot entirely on a stills camera on 2 sets and 2 locations. The film premièred on to the festival circuit in June 2010 at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, where it picked up the McLaren Award for New British Animation, followed by Oscar qualification at the US première LA Shorts where the film won Best Experimental.  It was directed by Victoria Mather and stars Drew Caiden who surely has the most expressive face on film since Jim Carey.

Sandbox

A group of battle worn soldiers stagger through a vast desert – a seemingly never ending, hellish sandbox.  They are lost but their enemy knows exactly where they are and soon the come under attack.  Yet nothing could have prepared them for the true nature of their mission or their adversary.  Written and directed by Daniel Carberry, Sandbox has made the Official Selection of a number of film festivals. Watch it and you’ll see why.

We’ve All Been There

There are many films out there that make you shed a little tear because they are so desperately sad – and gaining the sympathy of an audience to that extent is a pretty difficult trick to pull off.

Perhaps even harder in terms of film-making is the ability to get your audience all lachrymose because the film has warmed their hearts so much.  Well, call me a big softy but We’ve All Been There by the Australian creative collective Truce Films, made me reach for the happy hanky – and all in just a little over seven minutes.

The recession, triple or quadruple or whatever dip we’re on at the moment has hit everywhere, even the hinterlands of Australia.  There, Jess, eight months pregnant and so far behind on her rent she has received an eviction notice, asks for more hours at the diner at which she works in a desperate bid to make ends meet.

Her request is not received with much sympathy by her manager but when an old lady arrives for a late night supper, a connection is made that will impact the two in ways they both could never have imagined.

We’ve All Been There won two awards at the Tropfest 2013 festival, Best Film and a very deserved Best Actress for Laura Wheelwright who plays Jess (who you may have seen as Electra in Underground: The Julian Assange Story).  Stalwarts of Australian film and TV Penne Hackforth-Jones and Ditch Davey play the lady visiting the diner and Matt the mechanic.  The film was written and directed by Nicholas Clifford.

You might well say you saw the end coming (I did but I didn’t and you will see what I mean when you watch the movie) but what’s that at the corner of your eye?

J’attends – I’m Waiting

Can spring be in the air finally?  Perhaps – but certainly one young woman’s thoughts turn to romance. 

J’attends is a delightful study in that part of the relationship when a couple start to get to learn about each other, enjoy each other’s company and wait for it to happen.  Just wait.  

The couple are played here with a certain Gallic panache by by Mariah Bonner (who also provides the voice over) and Mathieu Forget and this delicious little slice of joy is directed by Stewart Maclennan.

Servo

A bored young businessman acquires the latest technological advancement – Servo.  The robot servant, however, isn’t quite up to the job but nevertheless an unlikely friendship is struck up.  Yet the company plans to rectify the fault and it looks as if the fun might be over… This sweet and funny short was created by students at the Kaywon School of Art and Design in Korea for their moving image graduation project. And altogether, it all adds up to a rather fine bromance.

Sweet and Sour

If this doesn’t put a smile on your face, then nothing will.  Sometimes life can be hard and our canine hero of Sweet and Sour is not having a good time of it.  All of that is about to change though when he stumbles across the gateway to Chinatown and the culinary delights it contains. As he passes by the restaurants he can hardly contain himself.

It isn’t long before he has tasted all the delights for himself and has fully immersed himself in the almost orgasmic aspects of Chinese cuisine.  He even buys the t-shirt.  Yet when he discovers an awful truth (much like Charlton Heston in Soylent Green) the dream quickly sours.

With his gruesome discovery, his heaven turns in to his own doggy hell.  Can he find salvation?  Only time will tell.

The film was conceived by Eddie White, such a fan of Chinese Culture that he (with a tongue firmly in cheek we suspect) named his animation studio the People’s Republic of Animation.  The idea quickly took root but White discovered he needed some help.  Enter the Shanghai Animation Studio.

Renowned the world over for their exquisite hand-drawn work, they created the amazing effects work you see in the movie.  Sweet and Sour has the claim, then, of being the very first Chinese-Australian animated co-production.

The Australian team took care of the 3D animation with the Shanghai studio contributing the hand-drawn traditional work.  The combination of the old and new is brought together with stunning effect.  The oldest Australian who worked on the project was, at the time, 26 years old: on the other hand, the youngest Chinese animator was 39.

The success of the collaboration is self evident in the astonishingly beautifully animated final project with the two styles seamless.  The Chinatown itself has something of a retro feel, being reminiscent of the Hollywood films of the thirties.   The character of the dog is familiar without being a repetition of all the Disney pooches we have seen in the past.

Since its premier in 2007 (in Hong Kong) the film has been given approval for mainland Chinese screenings and has been featured in more than a dozen animated film festivals worldwide.

Alternative Math: A Visit to Post-Truth America

An experienced maths teacher runs in to more than a little trouble when she tries to correct a student who has failed his recent math test.  What should have been a quiet moment of teaching and learning turns in to a traumatic week-long hell on earth for the teacher: She may have a trick or two up her sleeve but what chance does she have against Tommy, his parents, the principal, the school board and the media?

All satire exaggerates and Alternative Math has hyperbole in spades.  The premise is ridiculous but it resonates because it has its roots well and firmly dug in to the truth – whatever that may be in 2023.  We may have breathed a sigh of relief decades ago when 1884 became 1985 and there was little sign of Orwell’s dystopian vision coming to life.  Yet a few decades later, Alternative Math highlights, through comedy, the insidious nature of what truth means today.  George would have recognized the scenario all too well.

What makes it a little depressing is the fact that as a teacher this resonates a little too familiarly with me. The exaggeration in the film aside I have colleagues who have been through a form of what happens in this short albeit without the ending we have here (and it is worth the nine minutes of this short just to get to that point, believe me!).  It may be close to home but I am happy it's here.

Alternative Math is brought to you by Dallas-based Ideaman Studios and was written by Malcolm Morrison and David Maddox, with the latter doing the directing honors.  Well, that is if you believe the end credits are truthful, of course…

Mission

When the first mission to Mars takes place one of the astronauts not chosen to go has to face up to the prospect of being left behind.  It is his young son, however, who must carry the greatest burden.  This moving character-driven piece, strikingly shot with great performances slides through its 20 minutes gracefully and engagingly.  It was directed by Mark Buchanan and stars Emun Elliott, Peter Strathern and Siobhan Redmond.

A Twirling Day

Someone’s spotted the zeitgeist. A Twirling Day is the latest short by ModernEye (a creative studio / director duo based in London) and it captures very well the sense of absurdity many people feel in this day and age about the decisions they have to take.

You know the ones, the ones which we have to make even though we know there isn’t really any possibility of us having any control over them whatsoever; the kind of decision that just seems to be fate playing another one of her practical jokes on you.

Directed by Jon Uriarte, and starring Alberto Rolan as the Everyman figure, A Twirling Day is not guaranteed to lighten your mood but I think a number of you may recognise yourself somewhere in here.

School Portrait

A somewhat jaded school photographer is on his latest assignment.  The brown stuff has really hit the fan in his life and his current cynicism is reflected in the way he asks the children to pose for their photographs.

That is, until one little girl comes along...

Comedy is difficult and comedy with children even more, so hats off to director Nick Scott for attempting this and succeeding so wonderfully.  I paticularly like the little boy who says he hasn't filled out his tax form because I don't want to. Ah - if only life were that simple!

It isn’t often that a short film of less than three minutes in length can show a turning point in someone’s life so effortlessly. Despite its less than happy subject matter, School Portrait is a funny and affecting short film.

The Elaborate End of Robert Ebb

Robert has a dull security job but while doing his rounds one evening he comes across a monster costume.  He decides on a prank but it is one which spectacularly backfires as the locals, fired up by recent news reports of a sea monster, form a hunting party (the type you see in all those Frankenstein movies) and hunt him down.  You just have to love an angry mob in this sort of movie!

Written and directed by Clement Bolla, Fx Goby and Matthieu Landour, this is created with more than a little love for the horror genre it gently usurps.  The hapless Robert is played (with increasing frustration) by Paul Hassal and although you may have to suspend your disbelief a little more than usual, that's not a big ask when a short film is as enjoyable as this one. It’s also very funny with a surprise ending which I only saw half coming…

Modern Man

Rupert is a busy modern man. Today is the day he proposes to his girlfriend and he is putting the finishing touches to his preparations when a time-traveling cavewoman appears in his kitchen.  The rest, as they say, is history (or it will be, or at least might be, oh you know what I mean) in this entertaining short directed by Sebastian Solberg, shot by Dale McCready (Merlin, Doctor Who) and stunt coordinated by Dani Biernat (Skyfall, Shaun of the Dead).

Harry Grows Up

Harry isn’t the first heartbroken New Yorker to take to the bottle but the difference here is that he is only eighteen months old. When Harry’s babysitter leaves, will he ever find love again and mend that broken heart? You can find out by watching Harry Grows Up, a very sweet comedy short directed by Mark Nickelsburg and starring (I am guessing here, as they share the same last name) his very adorable son Lucas as the lovelorn Harry.

Treated

It wouldn’t really be Halloween without a short movie following a kid dressed as the devil as he goes around on his annual trick or treat mission.

Yet this year he may get more than he bargained for!

This very short short was written and directed by Matteo Bernardini who shoots shorts, documentaries and music videos while training for features.

One word of advice. Watch this very, very closely. Blink and you may miss it!