Chickenproof

On Friday I headed out with a couple of friends to the Chickenproof shorts program at the SFIAAFF to see my friend Kevin Ung's short, Chubby Can Kill.  The program was at New People, a sort of gallery-cum-cafe-cum-shop-cum-cinema in San Francisco.  I'd been before, it's a cool spot, but I'd never had the chance to see anything at the Viz Cinema (they show Japanese films!) prior to this event.  I hope to catch more in the coming months.

The theme of the night as I interpreted it seemed to be unlikely heroes and surprise endings.  

cool poster

Masala Mama was the first film; a funny little comic book themed short.

Next up was Junko's Shamisen.  This was filmed with an interesting mix of live action, stop motion and animation...it looked really cool.  The story was a sort of Japanese fairy tale (not sure if it's a real one).  It was a kind of a cool Japanese/Canadian vibe with parts in English and Japanese.  This one showed at SXSW too!

Hang in There was a stop motion using paper dolls...it looks a lot cooler in motion than it does in the above picture.  It was cute/disturbing...I think this was a music video, I can't find it on IMDB!  

For some reason I couldn't find Gophers in Space on IMDB, either.  At first I was like "eh" about this, but the surprise ending was funny enough to win me over.  It feels like something that probably started as a joke between friends and became a movie.

Amazonia was another CG short.  It was cute and entertaining and it's clear that a lot of work, heart, and soul went into this short!

To Wander in Pandemonium  was cool in spite of the slightly overwrought title.  This was one of the two most professional looking films screened that night.  I discovered during the Q&A that the director, Edward Kim , went to UCLA (my alma matter, although I did not study film).  COOL~?

The Godmother was a sort of action-comedy-parody-homage to both The Godfather and Jersey Shore (from what I could tell).  This was a USC thesis film...they always say that film students at USC get a lot of money to work with, and it really showed with this film, I think.  It looked really professional and I enjoyed it. We actually had a chance to converse with the director and the producer after the screening and they were both really cool.

Finally, my friend's film Chubby Can Kill was the last film screened.  It's about a fat guy ^ who decides to take control of shit, etc.  It was funny and I really liked the color palette in the scenes in the video shop.  I thought the acting was all quite good too and that "Chubby" did particularly well/was funny.  It wouldn't have worked out without him, I don't think!  I was really glad to finally see my friend's film!  It's crazy to think that we all pretty much grew up together.

Some shots of New People--

my camera sucks. this is my friend Tammy, who was kind enough to drive...but my camera made her the same color as the orange walls ^^;

the theater interior is pretty snazzy with light decorations.  a bit much for a theater, but still cool.

Q&A after the screenings.

cool chandelier detail.