The very first short was a sort of documentary/infomercial for a nonprofit group, and at first I was afraid that the whole festival was gonna be like that, but thankfully it wasn't.
Pigeon: Impossible was the first film. I'm usually a hard sell when it comes to CG movies, but I thought this was actually cute and really well done. But hey! You can watch the whole thing online here:
Hairytalewas the next short. I can't find any pictures online, but it was a documentary about a guy in the UK who used to own a hair salon and realized how much hair gets thrown into landfills...so then he dedicated his life to finding alternative uses for discarded hair and made...a hair chair. Had a funny final line.
Salt(2009) was next, not to be confused with the Angelina Jolie movie of the same name. This film followed photographer Murray Fredericks (check out his photography on the website, it's amazing!) on his journeys to literally the middle of nowhere in Australia. He explained the concept that the place where he was going, he could see NOTHING anywhere on the horizon for 360 degrees. CRAZY. I had no idea places like that still existed anywhere in the world (other than the ocean). It raised a lot of questions for me... This film has a lot of breathtaking shots. As I understood it, Fredericks shot all the footage himself over several years and then later it was edited down into the film. He had a really great eye for the shots, but I guess that makes sense because he's a photographer. In the end, though, the film was a bit long for my tastes...I'd rather go see an exhibition of the photography.
Scrapertown is a documentary short from a series about California called California is a Place (I will definitely be watching these later). It follows a group of kids in East Oakland who are part of the 'scraper bike movement', where people fix up their bikes with interesting paint, decor and decorate the spokes. The bikes are pretty cool. The organizers of the festival told us that they were gonna try to get a kid from the film to come speak at the festival, but he didn't show. Boo!
The Crab Revolution,was an awesome, adorable French animated short. I loved it! French just seemed to be the perfect language for this story. Or maybe the voice actor was just really good? Watch here:
I didn't see Fat Tire Fury on IMDB. It's basically footage of a mountain...bike...unicycler. The ultimate rush??
I couldn't find any suitable pictures of Living Lightly.....chronicles of a farming cult with a scythe (yes, scythe) fetish. I don't mean player hate here but uh...yeah.
A few photos of the evening:
cool kinetic sculpture at the Brower Center. I wish this were video!
DEEP FRIED PIZZA at Sumo Grub--not a bad spot to grab a bite after a late showing in Berkeley as they are open late. They have tons of deep fried desserts...for the heart attack in you
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.
Amazoniawas 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 Godfatherand 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.
Madagascar, Carnet de Voyageis a sort of pastiche or scrapbook in film form of a man's trip to Madagascar. It utilizes many different styles of animation.....it's breathtaking in some parts, but in others it looks a bit less fleshed out.
Let's Polluteis a subversive environmentalist film done in the style of corny old educational videos. I think corny=corny rather than corny=funny, but the old people in the theater seemed to think this was hilarious. The animation is styled like a kid's cartoon. There were a few good jokes. My favorite think about this short was how the animators utilized lots of interesting patterns.
The Gruffalowas nearly half an hour and almost put me to sleep. It's based on a children's book. I'd never heard of this book because I don't have anything to do with kids, but you can tell it's based on a children's book because:
1. the story is repetitive, and children's stories are repetitive
2. a name like "The Gruffalo." Enough said.
I just really, really hate children's stories. This was boring. The music was cool. Kids would like this. (I think?) Helena Bonham Carter did one of the voices.
The Lost Thingwas OK. Full of washed out colors with a bit of angst.
Day & Nightis my Oscar pick. It was awesome! Conceptually and visually the best film shown. According to my sister, this was shown before Toy Story 3 (which I haven't seen).
This is the whole movie, although youtube quality really isn't ideal for watching this:
The next two were just bonus shorts, they weren't nominated for Oscars this year.
Urs. What is an "Urs"? Who knows. Quiet little movie with a sort of impressionistic animation style.
