Matthew Lessner's Automatic at Sea (2016) is showing September 26 – October 26, 2018 on Mubi.From the Wikipedia page “Orbitz (drink)”: Orbitz is the product name of a discontinued noncarbonated fruit-flavored beverage, made by The Clearly Food & Beverage Company of Canada. It was introduced in 1997 and quickly disappeared due to poor sales. Made with small floating edible balls, the drink was marketed as a "texturally enhanced alternative beverageWhen we released Automatic at Sea theatrically last year we announced that the film had been fiscally sponsored by Orbitz. We thought it was funny. No one laughed. No one asked any questions either. Humor is subjective. The truth is malleable.“The result of a consistent and total substitution of lies for factual truth is not that the lie will now be accepted as truth and truth be defamed as a lie, but that the sense by which we take our bearings in the real...
- 9/21/2018
- MUBI
Midway through the Sundance film festival, I dropped by at the top of Main Street for Matthew Lessner‘s sophomore film, the Slamdance preemed Automatic at Sea – a hypotonic, elliptically constructed voyage or vaca pic that if I had to describe in one sentence is an aesthetically translucid piece of avant-garde cinema.
Continue reading...
Continue reading...
- 11/14/2017
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
An idyllic location has often been the setting for spine-tingling horror, and that backdrop gets an existential twist in the upcoming “Automatic At Sea.” And today we have the exclusive trailer for this unique thriller.
Directed by Matthew Lessner, and starring David Henry Gerson, Breeda Wool, Livia Hiselius, Malia Scharff, and Evan Louison, the story follows a young woman who accepts an invitation to a private island, where nothing is at it seems.
Continue reading ‘Automatic At Sea’ Trailer: A Vacation Turns Sinister [Exclusive] at The Playlist.
Directed by Matthew Lessner, and starring David Henry Gerson, Breeda Wool, Livia Hiselius, Malia Scharff, and Evan Louison, the story follows a young woman who accepts an invitation to a private island, where nothing is at it seems.
Continue reading ‘Automatic At Sea’ Trailer: A Vacation Turns Sinister [Exclusive] at The Playlist.
- 11/3/2017
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
After his satire on the utopia of Gen Y, The Woods, Matthew Lessner returns with a new feature, Automatic at Sea, a psychedelic chamber piece with flair. A boy meets a girl. The boy invites the girl to his family´s private island. He, Peter (David Henry Gerson), is a charismatic wealthy heir. She, Eve (Livia Hiselius), is a not so naive Swedish traveler. After witnessing these first couple of minutes, alarms may ring loudly in your mind to this scenario being a rom-com, or a coming-of-age story, or a mash-up of both. Lessner serves this as an hors d´oeuvre to a big fat red herring. The duo land on the island, with the pretense that a party is going to explode once all the...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 1/24/2017
- Screen Anarchy
“In the province of the mind what one believes to be true, either is true or becomes true within certain limits.” – John C. Lilly “I don’t believe anything, but I have many suspicions.” – Robert Anton Wilson “Reality used to be a friend of mine.” – P.M. Dawn My name is Matthew Lessner. I have been making films for the past decade, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you’d never seen any of them. Several of my films have screened at big-name festivals, but none of them have been exactly championed or widely released. I’ve never been mentioned in […]...
- 1/17/2017
- by Matthew Lessner
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
“All These Voices”, a short film directed by AFI’s David Henry Gerson,
takes prize in Alternative Category. This film is very much a film about the transit from Germany to L.A…over the span of 70 years…
“All These Voices”, an AFI Conservatory thesis film directed by David Henry Gerson (AFI Class of 2015), has been selected as a winner in the Alternative category of the Student Academy Awards. One of 17 films to receive Student Academy Awards this year out of a record 1,749 submissions, the medal placements (gold, silver and bronze) will be announced at a ceremony for the winners on September 22, 2016. Student Academy Award winners are eligible for the Best Live Action Short Oscar® in 2017.
See David’s acceptance speech here
The creative team behind “All These Voices” features these AFI Class of 2015 filmmakers: director/writer David Henry Gerson; writers Martin Horvat and Brennan Elizabeth Peters; producer Beatrice von Schwerin...
takes prize in Alternative Category. This film is very much a film about the transit from Germany to L.A…over the span of 70 years…
“All These Voices”, an AFI Conservatory thesis film directed by David Henry Gerson (AFI Class of 2015), has been selected as a winner in the Alternative category of the Student Academy Awards. One of 17 films to receive Student Academy Awards this year out of a record 1,749 submissions, the medal placements (gold, silver and bronze) will be announced at a ceremony for the winners on September 22, 2016. Student Academy Award winners are eligible for the Best Live Action Short Oscar® in 2017.
See David’s acceptance speech here
The creative team behind “All These Voices” features these AFI Class of 2015 filmmakers: director/writer David Henry Gerson; writers Martin Horvat and Brennan Elizabeth Peters; producer Beatrice von Schwerin...
- 10/4/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Whether you are a filmmaker, or one of the Sundance programmers whose task it is to identify the films that make up a line-up, it is indeed the most wonderful time of the year. The 32nd edition of the Sundance Film Festival kicks off on January 21st with Park City and Salt Lake City. Two decades back, Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan’s Troublesome Creek: A Midwestern was the Grand Jury Prize winner in the Documentary section while Todd Solondz’s Welcome to the Dollhouse beat out the likes of Nicole Holofcener’s Walking and Talking, Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott’s Big Night, Mary Harron’s I Shot Andy Warhol and Alexander Payne’s Citizen Ruth for the Grand Jury Prize dramatic.
As per our tradition here on the site and as we all get ready for the festival, we like to propose an overview of the films we...
As per our tradition here on the site and as we all get ready for the festival, we like to propose an overview of the films we...
- 11/23/2015
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Matthew Lessner’s first feature film "The Woods" played at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival where it made history as the first Kickstarter funded film to premiere at the festival. He is now turning again to Kickstarter to raise his finishing funds for his feature, "Automatic at Sea," which was selected as a finalist in last year's Us In Progress program in Paris. The film is produced by and stars David Henry Gerson, who also worked with Lessner on their 2014 Sundance Audience Award winning short film "Chapel Perilous."
More information on his new campaign can be found Here
"Automatic at Sea" is described as a wildly imaginative, enigmatic, disturbing, and often hilarious dive into the dark side of love/ reality. An immensely talented international team of collaborators spent a month living and working together on the beautiful and storied island of Martha’s Vineyard to bring writer/ director Matthew Lessner's vision to life. The film has been completely shot and edited and is now awaiting final post work which the funds raised through this new campaign will be used.
The project was born when actor/ producer David Henry Gerson attended a screening of writer/ director Matthew Lessner’s first feature film "The Woods" at the Sundance Film Festival. David approached Matthew immediately after the screening and told him that he was interested in helping him make his next film. Matthew enjoyed the flattery and thought David looked like a real-life satyr. Thus began a long, strange, fruitful friendship and collaboration.
“I loved Matthew’s wit and voice in The Woods. The dynamic of the people involved, and the collaborative and immersive way it was made really spoke to me. I immediately knew I wanted to build a project with him, and try to evoke a similar environment of creation,” said David Henry Gerson.
Writer/ director Matthew Lessner added, "Shortly after we met at Sundance, David invited me out to spend some time on Martha's Vineyard to try and develop a new project. I’d never been, but knew that presidents like to hang out there, so I said yes. It was soon agreed that we would make a kind of horror film about the things that were terrifying me most at the time, which were not slashers or monsters, but the inner reaches of my own mind, the unanswerable questions that kept me up at night. Questions like, 'Am I really me?' 'Do I actually exist?' 'Can you ever really know anyone?' 'Why are Snickers so good?' 'Do I really have free will?' ' If so, why can’t I stop thinking about Crystal Pepsi?'
Here's the synopsis: On a whim, Eve (young Swedish traveler) accepts an invitation from Peter (wealthy heir) to vacation on his family’s private island off the coast of New England. As a series of unexpected delays prevent other guests from arriving, Eve discovers that she has little in common with the increasingly erratic Peter and that something is not quite right on this mysterious island. Gradually the idyllic natural beauty of her surroundings dissolves, and Eve finds herself trapped in an unstable reality punctuated by feverish visions, dimensional shifting and secret pizza.
While developing the film we shot a short film called Chapel Perilous as a kind of test collaboration. Aesthetically and tonally it was quite different from the future feature, but it explored some of the same themes. Chapel Perilous went on to premiere at Sundance where it won the Audience Award and wound up online as a Vimeo Staff Pick.
Last summer, we had the good fortune to be invited to participate in the Us in Progress, Paris program, screening our work-in-progress edit of "Automatic at Sea" along with 3 other fantastic films. It was an amazing experience and an invaluable learning opportunity.
'Automatic at Sea' is shot and edited, but in order to finish post-production and bring it to theaters your support is essential . ( If you’re not of the film world, post-production might not be something you think much of when enjoying a film, but it is essential to creating a polished finished product, and unfortunately it is not cheap .) The post-production process will include re-assembling the film in the highest quality format available, adding visual effects, color correcting, and sound design (which will be a major and essential part of the final experience).
The only reason this film exists is because all those who have been involved until this point were interested in taking a risk on something new and unique. And now we ask you, stranger, to join us. Won’t you?"
More information on Lessner's new campaign can be found Here.
More information on his new campaign can be found Here
"Automatic at Sea" is described as a wildly imaginative, enigmatic, disturbing, and often hilarious dive into the dark side of love/ reality. An immensely talented international team of collaborators spent a month living and working together on the beautiful and storied island of Martha’s Vineyard to bring writer/ director Matthew Lessner's vision to life. The film has been completely shot and edited and is now awaiting final post work which the funds raised through this new campaign will be used.
The project was born when actor/ producer David Henry Gerson attended a screening of writer/ director Matthew Lessner’s first feature film "The Woods" at the Sundance Film Festival. David approached Matthew immediately after the screening and told him that he was interested in helping him make his next film. Matthew enjoyed the flattery and thought David looked like a real-life satyr. Thus began a long, strange, fruitful friendship and collaboration.
“I loved Matthew’s wit and voice in The Woods. The dynamic of the people involved, and the collaborative and immersive way it was made really spoke to me. I immediately knew I wanted to build a project with him, and try to evoke a similar environment of creation,” said David Henry Gerson.
Writer/ director Matthew Lessner added, "Shortly after we met at Sundance, David invited me out to spend some time on Martha's Vineyard to try and develop a new project. I’d never been, but knew that presidents like to hang out there, so I said yes. It was soon agreed that we would make a kind of horror film about the things that were terrifying me most at the time, which were not slashers or monsters, but the inner reaches of my own mind, the unanswerable questions that kept me up at night. Questions like, 'Am I really me?' 'Do I actually exist?' 'Can you ever really know anyone?' 'Why are Snickers so good?' 'Do I really have free will?' ' If so, why can’t I stop thinking about Crystal Pepsi?'
Here's the synopsis: On a whim, Eve (young Swedish traveler) accepts an invitation from Peter (wealthy heir) to vacation on his family’s private island off the coast of New England. As a series of unexpected delays prevent other guests from arriving, Eve discovers that she has little in common with the increasingly erratic Peter and that something is not quite right on this mysterious island. Gradually the idyllic natural beauty of her surroundings dissolves, and Eve finds herself trapped in an unstable reality punctuated by feverish visions, dimensional shifting and secret pizza.
While developing the film we shot a short film called Chapel Perilous as a kind of test collaboration. Aesthetically and tonally it was quite different from the future feature, but it explored some of the same themes. Chapel Perilous went on to premiere at Sundance where it won the Audience Award and wound up online as a Vimeo Staff Pick.
Last summer, we had the good fortune to be invited to participate in the Us in Progress, Paris program, screening our work-in-progress edit of "Automatic at Sea" along with 3 other fantastic films. It was an amazing experience and an invaluable learning opportunity.
'Automatic at Sea' is shot and edited, but in order to finish post-production and bring it to theaters your support is essential . ( If you’re not of the film world, post-production might not be something you think much of when enjoying a film, but it is essential to creating a polished finished product, and unfortunately it is not cheap .) The post-production process will include re-assembling the film in the highest quality format available, adding visual effects, color correcting, and sound design (which will be a major and essential part of the final experience).
The only reason this film exists is because all those who have been involved until this point were interested in taking a risk on something new and unique. And now we ask you, stranger, to join us. Won’t you?"
More information on Lessner's new campaign can be found Here.
- 11/13/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
I originally took notice of the project when the trades announced that the oft-used supporting indie starlet Louisa Krause (non-related pic above — who we interviewed back in the day for Martha Marcy May Marlene) was the featured “potential screamer” lead on this project. Filmmaker Jordan Galland has flirted with Park City before, his debut Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead (2009) received a special screening status at Slamdance. Along with his sophomore film item Alter Egos (2012), the summer shot Brooklyn set Ava’s Possessions basically informs us that the musician slash filmmaker’s interests lie within the framework of the horror genre. Certainly the addition of supporting players include Lou Taylor Pucci, Jemima Kirke, Stella Schnabel (You Wont Miss Me) and John Ventimiglia amps up the end product, and Galland’s ongoing creative collaboration with musician Sean Lennon might earmark the project as an appointment with the occult that avoids trappings of...
- 11/11/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Best describe as an updated homage to 50′s French cinema, Matthew Lessner’s history with the festival dates back to the showing of his short film By Modern Measure (2008). His second trip came with the experimental, outdoorsy New Frontier programmed feature debut The Woods (2011), which comes with a built-in asterisk of sorts since it was the very first film at Sundance to have used Kickstarter for funding. His third visit Chapel Perilous (2014) claimed the Short Filmmaking Audience Award. Sprinkle some music video directing work with the likes The Dirty Projectors and The Raveonettes and we’ve got a burgeoning filmmaker who works with a biting tongue-in-cheek tonality and a visual range that appears limitless. Recently profiled at the Us in Progress Paris fest, Automatic at Sea proposes a good dose of fantasy with subdued reality (see set pic above).
Gist: On a whim, Eve, a young Swedish traveler (Livia Hiselius...
Gist: On a whim, Eve, a young Swedish traveler (Livia Hiselius...
- 11/11/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
While Tiff has become film premiere terrain for his last director outings (the horribly timed post 9/11 released The Grey Zone and 2009′s Leaves of Grass), Tim Blake Nelson could be deemed as a return customer in Sundance folklore. His stacked resume at Sundance includes his first three premiered and/or workshopped outings (includes his short Kansas), and he is rooted at the Institute, being a Creative Advisor in the Directors Lab on four separate occasions. Employing the mapped out ensemble narrative strategy for his fifth feature film, the multi-tasker called upon a team of fellow thesps in Gretchen Mol, Corey Stoll, Michael Kenneth Williams, Jessica Hecht, Hannah Marks, Glenn Close, Scott Cohen, Sam Waterston and team captain Kristen Stewart (see pap pic above) for Anesthesia. Production on the New York City set drama began late last year, so despite turning into James Franco’s muse (five straight feature films) he...
- 11/11/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
I met David Henry Gerson in Paris last week after seeing his film there at Champs Elysee Film Festival. "Automatic At Sea" competed for finishing funds in the Us In Progress section at the Fest. (Good film, didn't win.)
Us in Progress, Paris
David starred in and produced this film which was directed and written by Matthew Lessner.
In 2011 they were both in Park City in January. Matthew's first feature "The Woods" was in Sundance, New Frontiers section and was distributed in U.S. by Film Movement. It was shortlisted for Independent Spirit and Gotham Awards. The San Francisco Film Society has awarded him two grants for his upcoming feature "Terror Tuesday".
David's film showed then in Slamdance. A documentary, " Ultra Violet for Sixteen Minutes" showed a Warhol period screen test of his future star Ultra Violet and included an interview. She died recently and in the film discussed her art and connection to Mormonism.
David liked Matthew's film then and describes it as summing up his generation. 'The Obama-era-over-socially-networked generation. The generation is overwhelmed by options. The children of the '90's bear a darkness under the surface. The FaceBook feed, scrolling not landing, the big issues are not dealt with.'
So they worked together in "Automatic At Sea". The film is contemplative, dreamlike, even poetic. It has three characters in a beach house, David and two young women. There is no story and it is a study of characters and their interaction. David says of his character there, 'he can do anything but therefore does nothing'. I told David of my reactions to the film and we began discussing his views on acting which I found very interesting.
He comes from the Washington DC area and was raised there. He began acting very young and even had a stage at his family home. He remembered Henry Winkler's advice to actors. 'Before acting, get an education.'
In New York he studied Method acting at the Drama Academy. In La he studied with Sandra Secat. 'Acting is deep and personal to me, using dreams and the subconscious. It is complicated and powerful, as the actor is powerless. I want to do roles I believe in and that create opportunities.'
He goes on, 'Film has responsibility. It occupies minds for a few hours and therefore film needs to inspire. Actors in film need to create poetic art, to give voice to emotional issues, to encourage action. This becomes the question for a film character overwhelmed by responsibility.'
In Sundance '14 he had a short, 13 minutes, the L.A .based " Chapel Perilous ”. David was lead actor and producer. It won an Audience Award and was by the same team that did the feature. It is about war and the earth's destruction. Manly, threatening and aloof in his role in “Automatic at Sear", in life he is also smart (a graduate of Colombia University with a bachelor's degree in English Literature and currently attending the American Film Institute) and engaged.
His future? David says, 'I want to keep acting and always be looking at other options'.
About "Automatic at Sea"
Writer/director Matthew Lessner and producer David Henry Gerson presented "Automatic at Sea". Their short film " Chapel Perilous " previously won the 2014 Audience Award at Sundance. Matthew's previous feature "The Woods", distributed by Film Movement, premiered in the New Frontier Program at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011 and was shortlisted for Independent Spirit and Gotham Awards. The San Francisco Film Society has awarded him two grants for his upcoming feature "Terror Tuesday". Producer David Henry Gerson also starred and to my eye and in my opinion is one of the few mature (adult vs. boy-type) male leads in this new generation of actors. Manly, threatening and aloof in his role, in life he is also smart (a graduate of Colombia University with a bachelor's degree in English Literature and currently attending the American Film Institute) and engaged.
Us in Progress, Paris
David starred in and produced this film which was directed and written by Matthew Lessner.
In 2011 they were both in Park City in January. Matthew's first feature "The Woods" was in Sundance, New Frontiers section and was distributed in U.S. by Film Movement. It was shortlisted for Independent Spirit and Gotham Awards. The San Francisco Film Society has awarded him two grants for his upcoming feature "Terror Tuesday".
David's film showed then in Slamdance. A documentary, " Ultra Violet for Sixteen Minutes" showed a Warhol period screen test of his future star Ultra Violet and included an interview. She died recently and in the film discussed her art and connection to Mormonism.
David liked Matthew's film then and describes it as summing up his generation. 'The Obama-era-over-socially-networked generation. The generation is overwhelmed by options. The children of the '90's bear a darkness under the surface. The FaceBook feed, scrolling not landing, the big issues are not dealt with.'
So they worked together in "Automatic At Sea". The film is contemplative, dreamlike, even poetic. It has three characters in a beach house, David and two young women. There is no story and it is a study of characters and their interaction. David says of his character there, 'he can do anything but therefore does nothing'. I told David of my reactions to the film and we began discussing his views on acting which I found very interesting.
He comes from the Washington DC area and was raised there. He began acting very young and even had a stage at his family home. He remembered Henry Winkler's advice to actors. 'Before acting, get an education.'
In New York he studied Method acting at the Drama Academy. In La he studied with Sandra Secat. 'Acting is deep and personal to me, using dreams and the subconscious. It is complicated and powerful, as the actor is powerless. I want to do roles I believe in and that create opportunities.'
He goes on, 'Film has responsibility. It occupies minds for a few hours and therefore film needs to inspire. Actors in film need to create poetic art, to give voice to emotional issues, to encourage action. This becomes the question for a film character overwhelmed by responsibility.'
In Sundance '14 he had a short, 13 minutes, the L.A .based " Chapel Perilous ”. David was lead actor and producer. It won an Audience Award and was by the same team that did the feature. It is about war and the earth's destruction. Manly, threatening and aloof in his role in “Automatic at Sear", in life he is also smart (a graduate of Colombia University with a bachelor's degree in English Literature and currently attending the American Film Institute) and engaged.
His future? David says, 'I want to keep acting and always be looking at other options'.
About "Automatic at Sea"
Writer/director Matthew Lessner and producer David Henry Gerson presented "Automatic at Sea". Their short film " Chapel Perilous " previously won the 2014 Audience Award at Sundance. Matthew's previous feature "The Woods", distributed by Film Movement, premiered in the New Frontier Program at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011 and was shortlisted for Independent Spirit and Gotham Awards. The San Francisco Film Society has awarded him two grants for his upcoming feature "Terror Tuesday". Producer David Henry Gerson also starred and to my eye and in my opinion is one of the few mature (adult vs. boy-type) male leads in this new generation of actors. Manly, threatening and aloof in his role, in life he is also smart (a graduate of Colombia University with a bachelor's degree in English Literature and currently attending the American Film Institute) and engaged.
- 6/27/2014
- by Peter Belsito
- Sydney's Buzz
The Champs Elysees Film Festival's in partnership with U.S. in Progress awarded the U.S. in Progress Prize to "Creative Control" Director and the film's star, Benjamin Dickinson, and Producers Craig Shilowich, Melody Roscher, Zachary Mortensen and Mark de Pace. Dickenson's first feature film "First Winter" premiered at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.
"Creative Control", a dark sci-fi comedy is the near-future story of four Brooklynites whose tech-obsessed lifestyles get the better of them. Anxious, ambitious ad executive starts a chain reaction of destruction when he becomes obsessed with his best friend's free-spirited girlfriend while working on a campaign for a new generation of Augmented Reality Glasses. The life-like avatar he creates of her becomes too life-like as the blurred boundary between reality and fantasy spreads into an out-of-control space where everyone's public, private and imaginary lives implode.
Benjamin Dickenson grew up in Wheaton, Illinois and moved to New York in 1999 to attend Nyu's undergraduate film program. After graduation he and some friends from school started Waverly Films in a warehouse in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Benjamin started directing music videos for Dfa record artists such as LCD Soundsystem, The Rapture and the Juan Maclean. He has since made videos for Q-Tip and Reggie Watts, the "disinformationist" who c is currently appearing on the IFC television series "Comedy Bang! Bang" which began airing on June 8, 2012 and was renewed for a third season which will premiere in 2014. He has also directed commercials for Google, The Ford Motor Corporation, BMW, MTV and Guitar Hero.
Producer Marc de Pace is a partner at Ghost Robot, another Bushwick production company. In 2011 Mark produced Benjamin's "First Winter"released by Film Movement. He exec produced Michael Cera's short film "Brazzaville Teen-Ager" and Joey Garfield's feature film "A Love Letter for You". HIs producing credits also include music videos for Bjork, The Rapture and Grizzly Bear and ads for Google, Toshiba and At&T.
U.S. in Progress Paris took place during the third edition of the Champs Elysées Film Festival in Paris, on June 11-12 2014. The program presented 4 U.S. indie films in post-production to European sales agents, distributors and festival programmers in order to achieve completion and to foster the circulation and distribution of American indie films in Europe. The event has doubled the amount of submissions this year and is quickly achieving a winning track record.
The trajectories of the directing/ writing/ producing/ acting teams of the other three contenders are all trending distinctively upward:
Writer/director Matthew Lessner and producer David Henry Gerson presented "Automatic at Sea". Their short film "Chapel Perilous" previously won the 2014 Audience Award at Sundance. Matthew's previous feature "The Woods", distributed by Film Movement, premiered in the New Frontier Program at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011 and was shortlisted for Independent Spirit and Gotham Awards. The San Francisco Film Society has awarded him two grants for his upcoming feature "Terror Tuesday". Producer David Henry Gerson also starred and to my eye and in my opinion is one of the few mature (adult vs. boy-type) male leads in this new generation of actors. Manly, threatening and aloof in his role, in life he is also smart (a graduate of Colombia University with a bachelor's degree in English Literature and currently attending the American Film Institute) and engaged, as shown in the shorts he wrote and directed "Broken Badge" about a NYPD officer and American Standard about a veteran returning home from Afghanistan to his illegal immigrant girlfriend.
"Eugenia and John" directed by Hossein Keshavarz whose film "Dog Sweat" was released by Indiepix to critical acclaim in 2011 and which the New York Times called "polished; the young actors warmly believable" and NPR called "astonishingly gutsy" screened his second film, "Eugenia and John", produced by Mryam Azadi, Chad Burris and Amy Durning, stars Wesley Tunison and Venecia Troncoso who has the distinction of having starred in the Sundance hit, "Mosquita y Mari".
"Winning Dad" was written, directed and produced by Arthur Allen with producers Julia Bruk and Case Barden. This Lgbt romance is the debut feature of a young man whose career path after graduating St. John's College in Maryland, is as entertaining as his film. After supporting himself for several years in the Seattle Theater Community (and washing windows at the Space Needle), in 2008 he joined the United States Merchant Marines where he wrote "winning Dad" aboard the Usns Gilliland. On leaving, he was recruited by the Washington United for Marriage Coalition as part of its Speaker's Bureau to campaign for marriage equality in Washington State. In 2012 he began working for an Arabic translation company and represented the United States at the second Baghdad International Translation conference in Baghdad, Iraq.
If these four films are not quality enough to show the success of U.S. in Progress, the paths of the other films they have shown over the three years included Sundance film 2013's winning film "Ping Pong Summer" directed by Michael Tully and starring Susan Sarandon, Amy Sedaris, John Hannah, Judah Friedlander, and Lea Thompson was picked up for domestic distribution by Millennium and Gravitas and is currently in release theatrically in U.S. The premium international sales agent, Films Boutique, has sold it to France, Germany and Russia.
The former U.S. in Progress films, "Ping Pong Summer", "Sun Belt Express", Summer of Blood" by Onur Tukel whose film "Richard's Wedding" also showed in U.S. in Progress, are also showing at the Champs-Elysees Film Festival, the only film festival in Paris. This year Ceff is also hosting The Paris Coproduction Village with 12 feature films in development from Italy, U.S., Israel, The Philippines, Romania, Sri Lanka and U.S., Germany, Chile and Argentina, Thailand, Turkey, Italy and Canada, and Australia. It is also hosting the four-month Paris residents of the Cannes Film Festival's Cinefondation, a dozen young directors whose selection is based on the quality of their shorts or first feature film and on the merits of their project currenlty in development their motivation.
The Champs Elysees is alive with the energy infused by the top level of fresh new talent, meeting for cocktails if not over dinner and lunch every evening in the terrace of Publicis at the top the the Champs Elysees, overlooking the Arc de Triumph. ...
"Creative Control", a dark sci-fi comedy is the near-future story of four Brooklynites whose tech-obsessed lifestyles get the better of them. Anxious, ambitious ad executive starts a chain reaction of destruction when he becomes obsessed with his best friend's free-spirited girlfriend while working on a campaign for a new generation of Augmented Reality Glasses. The life-like avatar he creates of her becomes too life-like as the blurred boundary between reality and fantasy spreads into an out-of-control space where everyone's public, private and imaginary lives implode.
Benjamin Dickenson grew up in Wheaton, Illinois and moved to New York in 1999 to attend Nyu's undergraduate film program. After graduation he and some friends from school started Waverly Films in a warehouse in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Benjamin started directing music videos for Dfa record artists such as LCD Soundsystem, The Rapture and the Juan Maclean. He has since made videos for Q-Tip and Reggie Watts, the "disinformationist" who c is currently appearing on the IFC television series "Comedy Bang! Bang" which began airing on June 8, 2012 and was renewed for a third season which will premiere in 2014. He has also directed commercials for Google, The Ford Motor Corporation, BMW, MTV and Guitar Hero.
Producer Marc de Pace is a partner at Ghost Robot, another Bushwick production company. In 2011 Mark produced Benjamin's "First Winter"released by Film Movement. He exec produced Michael Cera's short film "Brazzaville Teen-Ager" and Joey Garfield's feature film "A Love Letter for You". HIs producing credits also include music videos for Bjork, The Rapture and Grizzly Bear and ads for Google, Toshiba and At&T.
U.S. in Progress Paris took place during the third edition of the Champs Elysées Film Festival in Paris, on June 11-12 2014. The program presented 4 U.S. indie films in post-production to European sales agents, distributors and festival programmers in order to achieve completion and to foster the circulation and distribution of American indie films in Europe. The event has doubled the amount of submissions this year and is quickly achieving a winning track record.
The trajectories of the directing/ writing/ producing/ acting teams of the other three contenders are all trending distinctively upward:
Writer/director Matthew Lessner and producer David Henry Gerson presented "Automatic at Sea". Their short film "Chapel Perilous" previously won the 2014 Audience Award at Sundance. Matthew's previous feature "The Woods", distributed by Film Movement, premiered in the New Frontier Program at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011 and was shortlisted for Independent Spirit and Gotham Awards. The San Francisco Film Society has awarded him two grants for his upcoming feature "Terror Tuesday". Producer David Henry Gerson also starred and to my eye and in my opinion is one of the few mature (adult vs. boy-type) male leads in this new generation of actors. Manly, threatening and aloof in his role, in life he is also smart (a graduate of Colombia University with a bachelor's degree in English Literature and currently attending the American Film Institute) and engaged, as shown in the shorts he wrote and directed "Broken Badge" about a NYPD officer and American Standard about a veteran returning home from Afghanistan to his illegal immigrant girlfriend.
"Eugenia and John" directed by Hossein Keshavarz whose film "Dog Sweat" was released by Indiepix to critical acclaim in 2011 and which the New York Times called "polished; the young actors warmly believable" and NPR called "astonishingly gutsy" screened his second film, "Eugenia and John", produced by Mryam Azadi, Chad Burris and Amy Durning, stars Wesley Tunison and Venecia Troncoso who has the distinction of having starred in the Sundance hit, "Mosquita y Mari".
"Winning Dad" was written, directed and produced by Arthur Allen with producers Julia Bruk and Case Barden. This Lgbt romance is the debut feature of a young man whose career path after graduating St. John's College in Maryland, is as entertaining as his film. After supporting himself for several years in the Seattle Theater Community (and washing windows at the Space Needle), in 2008 he joined the United States Merchant Marines where he wrote "winning Dad" aboard the Usns Gilliland. On leaving, he was recruited by the Washington United for Marriage Coalition as part of its Speaker's Bureau to campaign for marriage equality in Washington State. In 2012 he began working for an Arabic translation company and represented the United States at the second Baghdad International Translation conference in Baghdad, Iraq.
If these four films are not quality enough to show the success of U.S. in Progress, the paths of the other films they have shown over the three years included Sundance film 2013's winning film "Ping Pong Summer" directed by Michael Tully and starring Susan Sarandon, Amy Sedaris, John Hannah, Judah Friedlander, and Lea Thompson was picked up for domestic distribution by Millennium and Gravitas and is currently in release theatrically in U.S. The premium international sales agent, Films Boutique, has sold it to France, Germany and Russia.
The former U.S. in Progress films, "Ping Pong Summer", "Sun Belt Express", Summer of Blood" by Onur Tukel whose film "Richard's Wedding" also showed in U.S. in Progress, are also showing at the Champs-Elysees Film Festival, the only film festival in Paris. This year Ceff is also hosting The Paris Coproduction Village with 12 feature films in development from Italy, U.S., Israel, The Philippines, Romania, Sri Lanka and U.S., Germany, Chile and Argentina, Thailand, Turkey, Italy and Canada, and Australia. It is also hosting the four-month Paris residents of the Cannes Film Festival's Cinefondation, a dozen young directors whose selection is based on the quality of their shorts or first feature film and on the merits of their project currenlty in development their motivation.
The Champs Elysees is alive with the energy infused by the top level of fresh new talent, meeting for cocktails if not over dinner and lunch every evening in the terrace of Publicis at the top the the Champs Elysees, overlooking the Arc de Triumph. ...
- 6/14/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Benjamin Dickinson’s dark sci-fi comedy took the top prize at the Us In Progress independent showcase in Paris on Wednesday (11).
The event, hosted by the Champs-Elysées Film Festival, aims to connect upcoming films from the Us independent scene with distributors and sales agents in Europe.
It is Dickinson’s second feature film after his debut First Winter, about a group of Brooklynite yoga students attending a retreat in an old house in upstate New York, which premiered in Tribeca.
In Creative Control, Dickinson has set the tale in the heart of Brooklyn’s creative community. The director stars as an ambitious young ad executive working on a campaign for a new generation of augmented reality glasses.
He loses his own hold on reality after he creates a life-like avatar of his fashion photographer best-friend’s girlfriend, played by up and coming actress Alexia Rasmussen (pictured). The youthful ensemble cast also features Nora Zehetner and Dan Gill.
Shot...
The event, hosted by the Champs-Elysées Film Festival, aims to connect upcoming films from the Us independent scene with distributors and sales agents in Europe.
It is Dickinson’s second feature film after his debut First Winter, about a group of Brooklynite yoga students attending a retreat in an old house in upstate New York, which premiered in Tribeca.
In Creative Control, Dickinson has set the tale in the heart of Brooklyn’s creative community. The director stars as an ambitious young ad executive working on a campaign for a new generation of augmented reality glasses.
He loses his own hold on reality after he creates a life-like avatar of his fashion photographer best-friend’s girlfriend, played by up and coming actress Alexia Rasmussen (pictured). The youthful ensemble cast also features Nora Zehetner and Dan Gill.
Shot...
- 6/11/2014
- ScreenDaily
Following their win of the 2014 Audience Award at Sundance for their short film Chapel Perilous , writer/director Matthew Lessner and producer David Gerson's new feature film Automatic at Sea has been selected as 1 of 4 auteur American films to screen at the Black Rabbit U.S. In Progress Paris program as a work in progress.
U.S. in Progress Paris will take place during the third edition of the Champs Elysées Film Festival in Paris, on June 11-12 2014. The program will present 4 Us indie films in post-production to European buyers in order to achieve completion and to foster the circulation and distribution of American indie films in Europe.
We are excited to announce the selection for the third edition of Us in Progress Paris:
« Automatic at Sea » by Matthew Lessner
« Creative Control » by Benjamin Dickinson
« Eugenia and John » by Hossein Keshavarz
« Plastic Jesus » by Erica Dunton
Previous participants of Us in Progress included:
1982
by Tommy Oliver (Toronto 2013),
Ping Pong Summer
by Michael Tully (Sundance 2014, world sales by Films Boutique),
Bluebird
by Lance Edmands (Tribeca 2013, Karlovy Vary 2013),
I Used To Be Darker
by Matthew Porterfield (Sundance 2013, Berlinale 2013),
Milkshake
by David Andalman (Sundance 2013),
Hide Your Smiling Faces
by Daniel Patrick Carbone (Berlinale Generation 14Plus 2013, Tribeca 2013),
A Teacher
by Hannah Fidell (Sundance 2013, SXSW 2013), Jason Cortlund & Julia Halperin’s
Now, Forager: a Film About Love and Fungi
by Jason Cortlund & Julia Halperin (Rotterdam 2012, New Directors/New Films 2012, Gotham Awards nominee)
Sun Don’t Shine
by Amy Seimetz (SXSW 2012, Edinburgh Iff 2013, Gotham Awards nominee 2012)
Not Waving But Drowning
by Devyn Waitt (Sarasota Ff, world sales by Premium Films).
More information here:
http://www.blackrabbitfilm.com/us-in-progress/paris-2014-edition/
www.montelomax.com
http://www.ioncinema.com/news/us-in-progress-paris-tully-meyerhoff-and-zinn-among-6-selected...
U.S. in Progress Paris will take place during the third edition of the Champs Elysées Film Festival in Paris, on June 11-12 2014. The program will present 4 Us indie films in post-production to European buyers in order to achieve completion and to foster the circulation and distribution of American indie films in Europe.
We are excited to announce the selection for the third edition of Us in Progress Paris:
« Automatic at Sea » by Matthew Lessner
« Creative Control » by Benjamin Dickinson
« Eugenia and John » by Hossein Keshavarz
« Plastic Jesus » by Erica Dunton
Previous participants of Us in Progress included:
1982
by Tommy Oliver (Toronto 2013),
Ping Pong Summer
by Michael Tully (Sundance 2014, world sales by Films Boutique),
Bluebird
by Lance Edmands (Tribeca 2013, Karlovy Vary 2013),
I Used To Be Darker
by Matthew Porterfield (Sundance 2013, Berlinale 2013),
Milkshake
by David Andalman (Sundance 2013),
Hide Your Smiling Faces
by Daniel Patrick Carbone (Berlinale Generation 14Plus 2013, Tribeca 2013),
A Teacher
by Hannah Fidell (Sundance 2013, SXSW 2013), Jason Cortlund & Julia Halperin’s
Now, Forager: a Film About Love and Fungi
by Jason Cortlund & Julia Halperin (Rotterdam 2012, New Directors/New Films 2012, Gotham Awards nominee)
Sun Don’t Shine
by Amy Seimetz (SXSW 2012, Edinburgh Iff 2013, Gotham Awards nominee 2012)
Not Waving But Drowning
by Devyn Waitt (Sarasota Ff, world sales by Premium Films).
More information here:
http://www.blackrabbitfilm.com/us-in-progress/paris-2014-edition/
www.montelomax.com
http://www.ioncinema.com/news/us-in-progress-paris-tully-meyerhoff-and-zinn-among-6-selected...
- 5/23/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Why Watch? Robbin is out to change lives, admire great skylights and assure you that the snake attacking you isn’t poisonous. Simply put, he’s a good dude. All he wants to do is show you a brief presentation about his religion and expose you to the truth about your personal DNA structure. You’d let him in your house, right? He seems legit. This wondrously bizarre short film goes door to door in a Captain Eo costume, offering a bit of psychedelia and a dent for skepticism. Matthew Lessner’s Chapel Perilous (which may be a reference to King Arthur or an occult psychological state) takes an inch to move forward, but once the wacky ball starts rolling, it explores some radical, hilarious territory while grabbing you by the jaw. A literal crowd pleaser, it won the Audience Award at Sundance this year. Check it out while you still can: What Will It Cost? About...
- 1/29/2014
- by Scott Beggs
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
A mysterious door-to-door salesman shows up at Levi’s home begging for a shot to present his very Scientology-esque pitch. Before Levi knows it, he’s sitting in his living room with his mail carrier tripping out to some serious mystical weirdness that involves the band Sun Araw, a snake and horns. Matthew Lessner’s Chapel Perilous won the Short Film Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, and it’s easy to see why. Star David Gerson, who plays Levi, charms us with mumbling, lethargic response to the madness (with a Capri Sun never far from hand). Spooky salesman Kris Park expertly straddles the line between home-invasion creep and quirky zealot. Meanwhile, we want to see the exuberant Bobby McGee is just about everything from...
Read More...
Read More...
- 1/29/2014
- by Alison Nastasi
- Movies.com
YouTube’s importance at Sundance grows every year. This year, they held free workshops on how to maximize your use of YouTube. Here is the latest schedule of YouTube on Main Street events and press assets, please visit google site ytsundance2014 or Twitter at #YouTubeSundance.
YouTube offered film fans access to the 2014 Sundance Film Festival both on and offline through several initiatives including:
Youtube On Main Street (596 Main Street, Park City, Ut 84060)
Open January 16-25, 2014 at various times. Warm up at “YouTube on Main Street,” the place for the creative community to convene for must-see panels, happy hours, film receptions, screenings, talks and DJ sets. Free Wi-Fi and drinks are available to badge holders when programs are not in session.
Daily Events at YouTube on Main Street:
“Live @ Sundance” On The Sundance Film Festival Youtube Channel Live daily from January 17-24, 2014 at 11am Mst at www.youtube.com/sff. Whether you’re in Park City or Phuket, you can check out the best of the fest daily with “Live @ Sundance.” The one-hour talk show will air live daily at 11am Mst January 17-24, 2014 from “YouTube on Mainstreet” on the sff (Sundance Film Festival) YouTube channel. The show will feature guest hosts Shira Lazar,Casey Neistat andJimmy Conrad, filmmaker interviews, the latest news from the festival, exclusive sneak peeks and more.Yoga (Jan. 17-24; 7:30-9am Mst) - Breathe and ease into warrior pose at these daily yoga sessions. Cassey Ho, star of the popular blogilates channel on YouTube, will lead these classes on January 17-21 Free and open to the public.
Individual Events:
How and Why to Use YouTube Panel (Jan. 22; 2-3pm Mst) - Hear from independent filmmaker Casey Neistat about how he successfully uses YouTube to distribute his films and build an audience. Free and open to the public.YouTube on Main Street and Paste Afternoon Showcase (Jan. 22; 3- 6pm Mst) Paste Magazine’s Josh Jackson will introduce performances by Sleeping at Last, Matt Scannell of Vertical Horizon, Michael Tolcher, and Carina Round. Press RSVP recommended.YouTube Party (Jan. 22; 9pm-1am Mst) Includes Dj set by Mick By invitation onlyNext and Midnight Cocktails (Jan. 23; 9:30-11pm Mst) By invitation onlyThey Came Together Film Reception (Jan. 24; 6:30-8:30pm Mst) - A reception for the world premiere of the romantic comedy. Includes a live Google+ Hangout with talent from the film including Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd. By invitation only.Film Contact: Shelby Kimlick – skimlick@mprm.com
Youtube Presents The 2014 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Program As the presenting sponsor of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Program, YouTube will help showcase some of the official shorts in competition on the sff (Sundance Film Festival) YouTube channel. For a complete list of this year’s short films, please visit Sundance.org. Additionally, Sundance audiences will be exposed to some of the best content on YouTube with select videos from popular YouTube channels to run before short film screenings at the festival.
Youtube Audience Award
On Saturday, January 25, 2014, the YouTube Audience Award will be presented at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony to a short film in competition that garners the most amount of views on YouTube between January 16-24, 2014. Check out the films on the sff (Sundance Film Festival) YouTube channel or click here.
The Sundance Institute selected 15 films eligible for this award from this year’s competition that include:
Allergy to Originality
Directed by Drew Christie
4 min, U S A
Animation
A humorous animated 'Op-Doc' explores the rich history of adaptation, plagiarism, and other forms of appropriation in art.
The Big House
Directed by Musa Syeed
5 min, U S A/Yemen
fiction
When a young Yemeni boy ventures out of his cramped apartment and finds a key to the empty mansion down the street, he lets himself and his imagination run wild in the big house.
Burger
Directed by Magnus Mork
11 min, Norway/United Kingdom
fiction
It's late night in a burger bar.
Catherine
Directed by Dean Fleischer-Camp
13 min, U S A
fiction
Catherine returns to work after a hiatus.
Chapel Perilous
Directed by Matthew Lessner
13 min, U S A
fiction
Levi Gold is paid an unexpected visit by Robin, a door-to-door salesman with nothing to sell. The ensuing encounter forces Levi to confront his true mystical calling, and the nature of reality itself. A metaphysical comedy trip-out with Sun Araw.
Crime The Animated Series (Marcus McGhee)
Directed by Alix Lambert and Sam Chou
4 min, U S A/Canada
Animated documentary
From Bank robbers to cops to victims to observers, Crime: The Animated Series explores how crime affects us all. The series is dark, compelling, heartbreaking, and yes - sometimes funny.
Cruising Electric (1980)
Brumby Boylston
1 min, U S A
fiction
The marketing department green-lights a red-light tie-in: 60 lost seconds of modern movie merchandising.
Dig
Directed by Toby Halbrooks
10 min, U S A
fiction
A young girl watches her father dig a hole in their backyard. Mystified about his purpose, the neighborhood comes to watch.
Funnel
Directed by Andre Hyland
7 min, U S A
fiction
A man's car breaks down and sends him on a quest across town that slowly turns into the most fantastically mundane adventure.
Gregory Go Boom
Directed by Janicza Bravo
17 min, U S A
fiction
A paraplegic man leaves home for the first time only to discover that life in the outside world is not the way he had imagined it.
MeTube: August Sings Carmen 'Habanera'
Directed by Daniel Moshel
4 min, Austria
fiction
George Bizet`s "Habanera" from Carmen has been reinterpreted and enhanced with electronic sounds for MeTube, a homage to thousands of ambitious YouTube users and video bloggers, and gifted and less gifted self-promoters on the Internet.
Notes on Blindness
Directed by Peter Middleton and James Spinney
13 min, United Kingdom
Documentary
In 1983, writer and theologian John Hull became blind. To help make sense of his loss, he began keeping an audio diary. Encompassing dreams, memories, and his imaginative life, Notes on Blindness immerses the viewer in Hull's experience of blindness.
Passer Passer
Directed by Louis Morton
4 min, U S A
Animation
An animated city symphony celebrates the hidden world of background noise.
Rat Pack Rat
Directed by Todd Rohal
19 min, U S A
fiction
A Sammy Davis, Jr. impersonator, hired to visit with a loyal Rat Pack fan, finds himself delivering last rights at the boy's bedside.
Tim and Susan Have Matching Handguns
Directed by Joe Callander
2 min, U S A
Documentary
Love is swapping clips with your spouse...
YouTube offered film fans access to the 2014 Sundance Film Festival both on and offline through several initiatives including:
Youtube On Main Street (596 Main Street, Park City, Ut 84060)
Open January 16-25, 2014 at various times. Warm up at “YouTube on Main Street,” the place for the creative community to convene for must-see panels, happy hours, film receptions, screenings, talks and DJ sets. Free Wi-Fi and drinks are available to badge holders when programs are not in session.
Daily Events at YouTube on Main Street:
“Live @ Sundance” On The Sundance Film Festival Youtube Channel Live daily from January 17-24, 2014 at 11am Mst at www.youtube.com/sff. Whether you’re in Park City or Phuket, you can check out the best of the fest daily with “Live @ Sundance.” The one-hour talk show will air live daily at 11am Mst January 17-24, 2014 from “YouTube on Mainstreet” on the sff (Sundance Film Festival) YouTube channel. The show will feature guest hosts Shira Lazar,Casey Neistat andJimmy Conrad, filmmaker interviews, the latest news from the festival, exclusive sneak peeks and more.Yoga (Jan. 17-24; 7:30-9am Mst) - Breathe and ease into warrior pose at these daily yoga sessions. Cassey Ho, star of the popular blogilates channel on YouTube, will lead these classes on January 17-21 Free and open to the public.
Individual Events:
How and Why to Use YouTube Panel (Jan. 22; 2-3pm Mst) - Hear from independent filmmaker Casey Neistat about how he successfully uses YouTube to distribute his films and build an audience. Free and open to the public.YouTube on Main Street and Paste Afternoon Showcase (Jan. 22; 3- 6pm Mst) Paste Magazine’s Josh Jackson will introduce performances by Sleeping at Last, Matt Scannell of Vertical Horizon, Michael Tolcher, and Carina Round. Press RSVP recommended.YouTube Party (Jan. 22; 9pm-1am Mst) Includes Dj set by Mick By invitation onlyNext and Midnight Cocktails (Jan. 23; 9:30-11pm Mst) By invitation onlyThey Came Together Film Reception (Jan. 24; 6:30-8:30pm Mst) - A reception for the world premiere of the romantic comedy. Includes a live Google+ Hangout with talent from the film including Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd. By invitation only.Film Contact: Shelby Kimlick – skimlick@mprm.com
Youtube Presents The 2014 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Program As the presenting sponsor of the 2014 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Program, YouTube will help showcase some of the official shorts in competition on the sff (Sundance Film Festival) YouTube channel. For a complete list of this year’s short films, please visit Sundance.org. Additionally, Sundance audiences will be exposed to some of the best content on YouTube with select videos from popular YouTube channels to run before short film screenings at the festival.
Youtube Audience Award
On Saturday, January 25, 2014, the YouTube Audience Award will be presented at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony to a short film in competition that garners the most amount of views on YouTube between January 16-24, 2014. Check out the films on the sff (Sundance Film Festival) YouTube channel or click here.
The Sundance Institute selected 15 films eligible for this award from this year’s competition that include:
Allergy to Originality
Directed by Drew Christie
4 min, U S A
Animation
A humorous animated 'Op-Doc' explores the rich history of adaptation, plagiarism, and other forms of appropriation in art.
The Big House
Directed by Musa Syeed
5 min, U S A/Yemen
fiction
When a young Yemeni boy ventures out of his cramped apartment and finds a key to the empty mansion down the street, he lets himself and his imagination run wild in the big house.
Burger
Directed by Magnus Mork
11 min, Norway/United Kingdom
fiction
It's late night in a burger bar.
Catherine
Directed by Dean Fleischer-Camp
13 min, U S A
fiction
Catherine returns to work after a hiatus.
Chapel Perilous
Directed by Matthew Lessner
13 min, U S A
fiction
Levi Gold is paid an unexpected visit by Robin, a door-to-door salesman with nothing to sell. The ensuing encounter forces Levi to confront his true mystical calling, and the nature of reality itself. A metaphysical comedy trip-out with Sun Araw.
Crime The Animated Series (Marcus McGhee)
Directed by Alix Lambert and Sam Chou
4 min, U S A/Canada
Animated documentary
From Bank robbers to cops to victims to observers, Crime: The Animated Series explores how crime affects us all. The series is dark, compelling, heartbreaking, and yes - sometimes funny.
Cruising Electric (1980)
Brumby Boylston
1 min, U S A
fiction
The marketing department green-lights a red-light tie-in: 60 lost seconds of modern movie merchandising.
Dig
Directed by Toby Halbrooks
10 min, U S A
fiction
A young girl watches her father dig a hole in their backyard. Mystified about his purpose, the neighborhood comes to watch.
Funnel
Directed by Andre Hyland
7 min, U S A
fiction
A man's car breaks down and sends him on a quest across town that slowly turns into the most fantastically mundane adventure.
Gregory Go Boom
Directed by Janicza Bravo
17 min, U S A
fiction
A paraplegic man leaves home for the first time only to discover that life in the outside world is not the way he had imagined it.
MeTube: August Sings Carmen 'Habanera'
Directed by Daniel Moshel
4 min, Austria
fiction
George Bizet`s "Habanera" from Carmen has been reinterpreted and enhanced with electronic sounds for MeTube, a homage to thousands of ambitious YouTube users and video bloggers, and gifted and less gifted self-promoters on the Internet.
Notes on Blindness
Directed by Peter Middleton and James Spinney
13 min, United Kingdom
Documentary
In 1983, writer and theologian John Hull became blind. To help make sense of his loss, he began keeping an audio diary. Encompassing dreams, memories, and his imaginative life, Notes on Blindness immerses the viewer in Hull's experience of blindness.
Passer Passer
Directed by Louis Morton
4 min, U S A
Animation
An animated city symphony celebrates the hidden world of background noise.
Rat Pack Rat
Directed by Todd Rohal
19 min, U S A
fiction
A Sammy Davis, Jr. impersonator, hired to visit with a loyal Rat Pack fan, finds himself delivering last rights at the boy's bedside.
Tim and Susan Have Matching Handguns
Directed by Joe Callander
2 min, U S A
Documentary
Love is swapping clips with your spouse...
- 1/29/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Today’s film is the 2013 short Chapel Perilous. The film stars Kris Park, Bobby McGee, and David Henry Gerson, and is written and directed by Matthew Lessner. This is Lessner’s third short, and his first since he made his feature filmmaking debut in 2011. Chapel Perilous made its debut at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Youtube Shorts Audience Award.
****
The post Sunday Shorts: ‘Chapel Perilous’, winner at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival appeared first on Sound On Sight.
****
The post Sunday Shorts: ‘Chapel Perilous’, winner at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival appeared first on Sound On Sight.
- 1/26/2014
- by Deepayan Sengupta
- SoundOnSight
U.S. Dramatic Competition
Grand Jury Prize – Whiplash, directed by Damien Chazelle
Directing Award – Cutter Hodierne, Fishing Without Nets
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award – Craig Johnson & Mark Heyman, The Skeleton Twins
Excellence in Cinematography Award – Christopher Blauvelt, Low Down
Special Jury Prize for Breakthrough Talent – Justin Simien, writer-director of Dear White People
Special Jury Award for Musical Score – Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
Audience Award – Whiplash, directed by Damien Chazelle
U.S. Documentary Competition
Grand Jury Prize – Rich Hill, directed by Andrew Droz Palermo & Tracy Droz Tragos
Directing Award – Ben Cotner & Ryan White, The Case Against 8
Editing Award – Jenny Golden & Karen Sim, Watchers in the Sky
Excellence in Cinematography Award – Rachel Beth Anderson & Ross Kauffman, E-Team
Special Jury Prize – The Overnighters, directed by Jesse Moss
Special Jury Award for Animation – Watchers in the Sky
Audience Award – Alive Inside, directed by Michael Rossato-Bennett
World Cinema Dramatic Competition
Grand Jury Prize – To Kill a Man,...
Grand Jury Prize – Whiplash, directed by Damien Chazelle
Directing Award – Cutter Hodierne, Fishing Without Nets
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award – Craig Johnson & Mark Heyman, The Skeleton Twins
Excellence in Cinematography Award – Christopher Blauvelt, Low Down
Special Jury Prize for Breakthrough Talent – Justin Simien, writer-director of Dear White People
Special Jury Award for Musical Score – Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
Audience Award – Whiplash, directed by Damien Chazelle
U.S. Documentary Competition
Grand Jury Prize – Rich Hill, directed by Andrew Droz Palermo & Tracy Droz Tragos
Directing Award – Ben Cotner & Ryan White, The Case Against 8
Editing Award – Jenny Golden & Karen Sim, Watchers in the Sky
Excellence in Cinematography Award – Rachel Beth Anderson & Ross Kauffman, E-Team
Special Jury Prize – The Overnighters, directed by Jesse Moss
Special Jury Award for Animation – Watchers in the Sky
Audience Award – Alive Inside, directed by Michael Rossato-Bennett
World Cinema Dramatic Competition
Grand Jury Prize – To Kill a Man,...
- 1/26/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
The odds of having your short film included in this year’s Sundance Film Festival are .008 percent. Out of the 66 short film line-up (selected among 8,161 submissions) we find actress Rose McGowan move behind the camera for her directing debut (Dawn), we have Ain’t Them Bodies Saints producer Toby Halbrooks shovel out Dig (see pic above) and Todd Rohal (The Guatemalan Handshake) returns to the fest in between features with Rat Pack Rat. Filmmaker Magazine New Faces of Independent Film director Dean Fleischer-Camp rolls up his shirt sleeves with Catherine, Matthew Lessner returns to Park City with the helping hand Chapel Perilous while The Strange Ones (’11 accepted short) co-helmer Christopher Radcliff won’t be making a dissappearing act with Jonathan’s Chest. Finally docu feature-film helmer Lucy Walker moves into The Lion’s Mouth Opens. I’ll of course be covering several of these – look out for our coverage.
Here...
Here...
- 12/10/2013
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave to open festival; director Peter Greenaway to receive Visionary Award.Scroll down for full line-up
Steve McQueen’s historic drama 12 Years a Slave is to open the Stockholm International Film Festival (Nov 6-17) and is nominated in the Stockholm Xxiv Competition.
Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, the drama about free black man kidnapped from his family and sold into slavery in the 1850s debuted at Telluride and has received positive reactions throughout its festival tour of Toronto, New York and London among others.
It will be released in Sweden on Dec 20 by Ab Svensk Filmindustri.
Screenwriter John Ridley, who will be present during the festival, is nominated for the Aluminum Horse in the category Best Script.
McQueen’s Hunger won Best Directorial Debut at Stockholm in 2008.
Line-up
The 24th Siff includes more than 180 films from more than 50 countries.
As previously announced, the spotlight of this year’s festival is freedom but Chinese artist...
Steve McQueen’s historic drama 12 Years a Slave is to open the Stockholm International Film Festival (Nov 6-17) and is nominated in the Stockholm Xxiv Competition.
Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, the drama about free black man kidnapped from his family and sold into slavery in the 1850s debuted at Telluride and has received positive reactions throughout its festival tour of Toronto, New York and London among others.
It will be released in Sweden on Dec 20 by Ab Svensk Filmindustri.
Screenwriter John Ridley, who will be present during the festival, is nominated for the Aluminum Horse in the category Best Script.
McQueen’s Hunger won Best Directorial Debut at Stockholm in 2008.
Line-up
The 24th Siff includes more than 180 films from more than 50 countries.
As previously announced, the spotlight of this year’s festival is freedom but Chinese artist...
- 10/22/2013
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
As year-end rituals go, remembering those we've lost over the past twelve months is the solemn twin of list-making, though it's often no less an act of celebration. In the new issue of the Brooklyn Rail, Charles Bernstein and Susan Bee look back on the life of George Kuchar, "one of the most creative, original, and influential filmmakers of our time, straddling two generations of North American iconoclasts, from Stan Brakhage, Ken Jacobs, Rudy Burckhardt, Kenneth Anger, and Michael Snow to Warren Sonbert, Ernie Gehr, Abigail Child, and Henry Hills. Often collaborating with his twin brother, Mike, George Kuchar started making films as a Bronx teenager, and the brothers' early films already show the ingenuity, exuberance, and do-it-yourself charm that would pervade scores of their subsequent films."
More from Clara Pais in the freely downloadable December issue of One + One, which also features Diamuid Hester on Jacques Tati, Donna K on Brent Green,...
More from Clara Pais in the freely downloadable December issue of One + One, which also features Diamuid Hester on Jacques Tati, Donna K on Brent Green,...
- 12/11/2011
- MUBI
Updated through 6/26.
"The golden age of New York moviegoing is now," argues Ao Scott in the New York Times. "Two events in the coming days offer confirmation of this hunch." Tonight "in Brooklyn the BAMcinemaFest opens with Weekend, Andrew Haigh's bracing, present-tense exploration of sex, intimacy and love, the first of 26 features that will play, along with 24 short films, over the next 10 days. And Friday is the official opening night of the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, a charming two-screen jewel box carved (by the architect David Rockwell) out of garage and office space at Lincoln Center." He touches on the Museum of the Moving Image and the reRun Gastropub Theater as well, before returning to BAMcinemaFEST: "Not everything in the lineup is quite so perfectly realized as Weekend, but the range and generosity of the sampling make it hard to go wrong. Even the misfires and train wrecks are interesting,...
"The golden age of New York moviegoing is now," argues Ao Scott in the New York Times. "Two events in the coming days offer confirmation of this hunch." Tonight "in Brooklyn the BAMcinemaFest opens with Weekend, Andrew Haigh's bracing, present-tense exploration of sex, intimacy and love, the first of 26 features that will play, along with 24 short films, over the next 10 days. And Friday is the official opening night of the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, a charming two-screen jewel box carved (by the architect David Rockwell) out of garage and office space at Lincoln Center." He touches on the Museum of the Moving Image and the reRun Gastropub Theater as well, before returning to BAMcinemaFEST: "Not everything in the lineup is quite so perfectly realized as Weekend, but the range and generosity of the sampling make it hard to go wrong. Even the misfires and train wrecks are interesting,...
- 6/26/2011
- MUBI
Victoria Westcott, a budding film producer from Victoria (British Columbia), wants to convince you to finance her first film Locked in a Garage Band on Kickstarter.com, a web site that allows artists to get funds for their project. Between two breaths, Ms. Westcott took the time to talk to The Cultural Post.
For this film about a garage band on the cusp of a breakup that inadvertently gets locked in a garage for a day, Victoria Westcott participates as a producer while her sister, Jennifer, will direct and write the story. “My sister, Jennifer, is a professional photographer with an M.A. in History. Since she won the 2009 Praxis Screenwriting Competition, I trust someone who is much better than me in writing.”
The two sisters once tried to get a $25,000 investment from Brett Wilson, a judge/investor on the venture capitalist reality show Dragons’ Den: “It was a contest...
For this film about a garage band on the cusp of a breakup that inadvertently gets locked in a garage for a day, Victoria Westcott participates as a producer while her sister, Jennifer, will direct and write the story. “My sister, Jennifer, is a professional photographer with an M.A. in History. Since she won the 2009 Praxis Screenwriting Competition, I trust someone who is much better than me in writing.”
The two sisters once tried to get a $25,000 investment from Brett Wilson, a judge/investor on the venture capitalist reality show Dragons’ Den: “It was a contest...
- 2/14/2011
- by anhkhoido@gmail.com (Anh Khoi Do)
- The Cultural Post
Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I’m operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than writing a long one, that you have to weigh every sentence. What better medium to see how this theory plays itself out beyond that than with movie trailers? Les amours imaginaires (Heartbeats) Trailer Honestly, I hope this movie ends with all three of them deciding to partake in ritualistic suicide. There was a...
- 1/29/2011
- by Christopher Stipp
- Slash Film
Alumni of the Sundance Institute, a global nonprofit that supports independent film and theater, now have a new support system from popular crowd-funding platform Kickstarter.
The collaboration, announced at the Sundance Film Festival today, will see Kickstarter providing promotional, educational, and branding support for Sundance through an online resource hub--a "central location to explore case studies and best practices, in addition to live workshops and training opportunities with Institute staff, alumni, industry experts and key partners," according to the institute. In return, Sundance will curate alumni projects on Kickstarter, rally fans to support these projects, and showcase Kickstarter-funded works on a monthly basis.
Kickstarter gives creative projects an opportunity to get off the ground through community funding. If someone has, say, a book that they need $5,000 to finish, they can set up a page describing the project and requesting funds. Interested users can donate as much money as they would like,...
The collaboration, announced at the Sundance Film Festival today, will see Kickstarter providing promotional, educational, and branding support for Sundance through an online resource hub--a "central location to explore case studies and best practices, in addition to live workshops and training opportunities with Institute staff, alumni, industry experts and key partners," according to the institute. In return, Sundance will curate alumni projects on Kickstarter, rally fans to support these projects, and showcase Kickstarter-funded works on a monthly basis.
Kickstarter gives creative projects an opportunity to get off the ground through community funding. If someone has, say, a book that they need $5,000 to finish, they can set up a page describing the project and requesting funds. Interested users can donate as much money as they would like,...
- 1/26/2011
- by Ariel Schwartz
- Fast Company
Park City -- I felt about the characters in "The Woods" the same way I do whenever I see posters promoting MTV's new "Skins" series: In no way do I want to be friends with these people. Director Matthew Lessner takes a satirical lens to modern, well-meaning hipsters, vaguely aware of international strife and macro-environmentalism, who have thrust themselves into the woods to start their lives all over again. There's pop culture references and products galore -- along with all the riches of American Apparel, Urban Outfitters and the local Goodwill combined. But the score and soundtrack is less pronounced and more...
- 1/26/2011
- Hitfix
Sundance is now officially underway, and with Hollywood decamping to the hills of Park City, many up-and-coming filmmakers will be unspooling their films hoping to get they break they came looking for. And one of those folks is director Matthew Lessner, who will be premiering his debut feature, "The Woods." For the indie minded folk out there, you might have Lessner’s work if you managed to catch a look at his 2005 short film “Darling Darling” with Michael Cera, or one of the handful of music videos he’s directed for such bands as The Raveonettes, Dirty Projectors and Le Loup.…...
- 1/21/2011
- The Playlist
As the Sundance Film Festival welcomes its first crowdfunded film tonight, Brian Ries takes a look at the rise of websites that make it easier than ever to get free cash from total strangers online.
Matthew Lessner has a lot of strangers to thank.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Who Spends the Most?
As the clock strikes midnight tonight inside Park City's Holiday Village Cinemas on the second day of the Sundance Film Festival, his indie satire The Woods will make its premiere in front of a sold-out crowd.
It nearly didn't happen.
It was late summer, in 2009, and Lessner was running out of money as he neared the completion of his film. His credit was drying up, too. So he turned to a website called Kickstarter.com. "With your help and support (whoever you may be) we hope to make the dream of finishing and releasing-what we believe...
Matthew Lessner has a lot of strangers to thank.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Who Spends the Most?
As the clock strikes midnight tonight inside Park City's Holiday Village Cinemas on the second day of the Sundance Film Festival, his indie satire The Woods will make its premiere in front of a sold-out crowd.
It nearly didn't happen.
It was late summer, in 2009, and Lessner was running out of money as he neared the completion of his film. His credit was drying up, too. So he turned to a website called Kickstarter.com. "With your help and support (whoever you may be) we hope to make the dream of finishing and releasing-what we believe...
- 1/21/2011
- by Brian Ries
- The Daily Beast
The Sundance Institute announced yesterday that 12 short films from the 2011 Sundance Film Festival will stream worldwide in the YouTube Screening Room thanks to collaborations with YouTube and Acura, presenting sponsor of the Sundance Film Festival. The series launches today with a selection of four classic short films from directors with features at this year’s fest including Matthew Lessner, Calvin Reeder and Madeleine Olnek. Four more films go live Jan. 13 including shorts from Moon Molson, Nanobah Becker and Lance Weiler.
- 1/6/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
The Sundance Institute announced yesterday that 12 short films from the 2011 Sundance Film Festival will stream worldwide in the YouTube Screening Room thanks to collaborations with YouTube and Acura, presenting sponsor of the Sundance Film Festival. The series launches today with a selection of four classic short films from directors with features at this year’s fest including Matthew Lessner, Calvin Reeder and Madeleine Olnek. Four more films go live Jan. 13 including shorts from Moon Molson, Nanobah Becker and Lance Weiler.
- 1/6/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Institute announced that 12 short films from the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, as well as eight classic short films from Institute alumni and earlier Festivals will be available in the You Tube Screening Room. The first launch date is January 6, 2011 and will continue to release through February 3, 2011.
Each YouTube Screening Room series is scheduled to run for a span of six weeks.
”We are thrilled to be able to share a selection of short films free online on the YouTube Screening Room with the broader public,” said Trevor Groth, Sundance Film Festival Director of Programming. “The Screening Room will offer just a sample of the diversity and originality of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival Shorts Program, as well as a taste of Institute history.”
The YouTube Screening room (www.youtube.com/ytscreeningroom) is a curated wing of YouTube that focuses on independent films.
Short Films from Directors with Feature...
Sundance Institute announced that 12 short films from the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, as well as eight classic short films from Institute alumni and earlier Festivals will be available in the You Tube Screening Room. The first launch date is January 6, 2011 and will continue to release through February 3, 2011.
Each YouTube Screening Room series is scheduled to run for a span of six weeks.
”We are thrilled to be able to share a selection of short films free online on the YouTube Screening Room with the broader public,” said Trevor Groth, Sundance Film Festival Director of Programming. “The Screening Room will offer just a sample of the diversity and originality of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival Shorts Program, as well as a taste of Institute history.”
The YouTube Screening room (www.youtube.com/ytscreeningroom) is a curated wing of YouTube that focuses on independent films.
Short Films from Directors with Feature...
- 1/6/2011
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Though I secretly wish that I could just dump in favor of the huge tentpole world preems that are the focus of our site, the New Frontier Section is unfortunately the section that I rarely venture into. Publicists would be kind enough to push me to reconsider this decision. As we previously reported, Lynn Hershman Leeson's Tiff debuted doc will be showing up at the fest, below we have Matthew Lessner's wacko The Woods (see trailer) promises several laughs and Sundance 2011 appears to be Rutger Hauer year - as he is coming to the fest with not one (Hobo with a Shotgun), but The Mill & the Cross as well. Jess + Moss /U.S.A. (Director: Clay Jeter; Screenwriters: Clay Jeter and Debra Jeter) Jess (18) and Moss (12) are second cousins who have spent their summers together since either of them can remember. Without immediate families that they can relate to,...
- 12/2/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
The Sundance Film Festival announced the in competition film line-up for the film festival running January 20th through January 30th 2011 in Park City, Utah.
Today the festival has announced the line-up for the non-competition films and there is one hell of a line-up! There are a ton of great films that will be premiering at the festival, and if you're going you have a lot of great films to choose from!
Each film has an incredible cast and a great story. These films include Cedar Rapids, about a man traveling to an insurance conference, featuring Ed Helms, John C. Reilly and Sigourney Weaver; Kevin Smith's Red State, about a group of misfits encounter extreme fundamentalism in Middle America; The Details, about domestic tensions spawned by raccoons with Tobey Maguire, Elizabeth Banks, Laura Linney, Ray Liotta, Dennis Haysbert; I Melt With You, starring Thomas Jane, Jeremy Piven, Rob Lowe, Christian McKay,...
Today the festival has announced the line-up for the non-competition films and there is one hell of a line-up! There are a ton of great films that will be premiering at the festival, and if you're going you have a lot of great films to choose from!
Each film has an incredible cast and a great story. These films include Cedar Rapids, about a man traveling to an insurance conference, featuring Ed Helms, John C. Reilly and Sigourney Weaver; Kevin Smith's Red State, about a group of misfits encounter extreme fundamentalism in Middle America; The Details, about domestic tensions spawned by raccoons with Tobey Maguire, Elizabeth Banks, Laura Linney, Ray Liotta, Dennis Haysbert; I Melt With You, starring Thomas Jane, Jeremy Piven, Rob Lowe, Christian McKay,...
- 12/2/2010
- by Venkman
- GeekTyrant
Diversity seems to be the key this year at the SXSW festival, which takes place in Austin, TX from March 12-20, as they’ve now announced the full lineup of Panels and short films that will be at this years event. As with the feature films schedule, this list of panels and shorts should provide an almost endless supply of diverse and interesting programming for attendees.
Following sre some highlights of panels we think are worth checking out. For a full list and descriptions, head over to the SXSW official site. Also, be sure to check back here at The Flickast as we’ll be at SXSW this year to bring you all the details on these great events and much more.
A Conversation with Michel Gondry
The stratospheric rise of Academy Award-winning visionary Michel Gondry is one of the great success stories of modern film. Working with fellow travelers like Spike Jonze,...
Following sre some highlights of panels we think are worth checking out. For a full list and descriptions, head over to the SXSW official site. Also, be sure to check back here at The Flickast as we’ll be at SXSW this year to bring you all the details on these great events and much more.
A Conversation with Michel Gondry
The stratospheric rise of Academy Award-winning visionary Michel Gondry is one of the great success stories of modern film. Working with fellow travelers like Spike Jonze,...
- 2/10/2010
- by Chris Ullrich
- The Flickcast
The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival (March 12 - March 16, 2010) has announced the short film program and the list of panel participants. Michel Gondry, David Gordon Green, Jody Hill, Danny McBride, Ruben Fleischer, Matt Reeves, Eli Roth, Quentin Tarantino, and Ti West are among the people scheduled to participate. The full list can be viewed at the provided link. As to the shorts program, the list is featured at the bottom of this post. The lineup is extensive, and full of unique films waiting to be discovered.
Comprehensive Short Films Lineup
Narrative Shorts
A selection of original, well-crafted films that take advantage of the short form and exemplify distinctive and genuine storytelling. The winner of our Grand Jury Award in this category is eligible for a 2011 Academy Award nomination for Best Narrative Short.
Anatinus
Director: David Wanger
A glimpse of the dawn of a strange new era.
Bedford Park Boulevard...
Comprehensive Short Films Lineup
Narrative Shorts
A selection of original, well-crafted films that take advantage of the short form and exemplify distinctive and genuine storytelling. The winner of our Grand Jury Award in this category is eligible for a 2011 Academy Award nomination for Best Narrative Short.
Anatinus
Director: David Wanger
A glimpse of the dawn of a strange new era.
Bedford Park Boulevard...
- 2/10/2010
- Screen Anarchy
By Michael Atkinson
Chances are you've never seen a wholphin (a rare hybrid of dolphin and false killer whale), or a Wholphin, the short film DVD magazine emanating on a subscription basis from the Dave Eggers/McSweeney's publishing factory. But it might be the most relentlessly fascinating and inventive showcase for new short films in the country. Not that it has much competition . shorts can appear haphazardly on auteurist-minded DVDs or on public television or the Sundance Channel, but otherwise there's no dependable cultural outlet for them, and they are for the most part considered cinema non grata in the culture at large. Movies began in the short form, but quickly shorts became nothing more than ballast for features, and then, come the '60s, were not even that. (Anthology-style TV series may count . think of each "Twilight Zone" episode as a 24-minute short . but look how that format has...
Chances are you've never seen a wholphin (a rare hybrid of dolphin and false killer whale), or a Wholphin, the short film DVD magazine emanating on a subscription basis from the Dave Eggers/McSweeney's publishing factory. But it might be the most relentlessly fascinating and inventive showcase for new short films in the country. Not that it has much competition . shorts can appear haphazardly on auteurist-minded DVDs or on public television or the Sundance Channel, but otherwise there's no dependable cultural outlet for them, and they are for the most part considered cinema non grata in the culture at large. Movies began in the short form, but quickly shorts became nothing more than ballast for features, and then, come the '60s, were not even that. (Anthology-style TV series may count . think of each "Twilight Zone" episode as a 24-minute short . but look how that format has...
- 7/30/2008
- by Michael Atkinson
- ifc.com
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