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It's that wonderful time of the year again! We're getting close to Fantastic Fest and keep getting more and more announcements for their programming. As usual, I'll be covering the shorts blocks and thanks to the new roster, it seems this year will be more difficult to pick out favorites. Going off the the plot synopsis, a few of the shorts I'm looking forward to are THE LAST VIDEO STORE, RETROCOGNITION, SAD HOUSE, and WITCH. Check out the full list after the break.
FANTASTIC FEST 2013 ANNOUNCES
SHORTS
PROGRAMMING
Austin, TX-Wednesday,
September 4, 2013- Fantastic
Fest is excited to announce the short film lineup for the ninth edition of
Fantastic Fest, happening September 19th - 26th in Austin, Texas at Alamo Drafthouse Lakeline. Short
films provide an outlet for filmmakers to showcase their genre talents in a
format with fewer restraints, making them a Fantastic Fest favorite.
Fantastic Fest is wildly excited that
longtime festival comrade KIER-LA JANISSE is now our lead shorts programmer.
Kier-la created the notorious CineMuerte Film Festival in Canada, and was the
first full-time film programmer for the Alamo back in the "wild west" days. She
has since gone on to countless careers including film producer, theater owner,
documentary subject, film journalist, and author of House of Psychotic Women,
which had its own FF film sidebar in 2012. Her shorts programs this year
represent her visionary tastes and superhuman viewing abilities.
Please
see below for the full Fantastic Fest 2013 shorts lineup:
ANGST,
PISS & SHIT (Norway, 2012)
North
American Premiere
Director -
Fredrik
S. Hana, 19 min
A
hapless serial murderer laments the crumbling of his true love's affections. Not
since Jorg Buttgereit's NEKROMANTIK have we seen such a sordid, uncompromising
and blackly humorous tale of a killer romance gone south.
BASKIN (Turkey, 2013)
North American Premiere
Director - Can Evrenol, 11 min
A
group of Turkish police called in to a desolate area stumble upon a squalid and
blood-soaked den of satanic ritual. The latest from Fantastic Fest alumnus Can
Evrenol (TO MY MOTHER AND FATHER) is a visceral trip into the darkest pits of a
very palpable evil.
BEASTS
IN THE REAL WORLD (Canada, 2013)
U.S.
Premiere
Director - Sol
Friedman, 8 min
Sol
Friedman follows up his brilliant LOVE SONGS FROM AN ANDROID and A MESSAGE FROM
YOUR ROBOT PRESIDENT with this iconoclastic blend of documentary, animation and
action fantasy about an exasperated amphibious creature recalling the adventure
that led him to a sushi restaurant chopping block.
THE
BODY (UK, 2013)
North
American Premiere
Director - Paul
Davis, 18 min
A
serial killer (Alfie Allen, GAME OF THRONES) discovers he can get away with
anything on Halloween night, including dragging his latest victim around as a
prop amidst a sea of oblivious London partiers.
BREAKFAST
ON THE GRASS (Estoria, 2011)
Texas
Premiere
Director - Erik Alunurm & Mari-Liis
Rebane, 5 min
A
hilarious claymation take on the making of a masterpiece, brought to us by
students of acclaimed Estonian animator Priit Parn.
DRUNKER
THAN A SKUNK (USA, 2012)
Texas
Premiere
Director - Bill Plympton, 3 min
Animation
vet and Fantastic Fest fave Bill Plympton's latest is a wily adaptation of Walt
Curtis' 1973 poem 'The Time The Drunk Came To Town And Got Drunker Than A Skunk,
Or So He Thought,' about a roving drunk who is brutally tormented by
mean-spirited townsfolk.
EAT
(Germany, 2012)
U.S.
Premiere
Director - Moritz Kramer, 7 min
A
fashion model fantasizes about indulging herself in a world where everything is
edible.
EXQUISITE
CORPSE (France, 2013)
North
American Premiere
Director - Léa Mysius, 25 min
Director
Léa Mysius turns a grim premise into an utterly adorable film debut with this
story of an insolent tomboy living in the French countryside who finds an
unlikely playmate in the dead body she drags out of the local swamp.
FLESH
(Columbia, 2013)
North
American Premiere
Director - Carlos Gomez Salamanca, 8
min
The
faces and impressions surrounding an animal sacrifice in Columbia are brought to
life in an animated reconstruction from actual video archive footage that
counters the profane with the abstract.
GREEN
EYED (Australia, 2012)
North
American Premiere
Director - Nathaniel Lindsay, 16 min
Director - Nathaniel Lindsay, 16 min
An
obnoxious up-and-coming executive can't understand why no one else can see that
his professional and social rival is actually a reptilian monster.
THE
GUEST (Canada, 2013)
U.S.
Premiere
Director - Jovanka
Vuckovic, 4 min
In
this luscious new film from THE CAPTURED BIRD director Jovanka Vuckovic, a man
suffers delusions after making a horrific bargain.
GUILT
(Lithuania, 2013)
North
American Premiere
Director - Reda Bartkute, 6 min
In
this promising debut from Lithuanian animator Reda Bartkute, a nervous female
fox retreats into the shifting landscape of her subconscious to face a shadowy
doppelganger.
HERE
BE MONSTERS (New Zealand, 2013)
Texas
Premiere
Director - Paul Glub & Nic Gorman, 15
min
In
the wake of a zombie apocalypse, an infected soldier is sent home to spend his
last hours with his wife and estranged daughter. Amidst reconciliations and
toasts, all are aware that time is running out fast. The assured directorial
debut of visual FX producer Paul Glubb (THE HOBBIT; DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE
DARK).
A
HOUSE, A HOME (USA, 2012)
Austin
Premiere
Director - Daniel Fickle, 7 mins
Bearing
the fantastical shades of Joe Massot's WONDERWALL, Daniel Fickle's music video
for Alialujah Choir's "A House, A Home" explores the secret lives of two
adolescents who live in small, antiquated rooms connected by underground
tunnels. Inspired by a heartbreaking true story.
JACK
ATTACK (USA, 2013)
Austin
Premiere
Director - Antonio Padovan & Bryan
Norton, 9 min
"Do
pumpkins feel pain?" Helen Rogers of V/H/S and 24 EXPOSURES
stars as a babysitter who learns the answer the hard way in this soon-to-be
Halloween classic.
KICK-HEART
(Japan, 2013)
Regional
Premiere
Director - Masaaki Yuasa, 13 min
The
latest from anime outlaw Masaaki Yuasa (MIND GAME) is a candy-colored story of
secret obsession: professional wrestler Maskman M derives masochistic pleasure
from being pummelled by his Amazonian opponent Lady S, who clearly reciprocates
in savouring their violent public trysts. But do they have a chance in the real
world?
THE
LAST VIDEO STORE (Canada, 2013)
U.S.
Premiere
Director - Cody Kennedy & Tim Rutherford,
10 min
The
crew behind Edmonton's DEDFest and cult video store The Lobby bring you this
histrionic tidal wave of VHS nostalgia, featuring robots, evil corporations, a
killer theme song and guest-FX by Astron-6's Steve Kostanski.
LIVING
STILL LIFE (France, 2012)
U.S.
Premiere
Director - Bertrand
Mandico, 15 min
Actress
Elina Löwensohn (best known from Hal Hartley's SIMPLE MEN and AMATEUR) continues
her collaboration with French director Bertrand Mandico (BORO IN THE BOX) as an
isolated woman who brings dead things back to life in unusual ways.
MANIFOLD
(Canada, 2013)
U.S.
Premiere
Director - Anthony Scott Burns, 10
min
Canuck
character vet Stephen McHattie stars as a country sheriff investigating what
appears to be a mass suicide, while miles away a computer tech developing a
complex facial recognition program stumbles upon his own connection to the
bizarre mystery. The latest from filmmaker and visual FX whiz Anthony Scott
Burns, MANIFOLD has already been optioned for development as a
feature.
MEMORABLE
ME (Canada, 2013)
Texas
Premiere
Director - Jean-François Asselin, 15
min
In
this savvy commentary on the narcissistic pull of social media platforms, a
self-obsessed man is convinced that he will cease to exist unless someone is
thinking about him at all times, causing him to stoop to the lowest levels of
unethical and debasing behaviour to satiate his need for constant
attention.
MISTERIO
(Spain, 2013)
Texas
Premiere
Director
- Chema García Ibarra, 12 min
A
deadpan black comedy from the director of Fantastic Fest favorite ATTACK OF THE
ROBOTS OF NEBULA 5 about an alienated Spanish housewife who gets a secret
message from The Virgin that will change her life forever.
MUNCHAUSEN
(USA, 2013)
World
Premiere
Director - Ari Aster, 15 min
A
clingy mother (Bonnie Bedelia of THE STRANGE VENGEANCE OF ROSALIE and DIE HARD)
goes to extreme lengths to prevent her son from going off to college. The latest
from the prolific director of the disturbing THE STRANGE THING ABOUT THE
JOHNSONS.
MY
PAIN IS WORSE THAN YOUR PAIN (USA, 2013)
Regional
Premiere
Director - Adam Hall, 17 min
Based
on the short story by T.C Boyle, Adam Hall's short film about the ostracization
of a desperate man (Clark Middleton, SIN CITY; KILL BILL VOL. 2) following his
professed obsession with a female neighbour explores the subjective toll of
daily humiliation.
THE
NATURALIST (USA, 2013)
Texas
Premiere
Director - Connor Hurley, 15 min
What
if you could take a drug to change your orientation? In a future where only the
genetically modified thrive, one man is faced with a horrible decision. One of
the most poignant and disturbing bits of dystopian sci-fi we've seen this
year.
NINJA
ELIMINATOR III (Canada, 2013)
U.S.
Premiere
Directors - François Simard, Anouk Whissell
& Yoann-Karl Whissell, 4 min
The
latest gonzo short from Canadian collective Roadkill Superstar, (whose TURBO KID
feature is about to head into production) this mock-trailer delivers everything
you could want in a long-lost Godfrey Ho flick, including the obligatory "Ninja"
headbands and boobs that turn into cats.
PERFECT
DRUG (Belguim, 2012)
Texas
Premiere
Director - Toon Aerts, 14 min
After
a bungled burglary, a gang of hoods sit in a parked car waiting to hand off
their loot - a suitcase full of neon test tubes - to a merciless crime boss. But
when one of them dives into the stash, psychedelic ultraviolent mayhem ensues.
Pure body-swapping anarchy with ice cream and pickles.
RAW
DATA (USA, 2013)
Austin
Premiere
Director - Jake Fried, 1 min
Jake
Fried's mythologically charged hand-drawn animations made with white-out,
gouache and coffee have won the attention of arthounds from PBS to Juxtapoz with
their kinetically layered one-minute mania.
RETROCOGNITION
(USA, 2012)
Austin
Premiere
Director - Eric Patrick, 18 min
A
brilliant and disturbing pastiche of melodramatic 1940s radio dramas, former
Texan Eric Patrick's distorted domestic characters - with their cracked faces
and murderous longings - offer an uncanny underside to the idyllic nuclear
family.
THE
SAD HOUSE (Mexico, 2013)
U.S.
Premiere
Director - Sofia
Catalina Carrillo Ramírez, 13 min
Fantastic
Fest Alumna Sofia Carrillo (BLACK DOLL) returns with her most ambitious
stop-motion film yet: the epic history of a family beset upon by war, illness
and death, told with antiquated trinkets on a single dilapidated
desktop.
S/ASH
(USA, 2013)
Austin
Premiere
Director - Clay Liford, 9 min
A
13-year-old boy (Arthur Dale of GROW UP TONY PHILLIPS, whose director Emily
Hagins also makes a cameo here) writes erotic Harry Potter fan fiction, leading
to an awkwardly hilarious confrontation at the local Comicon.
SLEEP
CLINIC (New Zealand, 2013)
North
American Premiere
Directors - Frances Haszard, Luke Scott &
Louis Olsen, 7 min
This
WTF animated short made for New Zealand's 48Hrs Furious Fimmaking Challenge
spends six mind-melting minutes entrenched in the desperate delusions of an
insomniac. The most essential psychiatric fantasy musical since ON A CLEAR DAY
YOU CAN SEE FOREVER.
THE
SLEEPING PLOT (New Zealand, 2013)
North
American Premiere
Director - Dean Hewison, 5 min
A
little girl thinks of mischievous ways to save up money for an object she
desperately desires. Winner of New Zealand's 2013 48Hrs Furious Filmmaking
competition.
SKOM
(France, 2012)
U.S.
Premiere
Director - Christophe Deroo, 8 min
In
this Lovecraftian throwback to the pulpy pleasures of vintage horror comics, two
kids stumble upon their school janitor's ghastly plan to get rid of his
domineering mother.
SULFURIC
(USA, 2013)
World
Premiere
Director - Jeff Brown, 9 min
A
woman returns from vacation to find her roommate comatose and a pulsating
organic substance in the bathroom wastebasket. A taut exercise in urban gothic
dread.
SWEET
RABBIT (Netherlands, 2012)
North
American Premiere
Director - Camille Schouwenaar, 14
min
Based
on the book by Dutch children's writer Imme Dros, a middle-aged housewife is
seized by anxiety when she starts to grow rabbit ears and finds the community
unsympathetic to her predicament.
THE
VEHICLE (Canada, 2012)
Austin
Premiere
Director - O. Corbin Saleken, 11
min
A
woman is accosted by a man who claims to be carrying an important message for
her from the future. A captivating character piece propelled by two quietly
breathtaking performances.
WE,
THE MASSES (Ireland, 2011)
Austin
Premiere
Director - Eoghan Kidney, 13 min
In
a snowy landscape after an unnamed cataclysmic event, a lost man looks for signs
of civilization, falling in with an anarchic smattering of humanoids whose
destructive impulses are at odds with his need for transcendence. Based on
drawings by artist Robyn O'Neil, this fourth short from former member of Irish
animation collective Delicious 9 Eoghan Kidney is a disquieting journey
through the machinations of social trauma.
WHISPERS
(USA, 2013)
World
Premiere
Director - Max Isaacson, 7 min
Convinced
that the rats rampant in his home are trying to infest his body, a man slowly
goes insane in a dank basement, surrounding himself with bloody trophies.
WITCH
(USA, 2013)
World
Premiere
Directors - Americo Siller &Tyler Major,
7 min
In
their directorial debut, Austin's own Tyler Mager and Americo Siller turn in a
surreal and grotesque story of a couple in the middle of a public breakup who
realize too late that they have their hearts on the line in more ways than
one.
WOMAN
WHO HATES PLANTS (USA, 2013)
Texas
Premiere
Director - Morgan Miller, 1 min
This
woman really doesn't like plants.
YELLOW
(Germany, United Kingdom, 2012)
Texas
Premiere
Directors - Ryan Haysom & Jon Britt, 26 min
Haysom
and Britt's ultra-stylized, synth-fueled neo-giallo blends the subjective
impulses and misanthropy of Gerald Kargl's ANGST with the trappings of the
Italian murder mystery: whispered threats, catholic retribution, cartographic
obsession, black gloves, straight razors and the obligatory J&B Whiskey. A
mood piece that never strays from its influences while simultaneously offering
an unexpected twist on the genre.
YOU
ARE HERE (Canada, 2012)
Texas
Premiere
Director - Leslie Supnet, 3 min
Inspired
by the work and tragic murder of animator Helen Hill, Leslie Supnet's YOU ARE
HERE is a lovely ode to surviving connections beyond the grave.
ZIEGENORT
(Poland, 2013)
Texas
Premiere
Director - Tomasz Popakul, 19 min
A
fishboy living in a coastal village resorts to shocking behavior when shunned by
his peers. Making great use of manufactured chiaroscuro lighting and striking
color flourishes, this award-winning short is a dramatic slice of teen angst at
its most nightmarish.
Look
for more film & event programming announcements for Fantastic Fest in the
weeks ahead.
For
the latest developments visit the Fantastic Fest official site www.fantasticfest.com and follow us on Facebook & Twitter.
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