on January 21, 2010
Sundance kicked off tonight in Park City, Utah. I hadn’t heard any advance buzz about the 10/10 online series, a recent Sundance tradition that we covered last year, and so I sadly concluded that the festival had moved away from online distro for short films to instead focus more on its much-heralded pay per view partnership.
Not the case though! YouTube seems to have scored a coup, stealing the series from iTunes. Coup of course might be a bit strong of a word since, as usual, there seems to be no advance buzz or fanfare for the presence of these films, but the quality is high— I recognize several of them as winners from various worldwide festivals.
This move probably wouldn’t have happened without YouTube’s new video settings—many of these short films are available in drop-dead gorgeous 1080p. 5 of the films seem to reside in the Screening Room, while another 5 can be accessed via Sundance’s channel. For convenience though the film’s are linked below. I haven’t watched them all yet, but I’ll pour through them in the coming days. Let’s try and outsource this a bit though, please go ahead and tell everybody what to watch and what to avoid with your own mini-review in the comment!
Mr. Okra — 11 min — A portrait of the beloved New Orleans vegetable salesman.
Please Say Something — 10 min — Cat and mouse tale set in the distant future.
Dock Ellis and the LSD No-No — 4 min — See our prior review here.
The S From Hell — 9 min — Doc/Horror about the scariest corporate logo in history.
Voice on the Line — 7 min — Experimental animation on Cold War hysteria.
old fangs — 11 min — A young wolf decides to confront his father. Animated
Para Fuera — 9 min — Documentary about a man turning 100.
Charlie and the Rabbit — 9 min — 4 year old decides to hunt a rabbit.
Thompson — 10 min — Doc about two friends on the verge of adulthood.
Let’s Harvest the Organs of Death Row Inmates — 2 min — An animated “Provocation”
I’ll kick it off: Thompson—Winner at SXSW, this short doc is a slice of life piece. While in its own way fascinating because of some honest subtext underneath statements in the interview, it also showcases why short-form docs can be difficult. The themes of jealousy, confusion and drifting apart are there, with a subtle elegaic mood, but they are just not presented in a comprehensive manner due to length. A moderate recommend from me.
Dock Ellis and the LSD No-No—I love this short. We featured it as a short of the moment a few months back and it made my top 10 list of 2009. It’s the true story of an MLB pitcher who, in the 1970s, pitched a no-hitter game while high on LSD. The story is fun and wild and the animation is there to match it in a psychedelic fashion akin to Ryan Larkin. I strongly recommend it.
I liked “Let’s Harvest the Organs of Death Row Inmates”. It was very similar to an op-ed piece, making a straight-forward and rational argument. The animation is so-so, but it’s short. Good film
[...] Animated by James Blagden. The rest of the 2010 Sundance shorts are also available on YouTube (conveniently compiled at Short of the Week). [...]
[...] Sundance 2010 Shorts Hit YouTube | Short of the Week Sundance kicked off tonight in Park City, Utah. I hadn’t heard any advance buzz about the 10/10 online series, a recent Sundance tradition that we covered last year, and so I sadly concluded that the festival had moved away from online distro for short films to instead focus more on its much-heralded pay per view partnership. [...]
[...] Note from Sondhi— “This was one of the 10 excellent Sundance offerings this year. Check out the other 9 selections here“ [...]
Please Say Something gets featured review:
http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2010/02/16/please-say-something/
Never got around to finishing the Sundance mini-reviews. Here we go
Old Fangs — Gorgeous animation, looks like nothing I’ve seen. A hipster wolf has daddy issues: simple plot heavy on the atmosphere. I was impatient at first but was won over at the end and surprised at how deeply I had fell under its spell. Watch when you have some time to yourself to think and feel deeply.
[...] the Sundance Film Festival put four Sundance short films on YouTube for rent, that was the first time they ever did it. They tried to get lots of media attention, and [...]