Politics
Checkmate
Tuesday, June 17th, 2008dir: Casimir Nozkowski, 9:44—Dallas Penn and Rafi Kam are two guys from New York. They both have day jobs and their own separate blogs, but together, under the nom-de-vid the Internets Celebrities, they create short, bristling, funny documentary essays on topics ranging from how to remix the Big Mac to the role of the bodega […]
The Shock Doctrine
Sunday, October 21st, 2007dir: Jonás Cuarón, 6:46—I find this week’s short to be interesting for a myriad of reasons, perhaps the least of which are its controversial politics. Part documentary, half advertisement and in places an artistic short film, with a solid dose of agit-prop thrown in, The Shock Doctrine is a slick piece of media that employs […]
Badgered
Sunday, September 23rd, 2007Click image to view film
dir: Sharon Colman, 7:05—In this Oscar-nominated short, an underground badger struggles for some peaceful sleep amidst obnoxious crows and secret missile launches. Without hitting audiences over the head, Badgered manages to slip in a subtle environmental message—knowing very well that the first step to spreading your message is getting others to […]
The Heart of the World
Monday, September 17th, 2007dir: Guy Maddin, 6:05—We veer into the realm of the avant garde with The Heart of the World, a short film directed by Guy Maddin: cinephile, auteur, Canadian. If you watch this film without reading the review, you might mistake it for some sort of silent-era classic, digitized and given new life through Youtube. But […]
Collision
Monday, September 10th, 2007dir: Max Hattler, 2:29—As another 9/11 anniversary approaches, the need to reflect and examine . Few works so elegantly capture the tensions between America and the Islamic world as Max Hattler’s Collision. This abstract animation uses simple geometric elements from national flags to create a dizzying, kaleidoscope of cultures. America’s stars and stripes impede on […]
Learn Self Defense
Tuesday, April 24th, 2007dir: Chris Harding, 5:05—This instructional film places our average Joe deep into a satire on modern foreign politics. When diplomacy fails (or is neglected), it’s time to fight. And as mathematics has proven, it’s always helpful to have God on your side. All you need now is an oversized cowboy hat and a jumbo pistol. […]