One of the great regrets from our recent trip to New York was missing a Rooftop Films screening in Brooklyn. Despite having bought tickets online ahead of time, we were just too exhausted from a long, hot Saturday to make the trek out of Manhattan. It’s definitely on my list of things to do next time I’m there, which I hope is very soon.
The good news is that IFC have announced that they’ll be showing 100 (yes, one hundred) short films which have screened at Rooftop over the years on a new dedicated site, which includes a blog. Check out the Rooftop Films Short Film Showcase. They’re adding three films each week, and at this writing they have 19 posted.
Though the experience of watching online isn’t quite as exhilarating as being under the stars in Brooklyn, maybe you can take your laptop up onto the roof one night and pretend.
Some brilliant folks over at the National Film Board of Canada have come up with a unique and fun campaign for Oscar-nominated animated short Madame Tutli-Putli. Each visitor to the site can “unlock” a frame of the film each day. If all 23,287 frames are unlocked, then the entire film will be available for streaming on the site.
Not only is this a clever social media outreach, but it provides a way for people outside Canada to actually see the film, alleviating a common problem that many short films face. In my opinion, the film is a lock for the Oscar, and I’d heartily encourage you to participate in this innovative marketing campaign. They’re even giving away 200 copies of the DVD to random frame unlockers.
By the way, this is the NFB’s 70th Oscar nomination (they’ve won 12 times), and the fourth in the past four years.
Well-done, NFB!
Martin Scorsese has created a short film for Spanish winemaker Freixenet that pays homage to Hitchcock. It’s not obvious from the film itself that it’s a commercial (unless you know wine and the title “The Key to Reserva” doesn’t tip you off), until the final minute or so, where the camera pauses lovingly on a bottle of the sponsor’s bubbly. In my previous life, I worked for a wine importer, and we represented Francis Ford Coppola’s wineries. I wonder why he’s never created something so clever for his own wines?
Oh, happy day! Paul McGann and Richard E. Grant are reunited in a short, called “Always Crashing In The Same Car.” If the Bowie song title and the reunited Withnail and I stars appeal to you, it’s freely downloadable from The Times web site.
The Danish Poet
Tonight’s programme consisted of award-winning shorts released in 2006, and just watching them one after another led me to a few conclusions about short films in general. To compare them to written works, they’re a bit like poems to a feature film’s novel. And to compare to spoken word, they’re like jokes as opposed to sagas. With such a short amount of time, they need to make their points quickly, so there is often a high “cleverness” factor and the endings often feel like the punch line of a joke. This can work well, but a film that stands out is one that doesn’t make these tropes so obvious. Here, in my order of enjoyment, are tonight’s selections:
- The Danish Poet (Canada/Norway, 2006): With lovely narration from Liv Ullmann, this story felt the most organic and the least gimmicky. Even though there is a sort of punchline “payoff” at the end, it’s telegraphed early enough to set us down gently. The whimsical animation style and always-great use of animated (but non-speaking) animals made this a worthy Oscar-winner this year. Check out the film’s web site. (9/10)
- Dreams and Desires - Family Ties (UK, 2006): Another animated short, this one cleverly used animated sketches to simulate a wedding video filmed by the oddly cinephilic Beryl, a large woman of grandmotherly vintage. Her attempts to film the disastrous occasion in the styles of famous directors from Eistenstein to Riefenstahl, all the while keeping up a steady stream-of-consciousness narration, keeps this one rollicking along, despite the nearly impenetrable accents. (9/10)
- Tanghi Argentini (Belgium, 2006): This is a charming tale of an office drone who just might be an angel. André needs to learn to tango in two weeks so he can meet his Internet crush, so he turns to his colleague Frans to help teach him to dance. Will love bloom? (8/10)
- Contact (Raak) (Netherlands, 2006): Three characters paths cross again and again in this cleverly-edited short. There’s that word “clever” again. (7/10)
- The Substitute (Il Supplente) (Italy, 2006): A class of high-school students is terrorized by a Scott Thompson (ex-Kids in the Hall) lookalike, who then gets his comeuppance. Funny in an odd sort of way. (7/10)
- Make A Wish (Atmenah) (USA, 2006): A straightforward, almost documentary-like tale of a young girl who will go to any lengths to get a special birthday cake. Only it’s set in the West Bank. The filmmaking is pretty rudimentary and there’s a bit of a (tragic) punchline at the end. (6/10)
- Imagine This (Australia/Ireland, 2006): Sometimes a short should also be a “small.” Using found internet footage to make George W. Bush “sing” John Lennon’s “Imagine” was a pretty funny idea. But it really shouldn’t have made it off the YouTube site. (5/10)
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