Although Mike McKown and Jim Towns did not make the list with their film, Prometheus Triumphant: A Fugue in the Key of Flesh, their short, The Sleep of Reason, certainly deserves our recognition. This eerie tale of a weird romance between a doctor and a mental patient is just what we’re looking for.
All posts by Cameron Jorgensen
SATURDAY SHORT: ROYAL GAME
Josh Gottsegen delivers a mysterious work of art in the underappreciated short, “Royal Game.” This short features a chess match between two mystical beings. Perhaps the strangest part of this short is its musical arrangement by Marc Lipari.
SATURDAY SHORT: X-MESS DETRITUS (2008)
Voltaire gives his audience a different perspective on Christmas in his short, “X-Mas Detritus.” Like many of the shorts posted here, “Detritus” contains some frightening images. So, even though this short contains some great insight into the impact of this holiday season on our world, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who is very squeamish.
SATURDAY SHORT: DOXOLOGY (2007)
Directed by Michael Langan, “Doxology” is an experimental head trip beginning and ending with verses from “Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow” or “The Common Doxology”. This short contains floating carrots, dancing cars, and a tennis ball crashing into the moon. What more could you ask for?
SATURDAY SHORT: BETWEEN TWO FERNS (2008)
Give Zach Galifianakis a late night show, and this is what you’ll get: sketch comedy that’s too absurd for TV. This is the first of seven episodes of Zach’s web series, “Between Two Ferns”. In it Zach interviews Michael Cera about acting in the comedy film Superbad (2007).
For more episodes of “Between Two Ferns” visit: http://www.funnyordie.com/between_two_ferns. Keep in mind that many of these episodes contain language that viewers may find offensive.
SATURDAY SHORT: AUTUMNIR (2005)
Autumnir is an artistic short filmed in a park in Germany using minimal subjects. It’s also seasonally appropriate. Alec Crichton, the creator of this short, has a remarkable talent for taking ordinary entities, and making them look atypical.
For more information on Alec and his work visit http://www.crichton.tv/.
SATURDAY SHORT: “AN ANIMATED SHORT FILM”
This week’s short is, as Thomas Grootoonk explains it, “A stop-motion animation about a boy who longs for a more vivid and brighter world.” Everything in this short, including music and animation, was done solely by Groontoonk.
SATURDAY SHORT: LIFE AND THE MIRROR (2007)
Today’s short was written and directed by Julio Pereira. Pereira has released a handful of shorts the past two years that deserve much more attention than they have received. His style is quite dark, and often has a sort of drained feel to it. “Life and the Mirror” will leave you lost in thought.
SATURDAY SHORT: GORDON’S SURREAL SENIOR PROJECT FILM #2
This week’s short was created by Gordon Inman eighteen months ago as his senior project film. As you will see, Gordon’s artistic interests don’t stop at film. He is also a very talented musician.
There are some captivating images in this short, including a Popsicle melting in reverse and a rotting watermelon. Although this may not be the most remarkable short I’ve seen, it shows great promise for the future. Our best wishes to Gordon as he continues to explore and express himself through art.
SATURDAY SHORT: BIMBO’S INITIATION (1931)
I know we’ve already featured a Betty Boop cartoon in this space (Betty Boop in Snow White), but this one was so good, we had to share. In this episode Bimbo falls into a manhole, and finds himself in a hideout for a group of people in black face with melted candle hats. Determined not to join their group, Bimbo puts himself in a lot of danger.
This cartoon contains a wonderfully outdated music score along with some sound effects that are very unique by today’s standards. There is a short peek at what looks like a famous Disney character at the beginning, and, as you may expect, some very surreal imagery throughout.