Since the release of his Academy Award nominated short “Rejected” (2000), Don Hertzfeldt has become something of an Internet icon. The Internet Movie Database even dubbed “Rejected” the third most popular short film in Internet history.
While still keeping true to his darkly humorous style, Don used a slightly more serious approach when creating “Everything Will Be Okay”. Rather than child abusing balloons and self-aware bananas, this short tells the story of a man’s emotional breakdown.
Content Warning: This short contains some mildly offensive violence, humor, and language.
“Everything Will Be Okay” is actually the first segment in a three-part narrative. Together, it and the second segment, “I Am so Proud of You” (2008) have received many awards from various film festivals. The currently unnamed third segment is expected to be released late this year.
“Afterlife” is a dreamlike interpretation of what happens during death. While sharing the same topic as “The Art of Drowning“, “Afterlife” contains a meditative soundtrack instead of dialog, and promotes the idea of quickly revisiting life experiences just before passing away.
One aspect of Phoebe Parsons’ work is its tendency to skip from different animation styles to live-action. “The Fantastic Adventures of Cloudman” is no exception. In its thirteen-minute length, no one animation style prevails. Even the live-action sequences are spiced up with fireworks, Styrofoam, paper-mache, and sometimes even animation, making them vary considerably.
CONTENT WARNING: This short contains brief drug use, and some mild violence.
In this short Ceiren Bell illustrates how an oppressive government can metaphorically poison the land they govern, devastating the lives present and future generations.
With the success of his shorts “The External World” (2011) and “Please Say Something” (2009) in festivals across the globe, David O’Reilly has become a shorts director who is not so easily overlooked anymore. Although “WOFL 2106” may not be his best short to date, it is a great introduction into his work.
WARNING: A few complaints have been made about the sound in this video. It can be a little jarring, so if you have sensitive ears be sure to keep the volume a little lower than normal.
More from David O’Reilly can be found on his Vimeo profile in the link above. Keep in mind, though, that some of his material does contain strong language, some violence, and sexual content.
Celebrating the cinematically surreal, bizarre, cult, oddball, fantastique, strange, psychedelic, and the just plain WEIRD!
