The New Filmmakers Los Angeles Shorts Programs January 11th, 2013 took place at the AT&T Center in downtown Los Angeles.
The acting direction and cinematography was almost universally excellent for all of the shorts. What many of them lacked, however, was strong writing. Someone in the selection committee seemed to have an affinity for war/soldier stories. There were no less than three of those films on this program.
I’ve been to some Q&A’s where they go on forever. In the NewFilmmakers showcase, however, just the opposite is the problem. The Q&A started and stopped with only about three questions which were unevenly distributed amongst the filmmakers. I felt like the filmmakers on stage were cheated out of an important audience interaction. With hardly more than a single question per filmmaker, they should either not call it a Q&A or they should a lot at least 15 minutes to an actual Q&A. Here are my comments on the short films.
Drone Strike
Director: Chris Richmond
Time: 21 Mins. – Country: UK
A high budget depiction of the life of a drone pilot and the actions that he takes which effect people on the other side of the world. Excellent subject matter and tight execution. Not really much substance in the writing, however. We already know happens.
King Eternal
Director: Christiano Dias
Time: 15 Mins. – Country: USA
This one was funded for $10K on Indie-A-Go-Go
Ultimately simplistic ending that is endemic to the short film format.
Abduction
Director: Timothy Earle & Ian Wexler
Time: 15 Mins. – Country: USA
A group of men stage elaborate fake alien abductions, but one of them goes wrong. The strong suit are some scenes with some very quirky character dialogue that set up the abduction gone bad. After that, the film goes down hill with a lame partner-in-crime standoff and concludes on a nonsensical note.
Mediation
Director: Francisco Lorite
Time: 14 Mins. – Country: USA
Far and away the best short in the program.
During the Q&A I asked Mr. Lorie how he came to choose the film’s aesthetic and why. Film noir. Vertigo. This is one serious talent. Be on the lookout for his future work. I think we’ll be seeing some great things from this talented filmmaker.
Exhilarating in making you wonder what is going to happen each passing second.
Lialou
Director: Karolis Spinkis
Time: 7 Mins. – Country: Germany
During the Q&A, in response to a question of how each of the filmmakers chose their subject matter, he said he wanted to change the world. This one was probably the lowest budget of any of the shorts on the program, but better than all of them except for Mediation.
I caught up with Mr. Sprinkis after the screening. He was in town from Germany for just a few days. He told me that in contrast to much of German cinema, he wanted to make something that “wasn’t so serious”.
Retire for the Evening
Director: Ed Hellman
Time: 10 Mins. – Country: USA
Ventriloquinism. Some comical qualities along with some level of annoyingness.
Hiccup
Director: Alyssa Radmand & Griffin Devine
Time: 18 Mins. – Country: USA
This one seemed to really go somewhere with some solid comic melancholy. Concludes with a cliché that’s so disappointing it cheats the viewer.
Present Trauma
Director: Mark Manalo
Time: 15 Mins. – Country: USA
A melodrama about a marine with PTSD and his flashbacks to the Iraq war. Excellent acting, but hopelessly stale.
Tonight’s the Night
Director: Satinder Kaur
Time: 15 Mins. – Country: USA
This one really left me with a sour feeling. Yet another soldier-themed story about a girl. She has little personality and her hopes of getting slammed in an alley by some street thug are dashed. Seriously, that’s what this is about. Oh yeah – She argues and then makes nice with her mother too. This was the worst short on the program and an utter waste of time.
