In the final of four program announcements, Sundance Institute announced the short film program at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, taking place Jan. 19-29, 2006, in Park City, Utah.
Short films have always had an important role in cinema and at the Sundance Film Festival, said John Cooper, Sundance Film Festival director of programming. As the tools required to create films have become more accessible, new voices have emerged and short films are a place to discover some of the most creative and challenging work being done today. The Sundance Film Festival has always screened shorts and instituted the Short Film Program in 1991. The festival has presented shorts by later feature film directors including: Todd Haynes, Spike Jones, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wes Anderson, David O. Russell, Todd Field, Lisa Kruger, Peter Sollett, Patricia Cardosa, Alison Maclean, Tamara Jenkins, Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
U.S. Animated Shorts include:* FABLE (Director: Daniel Sousa) A woman and man's passions are overshadowed by their predatory instincts. * FUMI AND THE BAD LUCK FOOT (Director: David Chai) The story of Fumi and her extremely unlucky foot, including a shotgun barrage, wild moose attack and infant electrocution. * GOPHER BROKE (Director: Jeff Fowler) No matter how hungry a gopher may be there is no free lunch. * HADACOL CHRISTMAS (Director: Brent Green) Santa Claus invents Christmas with a belly full of cough syrup and a head full of dying crows. * LOS ABCS: ¡QUE VIVAN LOS MUERTOS! (Director: John Jota Leaños) Do you remember your ABCs? No? Well, youre in luck. Sing along with this group of animated Mariachi social documentarians. * THE WRAITH OF COBBLE HILL (Director: Adam Parrish King) It's up to Felix to either reciprocate the benevolence shown him, or perpetuate the neglect handed down as a family legacy.
International Animated Shorts include: * AT THE QUINTE HOTEL / Canada (Director: Bruce Alcock) In an incredible animated version of the Al Purdy poem, a man waxes on about beer and flowers in a small-town basement tavern. * BOB LOG III'S ELECTRIC FENCE STORY / Germany (Director: Stock 'n' Wolf) Big difficulties are encountered by Bob Log III in the Black Forest while trying to knock over sleeping cows. * CLARA / Australia (Director: Van Sowerwine) A 12-year-old girl's world has just changed forever. * FLESH/ France (Director: Edouard Salier) The Empire unveils everything but sees nothing and its enemies idealize everything but tolerate nothing. For some its the earthly orgasm of virtual whores, while for others the eternal orgasm of 70 heavenly virgins. * A HALF MAN / Canada (Director: Firas Momani) A half of a man has trouble living in society without his organs falling out. * THE MYSTERIOUS GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORATIONS OF JASPER MORELLO / Australia (Director: Anthony Lucas) In a fantasy future, a navigator goes on a journey to find a cure for the plague killing his fiancee. * YESTERDAY, I THINK / U.K. (Director: Becalelis Brodskis) Once there was a baby that made those around him hate...
The same short films and festival highlights will be available globally at the Sundance Film Festival Online at (www.sundance.org) starting Jan. 19, 2006, through June 19, 2006. The Sundance Film Festival is the only major film festival to create, free of charge, a realtime festival experience online where a film enthusiast anywhere in the world can see films the same day as festival-goers in Park City, Utah. The short film program both at the festival and online is presented by festival sponsor, Adobe Systems. The festival selected 73 short films dramatic, documentary and animated from a total of 4,327 submissions. Forty-two films are American and 31 are international representing 17 countries. As the premier showcase for the best new work of American independent and international filmmakers, the Sundance Film Festival screens films that embody creative risktaking, diversity and aesthetic innovation.
For more information, visit www.sundance.org.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
