We've started compiling information about new short films for our AWN readers, appropriately titled "Where's My Shorts?" Lest we get too jovial, each week, we'll provide a brief compilation of new short films premiering during that week, either at a festival, exhibition, screening or online. They could be gems, they could be industrial effluent, we hazard no guess. However, we can tell you that the works are supposedly "new," which gives us hope that someone, somewhere is doing something besides lying around their den, eating Cheetos and cleaning their ears with a pencil.
Premiering on the IFILM Network this week is DAMNED, a new film by Alex Crouch. Most consider a game of chess to be a fun, harmless way to pass the time, but nobody said it was fun for the pieces on the board! Witness the horrible fate of one group of chess pieces as they're thrown into the jaws of death. These guys know the true meaning of the word "Damned!" Find this short at: www.ifilm.com/ifilm/skeletons/film_detail/0,1263,1104743,00.html. . . . Billed as the first Web-based premier in Estonian animation history, Mikk Rand's latest film, THE MOSQUITO AND THE HORSE is now showing on the Net. The film was produced by Multi Film Ltd. and Nuku Film Ltd., and can be found at: www.etv.ee/multifilm.ram. . . Also premiering is the Italian Web animation FIVEZEROZERO, which chronicles an International Space Station mission, involving the return to Earth of an Italian astronaut in his uniquely Italian space vehicle. The film was created by multimedia and animation production company Officine Pixel, based in Forli, Italy. You can find this film at: www.officinepixel.com/ictoiss/ictossi.html. . . Premiering in Vancouver, Canada, last week was LIP SERVICE - A MYSTERY, a new animated/live action film by independent Canadian filmmaker Anne-Marie Fleming. LIP SERVICE - A MYSTERY depicts the adventure of a single, unemployed, lipless woman who hires herself out as a private detective. This is a film about identity, community and the shifting roles of women. Commenting about her hand-held, hand-painted technique, Anne-Marie Fleming said: "Why would anyone do this, I don't know, but it does create a type of image and texture that I haven't seen before."Find more about this short at: http://globalmechanic.com/lipservice_a_mystery.
Read more about Estonia's Nuku Film in "Little Big Estonia: The Nukufilm Studio" by Heikki Jokinen, who visited the studio on its 40th anniversary at http://www.awn.com/mag/issue2.11/2.11pages/2.11jokinennuku.html.
