The originality of the shorts I have seen is astounding! They are true examples of independent thinking in film. A whole universe unfolds before me in fifteen minutes or less and the creativity is evident in every precious second.  

I have experienced shorts from both Sundance and Slamdance. At both festivals, they are screened in blocks of five or six at a time. Though Sundance would save the Q and A session with all the directors for the end, Slamdance chose to try letting each director speak right after his or her film, which I enjoyed more. The Sundance approach made it harder to remember all the way back to the first films in the block.  

A few that really stood out to me, though they were all fantastic, were Captain Coulier (space explorer), Sparks, and Next Floor at Sundance, and The Covenant of Mr. Kasch and I Don’t Sleep I Dream at Slamdance.

Captain Coulier is a throwback to fifties science fiction movies but the captain is just so bored! His saucer-like space craft calmly drifts along hoping to stumble upon something more interesting than the vacuum of space and his four man crew tries desperately to go above cruising speed every time he leaves the room. He clings to the hope that one day his lackluster explorations will all be worth it. I was particularly keen on seeing this one because the Canadian director and various cast and crew were on our flight from Denver to Salt Lake City!  

 

Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut Sparks is based on a short story by Elmore Leonard. What’s impressive is the style that pulls me into the story. The main character, her name escapes me, is trying to convince an insurance claims investigator that the house she shared with her late husband really did burn down in a forest fire, and not by her own act of arson, as the investigator suspects. As she smoothly covers all her bases, I get a glimpse into her mind with storybook flashbacks and playful reenactments of the house, the nosy neighbor, her wealthy husband. It’s like illustrations of her memory come to life and I even hear her “voice of reason,” spoken by Kristen Johnston, who co-starred with Gordon-Levitt on the T.V. show 3^rd Rock from the Sun. The director led me through her emotions superbly, and I spotted him in a cameo as the drummer in her band. I guess that’s just another one of his talents.

 

The immensely entertaining Next Floor, literally brought the house down, well, the floor at least. An exaggerated portrait of the deadly sin of gluttony, a group of stuffy (pun intended) dinners swiftly gorge themselves at a table lavished in a carnivorous dream of a banquet, leaving no room for conversation. The camera delights in close ups of the juicy, glistening dishes that excite the consumers but makes me squirm as I listen to the rushed sounds of chewing and lip smacking. With a groan and a wooden crack, they’re gone, like they were swallowed by the floor. The head waiter dutifully instructs his team of servers, “Next floor!” Down the stairs they go. Oh, and here comes the baked rhinoceros. How many floors are there?

 

Before the Australian short The Covenant of Mr. Kasch begins, I’m informed that the following film is comprised from over 60, 000 still images. The product is a kind of stop-motion film, narrated by a female voice demonstrating the conflicting thoughts of Mr. Kasch in contrasting whispers and shouts. The two characters, Mr. Kasch and his distant love interest, are dressed as attractive clowns that mime their lives and relationship. It’s a kind of sad dance as he denies himself a chance at love, cowering in his basement of a room, until he is lead to a solution by tiny men who bring him a knife. The next day, he meets his love again and only now can he face her with his face bloody and bandaged beyond recognition.  

I Don’t Sleep I Dream is actually the third installment in a trilogy of shorts by director J.P. Chan. Afterwards, the audience assured him that it could easily stand on its own as he hoped. A woman faces a guilty conscience after absentmindedly driving down a lonely road and running down an innocent pedestrian. Her hit and run soon catches up when she gets a flat tire. A surreal alternate reality begins to take over when a meat cleaver drops out of the sky and buries itself in the pavement by her car. Then another lands in the roof of the car. She panics and runs down the road while the camera faces the sky. A whole swarm of knives now threatens her retreat. Suspense and confusion are masterfully utilized in Chan’s tale of caution.

I am left with a new respect for short films, especially the independent ones represented in film festivals. They are like the dreams of the creators made available for an audience. Strange and new, a window opens up on their minds just for an instant and then it closes. But not without an invitation to revisit in my own dreams.

Tags: Emma Lord, independent film, shorts, slamdance, sundance

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