Me with the makers and voices of Marcel the Shell

I’m not sure if any of my fellow Sundancers from Eckerd had the pleasure of sitting through a Shorts Program, but I was lucky enough. I got there with just a few minutes to spare and found a seat inside the Holiday Village Cinema Theater.

Shorts are 3-20 minute films that can be anything from talking snails to ghetto noir films. The shorts are a nice way to break up the Sundance experience and try something different. It doesn’t allow you to get too involved in the plots or the characters, which offers a chance to try something really experimental.

One of my favorite shorts was titled Love Birds. Besides being aesthetically stunning, it managed to have me laughing my ass off. (more…)

One of my favorite experiences here has been the short films that are occasionally shown before the feature films here at Sundance and Slamdance. A short film is exactly that, a film that is not feature length. Usually shorts are shown in programs appropriately titled shorts programs, where many shorts are shown one after another. The beautiful thing about these shorts is that some of them that have premiered here in Park City have eventually returned fully blossomed into feature lengths. This independent film festival held each year presents filmmakers old and new, with feature length and shorts opportunities they wouldn’t have had other wise. (more…)

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 and his crew

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! (more…)