SIFF Science Fiction & Fantasy Short Film Festival
The Seattle International Film Festival has been running an annual short film festival for the last six or maybe seven years, but this is the first year I actually attended the event. Held at the Cinerama, Seattle's awesome temple of film, the festival included 21 short films shown over the course of 5 hours with a 90-minute break for dinner, an awards ceremony, and a Q&A with some of the films' directors at the end. I knew, based on seeing the program beforehand, that I'd seen at least two of the films last year at SIFF; the rest were completely new to me. I arrived about 40 minutes before the festival started with plans to sit with oldmangrumpus and immediately began running into friends. Before the evening was out, I'd seen shelly_rae, mikigarrison, bedii, herazade, tamiam, prettyshrub (who sat with Grumpus and me for part 1), and a slew of friends who aren't on LJ. It was like a convention in small, with great energy, good people, and good flicks, permeated by the smell of chocolate popcorn.
Generally speaking, the quality of the films--sent from all over the world--was pretty high, with only two or three feeling like either amateur works (by which I mean less polished) or feeling unfinished in some way. Grumpus said he felt like the overall quality was higher than it's been in previous years; makes me feel like I picked the right year to start attending this event. A high percentage of the films featured were from Spain and they all had a particular feel about them: kind of dark with a particular flavor of strange. I want to see more from Spain--but I want to see more from other countries, too. And we both also noted the high percentage of films that included humor.
I'm not going to review all 21 films, but I want to mention the ones I thought were particularly good or left a particular impression.
Time Freak (link goes to trailer): A scientist perfects time travel down to the second, but there's a problem: when you're a perfectionist, time travel may be the wrong tool to achieve your ends. A polished, funny take on getting it right and the cost of perfection. Nominated for an Academy Award for best live-action short.
Terminus (link goes to complete 8-minute film): To quote directly from the program, "A businessman inadvertently offends a concrete megalith and has trouble ridding himself of his unlikely stalker." My take: If a concrete megalith invites you to dance, you dance. The motion-capture and CGI effects in this piece were quite remarkable, and it was one of the evening's prize winners. I was impressed by how quickly I stopped feeling sympathy for the businessman and started feeling sympathy for the megalith.
Oliver Bump's Birthday: The latest child in a family of short-lived prodigies creates a machine to try to cheat death. With dry humor, heart, but no overt sentiment, this short makes a good point about living the life you want to live when time's in short supply.
Dead Happy (link goes to trailer): A pretty little Grim Reaper develops a crush on a Goth boy who can't see her--what's a girl to do? It's a problem a lot of single girls can relate to. This English entry had a sweet, veddy British sort of humor--well made and very entertaining.
The Dungeon Master (link goes to trailer) starts with two guys at a party talking about how they used to play Magic: the Gathering (the Shivan Dragon gets mention in hushed, awestruck tones) and Dungeons and Dragons. Soon enough, one of them admits that he "knows a guy" and pulls together a group to play D&D. The DM arrives with game case and cape, and the game is on. Well, what is it they say? Do not meddle in the affairs of dungeon masters, for they are subtle and quick to anger. Also? Be careful about choosing your character the next time you role-play. That half-orc thing could come back to bite you in the ass.
The Captivus (link goes to NSFW trailer): The two-man crew of a deep-space rescue freighter reflects on their relationship, now that one of them has completed his tour of duty. Part bromance, part rock-n-roll primer, and part psychological exploration, this short featured good effects, good acting, smart and funny writing, and some real insight that I didn't initially expect.
Carta a Julia (link goes to complete 7-minute movie): Maria writes a letter to her friend Julia about life in the country and the strange things her husband has gotten up to. This was my favorite of the Spanish entries, light and dry, made on a shoe-string budget with no special effects except the viewer's imagination. Really fine.
The Hunter and the Swan Discuss Their Meeting (link goes to complete 7-minute movie): A modern take on the capture of a shapeshifter out of mythology, with all of the awkward sweetness that modern dating entails--including the uncomfortable truths that sometimes come out. To me, this short felt like a feature-length film in small, a witty take on dating with a great little twist at the end.
In short, great evening, and I fully plan to attend again next year.
Generally speaking, the quality of the films--sent from all over the world--was pretty high, with only two or three feeling like either amateur works (by which I mean less polished) or feeling unfinished in some way. Grumpus said he felt like the overall quality was higher than it's been in previous years; makes me feel like I picked the right year to start attending this event. A high percentage of the films featured were from Spain and they all had a particular feel about them: kind of dark with a particular flavor of strange. I want to see more from Spain--but I want to see more from other countries, too. And we both also noted the high percentage of films that included humor.
I'm not going to review all 21 films, but I want to mention the ones I thought were particularly good or left a particular impression.
Time Freak (link goes to trailer): A scientist perfects time travel down to the second, but there's a problem: when you're a perfectionist, time travel may be the wrong tool to achieve your ends. A polished, funny take on getting it right and the cost of perfection. Nominated for an Academy Award for best live-action short.
Terminus (link goes to complete 8-minute film): To quote directly from the program, "A businessman inadvertently offends a concrete megalith and has trouble ridding himself of his unlikely stalker." My take: If a concrete megalith invites you to dance, you dance. The motion-capture and CGI effects in this piece were quite remarkable, and it was one of the evening's prize winners. I was impressed by how quickly I stopped feeling sympathy for the businessman and started feeling sympathy for the megalith.
Oliver Bump's Birthday: The latest child in a family of short-lived prodigies creates a machine to try to cheat death. With dry humor, heart, but no overt sentiment, this short makes a good point about living the life you want to live when time's in short supply.
Dead Happy (link goes to trailer): A pretty little Grim Reaper develops a crush on a Goth boy who can't see her--what's a girl to do? It's a problem a lot of single girls can relate to. This English entry had a sweet, veddy British sort of humor--well made and very entertaining.
The Dungeon Master (link goes to trailer) starts with two guys at a party talking about how they used to play Magic: the Gathering (the Shivan Dragon gets mention in hushed, awestruck tones) and Dungeons and Dragons. Soon enough, one of them admits that he "knows a guy" and pulls together a group to play D&D. The DM arrives with game case and cape, and the game is on. Well, what is it they say? Do not meddle in the affairs of dungeon masters, for they are subtle and quick to anger. Also? Be careful about choosing your character the next time you role-play. That half-orc thing could come back to bite you in the ass.
The Captivus (link goes to NSFW trailer): The two-man crew of a deep-space rescue freighter reflects on their relationship, now that one of them has completed his tour of duty. Part bromance, part rock-n-roll primer, and part psychological exploration, this short featured good effects, good acting, smart and funny writing, and some real insight that I didn't initially expect.
Carta a Julia (link goes to complete 7-minute movie): Maria writes a letter to her friend Julia about life in the country and the strange things her husband has gotten up to. This was my favorite of the Spanish entries, light and dry, made on a shoe-string budget with no special effects except the viewer's imagination. Really fine.
The Hunter and the Swan Discuss Their Meeting (link goes to complete 7-minute movie): A modern take on the capture of a shapeshifter out of mythology, with all of the awkward sweetness that modern dating entails--including the uncomfortable truths that sometimes come out. To me, this short felt like a feature-length film in small, a witty take on dating with a great little twist at the end.
In short, great evening, and I fully plan to attend again next year.