AAIF 2009 - Shorts in Competition
"In Competition" means that the initial reviewers picked these films from the other shorts to compete for awards in the Festival. I'm going to try to get all the films in competition in each category listed in separate posts. There are about 17 other shorts (besides the animated shorts) in the Festival. I'll add stuff to this page if I learn more. And I'll put together a Festival overview post that will link to these other key posts. (The descriptions come from the Anchorage International Film Festival (AIFF) site unless otherwise noted. Picture sources are all listed with the film.) Based on awards already won, there are some good films here.
The Capgras Tide UK 15 minutes
Director: Adam Hutchings
You can see a one minute clip at Adam Hutchings' website.
Note: I became aware of Capgras reading Richard Powers' gripping book, Echo Maker. Capgras results from a head injury and causes one to believe that a close relative is really an imposter. The book is also of interest to Alaskans because it takes place in Kearny, Nebraska where the Sandhill Cranes gather. Powers weaves in the theme of memory that the cranes have to find their way back to Alaska and the memory of his capgras patient in the book.
Free Lunch US 30 minutes
Director: Rick Curnutt
Luksus (Luxury) Poland, 38 minutes
reżyseria Jarosław Sztander
Here's Google's translation from the Polish website:
Or you may prefer how the Brooklyn Film Festival site (photo also from Brooklyn Film Festival site) described it:
Miracle Fish Australia 18 minutes
Director: Luke Doolan
" Eight-year-old Joe has a birthday he will never forget. After friends tease him, he sneaks off to the sick bay, wishing everyone in the world would go away. He wakes up to find his dream may have become a reality."
Photo from Short Film Central
Miracle Fish was shown at the Sundance Film festival this year. According to a short audio interview with Doolan, Miracle Fish first got Italian money and only got Australian backing after it got into Sundance.
Next Floor Canada 12 minutes
Director: Denis Villeneuve
This film won the Canal+ award for best short film at this year's Cannes film festival.
She's a Fox US 18 minutes
Director: Cameron Sawyer
True Beauty This Night US 10 minutes
Director: Peter Besson
The True Beauty This Night blog says the film won the Best Short Award at the San Diego Film Festival. And there's a long list of other prizes at other festivals. Besson also relates some frustration with someone who interpreted the film differently than he did in a Q&A after a showing in Ojai, California.
Dan Ito at Festivus Film Festival tells us in the video that he liked True Beauty This Night.
The Capgras Tide UK 15 minutes
Director: Adam Hutchings
A man returns home from the hospital after suffering a concussion convinced his father is an impostor. In an attempt to prove his theory he uncovers a more shocking truth. (AIFF description)
You can see a one minute clip at Adam Hutchings' website.
Note: I became aware of Capgras reading Richard Powers' gripping book, Echo Maker. Capgras results from a head injury and causes one to believe that a close relative is really an imposter. The book is also of interest to Alaskans because it takes place in Kearny, Nebraska where the Sandhill Cranes gather. Powers weaves in the theme of memory that the cranes have to find their way back to Alaska and the memory of his capgras patient in the book.
Free Lunch US 30 minutes
Director: Rick Curnutt
Walter Tanner Jr. is done with his privileged past, so he sets off on the road in a lunch truck with his friend Casey to serve the working people of Los Angeles who live their own real struggles.
Luksus (Luxury) Poland, 38 minutes
reżyseria Jarosław Sztander
Here's Google's translation from the Polish website:
History seventeen boy - luxury, which after several years of living under the care of her pimp - Popers, became too old for customers - pedophiles. For this reason Popers abandons boy at the central station. Luxury can not find in the new situation and by all means try to go back to "business" and her pimp.
Synopsis
The lives of two boys converge at the central train station in Warsaw a day before Christmas. One is a teen prostitute nicknamed Luksus (Luxury) and the other is a beggar with a dog. The older one, because of his age, has just finished his 'career'. The younger one is only a step away from it as he has come into possession of a valuable notebook with the addresses and telephone numbers of clients. A local taxi driver, the main client and agent in the underage sex business, offers Luksus a job as a tout. Will the boy exploit his younger friend or will he help him escape pedophiles' clutches? Painfully realistic, photographed in the authentic setting of the station, Sztandera's film touches upon a real problem often ignored by Polish cinema. [From the Brooklyn Film Festival site]
Miracle Fish Australia 18 minutes
Director: Luke Doolan
" Eight-year-old Joe has a birthday he will never forget. After friends tease him, he sneaks off to the sick bay, wishing everyone in the world would go away. He wakes up to find his dream may have become a reality."
Photo from Short Film Central
Miracle Fish was shown at the Sundance Film festival this year. According to a short audio interview with Doolan, Miracle Fish first got Italian money and only got Australian backing after it got into Sundance.
Next Floor Canada 12 minutes
Director: Denis Villeneuve
This film won the Canal+ award for best short film at this year's Cannes film festival.
During an opulent and luxurious banquet complete with hordes of servers and valets, 11 pampered guests participate in what appears to be a ritualistic gastronomic carnage. In this absurd and grotesque universe, an unexpected sequence of events undermines the endless symphony of abundance. [Photo screen shot from trailer at metacafe.]
She's a Fox US 18 minutes
Infatuated with the hottest girl in school, fifth-grader Cameron Sawyer puts everything on the line–including his mullet—to win the girl of his dreams.[Photo from Heartland Film Festival site.]
True Beauty This Night US 10 minutes
Director: Peter Besson
"Last night, Rhett Somers met the love of his life. Now all he has to do is convince her she’s the one. Not an easy feat considering how they met…"
The True Beauty This Night blog says the film won the Best Short Award at the San Diego Film Festival. And there's a long list of other prizes at other festivals. Besson also relates some frustration with someone who interpreted the film differently than he did in a Q&A after a showing in Ojai, California.
Dan Ito at Festivus Film Festival tells us in the video that he liked True Beauty This Night.
