SHORTS BLOCK 13: Experimental
09 min -- “The Heebie-Jeebies” by Todd Slawsby: Finding a mysterious storybook, Liam convinces his mother to read it to him and his sister, Lyla. The book tells of The Heebie-Jeebies -- ancient monsters rumored to appear in the night and drag children and their parents into their own nightmares. As they ready themselves for sleep, the children will discover: something terrifying is under their beds.
04 min -- “PROXIMITY” by Joshua Cox: “Proximity” is a romantic crime drama in an unusual setting -- an elderly woman's living room. Her collection of ceramic statues have a life of their own. Two figures explore the depths of love and betrayal. Proximity illustrates how spatial relativity shapes our interactions with the world and people around us. Closeness can create the illusion of an unspoken bond, but when challenged by desire it can be turned on its head and shatter reality. (Animation)
09 min -- “The Ballad of Peter & Emily” by Don Andrews: Peter is at a juncture where nothing in his life makes sense; Emily is at the same point in her life. The film looks into the lives of two people recently out of college, afraid to move out of their comfort zones at work and in their relationship. They have fallen into a pattern of inaction thinking that life will slow down, but they soon realize that life slows for no one.
10 min -- “Baby Ipecac” by Vu Pham: Baby Ipecac imagines the genesis of a relationship between “David” and “Patricia,” a pair of self-destructive lovers and antagonists to the “hero’s journey” in Sway of the Knife. It is a bizarre, kinetic excursion into their volatile criminal dealings inside a hotel room. The usual drug deal becomes a hallucinatory web of paranoia, deception, and immanent peril.
07 min -- “REZ CARZ” by Clancy Dennehy: Abandoned cars rest silently in fields for decades, still holding secret conversations within their bodies. A native cast starring Tantoo Cardinal and Gary Farmer breathe life into pivotal moments of sex, birth and death.
10 min -- “GUSTAF” by Yann Caloghiris: Gustaf is a quiet, submissive husband. He has been out of work because of what he calls, 'his condition'. His only point of contact with the outside world is the launderette he visits regularly. This changes when he has a bizarre hallucination. As he begins to draw a connection between the pieces of the puzzle, visions grow in intensity until the truth finally reveals itself.
15 min -- “Subsurface Flow” by Carl Bird McLaughlin: Wounded by their childhoods, young lovers travel to the desert in search of a holy ground, where the pains of their pasts can be washed away.
12 min -- “Oh Sheila” by Jeffrey Sundin: Where have all the disco cowboys gone?
04 min -- “Husk” by Paul Howell: While collecting paper scraps for her den, Husk, a life-size tree spirit, has a shock encounter with some feral fairies in the street-art urban environment of Melbourne, Australia. Nothing is as it seems as this hypnotic story unfolds. (Animation)
09 min -- "The Kid" by Jeff Winograd: A young boy is drawn into the world driven by the soundtrack of his life and the magic all around him. HIs journey takes him through a strange world he didn’t know existed and perhaps doesn’t. Along the way he meets friends and foes, though he can’t always tell the difference between the two. His experience lead him back to where he started, but his world has changed.
06 min -- “How to Avoid Annoying People” by Ariel Nasser: Hand-drawn animation uses sarcasm and irony to criticize social behaviors such as self-centered small talk. Within a narrative structure punctuated by an infomercial announcer, this comical film reveals the harassment endured by a plane traveler as he endures verbal barrage from a fellow passenger. (Animated)
11 min -- "I'm Sorry Alligator" by Alexandr Beran: A withdrawn woman witnesses Ants Man bring an inanimate object to life on a house call. He unearths a ceramic alligator and makes it new. But when he
stumbles upon the homeowners' trend of object neglect, he plans a rescue. The withdrawn woman is inspired to follow him, as she’s lead across town through a world of hidden friends.