The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, from Moonbot Studios.
One of five animated short films that will be considered for outstanding film achievements of 2011 in the 84th Academy Awards.
"...a feeling of nostalgic longing for something or someone that one was fond of and which is lost. It often carries a fatalist tone and a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might really never return."Photographs of you make my heart hurt, as if I miss you the way I'd miss my second self lost in an accident, as if my heart is no longer a gift, but only a muscle slowly closing and unclosing with a strength too small to taste, too unhappy to sing, a shout in a room that will never be heard. This is a funeral, a year as hungry as an empty highway, a broken radio, days numbered, months stretching into false dusty infinity. Every morning I wake up the same way, watching for reality, waiting to be. I was there, where were you?
Wore It Deep (The Tree Ring) from Destin Daniel Cretton.
Before The City of Lost Children, before Delicatessen, long before Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro would become international darlings, all the way back in 1981, the duo would make their live action directorial debut with The Bunker of the Last Gunshots. They had already collaborated on a pair of animated shorts by this point but Bunker was their first foray into the 'real' world and already their distinct style was fully on display. Running at 25 minutes, the start, seemingly post-apocalyptic film has been a hard one for fans to track down but the entire thing is now online and available for viewing. Take a look below.
SCINTILLATION, an experimental film made up of over 35,000 photographs, it combines an innovative mix of stop motion and live projection mapping techniques,
from Xavier Chassaing on Vimeo.
"Sita is a goddess separated from her beloved Lord and husband Rama. Nina is an animator whose husband moves to India, then dumps her by e-mail. Three hilarious shadow puppets narrate both ancient tragedy and modern comedy in this beautifully animated interpretation of the Indian epic Ramayana. Set to the 1920’s jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw, Sita Sings the Blues earns its tagline as “The Greatest Break-Up Story Ever Told.”"
In the confusion following a massive power outage in small-town America, human doormat Donald Turnupseed (actor-musician Will Oldham, Old Joy) suddenly vanishes, setting in motion a surreal series of events affecting his hapless father, his pregnant girlfriend, a pack of wild boy scouts, a lactose-intolerant roller rink employee, an elderly woman in search of her lost poodle, and his best friend: a ten-year-old girl named Turkeylegs.Corey McAbee, (Billy Nayer Show, The American Astronaut), also stars, and has sent me some anecdotes about making the film to pass on to everyone who attends.
One of Filmmaker Magazine's 25 New Faces of Independent Film, writer-director Todd Rohal charts strange new cinematic waters with his madly innovative feature debut, The Guatemalan Handshake. Winner of Special Jury Prizes at 2006 Slamdance and Torino, Rohal's vivacious feast for the senses "bristles with his anarchic visual language, offbeat humor, ephemeral sense of narrative, circuitous character sketches, and freewheeling sense of mirth" (Baltimore City Paper).
"A dangerous mission reunites STINGRAY SAM with his long lost accomplice, The Quasar Kid. Follow these two space-convicts as they earn their freedom in exchange for the rescue of a young girl who is being held captive by the genetically designed figurehead of a very wealthy planet. This musical space-western miniseries is designed for small screens and perfect for screens of all sizes. "It's not Werewolf Hunters of the Midwest, the next film he was ostensibly working on, but it looks to be just as weirdly captivating. For extra points, his sweetheart co-star in this kooky Cowboy Space Musical is his wee little daughter, it's narrated by David Hyde Pierce, and rumour says it was filmed in only two weeks. I believe the proper response is Hell Yeah!!
In Los Angeles circa 1915, a little immigrant girl (Catinca Untaru) is in a hospital recovering from a fall. She strikes up a friendship with a bedridden stunt-man (Lee Pace), who captivates her with a whimsical story that removes her far from the hospital doldrums into the exotic landscapes of her imagination. (All of which are actual places ~jh). Making sure he keeps the girl interested in the story he interweaves her family and people she likes from the hospital into his tale. Shot on location in 18 countries around the world, The Fall is a moving, visually sumptuous fantasy of exotic bandits, evil tyrants, dream-like palaces and breathtaking landscapes.
Tagline: “I'll tell you a story…”
Translation: “…about how this film, from that one-named guy who directed The Cell, nearly got buried forever and has only now been resuscitated by David Fincher and Spike Jonze.”
The verdict: Remember The Cell? The hallucinogenically beautiful and vaguely nonsensical 2000 serial-killer movie starring Jennifer Lopez and Vincent D’Onofrio? Well, here comes The Fall, another hallucinogenically beautiful and potentially nonsensical movie from the same director, Tarsem Singh. The film, which the mono-named Tarsem shot in exotic locations by piggybacking on commercial shoots (!) and which he financed out of his own pocket (!!), premiered at the Toronto Film Festival way back in 2006. Grumpy reviews scared off distributors, and it’d been gathering dust — until David Fincher and Spike Jonze threw their collective cred behind it to secure a limited release. Now: Behold the colorful marvels of Tarsem’s world! Gasp at his visual acumen! Wonder if the story, which here looks like a mash-up of The English Patient, Pan's Labyrinth, and 300 (right down to that dude booting that guy in the chest in slo-mo), actually holds together in any cohesive way! Or if that even matters! And download the haunting music (Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A major) from iTunes, pronto. —Adam Sternbergh
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