Fashion Victim

USA - 2003
A verbal spat amongst two stylish denizens in a nightclub bathroom concludes with an explosive bloody splash – when one attempts to stifle a sneezing fit by pinching her nostrils shut

CAST
Alyssa Lobit
Michael Lucid
Directed by Rachel Tejada

Prey Alone

IRELAND - 2005
Believe it or not it took only 4 days to shoot all of the live action elements of Prey Alone in a green screen studio at Ardmore Studios in Dublin. One can appreciate the amount of preparation this took. Every head turn, look and movement had to be worked out in advance by directors Stephen St Leger and James Mather and agreed upon for it to cut together. There are approximately 350 shots in the completed movie and each one is at least digitally enhanced if not completely created on a computer. The self-taught James Mather spent at least 18 months preparing and building all the necessary 3d objects and elements. After seeing a short clip, producer John McDonnell was successful in securing some short film funding from the Irish Film Board. With a budget most Hollywood producers spend on lunch, Technical director John O’Connell set up the domestic nine-computer render farm. Then James, Lead animator & compositor Jonathan Ridge and graphic artist Eddie Sheanon had only three and a half months to animate, model, light, render and complete the film.
It was filmed entirely against a green screen background on 16mm film.
Believe it or not it took only 4 days to shoot all of the live action elements of Prey Alone in a green screen studio at Ardmore Studios in Dublin. One can appreciate the amount of preparation this took. Every head turn, look and movement had to be worked out in advance by directors Stephen St Leger and James Mather and agreed upon for it to cut together. There are approximately 350 shots in the completed movie and each one is at least digitally enhanced if not completely created on a computer. The self-taught James Mather spent at least 18 months preparing and building all the necessary 3d objects and elements. After seeing a short clip, producer John McDonnell was successful in securing some short film funding from the Irish Film Board. With a budget most Hollywood producers spend on lunch, Technical director John O’Connell set up the domestic nine-computer render farm. Then James, Lead animator & compositor Jonathan Ridge and graphic artist Eddie Sheanon had only three and a half months to animate, model, light, render and complete the film.
It was filmed entirely against a green screen background on 16mm film.
“Ideally 35mm would have been a better format for compositing and tracking, but we didn’t have the money…so it had to be 16mm…James and I also wanted to shoot a lot of it hand held so that made things even more difficult for tracking, more difficult for everything in fact…but it’s a much better way…more exciting, realistic and unobtrusive.”
Stephen St Leger
Director

“I felt that the camera should always be trying to catch up with the action. In real life the camera operator would be struggling to shoot what is happening so that should be reflected in the 3d generated camera moves. Camera shake, camera focusing up, crash zooming into the action”…”The more unpredictable the better”
James Mather
D.O.P. / Director
CAST
Ger Carey
Andy Moore
Kurt Savage
Eric Gill, Alex Bravo,
Elias Escobedo, Jun Li
Colin Tannen, Daniel Katz,
Michael Rooney,
Brian Halford,
Franklin Egbe
John O'Connell,
Neal (Vinny) Finnie,
Shay Kirwan
John Costelloe
Saul Casey
Lynsey Kelleher
John McDonnell
Directed by Stephen St. Leger and James Mather

Spring in Awe

USA - 2004

Martina Radwan :"My story behind the film is very simple and very direct. I have been a political person all my life. I was amazed to see so many people, worldwide, on the streets protesting against the war in Iraq, and it didn’t seem to matter to the government. I felt very helpless and wanted to be heard.
I have also had a lifelong fascination with Times Square. Times Square is a symbol of entertainment and glamour everywhere in the world — that changed drastically when Disney took over and it became the Mecca of commerce. Seeing the horrible news of the war melting into the colorful fluorescent lights and therefore making them seem less horrible, made me very angry.
I told a friend of mine, Moira Demos, an editor, about my idea and she immediately agreed to collaborate with me. I went out to shoot on Times Square almost every night, depending on the news, and the next morning Moira would load in the footage and we would edit.
We had a very quick turnaround, roughly eight weeks, which I thought was important, because it was such an important and timely topic.
From the very beginning I was thinking about Natacha Atlas’s version of “I Put a Spell on You” because I like the double meaning of the lyrics. Her interpretation gives the song another layer, it could be a love song, but you cannot miss the military choir in the background. I screened this film at Docu Days in Beirut. It was rewarding for me for the film to be shown in another affected country and to see people understand what I am aiming at."

Directed by Martina Radwan

405: The Movie

USA - 2000

405 was created by Bruce Branit and Jeremy Hunt using only consumer level computers, off-the-shelf software, and their imaginative talents. This short film was shot in two days on location on the busy I-405 freeway in Los Angeles and Orange County. But it really came to be only after three more months of hard work using computer graphics.

Much of the movie, featuring a DC-10 and a Jeep Grand Cherokee, was created entirely inside these computers. There are 62 shots in this 3 minute film and 42 of those shots are enhanced with digital visual effects. Nineteen shots are entirely digital creations, using no live action footage whatsoever. There is no real airplane in this film. The DC-10 was created digitally in a 3D environment. Both cars in this film are also created digitally using Lightwave 3D. Both actors were shot inside real vehicles, however, most shots--including all of the old woman's scenes--were shot standing still. Even the freeway backgrounds were created digitally and added to the filmed footage later.
CAST
Jeremy Hunt
Angela Burns
Directed by Bruce Branit and Jeremy Hunt

The Silent City

IRELAND - 2006
This film is about three soldiers struggling for survival on a dust-laden, war-torn planet that may or may not be Earth.
Robinson directs and edits “The Silent City” with virtually a non-existent budget and has created a stunning visual effects film with a gripping character study of the ultimate futility of war that rivals anything I’ve seen since Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now” or Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket” only on a smaller scale.
CAST
Cillian Murphy
Don Wycherley
Garvan McGrath
Directed by Ruairí Robinson

Thinning The Herd

FRANCE - 2004

Having finished the graveyard shift a young albino returns to her apartment to find that a vicious killer of the disabled has made her next victim. What attracts some humans to the dark side? Is it a cry for pop culture attention in a world where serial killers are more famous than nobel prize winners? Society's sum of the disenfranchised or do dark forces really call to them? Why does a young man feel compeled to act out brutal murders inspired by satanic music? This simple premise becomes the set for a little game of show and tell between predator and prey.

CAST

Travis Marchall
Rie Rasmussen
Directed by Rie Rasmussen

The Youth in Us

USA - 2005

Every once in while on WTTW’s Image Union (the long-running half-hour short film showcase) you come across a real gem. In this case, the jewel is The Youth In Us, and the good news is, you don’t have to TIVO Image Union (which I recommend) to see it, since director Joshua Leonard has constructed a modest website to share his work. Leonard, an actor who is best known (apparently) from The Blair Witch Project (the only human image that sticks with me from that film involves a flashlight and snot), shows talent with this 2005 short, his first directing gig. However, it is the writing and cinematography that make The Youth In Us stand out among the large population of short films that are made and never seen.
While short form cinema allows for multiple viewings, good short form cinema encourages it. On first blush here we have an intimate conversation between two kids in love, played with impressive restraint by Lukas Haas (Brick, Last Days) and Kelli Garner. However, both the structure of the script and its attention to detail produce one of my favorite cinematic experiences: the multi-layered reveal. Even though your brain will begin to untangle its mistaken assumptions after the “Oh” moment in the film, the second viewing provides an entirely different take on the same words. I love that. And while the writing keeps your interest, it is the photography which initially grabs it, using overexposure and color saturation to great effect. While not without flaws, The Youth In Us is a substantial little film.

CAST
Lukas Haas ... Jack
Kelli Garner ... Alicia
Nathan Norton ... Young Jack
Mariah Bess ... Young Girl
Directed by Joshua Leonard

Love Without Socks

CANADA - 1998
It's the little things that count. A simple pair of socks produce a critical moment in Fanny and Frank's relationship. Very first short film from Filmmakers Alliance co-Founder Jacques Thelemaque starring Diane Gaidry.
CAST
G. Larry Butler
Frank Como
Diane Gaidry
Andrew M. Somers
Directed by Jacques Thelemaque

Oscar Pinta

AUSTRALIA - 2004
A young boy takes a photograph of a stranger and is slowly consumed by the man's soul.
CAST
Michael Kotaridis
Rod Barr
Sienna Taylor Gibson
Directed by Joanna Quintanilla

Thomas

CANADA - 1995
Keith Behrman’s first short film, THOMAS, deals with a family waiting for a snowstorm to abate in order to bury their eldest son. It’s a stark, lonely story and more than a little reminiscent of Claude Jutra’s classic MON ONCLE ANTOINE
CAST
Adam Frost
Jamie Babb
Directed by Keith Behrman