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A Deep and Existential Crisis
A String of Articles Paints a Bleak Picture in Hollywood, An Exciting Short Film Anthology, + 10 More Things to Pay Attention To
Jason Sondhi
April 20, 2024
It feels like a memo went out this week to coordinate the release of pessimistic editorials on the state of the industry. Fresh off the news that the celebrated studio, Participant, was shutting down, we saw Deadline survey TV showrunners bemoaning industry contraction, while the piece I saw shared the most was from a University of Washington professor explaining “The Life and Death of Hollywood” via economic and labor history. Even the normally cheery Ted Hope struck a dark chord.
The majority of short film talents we meet aspire to “join the industry properly” so pieces like these are disheartening. However, while I’ll try not to be a Pollyanna, hard times provide the necessary conditions for change. Also, Short Film, as the laboratory for the medium, is the perfect place to experiment. So more than ever before we’re going to be on the lookout for innovation in subjects, techniques, technologies, and business models—let’s get a little weird everybody!
📅 This Week on Short of the Week
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A funny and moving UK short that plays with rom-com tropes but includes one character’s disability as a complicating factor. Written by Aminder Virdee and Arthur Meek, the film draws on aspects of Virdee’s life and experience, and its director, Nathan Morris, is eager to credit her involvement and insight throughout the filmmaking process. Produced with support from both the BBC and BFI, the film played BFI London and received an honorable mention at Slamdance before having its online premiere on S/W.
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Another UK short, featuring a bevy of talent from the scene, Timi Akindele-Ajani returns to S/W with his phenomenal and personal short, Guests. Written over several years, this single-location, period-set domestic drama evolved from something “raw and autobiographical” to a more nuanced and “contemporary way of telling stories about racism” via the support of its producers. The result is a work unusually attuned to language and an incredible showcase for its actors.
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The big news of the week was the debut of a flashy new sci-fi anthology series (more below) and while we covered its debut on Monday, we were particularly taken by this 4min film directed by S/W alums Macgregor and Tim Hyten. The most explicitly “horror” of the 6 episodes released, I find it a terrifically smart and well-executed riff on the classic “jump-scare” short.
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Speaking of smart shorts, we ended our week’s coverage with the latest from Eoin Duffy, a fable that is, of all things, about the contemporary scourge of disinformation!? Rob writes the review of this film that featured at Tribeca, Pictoplasma, and Annecy before coming online. “The idea is that any imagery can be coupled with any narrative and sold as truth”, Duffy notes, so he crafts a film that is very different with the sound turned on than it is when turned off…
🌞 New Indie Sci-Fi Anthology: A Thousand Suns
Samantha Cormier in ep 2 - “Red”
At the top of the newsletter I advocated for new ideas, and this week saw the launch of A Thousand Suns, an ambitious new series masterminded by the LA-based creative Macgregor (Similo). While series like Love Death + Robots have proven the appeal of sci-fi anthologies, it’s bold to produce one completely independently. Gathering a who’s who of directors famous for their shorts like Ruairi Robinson (Blinky™, Corporate Monster), Tim Hyten (Snake Bite), and Tyson Wade Johnston (Lunar) the team dropped six episodes for free on YouTube.
Macgregor was gracious in giving us advance access to the project, and the hi-concept shorts, ranging from 4-5 min apiece, exhibit phenomenal vision and production values while delivering enigmatic glimpses into fantastical worlds that are satisfying, but leave you open to more. Will the project get picked up by a studio? Can it go direct-to-fans for financial support? The series is off to a buzzy start and with a proposed 22 episodes in total, this is a project we hope to have reason to revisit.
Our coverage so far:
An intro news post to the series with initial impressions on the 6 current eps
Rob’s review of episode 5, Bug, which was chosen as an Official Selection.
A Shortverse collection, perfect for discovering previous work from the team.
Get hand-picked, award-winning shorts delivered directly to your YouTube inbox—subscribe to the Short of the Week channel! With over 1 million subscribers, it is one of the largest communities of short film lovers in the world.
🍿 New releases you’ve been enjoying…
Cory Stonebrook is putting together a solid acting career as a recognizable “that guy” in film and TV, but we’ve also taken notice of a pair of shorts he’s written/directed with Jordan Sommerlad which star Tiffany Trainer and Lizzy Miller. This most recent one focuses on a meek woman whose misery at work and in life manifests physically on her body and just premiered on Omeleto.
🔗 10 Things We’re Paying Attention To
We Grown Now comes out in theaters tomorrow. This film has taken me six years to make and it’s so incredibly rewarding to see it finally enter the world. My heart is so full.
— Minhal Baig (@minhalbaig)
Apr 19, 2024
WEEKEND WATCH: For shorts filmmakers, Minhal Baig is an inspirational figure—we documented many of the reasons why in a lengthy 2019 interview, and now her latest feature hits theaters. Congrats Minhal! The film is in limited this week then goes wide next. Find tickets.
Alum Rod Blackhurst also has a feature in theaters this weekend, the Kit Harrington-starring neo-noir, Blood For Dust. Read Rod’s essay for Talkhouse titled “If You Want to Make Movies, Make Your Own Luck”
Mindy Golding, founding partner of the celebrated production company Epoch Films, urges her colleagues to make short films.
Strange Way of Life, Pedro Almodóvar’s “gay cowboy” short, bankrolled by Saint Laurent, is now available on Netflix.
We’re not big on gear talk, but NAB was this week and is one of the premier trade shows. Adorama provides a recap, while NoFilmSchool hypes Sony’s new Burano as a gamechanger—a full-frame camera with the color science of the popular Venice cinema camera in the body of a run n’ gun.
Cheers to Seth MacFarlane, who partners with Scorcese’s Film Foundation to fund a curated restoration of historically significant animated shorts from the 1920s to 1940s.
New controversies in AI usage - a Netflix documentary accused of faking archival footage, and A24 using generated images to promote Civil War.
Park City and Sundance have been an iconic combo but, maybe not much longer?
We started pessimistically, so we’ll end that way with a pair of think pieces. The negative articles shared up top caused a fair bit of discussion in our Discord server, where Georg shared a piece that zooms out in positing that “addiction” is the end goal of the industry’s current business model.
In response, Andy shared the latest viral video from Mrwhosetheboss suggesting that the internet is breaking for very similar reasons.
On that sunny note, thanks for tuning in, catch you next week!