Playin' Video Games

📅 This Week on Short of the Week

On YouTube, we welcomed a pick from the archives. Noticing a weird bump in the S/W analytics for our review of Teal Greyhavens’ short film Special Day, we investigated. Turns out the film has been causing a commotion on TikTok! Our pick on Halloween day in 2018, it’s pretty cool when great short films can get second and third lives like this on the internet, and, since we aren’t above a little opportunism, the film is now the latest upload to our YouTube channel. Thanks Teal, thanks TikTok!

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I’m fascinated by Sam Benenati’s special skill set as a writer/director, so I wrote about this latest short, his fourth film to feature on S/W. Benenati uses a bygone cultural event to provide an initial hi-level hook, but the bulk of the film is the creator doing what he has done best—write and direct captivating performances that utterly engross audiences.

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Then, I tackled the reigning Europe’s reigning top short—winner at the European Film Awards in December. It’s a film I’m fascinated by, but I’m also confused by my affection for it as its nominal “point” (its radical politics), is what I find to be the film’s weakest aspect. What results is a review that was fun to write as I muse on what exactly “works” about Hardly Working.

🪐 Shortverse Collections

Video Games x Short Film

Inspired by the review of Hardly Working, our crew of curators gathers a collection of short films relating to video games. From fan films like Dan Trachtenberg’s classic Portal short, to newer award-winners like Yuan Hu’s Sticks of Fury, this is a mix of films that play with game IP, riff on game culture, or simply feature video games as essential elements of the plot. Here are 15 stunningly good shorts that remix the two mediums.

🔗 10 Things We’re Paying Attention To

1. What to Watch This Weekend - Alum Ben Brewer (A Folded Ocean) has Arcadian premiering in theaters this weekend. Starring Nicholas Cage, this post-apocalyptic thriller has an enviable 84% on Rotten Tomatoes.

2. Also in theaters is The First Omen from S/W alum Arkasha Stevenson (Vessels). She recently went on The Big Picture podcast and had a great discussion on the film and how she’s shaped her career to date.

3. There is drama in Toronto. Hot Docs starts this week, but North America’s largest festival for documentaries saw many top programmers quit just weeks before the event. A Facebook post kicked off a couple of days of speculation before an official statement from the programmers clarified their grievances. The Toronto Star jumped on the story this week.

4. Sticking with festivals, Aspen Shortsfest announced its winners, as did the genre fest, Overlook.

5. Interesting news out of Overlook too—Don Hertzfeldt and Ari Aster Collaborating on a “Big” Existential Horror Animation?!?

6. Also, Cannes finally debuts an Immersive Competition. A mainstay at many prominent festivals, including their close competitor Venice, the French festival is now on board. They rationalize the move in their press release as being, “Because there are now original works that are pushing the boundaries of storytelling.” 🙄

7. Oh, Cannes also announced their feature film Official Selections. Congrats to alum, Lorcan Finnegan (Foxes), whose film, The Surfer, plays in Midnight.

8. If you pitch to Netflix, be aware of a shakeup. Dan Lin recently took the top movies job at Netflix, and now announces that the streaming giant will undergo a Genre-Based Reorg and there will be executive turnover as a result.

9. Last week we shared a funny story about Charlie Shackleton’s 10-hour film Paint Drying. This week the filmmaker auctioned off the only known release of the film. The gesture raised £800 for Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) organized by Cinema For Gaza.

10. If you plan on being in New York in the next few weeks, perhaps take up S/W alum Bianca Giaever’s offer of help! For what you ask? Anything!!

🎟 Coming soon that we’re excited about…

Macgregor, the Madrid-born, LA-based director and cinematographer has assembled a dream team of short film talents for a new sci-fi anthology series titled A Thousand Suns.

Ruairi Robinson, Tyson Wade Johnston, Tim Hyten, and other luminaries will direct shorts in this independently produced project. The episodes are short, most around 5 minutes, but the concepts and visuals are excellent. The first six installments arrive on Monday, April 15th and we’ll be covering them on Short of the Week and Shortverse.