Reunited (and it feels so good)

📅 This Week on Short of the Week

Things kicked off on Monday with Evan Forrest Mann’s unclassifiable, but immensely charming short, Opulent Round Edible Object. S/W die-hards may remember Mann for his 2016 short Voyage of the Galactic Space Dangler, and this new one possesses the same sort of delightfully handcrafted, non-sequitur comedy. I call on Oreo’s marketing team to stop being cowards and make this an official brand film!

Tuesday saw Rob cover Above the Clouds from young animation talent, Vivien Hárshegyi. Hungarian animation is having a moment, what with Flora Anna Buda winning everything in sight over the past year with 27, but Hárshegyi has been no slouch herself—picking up awards at Zagreb and Manchester Animation with this short before coming online as a Staff Pick Premiere. The film is awesome; immensely honest, yet incredibly funny, with a visual style that draws upon contemporary trends but is indisputably distinct. Probably a Best of the Year contender, be sure to check it out.

Céline next welcomed the talented Ömer Sami to S/W for his coming-of-age documentary, Into the Blue. Sami first caught our attention with his Guardian Documentaries film Sam and the Plant Next Door. The cosmopolitan director shifts the scene to Copenhagen for this story that provides a remarkable degree of character development and narrative for a documentary short.

We close out the week with Monitor from Margot Roe, a near-future sci-fi film where the government uses robot babies as a “trial” to determine whether couples should be allowed to procreate. The premise “aims to provoke thought about “who has the right to parenthood, and what kind of family units (both economic and sexual) we prioritise as a society”, and Rob says that the film “feels both eerily plausible and fantastical at the same time.”

🔗 10 Things We’re Paying Paying Attention To

1. Congrats to the “25 New Faces of Independent Film” - We have a lot of affection for Filmmaker Mag’s annual showcase of US-based talents on the cusp of becoming household names. Sure, Andy and I are alums from a long time ago, but Scott Macaulay and his team also do a bang-up job every year with their thoughtful curation. We’ve put together a Shortverse collection to help you explore the short film work of these talented artists, but a special shout out to S/W-featured talents Eli Powers, Annie Ning, Caitlyn Greene, Paris Peterson, and Jason Fitzroy Jeffers.

2. Netflix Acquires 4 Short Doc Oscar Contenders - After the ignominy of being shut out last year in a category they’ve recently dominated, Netflix has announced the acquisition of 4 short docs, including the latest from reigning category winner Ben Proudfoot and the final film from doc legend Julia Reichert, who passed away in December 2022.

3. Animated Short to Accompany Release of Monument Valley 3 - Sticking with Netflix, the streamer has made major moves into games including securing the premiere of the latest installment of the classic mobile game, Monument Valley. During their “Geeked Week” presentation they also teased a new animated short set in the world of the game with animation from our friends at Moth Studio! Watch a clip from the short on YouTube.

4. 9 Shorts to Watch For At Ottawa Animation - Skipping to animations in festival-land, North America’s top animation festival is happening right now. Cartoon Brew has a preview of some of the shorts you want to keep an eye out for.

   

   Mikey Please gets into books!

5. Celebrator Animator Mikey Please Releases a Children’s Book - Please, famous for his shorts The Eagleman Stag and Robin Robin has published a delightful picture book with Harper Collins. Titled The Cafe at the Edge of Woods, the book is out now in the UK to rave reviews, though I have to wait until Oct. 1st to get my copy. Here’s a link to order.

6. Nouns Fest to Feature 50 Shorts Funded by the Digital Collective - Nouns Fest will premiere Oct 10 at the United Theater in downtown L.A to showcase shorts they helped bring to life via grants ranging from $7500 to $25,000. What is Nouns though? It bills itself as the “world’s first open-source brand” and came together during the wave of hype surrounding NFTs. Blockchain projects have taken a blow in public perception since then, still, we dig artists being given resources to create cool things and respect the organizers which include Stoopid Buddy Stoodios (Robot Chicken), and S/W alum Goldy (Lost & Found), so we find ourselves curious!

7. AI Company, Runaway, Announces “The Hundred Film Fund” - I maintain an agnostic stance towards AI in filmmaking, but Runway is doing the right in my book when they plow VC funding into grants for artists. The company seeks to support 100 films that utilize AI in some form, and have unveiled an “open call to creative professionals who have AI-augmented film projects in the pre- or post-production phases that are in need of funding.” See more at their site.

8. James Cameron Joins Board of Stability AI - In a coup for the company behind Stable Diffusion, The Hollywood Reporter provides the scoop that legendary director James Cameron is joining their board, with the Avatar filmmaker declaring that “the intersection of generative AI and CGI image creation is the next wave.”

9. Elise McCave Joins Points North Institute as Exec Director - Congrats to friend of the site Elise McCave on the new position! The former Head of Film for Kickstarter, McCave has been instrumental in supporting short filmmakers over the years and will continue to do so while overessing the institute’s year-round programs, including Camden International Film Festival.

10. Filmmaker Luke Barnett’s Short Goes Viral on X - We featured The Crossing Over Express last week on S/W and YouTube, but can’t take any credit for its recent virality—the film performed well on our platforms but not exceptionally so. Instead, it was after the multi-hyphenate filmmaker shared the film to x.com that it took off, subsequently garnering writeups in Variety, Movieweb, and Fangoria as well as receiving glowing comments from a host of industry figures.

Congrats to Luke! But, what lessons can you take from this? Is X.com a viable release platform for your short? Well…maybe! I have some thoughts this actually that I will share soon. Maybe on my neglected X account? 🤔