Hello ladies and gentlemen, Muldoon here with a fun package of shorts that all in some way or another have something to do with scifi/horror/fantasy and on top of that, really stood out to me as something special and worth sharing with my pals here on Ain't It Cool. Now if you've checked out SATURDAY SHORTS before, you know you're in for some quality stuff here and this time we've got monsters and magic! Today we have six sick shorts screening here at the SATURDAY SHORTS theater, so let's get this screening underway. Go grab yourself some popcorn, lock your kids in a closet, kill the lights, relax and check out this little weekly film fest we've got ourselves here.
Let's roll 'em.
8.BIT.BROS
(SciFi / Fantasy)
Two adult brothers are finally moving out of their childhood home. Keeping them from making their escape are years of sibling grief and animosity... and nine foot tall, 8-bit video game villain: the pixelated "Commander Gorgo."
Written, Directed and Edited by Rogelio M. Salinas
Cinematography by Ellie Ann Fenton
Original Music by Michael Pace
Visual FX by Rogelio M. Salinas
Special FX by Rogelio M. Salinas, Kim Ngo, Kevin Beltz, and Benjamin Slamka
Starring Carter Smith, Michael Kanarski, Pierce Purselley, Joey Hood, James Ireland and Conrad Gonzales.
8.BIT.BROS from Rogelio Salinas on Vimeo.
So that was kind of awesome. Check out the film's official website HERE.
KARIN PARK - FRYNGIES
(Music Video)
Up next we have this oddity of a music video shot in by director Tore Frandsen.
Karin Park - Fryngies from Tore Frandsen on Vimeo.
THE FORMORIAN
(Irish Fantasy)
Up next we have Stephen Murphy, a very talented Director of Photography's addition to SATURDAY SHORTS with THE FORMORIAN.
"Set in ancient Celtic Ireland, the People of Dana fight to defend the island from an invasion of a demonic race called the Formorian. One warrior decides to desert the battlefield to return home, but his journey becomes another battle he has to face.
Directed by Aideen McCarthy, a young writer/director who worked her way through the ranks of the camera department on Features and commercials before starting to direct shorts and commercials herself."
"The Formorian" from Stephen Murphy on Vimeo.
If you got an extra two minutes, you might want to check out the "Making of THE FORMORIAN" HERE.
PUTEROBO
(SciFi Music Video)
Here's PUTEROBO, a crazy cool and head scratchingly bizarre french rap music video sin subtitles sent in by Stephane Grasso . That all said, it's still incredibly inviting and a fun little bit of escapism. I don't speak French at all, but the vibe this guy gives off if pretty funny. I might just be a sucker for French rappers punction robots in the boob though.
MRS. PEPPERCORN'S MAGICAL READING ROOM
(Fantasy)
Up next is director Mike Le Han's award winning fantasy short.
"Eloise a nine year old girl passionate about books moves with her adopted parents to Black Lake a remote Cornish fishing village on the south coast of England.
No sooner does she arrive, she discovers a closed bookshop, the reading room. Befriended by two odd characters Mr and Mrs Libby she's told of an elaborate story of Mrs Peppercorn (the bookshop owner) daughter had mysteriously disappeared one night nine years ago.
Inquisitive Eloise secretly leaves her home in the dead of a wintry night to investigate, only to be confronted by Old peppercorn herself.
Magically she is taken on a journey of self discovery and excitement, when Peppercorn is not quite who she is thought to be and Eloise's life is turned upside down."
Mrs Peppercorn's Magical Reading Room in HD - Short Film from Mike Le Han on Vimeo.
Check out the film's website HERE.
ZOMBIE TEAM BUILDING
Believe it or not, I do get sent in quite a few shorts that came out of 48 hour film competitions and for the most part they can't compete with well planned and executed shorts (go figure). I've done quite a few 48 hour film competitions myself here in Austin and I've seen first hand how tricky/fun constructing/shooting/cutting/delivering a short in two days can be. This next short is from one of these such competitions and it's damn funny. I enjoyed the hell out of it, just a head's up - it was made in the span of 48 hours - so it's obviously not as polished as some of the other guys here today.
"Zombie Team Building is a comedy about the ultimate corporate retreat ... zombie survival. It's the last day of the corporate team building experience and the surviving members now face their final test."
And there we are with the last screening of the day, but what's that? You want to keep this shorts watching festival of fun going strong? Badass! Here's list of previous columns below. I like to think of them as different theaters, so feel free to pop into any of them and give them a shot!
If you have a short and think it belongs here or are on the fence about whether to send it in, please do send it in - I'd love to see what you've put together. I've already seen hundreds of fresh new filmmakers' shorts and like any good addict, I need more!
Shoot me an email at "Mike@aintitcool.com"
In the subject line include:
“SHORTS” + “Your film’s name” + “The film’s genre”
Then, in the body of the email, please include a synopsis of the film and any contact information you might think I need or would want published.
Please don’t feel the need to submit multiple times. I swear to each of you I truly check every email I get, and sending the same short a few times just makes it a bit messier.
Remember, the filmmakers might still be in the audience, so feel free to share your thoughts in Talkbacks below. (Just don't be a dick) I picked them, so you know I think highly of all of these, but how about you fine folks? What are your thoughts?
- Mike McCutchen
"Muldoon"
Mike@aintitcool.com
