Rob Munday
With a pair of fart jokes slipping out in the opening two minutes, director Tristan Kim sets the tone early on in his SXSW midnight short Run That Shit!. Inspired by a beef between rappers Gucci Mane and Young Jeezy, where the latter put a 10k bounty on the chain of his rival (on his track Stay Strapped), this story of a wannabe musician fed up with his life takes its audience on a wild quest for a mystical chamberpot in the company of a Satanic cult.
Introducing us to its protagonist Rolly, as he hands out mixtapes in front of a convenience store, he’s quickly pushed to breaking point after three encounters (two of which involve those aforementioned farts) leave him questioning his life choices. A quick phone call to the owner of a pawn shop, which includes the codeword “walnut” and a discussion about the prostate, sets our young hero on an adventure that will see him unexpectedly wet his pants, before travelling four hours across state to the home of his childhood friend Big Tobacco.
Shaune May as Big Tobacco – the owner of the enchanted chamberpot
After being invited into the swanky home of his “boy”, Rolly sets out on the charm offence (including a hilarious sequence where Big T avoids dialogue and responds using a series of exaggerated mimes instead) before calling in his over-excited new friends to help complete his mission. Featuring violent outbursts, a splattering of gore and a healthy splash of toilet humour, it’s easy to see why the SXSW programmer’s selected Run That Shit! for their midnight screening – we certainly thought it was a fun way to kick of our week of Halloween programming.
With that Gucci Mane story playing a major role in shaping Kim’s narrative, the director was also keen to point out that his “conspiratorial belief that the entertainment industry is run by a demonic occult” and a love of fart/poop jokes also proved inspirational in the writing process. It’s not all fun and games for Kim though, as behind the outrageous premise there’s a serious message, one the filmmaker hopes will speak to “those who feel angry, trapped, and know that there is no easy way out”. Kim pushes his narrative to extreme lengths, but that’s the point, he wants to show “how hopeless it feels to be trapped in your hometown” and the lengths an individual would go to for a way out (even if it literally means stealing shit).
“I sold almost everything I owned to make this project come to life”
With a background in ads, it’s no surprise that Run That Shit! looks so slick, but don’t be fooled into thinking this was a big-budget production, as Kim explains: “The film was made with blood, sweat, tears, and a lot of fake poop. I sold almost everything I owned to make this project come to life. The Volvo 240 you see in the film was my beloved project car, which I sold to cover post costs”. Despite the obvious stretch that the short put on his financial situation, the director is keen to point out that he wouldn’t “trade this experience for anything”, citing it as a “massive chapter in my life and my development as a filmmaker”.
That investment of time and money certainly paid off however, with the film having an impressive festive run, which included stops at Slamdance and MotelX, alongside its SXSW screening. With its attention-grabbing premise, that success should hopefully translate to online, where we hope audiences will revel in its fart jokes and horror undertones.
As for Kim, it sounds like he’ll be keeping busy long after spooky season, as he’s got a “super saucy commercial campaign” in post (with three more in preproduction), a short film script revolving around how the southern United States will handle the death penalty in the distant future and a feature idea about a low poly count, inter-dimensional demon that haunts a family, all in the works.