As the SXSW Film Festival gears up this weekend, regular SOTW contributor, Jason B Kohl, sat down with two filmmakers from UCLA's MFA Directing Program en route to Austin. Their shorts couldn't be more different from each other in every aspect from production through post, but the two had many common insights to share.
In a foster home run by kids with no adult supervision, Lucia, a seven-year-old misfit, awaits a pick-up that never comes, discovering the true meaning of home.
Hunter Syndrome is a rare genetic disease that affects less than 500 boys in the United States. These boys are missing an enzyme used to break down cellular waste. Here is the story of one.
A musician in the deep state of a creative crisis is signed to a rehab program at a highly protected, isolated sanatorium that promises a lifetime warranty for endless inspiration.
An experimental fairytale dedicated to the modern black boy, in which four boys disappear one night, as many black boys do, and find themselves on a fantastical journey to break the curses of black boyhood.
Making a great short film requires a certain kind of alchemy; because there are no hard-set rules in regards to running time, subject matter, or even medium, filmmakers traverse a tricky path on the road to festival -- and online audience -- acceptance. I was lucky enough to sit down at the San Francisco International Film Festival with a few of the shorts filmmakers that were in attendance and get insight into their process, ask what lessons they learned on their latest productions, and find out what they believe makes a good short film.
Two transient young men break into an empty church by the sea to form a blood pact: to get rid of their childhood demons and escape the cycle of anxiety and authorities. “It’s not goth to be afraid of darkness”, they agree.
In Grants, New Mexico there is a small-town legend of Chester, a street fighter who can't feel any pain.
Wounded in war, the painter Oskar Kokoschka reminisces about a turbulent love affair as he leaves the battlefield on a stretcher. Dream and history merge in this dizzying BAFTA-nominated animated short.
