LA SHORTS FEST - SHORT FILMS 2
The Gunfighter by Eric Kissack (2013) (USA) (9m)
The Gunfighter sees a gunslinger walk into a saloon but followed by a voiceover that everyone in the bar can hear (a conceit similar to the 2006 feature film Stranger Than Fiction, where the main character can hear his life being described in a voiceover). The problem for the gunfighter is that the voiceover is painfully honest, which presents various problems. However, the others in the saloon soon find that they are not immune from the brutal veracity of the voiceover. How will they escape the seemingly inescapable?
Sequence by Carles Torrens (2013) (USA) (20m)
A (comedy) horror short film, it tells the story of Billy, a burger flipper who wakes up one day to find that the entire world, including his girlfriend, has had a nightmare about him. Everyone, from his employer to his girlfriend to the man he tries to save during an armed robbery, thus turns against him. Having been left a mysterious note telling him that You're It, it is clear that this is only going to be a temporary issue. However, his life looks like it could ruined in the meantime...
Curfew by Shawn Christensen (2012) (USA) (19m)
Written and directed by Shawn Christensen for himself to star in, Curfew won the Academy Award for Best Short Film in 2013. Curfew, also starring child actor Fatima Ptacek, was written as a proof of concept for the feature film, Before I Disappear. Richie is at a low point in his life when he gets a call from his estranged sister asking him to look after his nephew, Sophia, for a few hours. Their night time excursion reveals a connection between two lost souls.
Paraphernalia by John Williams (2009) (UK) (12m)
A beautifully put together short written and directed by John Williams, Paraphernalia follows 8-year-old boy, Atari Withers, as he tries to escape his constant companion, an apparently very low-tech robot. All the robot appears to do is make Atari's life harder and spoil his fun, so it is surely only a matter of time before Atari takes his frustrations out on the robot. John Williams has been making successful short films for over a decade... practice makes perfect!
