Hello ladies and gentlemen, your pal Muldoon here with this week's celebration of indie filmmaking, a short film extravanganza of awesomeness. If you're new here, then "Welcome!" and... you might be wondering just what the hell you've stepped into. Well, SATURDAY SHORTS is a column that's all about spreading interesting shorts made by folks from all over the world - it runs on reader submissions, filmmakers who frequent AICN and want their work seen. The bulk of the shorts that screen here don't necessarily have the biggest budgets in the world, but they all have an ample amount of elbow grease and raw talent. Who exactly decides what screens and what doesn't? Me, "Muldoon," and I say that not in a "Hey look at this tiny little bit of control I have, muahaha" but to remind people out there that what screens here is determined by just one guy, a film lover with his own tastes. It's impossible to please everyone all of the time and I'm sure there are folks out there whose tastes do align with what I like, but there's probably quite a few folks who like completely opposite things... All I can do is be honest and present films that I think capture something special, then show them off to you fine folks. Love 'em, hate 'em, but give them each a shot - full screened and sound up. This column's been running for a few years now and I'd really like to keep it going, so if you've got a short film or have freinds who do - please feel more than free to send them my way: Mike@aintitcool.com. I mean it, tell your film classes, your buddies, random people on Reddit, whomever - let's keep this train moving!
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:
FREDDY KRUEGER - NIGHTMARE ON VAPE STREET
TRT: 1:41
Boom! To kick this shindig off right, we've got a bizarre twist on our favorite dreamscape killer, a lovely PSA on the dangers of smoking. Brian Rosenthal and Frederic Blake, the badasses at WTFLOL have a great selection of funny shorts I think you folks might want to check out - so head on over to their Youtube page and catch a few laughs!
INSPIRATIONAL MENTAL COACH
TRT: 11:59
Next up is a film from director Cray Novick that he just put up online. "A narrative film exploring the accumulative effects of ethereal lapses in communication on the human psyche." It's got a rather fun, comic book-style lighting scheme and with 100% is a little trippy - I dig it. Keep them coming, Cray.
Inspirational Mental Coach from Cray Novick on Vimeo.
THE DATE
TRT: 4:00
Christopher Jolley has our next film, a short Drama - with a perspective I don't think is touched upon much. "The film is a poignant piece about the relationship between an older woman and a younger man." This is Chris's first film and I think it shows great promise.
CHARLIE AND THE NIGHTHAWKS - Episode Nine
TRT: 3:45
This isn't our first dabble into world of Fred Reyes's CHARLIE AND THE NIGHTHAWKS, but it's a great one to share. To say I'm a little late to the party is an understatement, but just this past week I've dived head first into AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER and have suddenly, almost overnight, grown even more of an appreciation of how cool animation can be. Fred's serial, CHARLIE AND THE NIGHTHAWKS is a great reminder of what happens when a creative person with an imagination ignores protocol and just does what he/she cans to express an idea in any form... *I think it's a fun world he's buidling. If you're into this, then check out the rest of the webisodes!
CAVALIER
TRT: 8:53
To round out our week Sean Clancy is taking us home with CAVALIER, "A directionless young man questions his life after a chance encounter with his ex-girlfriend." It's funny and the lead is rather charming, in a dorky kind of way (Not a dig at the guy at all). Be sure to check out more from Sean over at his website!
Bam! That's it for this week, ladies and gents. I hope to catch you all back here next time - and again, tell your freinds I'm truly on the hunt for more shorts! Hopefully you had a good time checking these out - I know I did. If anything, thanks for reading/watching and feel more than free to share your thoughts on the films int he Talkbacks below, just be cool about it.
SATURDAY SHORTS 2012
SATURDAY SHORTS 2013
SATURDAY SHORTS 2014
The Off Season; Why Does My Girlfriend Text So Much?; Landscape; The Magician (1/3/15)
Atropa; Good Conduct; Ulla; Blackouts; Pizza And Bullets (1/10/15)
Vicki; Strange Thing; Kill The K-Cup; The Grandson; The Dark Walk Backward (1/24/15)
Leonard In Slow Motion; A Good Man Is Hard To Findl The Baker; Certified; Chloe (1/31/15)
Old/New; Alexia; The Beating; Temblor; Royal Blood "Out of the Black" (2/7/15)
Hibernation; Good Morning; Refrigerator; Bar Talk; A Lady & A Robot (2/15/15)
Fish Friend; The Outer Darkness (Part 1); Bus Stop; Don't Look There; Valentine (2/21/15)
The Gold Sparrow; The Brain Hack; Blood Drinker; Meet Your Maker; Al Pacino As Han Solo (2/28/15)
The Pavement; Breathe; The Black Rock Mountain; Plain Clothes; Whispers (3/7/15)
Sequence; Teasers; Static; I do; Point Of Interest (3/14/15)
Moonwatch; Robert's Circle; Tongues; No more Tomorrows; Slit (3/22/15)
Terminal; Windscreenwiperman; Ringo; Sunglasses; Sundays (3.28.15)
Trunk Troubels; The Last Time I Saw Richard; One Thousand Years; Tourists; Tides Of Change (4/4/15)
Moments; SBCR | The Grid; If One Plays Music; One In A Million; Don't Hug Me I'm Scared 4 (4/11/15)
Burnt Grass; Manicorn; Dear Friend; L'invitation Au Voyage (4/18/15)
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. The more info you send my way, the more info there is to put with your short.
Please don’t feel the need to submit multiple times.
Remember, the filmmakers might still be in the audience, so feel free to share your thoughts in Talkbacks below. (JUST DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE). I picked them, so you know I think highly of all of these, but how about you fine folks? How'd you like 'em?
BY THE WAY: If you've had a short featured here, that means that I personally am a fan of your work, so feel free to shoot me any kind of news on new projects/films/whatever. I can't say I'll be able to help or in what capacity, but I'm interested in your work and am always down to see more! (Keep making cool stuff, everyone!)
- Mike McCutchen
"Muldoon"
Mike@aintitcool.com
