TraverseTown's Favorite Shorts 2016
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- DirectorHarmony KorineStarsMichelrica HughesMiileah MorrisonElizabeth SmithA series of hazy 8mm vignettes, accompanied by a soft, lilting voice over, in which girls skulk around schoolyards, spray graffiti, drink, smoke, pose and embrace, evoking the loneliness, confusion and overwhelming wonder of growing up.
- DirectorHarmony KorineGirls dressed as American Indians visit a good old boy for his birthday.
- DirectorDavid O'ReillyA troubled relationship between a Cat and Mouse set in the distant future.
- DirectorHarmony KorineStarsNinjaYo-Landi VisserHector BezuidenhoutNamed after the Zulu language struggle song, the compiled shenanigans of an eccentric South African couple with wheelchairs and guns and their attempts to prove they are not to be trifled with.
- DirectorEd EmshwillerStarsStoney EmshwillerElectronic Arts Intermix describes Ed Emshwiller's pioneering experimental concept video as a digital sculpture: "Sunstone is a landmark tape. Symbolic and poetic, it is a pivotal work in the development of an electronic language to articulate three-dimensional space. The opening image is an iconic face, which appears to be electronically 'carved' from stone. A mystical third eye, brilliantly crafted from a digital palette, radiates with vibrant transformations of color and texture. Sculpting electronically, Emshwiller then transforms perspectival representation: the archetypal 'sunstone' is revealed to be one facet of an open, revolving cube, each side of which holds a simultaneously visible, moving video image. Created with complex technology over an eight-month period, this emblematic spinning cube metaphorically describes a three-dimensional, temporal space, both hyperreal and simulated. Emshwiller's humanistic approach to technology ushered in the 1980s with a new electronic vocabulary for conceptualizing and visualizing images in space and time. Reflecting an image-saturated world. SUNSTONE marked a new stage in electronic art."
- DirectorBruno BozzettoA man wearing a colorful hat dances on a small island. All is well until the Grim Reaper appears in a small boat, beckoning the dancer to come with him. Does this mean the end for the dancer's joyous footsteps?
- DirectorDavid O'ReillyStarsDavid O'Reilly
- DirectorNicolas DeveauxGiraffes dive elegantly from high diving boards.
- DirectorDavid O'ReillyStarsJon DalyHorse ponders his loneliness
- DirectorOskar Fischinger
- DirectorJohn Whitney Sr.
- DirectorDavid O'Reilly
- DirectorLen LyeAn experimental short film commissioned by Chrysler for a commercial.
- DirectorEvan JohnsonGuy MaddinA sinister narrator describes the ominous nature of Elm trees.
- DirectorApichatpong WeerasethakulStarsJulian WilliamsInitial a deep-sea diver is shown exploring a cave. Then a hand as shown handling a gastropod shell.
- DirectorTodd HaynesStarsDavid BlaikieJeff WilliamsBonnie SolowBullied boy, left by his father, supported by a over-optimistic and naive mother, tries out life in a new school.
- DirectorMartin ArnoldArnold's original material is a piece of found footage from the 1950s; 18 seconds long and very typical for the period. A quiet take: a living room, a woman in an armchair. Her husband opens the door, kisses her, then moves out of the picture accompanied by a disturbing pan, his wife follows him. In Arnold's film the sequence takes 16 minutes. Cadre by cadre, it becomes an exiting tango of movements. But "Pièce Touchée" is more than just a matter of forms. The reflections, distortions, and delays it displays challenge Hollywood's stable system of space and time.
- DirectorJordan BelsonAn experimental short film by Jordan Belson which combines various colors and shapes.
- DirectorMartha RoslerStarsMartha RoslerMartha Rosler takes us through an A-Z of the kitchen in this parodic feminist art film.
- DirectorRaya MartinA conquistador counts his blessings in this hand-colored elegy evoking old, silent film iconography.
- DirectorNorman McLarenFrom the opening credits: "An experimental film (...) made without camera, by drawing directly upon 35 mm film with an ordinary pen and ink." Various abstract shapes interact and transform into one another.
- DirectorLen LyeAnimation of colorful kaleidoscopic shapes set to jazzy music.
- DirectorMichael CeraStarsMichael CeraJack O'ConnellCharles GrodinIn a self-effacing attempt to save his father from a death by deterioration, a young man, named Gunther, enlists his curmudgeonly boss and Kelis to perform a song, called Brazzaville Teen-Ager.
- DirectorJames WhitneyYantra is named with the Sanskrit word for "holy machine," either a meditational device, like a mandala, or the great clockwork order of the universe. The film consists entirely of dot patterns punched into thousands of 5x7 cards with a pin, over a five-year period; then, using a computerized control, the images were overlaid in multiple positions and angles. The images enact a revelation of some primal mystery, flickering particles that boil up to a climax of shattering vigor: creation laid bare.
- DirectorJon Moritsugu
- DirectorRobert BreerAn animated short of passengers on a train with Mt. Fuji visible from the window.
- DirectorOskar FischingerShort colour animated film showing shapes moving and set to a musical score. The shapes are coloured and primarily geometric in nature.
- DirectorMartin ArnoldStarsPhillip AlfordMary BadhamGregory PeckAn avant-garde sonic and visual reediting of a short clip from the classic 1962 film "To Kill a Mockingbird."
- DirectorNorman McLarenAn experimental animated short in which images are drawn directly onto the film using a pen.
- DirectorJohn HubleyStarsBill LeeThurl RavenscroftAnnette WarrenThe musical tale of a murder trial by a jealous lover.
- DirectorGuy MaddinStarsNoam GonickCaelum VatnsdalSimon HughesMusical mantra derived from machine-gun micro-montage.
- DirectorNorman McLarenAn experimental film of dots animated by being drawn directly on filmstock.
- DirectorNorman McLarenThe film's soundtrack is an original musical composition produced with synthetic sound - through photographing unusual geometric shapes and running them through an optical sound head. The images are an artistic rendering of this soundtrack.
- DirectorOskar FischingerA short painted film by Oskar Fishchinger which films images to the music of Johann Bach.
- DirectorPeter GreenawayStarsColin CantlieTongue-in-cheek, early Greenaway short reflects the incredibly meticulous encyclopedic nature of his early films. An attempt is made to "reconstruct" a proposed, but never made, film according to some reasonably vague directions. The attempt is made over and over because of conflicting interpretations of the instructions.
- DirectorLee SavageIt features the Disney character Mickey Mouse being shipped to Vietnam during the war. Moments after arriving, he is shot dead.
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiThe witch Baba Yaga keeps her servant the Egg Princess confined and forces her to do hard daily chores around the mill. One night, a batch of kneaded dough comes to life and befriends the Egg Princess.
- DirectorLes BlankStarsTeresa PeacockSherry DorstTobe Melora CorrealA charming valentine to women born with a space between their teeth.
- DirectorBill MorrisonStarsEddie PhillipsLola ToddA scene from The Bells (1926) is optically reprinted and edited to Michael Gordon¹s 7 minute composition. A meditation on the fleeting nature of life and love, as seen through the roiling emulsion of an film.
- DirectorMartin ArnoldStarsMickey RooneyJudy GarlandGrace HayesMickey Rooney and Judy Garland perform a hellish courtship in a nightmare of the American dream, created by manipulating old film.
- DirectorHarmony KorineStarsHarmony KorineHarmony Korine dances on curbs.
- DirectorBruce BaillieStarsElla FitzgeraldA 3 minute pan to the left.
- DirectorBruce ConnerExperimental short uses Ray Charles' "What'd I Say" as accompaniment to constantly shifting collage of female nude, cartoons, and newsreels of atomic bomb explosions.
- DirectorLouis LumièreStarsLoie FullerAngelic and demonic serpentine dances from dawn of cinema by the Lumière Brothers film, called the Serpentine Dance. The dancer is Loie Fuller; the pioneer modern dancer. Recorded in 1896 in Paris, and hand-colored frame by frame.
- DirectorDavid O'ReillyStarsJulian BarrattPearl BrilmyerAdam BuxtonIn a funny looking yet very bleak world, a boy learns to play piano while a cat and various other animal characters encounter all sorts of drugs, sex, violence and profanity, with numerous references to pop culture phenomena.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsLeslie CarlsonMarc DonatoHarrison KaneWhile a veteran actor laments the state of film and film acting, a group of young children sneak a Panavision camera into the apartment where the actor resides and decide to make a film with it.
- DirectorBernardo BrittoA man is hired to compile the definitive history of human existence before the planet blows up.
- DirectorMan RayStarsKiki of MontparnasseExperimental film, white specks and shapes gyrating over a black background, a light-striped torso, a gyrating eggcrate. One of the first Dadaist films.
- DirectorHans RichterStarsWerner GraeffWalter GronostayPaul HindemithHans Richter, noted for his abstract shorts, has everyday objects rebelling against their daily routine.
- DirectorKenneth AngerA man in tight jeans buffs his car to the strains of "Dream Lover".
- DirectorKenneth AngerStarsYvonne MarquisA soundtrack plays folk rock as a woman prepares, at noon, to take her Borzois for a walk. She goes through her dresses, all 1920s style flapper gowns, holding them one at a time, shaking them as if they are dancing. She picks one - in puce. She puts it on, delighted, adds perfume, languishes on a chaise for a few minutes, then goes for her walk. It all has a 20s feel.
- DirectorBen O'BrienAlan ResnickStarsKerry DonelliJacqueline DonelliJackson ManningShort film that starts as footage of a grizzly bear and is then interrupted by a commercial for a drug called "Claridryl." The protagonist talks about the drug. But it quickly becomes clear that something is very wrong.
- DirectorDon HertzfeldtStarsSara CushmanDon HertzfeldtDon Hertzfeldt closes his trilogy as Bill struggles to piece together his shattering psyche.
- DirectorMarv NewlandBambi is contentedly nibbling the grass, seemingly unaware of his impending encounter with Godzilla. What will happen when the two finally meet?
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsCatherine E. CoulsonDavid LynchA double leg amputated woman sits and writes a long meandering letter while her ineffective nurse attempts to attend to her stumps.
- DirectorJan SvankmajerThree surreal depictions of failures of communication that occur on all levels of human society.
- DirectorDon HertzfeldtStarsDon HertzfeldtDark shadows are cast over Bill's recovery, in this second chapter to "Everything Will Be OK".
- DirectorMaya DerenStarsJohn CageMaya DerenAlexander HammidSilently, a woman wakes on a beach as the tides go in reverse. Her dreamscape unfolds as she tries to locate a chess piece traveling from the beach to a party to a country road and then back.
- DirectorNorman McLarenStarsGrant MunroJean Paul LadouceurA surreal story of two neighbours' destructive feud over a flower.
- DirectorJan SvankmajerA human body gradually reconstructs itself as its various component parts crowd themselves into a small room and eventually, after much experimentation, sort out which part goes where.
- DirectorKenneth AngerStarsKenneth AngerBobby BeausoleilDonald CammellEgyptian gods summons the angel Lucifer - in order to usher in a new occult age.
- DirectorGuy MaddinStarsLeslie BaisCaelum VatnsdalShaun BalbarA scientist chooses a wealthy man over her two lovers but must heal the earth's core to save humanity.
- DirectorDavid LynchA short continuously looping animation of six grotesque human figures vomiting.
- DirectorDon HertzfeldtStarsMurwarid AbdianiJaden AlexanderLance AndersonThe evolution of humanity, through countless eons.
- DirectorDon HertzfeldtStarsDon HertzfeldtA series of dark and troubling events forces Bill to reckon with the meaning of his life - or lack thereof.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsPeggy ReaveyA woman's dark and absurdist nightmare vision comprising a continuous recitation of the alphabet and bizarre living representations of each letter.
- DirectorKenneth AngerStarsErnie AlloBruce ByronFrank CarifiA gang of Nazi bikers prepares for a race as sexual, sadistic, and occult images are cut together.
- DirectorCasper KellyStarsKen DeLozierTara OchsKatelyn NaconA series of montages that parodies the introductory title sequences of generic 70s, 80s and 90s TV shows of various genres slowly turns into an absurdist meta slasher and then the parody becomes even weirder.
- DirectorDon HertzfeldtStarsRobert MayJennifer NyholmDon HertzfeldtA hilarious collection of animated television commercials that were rejected because of their creator's failing grip on sanity.
- DirectorMaya DerenAlexander HammidStarsMaya DerenAlexander HammidA woman returning home falls asleep and has vivid dreams that may or may not be happening in reality. Through repetitive images and complete mismatching of the objective view of time and space, her dark inner desires play out on-screen.
- DirectorLuis BuñuelStarsPierre BatcheffSimone MareuilLuis BuñuelLuis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí present 16 minutes of bizarre, surreal imagery.
- DirectorDon HertzfeldtStarsJulia PottWinona MaeSara CushmanA little girl is taken on a mind-bending tour of her distant future.