SXSW - the Short Review

One of the categories presented is the Shorts -  same production involved except the run time is limited to 15 minutes.  They show 8 of them back to back which gets me somewhat antsy - hard to sit there.  But once they start, they're good.

The short competition is like getting into Harvard - 5,000 submissions and they select 100.  So "they are all outstanding in some way" as a Stanford student put it to me.  Can't argue with those numbers.

There are narrative shorts and there are documentary shorts.  I like the documentary form better - the narratives were by necessity designed to shock.  The documentaries were surprising enough.  The old Truth v. Fiction proverb.... we'll start with Documentary Short 2 seen in the comforts of the Topfer Theather at the ZACH.


Born to Be Mild - spotlights English senior men who collect/follow  a variety of quirky things e.g photos of mailboxes

Calls to Okies: The Park Grubbs Story  - Bartlesville, OK 80s teens records their increasingly sophisticated prank phone calls

The Little Deputy - Trevor wants to take a photo cross dressing but is concerned what his father would think.

Love Has No Age -  Man and woman who were lovers as young people come together as seniors to recreate photos of themselves

Spearhunter - Col. Gene Morris advocates for hunting by spear throwing.

Terms of Intimacy - Cuddling for Fun and Profit at the Cuddle Connection LLC

Tiger Hood - black man plays street golf in New York City

Unmappable - Ph.D. geographer shows his darker, anarchistic side

My favorite:  Park Grubbs

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And the Narratives:

Baby - a look through a high-rise window at a woman with a drinking problem

Donald and Jess - plumber comes to fix a leak for a lonely young woman - Not X rated

Followers - senior woman thinks she is falling for a strapping young black man in Cardiff, Wales

Guest Room - 2 teens with Downs Syndrome fall in love

Hallway - a scene in a club in New York

Happy With Bear- a look through a high-rise window at a woman with an eating disorder

Myrna the Monster - Myrna is an immigrant creature from the Moon living in L.A.

We'll Find Something - 2 couples look for a restaurant all night long in New York.  Thanks Seinfeld.

My favorite:  Donald and Jess


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