The 2009 Shorts: Long on Innovation and Style
Discover what went in to selecting this year’s selection of sad, funny, insane, and purely unclassifiable shorts, and where to go to see them.
"10 selected shorts will make up Sundance 10/10, an online offering that offers a sampling of the Festival’s unique shorts filmmakers’ voices, all in one distinct platform – iTunes."
“With submissions topping over 5,600 this year, I can assure you we have some good ones” – this guarantee comes certified by the entire Festival shorts programming team, which I’m a member of. We saw a 10% rise in shorts submissions this year and found a record-breaking 96 films of all styles, sensibilities, genres, countries, and demographics to program for the Festival. Mittens off, badges on, this year marks one of the finest selections of shorts at the Festival that we’ve ever had. 47 of this year’s films come from the United States, consisting of Festival alumni, film school students, first-time filmmakers, celebrated thespians, and established creative minds, all of whom are looking for their first, second, third, and even fourth chance at presenting their film to Festival audiences ready to escape the chill and enter a world that sometimes feels a bit warmer and less cold (…and sometimes not at all).
41 films from 18 countries make up this year’s international roster. Like the U.S. selection, the films are presented in several styles: narrative, documentary, avant-garde, and animation. Some are part of shorts programs (there are eight different shorts programs). Some run exclusively in front of features (just under 40 of these). Some are funny; some are sad. Some are serious. Some are just plain crazy and need no classification, and some couldn’t be classified if we tried – just the way we like it.
Shorts screenings will run throughout the Festival, and 95 of them will be considered in competition, hoping to take home a prize at the Tuesday, January 20th Shorts Awards Ceremony (and dance party). Shorts jurors include Sharon Swart of Variety, director Gerardo Naranjo (Voy a Explotar), and actor Lou Taylor Pucci (Arlen Faber, The Informers, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men).
10 selected shorts will make up Sundance 10/10, an online offering that offers a sampling of the Festival’s unique shorts filmmakers’ voices, all in one distinct platform – iTunes. With distribution services by Shorts International, both cinephiles and Internet nomads can download the 10 films as a free rental at the Sundance iTunes store beginning on January 15th and running through January 25th.
From esteemed alumni (Don Hertzfeld, with I Am So Proud of You and Pat O’Neill’s Horizontal Boundaries, among others) and the debut of a range of talents (Joseph Gordon Levitt in his directorial debut Sparks, and Vice magazine’s Gavin McInnes as a leading man in Asshole) to provocative and challenging material (Sam Taylor-Wood’s Love You More, MM Serra’s Chop Off), along with some compelling true stories (Jessica Yu’s The Kinda Sutra and Jenni Olsen’s 575 Castro Street, among others), this year’s shorts are a force to be reckoned with. They’re a few minutes shorter that their feature counterparts, but no less engaging, challenging, or mind-blowing.
Be sure to support the Festival’s short form content, either by attending a program, seeing one before a feature, checking us out online, or doing all three (the preferred method).
Happy hunting.
Click here to read the Press Release with the Shorts Program line-up.
