In the final of four program announcements, Sundance Institute today announced the Short Film Program at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, taking place January 19-29, 2006, in Park City, Utah. The same short films and Festival highlights will be available globally at the Sundance Film Festival Online at (www.sundance.org) starting January 19, 2006 through June 19, 2006. The Sundance Film Festival is the only major film festival to create, free of charge, a real time Festival experience online where a film enthusiast anywhere in the world can see films the same day as festivalgoers in Park City, Utah.
Narrative, documentary, and animated short films will be presented before feature-length films, while others will be seen together as part of six short film programs, a special program of animated shorts and in the Festival’s Frontier category. A Short Film Jury will award prizes based on outstanding achievement and merit in American and International Short Filmmaking under 30 minutes in length.
The Short Films selected for the 2006 Sundance Film Festival are:
U.S. SHORT FILMS
This year’s short films take all the chances and push boundaries. From highschoolers with sinister psychedelic bugs, holiday homecomings gone awry and Batman and Robin on a date to documentaries on the latest election imbroglios, candid conversations with Basquiat at the end of his life, to animated gopher tales and mariachi scholars—this collection of American short films captivate the viewer as never before.
Dramatic Shorts
Bugcrush (Director: Carter Smith)—A small-town high school loner, whose fascination with a dangerously seductive new kid leads him into something much more sinister than he could ever have imagined.
Common Practice (Director: Marcos Efron)—A young Mexican-American boy in East L.A. whose gift for playing the violin brings his community together.
Dealbreaker (Director: Gwyneth Paltrow and Mary Wigmore)—A down to earth New Yorker, who is finally able to look past superficial flaws when she finds the right man.
THE Debt / USA/Republic of Georgia (Director: Levan Koguashvili)—Two illegal Georgian immigrants from the former Soviet Union fight for their survival in the streets of Brooklyn, New York.
Divorce Lemonade (Director: Justin Hayward)—A 13-year-old girl covers for her drunk estranged father.
First Date (Director: Gary Huggins)—A volatile ex-con will stop at nothing to keep a date with the underage boy he met online.
Fourteen (Director: Nicole Barnette)—A Mormon girl turns fourteen and her life changes radically.
Gesture Down/I Don’t Sing / USA/Mexico (Director: Cedar Sherbert)—A graceful and personal adaptation of the poem “Gesture Down to Guatemala” by the late Native American writer James Welch.
Ha Ha Ha America (Director: Jon Daniel Ligon)—From China, a translated harangue laughs at the missteps of the USA.
Hello, Thanks (Director: Andrew Blubaugh)— Filmmaker Andy Blubaugh’s year in the personal ads, looking for love but having his true love affair with the words themselves.
Hold Up (Director: Madeleine Olnek)—A robber who is after more than the money at a corner-store hold up.
La Muerte Es Pequeña / USA/Brazil (Director: Fellipe Gamarano Barbosa)—Two strangers looking for apartments end up alone in the same unit, where personal philosophies and bodies collide.
Lighten Up (Director: John Viener)—A man deals with becoming a father while driving his friend to the doctor.
Marjoun and the Flying Headscarf (Director: Susan Youssef)—An Arab-American girl who must come to terms with her sexuality while balancing the mores of two different cultures.
Max and Josh (Director: Kathryn Ann Busby)—Best friends Max and Josh have inane, insane and hilarious arguments, until fate intervenes.
Momma’s Boy (Director: John Bryant)—A young man brings his fiance home for Thanksgiving dinner – bad things happen.
One Sung Hero (Director: Samantha Kurtzman-Counter)—A 34-year-old copy machine salesperson (by day) who has found her true calling as a Karaoke Missionary.
THE Pity Card (Director: Bob Odenkirk)—Is the best place for a first date really the Holocaust Museum?
Redemptitude (Director: David Zellner)—A preacher ventures deep into the Australian Outback to save the soul of a man who’s abandoned his faith.
Robin’s Big Date (Director: James Duffy)—Can the Boy Wonder tell the girl of his dreams how he feels about her? Not if The Bat-man has anything to say about it.
Transaction (Director: Jacques Thelemaque)—A cinema verite-style exploration of the shifting dynamic between a seasoned call girl and her first-time client.
You Turned Back And Held My Hand (Director: Gabriela Tollman)—When do we know the difference between love and sex?
Your Dark Hair Ihsan / USA/Mexico (Director: Tala Hadid)—A man returns from Europe to his natal city in Northern Africa, and remembers his childhood and the mother he lost as a child.
Documentary Shorts
THE Aluminum Fowl (Director: James S. Clauer)—A glimpse of four brothers’ daily obsessions with chickens, rap music, and aliens.
Beyond Iraq (Director: Annalisa Hodgkins)—Soldiers who suffered severe casualties in the Iraq war find an activity to help them deal with their new lives.
A CONVERSATION WITH BASQUIAT (Director: Tamra Davis)—A candid interview with an artistic legend at the end of his life.
Losing Lusk (Director: Vance Malone)—In the least populated county in the least populated state a young man leaves behind Lusk.
Lot 63, Grave C (Director: Sam Green)—The mystery behind the man who died at Altamont.
Mind over Matter (Director: Scott Gerow)—The story of a father and son chronicling their separate diseases, each one fighting for his life.
No Umbrella – Election Day in the City (Director: Laura Paglin)—A feisty octogenarian inner city councilwoman takes on election day chaos, an unresponsive bureaucracy and an increasingly agitated electorate.
Preacher With an Unknown God (Director: Rob VanAlkemade)—Performance artist Reverend Billy and his choir travel as they exorcize California Big Boxes and New York City Republicans.
Range (Director: Bill Basquin)—Against a visual tapestry of rural horizons, farm machinery, and newborn lambs, a father discusses with his transgendered son his relationship with his farm.
Through The Ice (Director: Jennie Livingston)—Early morning dog-walkers relate a tragic story.
THE Tribe (Director: Tiffany Shlain)—An unorthodox, unauthorized history of the Jewish people and the Barbie doll.
True Story (Director: Stephanie Via)—An elderly lady remembers a tragic childhood moment.
WHAT I LOVE ABOUT DYING (Director: Silas Howard)—A documentary that helps put the fun back in funerals.
Animated Shorts
FABLE (Director: Daniel Sousa)—A woman and man’s passions are overshadowed by their predatory instincts.
FUMI AND THE BAd luck foot (Director: David Chai)—The story of Fumi and her extremely unlucky foot, including a shotgun barrage, wild moose attack, and infant electrocution.
gopher broke (Director: Jeff Fowler)— No matter how hungry a gopher may be there is no free lunch.
Hadacol Christmas (Director: Brent Green)— Santa Claus invents Christmas with a belly full of cough syrup and a head full of dying crows.
Los ABCs: ¡Que Vivan los Muertos! (Director: John Jota Leaños)—Do you remember your ABCs? No? Well, you’re in luck. Sing along with this group of animated Mariachi social documentarians.
THE Wraith of Cobble Hill (Director: Adam Parrish King)—It’s up to Felix to either reciprocate the benevolence shown him, or perpetuate the neglect handed down as a family legacy.
INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILMS
This year’s collection of shorts from around the world offers a compelling look at stories about leaving home, crossing borders, fitting in, living with war, meditations on poetry and life, Aboriginal culture and cow tipping.
Dramatic Shorts
Antonio’s Breakfast / UK (Director: Daniel Mulloy)—A young man and his friends make room for a father’s needs.
Aruba / Canada (Director: Hubert Davis)—With domestic violence and drug abuse at home a young boy’s only escape is through his imagination.
Bawke / Norway (Director: Hisham Zaman)—A father is forced to choose between two evils to provide for his son’s future.
THE Beginning of the End / Brazil (Director: Gustavo Spolidoro)—A man struggles to maintain normalcy in a home besieged by war.
Be Quiet / France (Director: Sameh Zoabi)—A simple car trip is beset by politically charged tension and a militarized reality.
Before Dawn / Hungary (Director: Bálint Kenyeres)—Before dawn, people will rise and other people will take away their hope.
Desejo / Brazil (Director: Anne Pinheiro Guimarães)—A journey into the psyche of Atanasio, a doorman in Copacabana.
Exoticore / Belgium (Director: Nicolas Provost)—An immigrant from Burkina Faso attempts to integrate into Norwegian society.
Le Rouge au Sol/ Canada (Director: Maxime Giroux)—After hitting rock-bottom a man shares his feelings with his mother as they drive to Ikea.
Monsieur Etienne / France (Director: Yann Chayia)—An elderly man cannot decide which of his friend’s funerals he should attend on the same day.
THE Natural Route / Spain (Director: Álex Pastor)—Soon Divad will find out that his destiny is already written and that he can’t do anything to change it.
A Supermarket Love Song / UK (Director: Daniel Outram)—A teenage girl on community service takes an old man to the supermarket. A love story in a minor key.
Documentary Shorts
RAPE FOR WHO I AM / South Africa (Director: Lovinsa Kavuma)—An insight into the lives of South Africa’s black lesbians who, raped because of their sexuality, refuse to become victims.
SMUDGE / Canada (Director: Gail Maurice)—Witness how a small group of Aboriginal women celebrate their rights to worship in the city their way.
Undressing my Mother / Ireland (Director: Ken Wardrop)—A poignant documentary that explores a woman’s unique take on her overweight and aging body.
Animated Shorts
At the Quinte Hotel / Canada (Director: Bruce Alcock)—In an incredible animated version of the Al Purdy poem, a man waxes on about beer and flowers in a small-town basement tavern.
Bob Log III’s Electric Fence Story / Germany (Director: Stock ‘n’ Wolf)—Big difficulties are encountered by Bob Log III in the Black Forest while trying to knock over sleeping cows.
Clara / Australia (Director: Van Sowerwine)—A twelve year old girl’s world has just changed forever.
Flesh/ France (Director: Edouard Salier)—The Empire unveils everything but sees nothing and its enemies idealize everything but tolerate nothing. For some it’s the earthly orgasm of virtual w****s, while for others the eternal orgasm of 70 heavenly virgins.
A Half Man / Canada (Director: Firas Momani)—A half of a man has trouble living in society without his organs falling out.
THE Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello / Australia (Director: Anthony Lucas)—In a fantasy future, a navigator goes on a journey to find a cure for the plague killing his fiancee.
Yesterday, I Think / UK (Director: Becalelis Brodskis)—Once there was a baby that made those around him hate…
FRONTIER SHORT FILMS
The Festival’s Frontier short film section presents nine films that represent new directions in filmmaking. Utilizing experimental and innovative aesthetic approaches, work in the Frontier category challenges and provokes.
THE Bleeding Heart of it / Canada (Director: Louise Bourque)—The house that bursts; the scene of the crime; the nucleus. A universe collapses on itself: all hell breaks loose.
Fantome Afrique / UK (Director: Isaac Julien)—Cinematic and architectural references are weaved through the rich imagery of urban Ouagadougou, the center for cinema in Africa, and the arid spaces of rural Burkina Faso.
High Plains Winter / USA (Directors: Cindy Stillwell)—The cold and magnificent times of a Montana town.
Instructions for a Light and Sound Machine / Austria (Director: Peter Tscherkassky)—An attempt to transform a Roman Western into a Greek tragedy.
Quimera / Brazil (Director: Eryk Rocha)—Man and cat are melting at the invisible limit of their bodies, made of rumors from a mythical creature, a new animal.
Site Specific_Las Vegas 05 / Italy (Director: Olivo Barbieri)—One-hundred years after it’s foundation and seemingly impermeable to the energy crises and terrorism which face the world today, what has become of Las Vegas?
TRUE NORTH / USA (Director: Isaac Julien)—One of the key members of Robert E. Peary’s 1909 Arctic expedition, Henson, an African-American, was controversially and arguably the first person to reach the North Pole.
Uten tittel / Norway (Director: Anja Breien)—A poetic film about a cruel theme, told in a way that doesn’t make the spectators close their eyes.
VISCERA / USA (Director: Leighton Pierce)—Flowing video explores absence and how absence transforms and influences perception, memory, and imagination.
Check out the Sundance 2006 competition feature program>>>
