Film in a Rush

"There are so many different vignettes of life," said director Ben Epps at the Denver International Film Festival on Friday night. He was speaking of the under-regarded pleasure of watching short films.

His film "StereoLife" was one of several less-than-feature-length gems shown at the Festival this year. Now that documentaries have become commercially acceptable, perhaps no other film genre is so invisible in this country as short films.

Short films are made for many reasons. They are primarily training tools for young filmmakers, who learn how to create and construct through them. Often, their length is a function of money. "If I spend more than $1,000 a minute (in terms of the finished film), I'm spending too much," Epps said in the Q-and-A session after the program.

But then again, some simply find that they don't need to express themselves in full-length fashion. Their vision doesn't fit snugly into a given category, isn't tailored to fit the classic half-hour or hour television slot. They take the time to see and tell what they want - and they need more eyeballs, publicity and understanding than any other filmmakers out there today.

These programs were part of the First Look Student Film Festival, which has been held in conjunction with the festival for nine years now. It's curated by Wade Gardner and Josh Weinberg. Small world - I was introduced to Josh afterward and it turns out I reviewed his Web site "The Website is Down" recently for Dscriber.com.

These two brave guys sifted through 350 films to get to three thematically oriented collections of 14. Here's a quick rundown of the films, spliced with comments from two directors who were present for post-screening Q & A's:

Adelaide (Dir: Liliana Greenfield-Sandors) A hilarious and well-observed piece about a young woman with Munchausen syndrome (in which a person fakes or induces illness or injury for attention). The heroine meets the love of her life in a young pharmacist - then decides to help him over his doubt concerning his vocation.

StereoLife (Dir: Benjamin Epps) Using Jekyll and Hyde as a starting point, Epps' high concept about a scientist who unleashes his artistic, right-brain self is really a metaphor about lost chances, acceptance and reconciliation.

Epps was wryly revealing about the filmmaking process. The movie was created as a thesis project for him and six other fellows at the American Film Institute Conservatory, a place he describes as a "factory."

"You want to do a pretty good job so you can go out and start paying off your student loan," he said. AFI tuition is $50,000, of which the institute kicks back $10,000 towards a film's creation - leaving the rest up to the budding filmmakers.

Epps cited funding sources as "The Three Fs - friends, family and fools." He came up with a good result, and has plans to go after an indie-comedy feature project next, with sights set on a biopic of pioneering, neglected rockabilly master Carl Perkins.

A Day Late in Oakland (Dir: Zachary Stauffer) The malevolent intersection of journalist Chauncey Bailey and operatives of Your Black Muslim Bakery in August of 2007 is the linchpin of this astonishingly accomplished documentary. A skillful blend of archive footage, interviews and contextual shots, which could easily have been a humdrum recitation of facts, becomes a complex meditation on two strong personalities, the chicaneries of politics, and the responsibilities of the press.

Gaining Ground (Dir: Marc Brummund) This German entry is a simple tale about a child who wants to go to school, and parents who fear revealing their illegal status if he does. It works through evocative camerawork, observant details and strong performances.

After the Storm (Dir: Michael Lloyd Green) A melodrama about a family isolated in Katrina's wake, facing a ruined home and the threat of looters. A parable about possessions and pride.

Sinkhole (Dir: Eric Scherbarth) The set-up says it's a comedy, but the film moves imperceptibly into the realm of mystery and tension, and finally into sheer terror. Actors Jason Harris and Dan Leventritt make it work. BOO!

Arranged: the Musical (Dir: Suraj Das) This lively comedy set in New York chronicles the battle between a single young Indian man and his matchmaking-mad parents. The director is steeped in Bollywood fare, and this work both mocks the genre's conventions and fondly affirms them at the same time. It breaks into beautiful flights of musical fancy, lip-synched to classic Bollywood tunes.

Operation Falcon (Dir: Tim O'Hara) This documentary tracks the efforts of U.S. Marine John Jacobs to get his Iraqi interpreter, Haitham Jasim, and his family safely to America. This well-coordinated shoot examines the problem of those condemned by collaboration from both Jacobs' and Jasim's perspectives, until they fuse together. The film states ominously that 20,000 Iraqi allies seek to escape - and that only 500 visas per year are issued.

Cuts (Dir: Rashaad Ernesto Green) An enigmatic piece about a domineering father whose disappointment with his teenage son darkens his life. A young girl is victimized by the son's frustration.

"Arranged" director Das stated that he was told to work on his project "as if it's the last one you'll ever make," and it certainly bears the stamp of his enthusiasm, as do all the films listed here.

Epps stated that the market for these films is much better in Europe, where shorts programs are compiled and shown regularly in theaters, and where TV absorbs non-standardized fare with aplomb.

Filmmakers and audience embers even traded ideas about how to get this work more broadly seen, through services such as iTunes, subscription DVD service and the like.

In the beginning, all films were shorts. During the Studio Era, short films crowded the bills before a feature played. We have yet to figure out how to integrate them into our appetites. It would be a shame if we couldn't.

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