Best of the ShortFest

(Although the film, Jonathan's Home, about an au pair charged with his care, was the Panavision Grand Jury Award Winner at this year's Palm Springs International ShortFest, it wasn't one of my favorites.)

Winners of the 2009 Palm Springs International ShortFest were announced last night and so today I went to two segments of winners: Audience & Jury Favorites for Documentaries and the Jury Award Winners.

In the documentary category I saw Irene (Scotland, Lindsay Goodall, 10 min.) Jury Award for Best Documentary Short; Pickin' and Trimmin' (USA, Matt Morris, 12 min.) Audience Favorite; Jonathan's Home (Japan, Nathanael Cartan, 5 min.) Panavision Grand Jury Award; Waiting for Women (United Kingdom, Estephan Wagner, 35 min.) Best Student Documentary Award, and for the second time, Claiming the Title: Gay Olympics on Trial (USA, Jonathan Joiner & Robert H. Marti, 29 min.) Audience Favorite Documentary Short Award.

Since I previously reviewed Claiming the Title (Friday's Picks), and I enjoyed it almost as much the second time around, I won't review it again. However my other favorites in this group were Irene and Pickin' and Trimmin'.

Irene is an engaging, humorous, touching film about the filmmaker's 92 year old grandmother and the daughter who cares for her. Suffering from Alzheimer's and decreasing physical ability, Irene's feisty personality still shines through, even if for only a few minutes. Anyone dealing with an older relative can see the heartache, conflictedness and humanity in this poignant tribute to both those suffering from the disease, as well as their caregivers.

As someone not too familiar with rural life in the south, I wouldn't imagine the vitality and music that could originate in the back room of a small barbershop in North Carolina. Cutting hair together for more than 40 years, the two barbers in Pickin' and Trimmin' not only have relationships with just about every man and boy in town, but they've encouraged a musical tradition and camaraderie that is almost extraordinary in its country music authenticity.

Then later this afternoon in the Jury Award category I saw Cages (Mexico, Juan José Medina, 10 min.) 1st Place Best Annimated Short; Gloria & Eric (USA, Nicolas Calzada, 17 min.) 2nd Place Best Student Live Action Short Over 15 Minutes; Love Hate (United Kingdom, Dylan Ritson & Blake Ritson, 20 min.) 2nd Place Best Live Action Short Over 15 Minutes; My Four Inch Precious (USA, Sou Yun Sim, 10 min.) 2nd Place Best Student Live Action Short Under 15 Minutes and 2nd Place Kodak Award for Best Student Cinematography; Rare Fish (Indonesia, Basil Mironer, 11 min.) Kodak Award for Best Student Cinematography to Alexa Caravia; and The Taxidermist (United Kingdom, Bert & Bertie, 22 min.) 1st Place Best Live Action Short Over 15 minutes.

(In My Four Inch Precious, garbage collector and gardener Sam, played by Owen Provencher, is surprised when the plant he nurtures back to life reveals a miniature nude woman.)

This was a tough group to review. First of all the jurors (Kim Adelman, author and IndieWire contributor; Nigel Daly, Vice President Screen International; and Henry Sheehan from KPCC-FM's "Film Week") must have very different tastes than me. Many of these films were dark, fantasy, black comedy or downright spooky. That being said, the following films, My Four Inch Precious, Love Hate, and The Taxidermist were excellently directed and shot, as well as entertaining.

As a student project, it is no wonder that My Four Inch Precious won two awards. The story line was developed (it had a beginning and an end), the comedic relief fun, and the photography amazing. Precious, the main character Sam's Chihuahua, gets mighty jealous when a new "precious" emerges from a dead flower and becomes his best friend until she finds another love in a magazine. Of course we know this can't last and in the end the Chihuahua gets her revenge.

In Love Hate starring Ben Whishaw as Tom who cannot collect signatures on his company's petitions becomes angry. This emotion becomes real and is hard to shake. And without realizing it, his Hate becomes disguised as a sexy Hate, played by Hayley Atwell, in a sort of twist on the devil made me do it. Cute, clever, but a bit melodramatic, the film has its laughs.

But my favorite dark comedy of the day had to be The Taxidermist, even if there were a couple of times when I closed my eyes. (I don't like to see knives cutting things!) The sets were just unbelievable. Great detail in both the pet shop, where the vet has worked with his daughter to concoct a magic potion that keeps the pets alive seemingly forever, and the taxidermist shop next door where the owner is loosing business. (No one hunts any more.) It was hard to decide who was the most evil, the vet, the greedy landlord who owns both shops, or the taxidermist who prefers things dead. All the while, a secret romance is developing between the vet's daughter and the taxidermist as she spies on him from her potion-making chamber through a hole in the wall. A definite winner in live action. Maybe they'll make it into a full-length feature. But a warning to the PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) folks is already included. "No animals were harmed in the making of this move. They were already dead."