On Sunday, the awards were announced for the 17th Aspen Shortsfest. The entire list can be seen below. Except for the audience award given to COME BACK TO SUDAN, which shared the award with ONE BRIDGE TO THE NEXT, nothing was too surprising. I really liked the message of COME BACK TO SUDAN, but felt the filmmaking – especially from a story standpoint, lacked focus. More understandable, was the award to ONE BRIDGE TO THE NEXT. It’s presents us with Dr. Jim Withers, a street doctor who atten...

So I came to the last night of the screenings at Aspen Shortsfest filled with high expectations.  Generally, the first and last programs are filled with great films.  Program 7 fluctuated between good and fair films.  The good ones included: CHIEF, TAXI, and my favorite PETER AND BEN.    It’s another quirky English doc depicting the relationship of Peter (a man), and Ben (a ram).  Both opt to live outside their respective flocks, and with each other.  The eighth and last program of the...

Jealousy reared its ugly head last night at Program 6 here at the Aspen Shortsfest.  I never thought I could be envious of a total stranger, a student nonetheless.  I asked myself how someone so early in their career could create a piece so nuanced, so mature, so well done.  I'm writing of ON THE LINE, a 30 minute German/Swiss coproduction that is clearly the best film I've seen here so far.  That is saying a lot, since almost the entire program was stellar.  SPIDER is a devastatingly fun...

"You're only limitation in animating is your own imagination", said Bill Plympton last night following program 4 at the Aspen Shortsfest.  This year Bill is part of the competition jury and is teaching a Master Class in Animation on Saturday afternoon.  Each of the programs has one or two Plymptoons screening out of competition.  THE FAN AND THE FLOWER is one of my favorite Plympton pieces.   It screened in program 3 along with 6 other films, including my pick for fi...

Got here yesterday afternoon and headed to the Wheeler Opera House for the first program of the festival. It blew me away. As filmmakers Sylvia Johnson and Ismet Ergun said in the Q&A which followed - "It's all about the storytelling". Those stories ranged from cinema-going kids in Turkey, to a murder in Inuit country, to the streets of Brazil, and to the rehab clinic at Walter Reed. The second program screened later the same night. It was not quite as strong as the first, ...

It seems like there is a wave of hollywood stars directoral debuts at the upcoming Aspen Shortsfest, which starts this Wednesday. Josh Brolin's "X" has just been announced as part of the competition. Added to Kate Hudson's CUTLASS, the freshman directing efforts are becoming part of the story at this years Shortfest. Both films have called on family members to help out. CUTLASS stars Kurt Russell, Hudson's surrogate step-dad, and Brolin's piece stars daughter Eden. It will be i...

Yesterday, I started to get press releases from the Aspen Shortfest. The first one was for Kate Hudson’s directorial debut CUTLASS. Of course it’s great that Aspen helps support a local girl, albeit a famous one. I’ve seen a lot of these shorts that turned into vanity projects, but I am hoping this one avoids that pitfall. Almost all filmmakers, even the rich and famous, have to call in favors to get their film made. The problem is when stars get other stars and crews to work gratis on t...

 Heading to Aspen for the Shortsfest next week and hope to post daily. I've spent over 15 years in the short film business and find Aspen to be the best programmed short film festival in the U.S. Hope this year will be no exception. Looking forward to screening 50 or so of the best short films for 2008.  Will start to update when I get there on April 2nd. ...