It's that time of year again, No Film Schoolers. The Sundance Film Festival, the Super Bowl of independent film, has made its way back to Park City for another year. Last year, the folks at Sundance did something unexpected; they uploaded 12 short films selected to play at the prestigious festival and premiered them on YouTube. The film with the most views once the festival concluded would then be awarded the YouTube Audience Award. The online competition has returned for its second year, and the lineup has expanded to 15 films, ranging from narrative to documentary to animation and beyond. Check out a few of this year's Sundance short films below.
MeTube: August Sings Carmen 'Habanera':
Description: "George Bizet's 'Habanera' from Carmen has been reinterpreted and enhanced with electronic sounds for MeTube, an homage to thousands of ambitious YouTube users and video bloggers, and gifted and less gifted self-promoters on the Internet."
Details: Fiction. 4 min. Austria.
The Big House
Description: "When a young Yemeni boy ventures out of his cramped apartment and finds a key to the empty mansion down the street, he lets himself and his imagination run wild in the big house."
Details: Fiction. 5 min. U.S./Yemen.
Catherine
Description: "Catherine returns to work after a hiatus."
Details: Fiction. 13 min. U.S.
Tim and Susan Have Matching Handguns
Description: "Love is swapping clips with your spouse."
Details: Documentary. 2 min. U.S.
Notes on Blindness
Description: "In 1983, writer and theologian John Hull became blind. To help make sense of his loss, he began keeping an audio diary. Encompassing dreams, memories and his imaginative life, Notes on Blindness immerses the viewer in Hull's experience of blindness."
Details: Documentary. 13 min. U.K.
Allergy to Originality
Description: "A humorous animated 'Op-Doc' explores the rich history of adaptation, plagiarism and other forms of appropriation in art."
Details: Animation. 4 min. U.S.
Chapel Perilous
Description: "Levi Gold is paid an unexpected visit by Robin, a door-to-door salesman with nothing to sell. The ensuing encounter forces Levi to confront his true mystical calling and the nature of reality itself. A metaphysical comedy trip-out with Sun Araw."
Details: Fiction. 13 min. U.S.
Burger
Description: "It's late night in a burger bar."
Details: Fiction. 11 min. Norway/U.K.
Gregory Go Boom
Description: "A paraplegic man leaves home for the first time only to discover that life in the outside world is not the way he had imagined it."
Details: Fiction. 17 min. U.S. Features Michael Cera.
Dig
Description: "A young girl watches her father dig a hole in their backyard. Mystified about his purpose, the neighborhood comes to watch."
Details: Fiction. 10 min. U.S.
Passer Passer
Description: "An animated city symphony celebrates the hidden world of background noise."
Details: Animation. 4 min. U.S.
Rat Pack Rat
Description: "A Sammy Davis, Jr. impersonator, hired to visit with a loyal Rat Pack fan, finds himself delivering last rites at the boy's bedside."
Details: Fiction. 19 min. U.S.
Crime: The Animated Series - Marcus McGhee
Description: "From Bank robbers to cops to victims to observers, Crime: The Animated Series explores how crime affects us all. The series is dark, compelling, heartbreaking and yes - sometimes funny."
Details: Animated documentary. 4 min. U.S./Canada.
Funnel
Description: "A man's car breaks down, and sends him on a quest across town that slowly turns into the most fantastically mundane adventure."
Details: Fiction. 7 min. U.S.
There is one more film (if you want to call it that) called Cruising Electric that could not be embedded here. Check out this Official Sundance Playlist and scroll down to the bottom to watch it.
So there you have it folks, a select crop of this year's Sundance short films. Now let's hear your thoughts down in the comments!
Link: Sundance Film Festival Short Films Playlist -- YouTube
[via Mashable]
Credit: Writer's Store