Greyworld. Year In Review: The 11 Best Short Films of 2011. Over the course of the year, curating the Short Film of the Day feature has given me a deep and affecting appreciation of the art form. Before, I hadn’t given much thought to the little bastards, but the truth is that they are incredibly versatile and representative of the boundaries that film can break. They can be jokes told well or human dramas driven home. They can be a perfect bite or demand to be expanded into a full meal. They can feel classic or break out into the long, strange realm of experimentation. They are so much more than movies with short runtimes. There’s one difficulty in judging them, though. With such variation, pinpointing how one can be better than another gets to be tricky. The other (small) problem is that sometimes short films spend a long time touring festivals and otherwise being unavailable online. 11. 10. Leave it to a short film featuring a marketing mascot changed into a brain-hungry monster to teach all a little bit about humanity. 9. 8.
Absurdity lives. SBS: Documentary: Andy Martin: Top ten surfing documentaries. I was sitting in some far-flung flea-pit makeshift movie theatre in a neo-pagan neighbourhood of Oahu, watching Johnny Boy Goes Mongo in Indo, featuring the exploits of local hardcore hellman Johnny Boy Gomes. I was about to turn to a friend and utter some scathing remark when I happened to notice that Johnny Boy – of a fiery and volcanic temper in those days (and now the proud graduate of an intensive anger management course) – was in fact sitting in the row in front. I like to think that it was not simple fear of the wrath of Gomes that caused me to reconsider and conclude that, in fact, the flick was not so bad after all. Although, I have to admit it doesn’t figure in my list (but Johnny Boy, if you’re reading this – your work is in a league of its own!).
Who was it that said that even with the most beautiful sunset in the history of the world, we can only stand watching it for about five minutes? 1. Stacy Peralta switches disciplines (or indisciplines) from skateboarding to surfing. Philip Bloom - DP, Director, Filmmaker.