In addition to the features, Blood In The Snow screened fifteen short films over the course of the weekend.
I didn't see them all, but here are some highlights within the ones I did
catch.
Jon Hyatt's Woods was a really well
made effort. A new take on an old tale of woe, Hyatt created a well
rounded universe in a small amount of time. The performances from
Hyatt (who had to step in at the last minute after his lead dropped
out the day before production) and Amy Marie Wallace were solid and
anchored the piece nicely.
Like the aforementioned Queen of Blood,
Torin Langen's retro-styled Malleus Maleficarum conveyed a lot without the use of
dialogue. Set in a time where witch hunts are commonplace, one young
man struggles to fit in with the grisly practices of his siblings.
Perhaps the best looking short I saw
was Adam O'Brien's Insane. Though the story seemed familiar, it
looked great and the production design was pretty flawless.
Lastly, I have to give shout outs to my
filmmaker friends Mike Pereira and Darryl Shaw who both had shorts
play this year.
Bias aside, I can safely say that these
are their best works to date. Pereira moved away from his dialogue
heavy tendencies, concentrating instead on letting visuals and sound
drive his story. It gets a bit esoteric toward the end, but a well
done offering nonetheless.
Shaw's unique dark romance with awesome
production values and haunting performance by lead actress Dana
Tartau fetched Greater Than the well deserved Best Short at this
year's Bloody Awards.
It was a good year for shorts and
further proof that genre cinema in Canada continues to thrive.
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