CUFF Shorts.

I mentioned yesterday that Calgary Underground hosted two strong shorts programmes last week. I was lucky to be there for both and was really impressed by the range on display from filmmakers around the world. Here were some of my faves.

The debut short film from YouTube personality Nathan Barnatt was really solid. I met him on the shuttle (Thanks again Gillian!) from the airport and he was really excited to be there. He was worried that his twenty-two minute effort Neutral was going to bore his audience, but I found it very engaging. Being a writer, I really enjoy dialogue driven shorts, this one being largely two characters (played by Barnatt & Phoebe Neidhardt) stranded in the desert.

The short that played right after mine was a great little creeper from Calgary filmmaker Robert Cuffley called Penny Whistle. I got a definite It Follows vibe from this one. A lot of this short was riding of the performance of his young lead and she effortlessly handled some difficult material. That is no small feat considering as I've seen a lot of promising works derailed by weak kid actors.

Perhaps the most intense short I saw was Mother from Spaniard Rodrigo Sorogoyen. If memory serves, this was mostly one long take and involves an increasingly frantic phone call between a mother and her young son.

On the comedy side of things, there was John F. Beach & Jonathan Hoeg's The Accomplice. This was a great idea that I'm surprised I hadn't seen before and included a random appearance from Evan Peters - coincidental considering I watched American Animals a few hours later.

I was happy to see Clarissa Jacobson & JM Logan's short film Lunch Ladies at CUFF. We previously programmed it at HXFF, but this was my first time seeing it on the big screen. It's over-the-top and bombastic (imagine if John Waters & Lloyd Kaufman had a baby) and deserves an audience. 

Tops in my book though would have to be Thursday Night from Portuguese director Gonçalo Almeida. This is a moody, atmospheric piece with no dialogue - mainly because the two leads are dogs! I like to call this short “The Shaggy Dog Runs At Night” because if David Lynch decided to add canines to his repertoire, this might be what it would look like. A dark and beautiful piece of work.

A crazy good start to the year I'd say and I've now got a handful of shorts to follow up on for Little Terrors.

CUFF '18

Wow, what a fantastic trip that was! I was only gone three nights, but boy did I fill it up with some bangin' stuff, including sampling some Alberta beef, a side road trip to Banff with an old friend and the usual festival schmoozing.

The festival really took care of me, putting me up in a fancy hotel and filling my pockets with cinema food & drink tickets. The Globe Cinema is a great little movie house with a pair of sizable theatres one on top of each other. CUFF turned fifteen this year and you can tell there are lot of regulars and sponsors eager to be involved with the fest.

My screening went really well - anytime no one boos is a win - and there were a surprising number of questions during the Q&A. I never thought I would have to explain the difference between Canadians & Americans, always just assumed it was common knowledge, but there you go. 

CUFF programmer Brennan Tilley & I at Saturday's Q&A.

Both shorts programmes were really strong, but I'll elaborate on them in a later post. In addition to the special events at the fest like the Saturday Morning Cereal Party - that involved me chasing after Toucan Sam all morning - and the most recent iteration of the Found Footage Tour, I also took in some cool flicks including the half crime movie, half crime doc American Animals and a rewatch of Coralie Fargeat's Revenge. I recommend both. And Tigers Are Not Afraid. That movie is still aces.

The dark princes of VHS Nick Prueher & Joe Pickett. 

And there's also this random Teletubbies penis sculpture in town for some reason.

So yeah, I had a blast. I am so thankful to CUFF for inviting me and being such gracious hosts. You guys rock!

To The West!

I'm headed out west this weekend for the Calgary Underground Film Festival. 

I'll be representing my latest project The Good Samaritan which plays today as part of the A Turn For The Worse shorts programme. More to come!

Go West!

I have some great news. My latest short The Good Samaritan will be playing the 15th edition of the Calgary Underground Film Festival next month.

I was lucky enough to have The Monitor play there in 2015, but this time I'm going to fly out there to be part of the festivities. I'll get to partake in another one of Kier-La Janisse's Saturday Morning Cartoon Cereal parties, as well as some other great programming, including a probable re-watch of one of my 2017 faves Tigers Are Not Afraid.

I'll also get to sample Alberta beef right from the source! Excited!!!

DKTM 334

Hey all. Hope you're having a good weekend. I plan on not leaving my couch today, so this is where I am now blogging from. Here's what I've got for you this week.

CUFF Picks.

The lineup for this year's Calgary Underground Film Festival was announced this week. In addition to the three great titles I saw at TIFF last year (Colossal, Free Fire and The Untamed), there are a wild array of works from around the world, a trio of which caught my eye.

Cate Shortland's thriller The Berlin Syndrome about a vacationing photographer (Teresa Palmer) who finds her self locked in the apartment of a local of whom she had a one night stand looks especially intense. As someone who has several friends travelling abroad right now, it's a constant worry that this shit happens in the world on a regular basis.

On the slasher side of things, we have Lake Bodom from Finnish director Taneli Mustonen, about a group of campers that try to re-enact a murder spree that happened in the sixties, only to have things go awry.

The premise has potential, and we all know that Europeans don't pull any punches when it comes to this stuff.

Lastly, is Jeff Baena's convent comedy The Little Hours, starring Alison Brie and Aubrey Plaza. After a successful premiere at Sundance, I am looking forward to seeing how well these two click together. CUFF is also playing the new David Lynch doc, The Art Life which I can't wait to get my eyeballs on when it plays her next month.

For the full lineup, click here.

Now That's Entertainment!

Speaking of David Lynch, Entertainment Weekly reveals their covers for their upcoming Twin Peaks reunion issue.

After reading Mark Frost's book, I can't wait to be back in this universe on May 21st. Also, Madchen. Love you always.

That Damn Road!

To cap things off, I just wanted to include this awesome Pet Sematary poster I found online.

Due to its colour palette, I initially thought this might be a Lauren O'Neill, but turns out it is by the hand of David Moscati. Great minds think alike.

Christmas in April!

Great news! That short film I worked on for my friends Serena Whitney & Justin McConnell is premiering this April at the Calgary Underground Film Festival! Filmed over a hectic weekend last November, I'm thrilled that this will soon be hitting screens. Check out the poster and teaser below, and click here for more.

Into The West.

I've got some great news going into the weekend. My short film The Monitor will be playing the twelfth edition of The Calgary Underground Film Festival next month.

I'm absolutely honoured as CUFF is one of the premiere genre film festivals in Canada. If you happen to be in Alberta, my short film will be playing in front of the bat-shit crazy flick I Am A Knife With Legs at midnight on Sat, April 18th. 

This year has some great flicks playing including Benson & Moorhead's Spring, the super sexy Duke of Burgundy, a revival of the infamous 1981 animal attack film Roar as well as a great David Cronenberg retrospective. For more info on the films playing, click here.

Man, this is just tremendous. Anyway, as you were.