DIFF Short Cuts 2015

My trip to Indiana for the final edition of the Diabolique International Film Festival was a success. My short film went over well and the audience seem to respond to it. I had the most rewarding Q&A experience so far here, as not only were the questions great, but I was able to provide answers to them without umming and awwing.

Me with festival programmer Maggie Rossman.

At first I was bummed my short was playing on the Sunday instead of the Saturday, but it worked out as I meant I had an extra day to pal around Bloomington. I not only got to revisit Plan 9 Video, but I also looked in on another indie video store, but more on that at a later date.

I got to hang out with the Headless crew, and you can imagine that led to an interesting evening. I certainly did not expect to be in a porn store at four in the morning, perusing the dildo aisle with horror actress Ellie Church. You'd be surprised how much foot traffic there is at that hour. Then again, maybe you wouldn't. The next night, a bunch of us had dinner at Upland where I tried out the Wheat Ale - the one that is apparently prominently featured on Parks & Rec. It's not bad, pretty light and something you can easily drink a lot of.

Anyhoo, DIFF's best quality is its abundant short programmes, of which I sampled all. To check out the full programme, click here, but here below were my faves.

Night Of The Slasher - There are no shortage of throwback slashers (short form or otherwise), but this one by Shant Hamassian was really entertaining. There were a few clever things that made me laugh out loud, including the fact the killer wore a Leonard Nimoy mask. It's such a subtle joke, but I love it. I also didn't realize, until someone pointed it out, that the short is one continuous take, so there's a huge technical component to this piece, as well.

Boniato - I liked this short film a lot. At twenty-three minutes, it is a bit cumbersome, but damn if it doesn't build a world. This effort from Andres Meza-Valdes, Diego Meza-Valde & Eric Mainade exudes confidence and has production design on par with horror features that possess much higher budgets. I also thought the lead Carmela Zumbado reminded me of Manuela Velasco of the [REC] series.

The absurd was out in full force this year, as not only did DIFF screen Jason Kupfer's festival favourite Invaders, but also the ridiculous Crow's Hand and the fun grindhouse trailer Krabz.

Heels - Imagine if Frank Zito had had a foot fetish. Filtered through a Nick Refn aesthetic, director Jeremy Jantz brings forth this somewhat disturbing, probably inappropriate tale of murder and footwear.

666 sq ft - This to me is the perfect representation of the horror short form. It has a setup, buildup and satisfying payoff all in under five minutes. Big props to Raymond Zablocki & company for succeeding where so many have failed.

Black Eyes - From the people that brought us Science Team comes this coming-of-age story about make believe. I love how this short subverts the taboo of suicide - believe me, I've seen a lot of shorts about suicide this year and none have handled it better than this. The performances of the young actors Hays Wellford & Elena Lazorishak are incredibly natural and pulled me in pretty right away.

My favourite short last weekend was likely the Danish effort The Sun Has Died.

After the success of Ilya Naishuller's Bad Motherfucker (which led to his feature Hardcore selling for $10M at this year's TIFF) you can be sure we will now likely be deluged with POV narratives, such as the one above. However, I found this extremely effective in what it set out to do. Daniel Bødker Sørensen puts us in the first person perspective of the victim and it is as unsettling as it sounds. If this is where Horror VR gaming is heading, then we are definitely going to be doing more laundry in the future.

So that was the fest in a nutshell. I'm sad to see it go, but with the organizers all moving onto other projects, it seemed inevitable. Nine years was a good run, more than most genre festivals. To Bloomington's Dark Carnival, I bid thee farewell.

Hoosiers & Horror.

I'm taking a little trip down to Indiana this weekend for the final edition of the Diabolique International Film Festival.

My latest short film The Monitor is screening there this Sunday at 5pm, so if you're a reachable distance from Bloomington, come on by. You can find more info here.

As in previous years, DIFF offers up a half-dozen programmes of short films, so I'll holler back at ya next week about the bloody best they had to offer.

At Last We Meet.

My main reason for last weekend's trip to Bloomington was the Diabolique Film Festival, but not the only one. As I said yesterday, I skipped out on one of the blocks of short films to check out a local establishment called Plan 9 Film Emporium. 

I had been aware of its existence for a few years through a friend who lived in the area - and also happened to be my lovely host that weekend - so I made sure to make the pilgrimage along the main shopping strip to visit it in the flesh. It is not a big store, but, much like Toronto's Suspect Video, is filled to the brim with wonderful oddities. They are like kindred spirits these two, with their films divvied out into colourful categories.

My favourite category is “Goops”

Plan 9 even had a sizable amount of VHS for rent, sporting classics from vintage companies, such as Wizard and Midnight Video.

Walking past that rack was like spiralling back in time thirty years. Okay by me. In addition to a Plan 9 T-shirt, which I intend to wear the shit out of, I also picked up a few zines while I was there. With a provocative name like National Sleazographic, how could I not?

I am not only glad that Plan 9 exists, but also that it has a community that supports it. I wish every burg still had at least one of these kicking around. It doesn't take much to keep the lights on, just a core base of customers that revel in the social experience and are willing to put forth a little more effort beyond what is recommended by Netflix.

I'm not knocking Big Red, I'm just saying there is no reason why both movie delivery methods can't co-exist. Anyway, public service announcement over. It was really awesome to finally get to walk around the racks of Plan 9 and see it is still going strong.

DIFF Short Cuts

As I stated yesterday, the Diabolique International Film Festival was rife with amazing content, the bulk of which were several genre shorts programmes on the Saturday. Here below, is a rundown of my favourites from the festival.

Entity - A spirited cross between Gravity and 2001: A Space Odyssey, this French sci-fi tale from Andrew Desmond sported some impressive visual effects and a wildly dark sensibility.

Strange Thing - Alrik Burrill's yarn about a couple that finds a door has appeared in their house overnight was hugely entertaining with a balanced mix of fan service, action and creature effects.

The Pride of Strathmoor - Einar Baldvin's starkly haunting tale told through stark black-and-white animation that reminded of those old pieces from the NFB. What is perhaps most disturbing is that the story is actually taken from excerpts from a pastor's journal in 1920's Georgia.

Kvistur - This Canadian short film from Alexandre Roy had a fantastic look to it. Its weird combination of live-action and stop-motion reminded me of the work of Jan Švankmajer. It was truly bizarre and surreal.

The Banishing - I loved this Iceland/USA co-production. I have to tip my hat to director Erlingur Thoroddsen who capped off a solid haunted house short with one mother of an ending!

Timothy - Great genre cinema has been coming out of Spain for decades now, and this effort from Marc Martinez is just more gas on the fire. It is absolutely fantastic in tone, presentation and execution.

Sadly, I wasn't able to see all of the shorts playing. I skipped out on the fourth block to grab some chow and visit the local video store (which I'll get to tomorrow), but I heard that Ben L. Gordon's The Carriage, Nicholas Peterson's The Visitant and Christopher Rohde's Odd One Out were the highlights.

My favourite of the fest though, was Stephen W. Martin's Dead Hearts. I adored this short film. Its storybook narrative charmed the pants off me, as did its comedic timing. Who knew I was such a romantic?

It was such a wondrous day of short films. You can check out the full programme by going here.

Diabolical!

Well, I'm back from my trip to Bloomington, Indiana to attend the Diabolique International Film Festival. It was an absolute blast in every regard.

Even the drives there and back were smooth as could be, to the point it made me contemplate whether traffic is a Canadian phenomenon. Absurd, of course, but maybe not so much when all the American roads I encountered were free and clear.

The weekend got off to a fine start when I showed up at the theater on Friday evening and bumped into Ti West who happened to be in lobby awaiting his impending Q&A for his latest film The Sacrament. It was a surreal moment, considering what was about to transpire in the Lone Star state only a day later. I didn't mention it when I introduced myself.

Ti West Q&A

The U of I theater is a fantastic place to watch a film and rivals that of my favourite venues in Montreal and Toronto. I stuck around for the screening of The Innkeepers - on 35mm! - after which I decided, having seen it on the big screen three times now, that it is his best film. Though I still stand by my original comments about The Sacrament being his most consistent, there is something to be said about West's use of subtlety in his tale about the Yankee Pedlar Inn. Due to said restraint, I think it possesses a huge rewatchability factor.

The wonderful U of I Cinema.

On Saturday, I headed back to the theater for the first of six blocks of short films. I have to say that the range and quality of short films that Diabolique brought together was extremely impressive. I'll go into more detail about the standouts in a later post, but holy hell, what a great lineup!

My short film Lively played in the third block at 4pm. It was a good turnout, with the numbers likely swelled by cinema studies students due to the theater being located right on campus. I was very happy with the reception (nobody booed, always good) and was excited to talk about it afterwards. It was a really awesome day and it ended well beyond last call with fellow filmmakers Alrik Bursell, Michele Lombardi & I closing down the after party.

Livin' the dream...

I want to thank festival organizers Scott Schirmer, Joshua Coonrod, Leya Taylor & David Pruett for not only inviting me to be part of their festival this year, but also being such gracious hosts. The possibility is very high that I will be visiting future editions of DIFF whether I have something to show there or not.

On The Road.

Well, I'm off to the U S of A to check out the Diabolique International Film Festival.

If you live in Indiana, why not come by the U of I campus and check out an awesome block of shorts this Saturday. My short film Lively is playing the third block of shorts at 4pm. Come on by!

Have a great weekend, and I'll see you all next week.