Over the next few days, the HP48Hours 2016 city finals will woo crowds with the best Kiwi short films made within a weekend. The chosen finalists will be admired by all and shown on the big screen basking with a prestigious glow that brings meaning to all life on Earth.
Then there are the other shorts. The ones that didn’t quite make mount Olympus but are still Herculean in their own right. I see you. And I honour you by adding your film to this list.
These are all shorts I snagged over at the 48Hours Screening Room. And no, I didn’t see all of them because no one’s paying me THAT much – this is a simple list I lassoed together comprised of shorts I came across and ones that my little birds told me about.
The Big Push
By Lock That Down! | Real Time | Auckland
A few years ago, the competition introduced the ‘One-Shot’ genre. Many coward in fear, but Lock That Down! grabbed the technique by the delicates and made one incredibly well-coordinated real-time pregnancy comedy that never gives you – or its ready-to-burst lead – a second to breathe.
Merci
By Hybrid Motion Pictures | Cat and Mouse | Auckland
Props immediately go out to any 48Hours film willing to put on a straight face. Hybrid’s a competition veteran, so it’s no surprise that this chase-creeper short looks as slick as it does. Also – hurrah! A drone shot that’s actually necessary!
Carma
By Get Ahead Media | One-Location | Wellington
All you need to make an effective short in this competition is a smartphone and a decent concept. This is proof.
Jour du Biscuit
By 6 Million Bucks | Comedy of Errors | Auckland
I’ve never seen anything like Jour du Biscuit in 48Hours. How can I describe it? Well, erm, I guess it’s like an Agatha Christie tale if adapted by Federico Fellini then remade by the guy who wrote and directed Rubber.
Con Troll Alt Delete
By Nutbar Films | Horror | Wellington
I won’t lie: this one starts out pretty rugged. But persevere and it’s got one hell of a creative payoff the moment (the first) shit drops.
Mind Camp
By Two Big Tools | Dystopian | Auckland
Films nominated for the Incredibly Strange award usually get there by happy accident, so it’s super special when one sneaks up and gets there by design. That’s how you get things like Mind Camp, a short that seems like a Tim & Eric imitator until it blindsides you with an intended ending that gives significance to all the WTFness that came before.
Claws and Effect
By Crab Crab Crab | Crime | Christchurch
Also aiming straight for the Incredibly Strange award is this video guide sing-along about how NOT to do crime. The backgrounds look like Jim Painted It and a man-crab comes out of nowhere. Yes, this is insane, and it takes exactly three minutes and 17 seconds for this short to completely lose its mind. It’s glorious.
Kevin
By Wes And Her Son | Puppet | Wellington
We’ve seen this kind of bro film before but there’s something interesting with the tone in this one. It’s silly but avoids complete silliness. It gets serious but never makes clowns cry. It’s a mood balance that demands a lot from the lead, and he does a bloody good job of it. I could never fully figure his character out, and that’s way more intriguing than a 48Hours film has any right to be.
The Radical Adventures of Captain Flowers and his Sidekick Barnaby Against the Legions of Evil – Episode 1: Fleeced
By I Love Loops | Real Time | Auckland
Mark these words: I Love Loops will be an Auckland finalist one of these years (unless they stop entering; then consider me clinically dead). The fact that they’ve been smashing different kinds of animation into just a few minutes of goodness is, in itself, mightily impressive for 48Hours. But it’s the new ways they do it that make them an ever-increasing force. This balls-out sci-fi chase cartoon is further evidence to that claim.
