The Sundance Institute announced the program of short films selected to screen at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. This year the shorts program received 5,632 submissions, and a record 96 were selected to compete. High-profile entries from the U.S. include Bill Plympton’s Hot Dog, Don Hertzfeldt’s I Am So Proud of You and PES’ Western Spaghetti. International selections include British filmmaker Matthew Walker’s John and Karen, Swedish director Jonas Odell’s Lies and French, animatior Yi Zhou’s hear, earth, heart. The 2009 festival runs January 15-25 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Sundance, Utah.
U.S. ANIMATED SHORTS:
Dear Beautiful (Director: Roland Becerra; Screenwriters: Roland Becerra, Meredith DiMenna)’The sudden appearance of exotic flowers in New Haven spawns an unprecedented epidemic that threatens to destroy the city. Paul and Lauren, a married couple, are caught between the catastrophe and their own troubled relationship.
Field Notes From Dimension X: OASIS (Director: Carson Mell)’Captain Fred T. Rogard muses in isolation on planet Oasis.
From Burger It Came (Director: Dominic Bisignano)’An animated film that recounts early 1980s-era Cold War fears of a young boy in middle America. Using a variety of techniques, the visual narrative is colorfully assembled over semi-documentary audio conversations between a grown adult recounting his fears and his mother’s memory of the time and her own concerns.
Hot Dog (Director: Bill Plympton)’Our plucky hero joins the fire company to save the world from house fires and gain the affection he so richly deserves. Typically, the results never turn out the way he planned.
I Am So Proud of You (Director: Don Hertzfeldt)’Dark family secrets cast a shadow over Bill’s recovery in this second chapter to Don Hertzfeldt’s ‘Everything will be OK’. (Winner of the 2007 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Grand Jury Prize, U.S.).
I Live In The Woods (Director: Max Winston)’A Woodsman’s fast-paced journey, fueled by happiness, slaughter and a confrontation with America’s God.
Joel Stein’s Completely Unfabricated Adventures (Director: Walter Robot; Screenwriter: Joel Stein)’ Journalist Joel Stein takes us on an animated adventure through the waste treatment plant of Orange County.
Western Spaghetti (Director: PES)’Everyday objects become delicious ingredients as we learn how to cook spaghetti through stop-motion.
The Yellow Bird (Director: Tom Schroeder; Screenwriter: Jay Orff)’The animated journey of a young man fleeing the draft during World War I. After taking a job on a cattle ranch in eastern Montana, an accident occurs causing him to reflect back on his life as he seeks medical attention in a nearby town.
INTERNATIONAL ANIMATED SHORTS:
Cattle Call/ Canada (Director and Screenwriter: Matthew Rankin, Mike Maryniuk)’A high-speed animation film documenting the art of livestock auctioneering.
A Film from My Parish: 6 Farms/ Ireland (Director: Tony Donoghue)’An animated film shot on location in North Tipperary. It consists of six stories by six farmers from one parish.
hear, earth, heart/ France (Director: Yi Zhou)’A white box unfolds to reveal a surreal and shifting landscape of fragmented clouds, suns, mountains, stardust, darkness and flames that eventually freeze in time and space.
John and Karen/ U.K. (Director and Screenwriter: Matthew Walker)’John the polar bear apologizes to Karen the penguin after an argument.
Keith Reynolds Can’t Make it Tonight/ U.K .(Director and Screenwriter: Felix Massie)’Keith Reynolds leaves his hat in his car. This isn’t the only mistake he makes today.
Lies/ Sweden (Director: Jonas Odell)’Three perfectly true stories about lying. In three episodes based on documentary interviews we meet the burglar who, when found out, claims to be a moonlighting accountant, the boy who finds himself lying and confessing to a crime he didn’t commit and the woman whose whole life has been a chain of lies.
Mister Cok/ France (Director and Screenwriter: Franck Dion)’Mister Cok is the owner of a large bomb factory. Looking for efficiency and profit, he decides to replace his workers by sophisticated robots; however one of the workers does not accept being discarded so easily.
Out of Control/ Mexico (Director: Sofia Carrillo)’Remote and alone, various personalities share feelings of solitude in the interior of a labyrinthine house.
Skhizein/ France (Director: J’r’my Clapin; Screenwriters: J’r’my Clapin and St’phane Piera)’Having been struck by a 150-ton meteorite, Henry has to adapt to living precisely ninety-one centimeters from himself.
This Way Up/ U.K. (Directors: Adam Foulkes, Alan Smith; Screenwriters: Adam Foulkes, Alan Smith, Christopher O’Reilly)’Laying the dead to rest has never been so much trouble.
