Dragon*Con Independent Film Festival

Short Film Festival ◊ 2009 ◊ Films: I - Q

I Spit On Eli Roth
The Icebox
In The Rope
Interpretation
Jabbawaki
Living With Cartoons
Loser pays, Winner stays
Lucy Wants To Kill Herself
Magritte Moment

Makazie One
Mrs. Brumett's Garden
Night and Day
On Edge
Parking Garage
The Peasant and the Root
The Price to Pay
Quiet

I Spit On Eli Roth
Writer/Director: Devi Snively.
Friends don’t let friends denigrate the horror genre.
Horror Comedy (out of competition), USA, 7 min

The Icebox
Writer/Director: Michel Tremblay Jr.; Producer: François Bonneau.
Charles learns he has lung cancer but he doesn't seem to care. Bored by life, he decides to play an underground game. Whatever the outcome is, everything will be fine.

The Icebox examines the horrors that can arise from the misuse of scientific developments.
Science Fiction, Canada, 18 min

In The Rope (Dans La Corde)
Writer/Director/Producer: Marc Alepee.
A man finds himself locked up in the dark. But when he began to try to get out, he never would have thought that he was about to face his worst nightmare. There, his last and only hope lies… in the rope.
Magic Realism, France, 16 min

Interpretation
Writers: Matt Olmstead, Lin Oeding; Director: Lin Oeding; Producers: Andrew Poston, Tim Sabo, Jay Thames.
A romantic couple's brief encounter with several philosophical thugs unfolds in an unusual way.
Action, USA, 8 min

Jabbawaki
Writer/Director/Producer: Sean B. Conly.
Jabbawaki is the story of a monster's love, and a journey of self discovery. Inspired by summers spent on the majestic shores of Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba and the magical winters of North Ontario, Sean uses his interest in folk art and storybook illustration, as well as his love of a good tale, to bring to life the challenges of this love-struck and unlikely hero. Illustrated in Photoshop, and animated in After Effects, this film was constructed in a series of virtual dioramas. Scored by Sean with throwbacks to folk and classical music, it is all tied together with a haunting narration by Peter Longworth.
Animated Fantasy, Canada, 12 min

Living With Cartoons
Writer/Director/Producer: Mark Smith.
The Struggling Cartoonist, Mark Toonery and his wife Al, share their 2-bedroom apartment with Mark's offbeat cartoon characters. At least that's the plan until Mark sells his comic strip, Bigfoot Country. Sezquatch, Deadbeat Skunk and Thurman Q. Porcupine have taken on household chores to help out in the meantime. Also helping out (or just hanging out) are mad scientist Dr. Ratnest, who manages Mark's website, Jayle Bat, who starred on a Spring Break T-shirt, and three renegades from Mark's unpublished teen fantasy novels. And last are the three least qualified for apartment living, intergalactic troublemakers Petrol Jelly and the Arsonist Space Squirrels.
Animated Short-Shorts, USA, 2 min

Loser pays, Winner stays
Writer/Director/Producer: Jerry Fuchs.
This animated short is a tribute to all the long hours I spent in the bowling alleys and arcades growing up. I have always had a fondness for Knights vs. Dragons. So, loving to draw dragons and goofy knights, I thought that it would be great to animate them
fighting it out like the Road-runner and Coyote. I also love old arcade games and the skill it took to create characters out of the square pixels.
Animated Short-Shorts, USA, 2 min

Lucy Wants To Kill Herself
Writers: Andrea Brookes, Craig Brookes; Director: Andrea Brookes; Producer: Craig Brookes.
Lucy wants to kill herself is a flabbergastingly amazing animated surreal black comedy about a melodramatic writer/poet and her pet cats expeditious attempts to keep her from suicide.
Lucy is the quintessential suicidal writer/poet. Lucy doesn't quite belong in this world and seeks sanctuary within the surreal breach between life and death, not that she’s very successful at embracing death for long. Her cat, Mishima, who hates Lucy’s self destructive behavior only a little less than he hates being left alone, could have been a good reason for her to stay around if she weren’t so self absorbed.
Animated Comedy, Australia, 13 min

Magritte Moment
Writer/Director: Ian Fischer; Producer: Ian Fischer, Pamela Peeters.
Trevor, a frustrated painter suffers from artist block. He searches for his muse, and in the process, gets help from the surreal visions of the painter Rene Magritte, a wallet, and a tall man wearing a bowler cap. Through his creative journey Trevor finds his happiness and his soul mate.
Magic Realism, USA, 17 min

Makazie One
Writer/Director: Brent 'Clutch' Gaubatz; Producer: Matt “Redeye” Paisley.
Set in the Star Wars universe during the time period between episodes 3 and 4, an elite soldier has been sent to track down and destroy a known threat to the Empire through intense ground battles and haunting imagery of death that surround the environment. The unsuspecting enemy to the new Imperial order has no idea what he is up against when the two finally meet for an action packed surprise ending.
Science Fiction, USA, 20 min

Mrs. Brumett's Garden
Writer/Director: Patrick Rea; Producers: Patrick Rea, Ryan Jones.
Helen Brumett, an elderly woman, believes she is talking to fairies in her garden. Her husband, Abner thinks she is crazy and has plans to put her away in a home. Are the fairies just a figment of Helen's imagination, or are they real?
Magic Realism, USA, 22 min

Mythic Journeys: The Bone Orchard
Writer/Director/Producer: Steven & Whitney Boe.
In this stop-motion adaptation of an ancient myth, a noble king accepts the invitation of a sorcerer, finds himself in a spectral burial ground full of macabre magic, and learns the secret of the universe through a series of riddles.
Beautifully shot in true HD with puppets designed and created by internationally acclaimed artists Brian and Wendy Froud (The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth) and voiced by iconic actors Tim Curry (The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Legend), Mark Hamill (Star Wars: Episodes IV, V, VI), and Lance Henriksen (Alien, Millennium), The Bone Orchard is a feast for the eyes.
Animated Fantasy, USA, 23 min

Night and Day
Writer/Director/Producer: Berin Tuzlic.
Love can be interesting. A 2D animated character falls in love with a 3D one. However, since they live in a different number of dimensions, they can't meet.
Animated Comedy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 3 min

On Edge
Writer/Director: Frazer Lee; Producer: Joseph Alberti.
This 35mm Cinemascope, short, independent, horror movie is guaranteed to set your teeth 'On Edge'. Charley Boorman (Excalibur, The Bunker) is Peter Thurlow, an angry businessman who arrives at the dentist's without an appointment. He gets more than he bargained for in the surgery when he encounters the mysterious Dr Matthews (Doug 'Pinhead' from Hellraiser Bradley).
Horror, United Kingdom, 15 min

Parking Garage
Writer/Director: Justin Lazernik; Producer: Valerie Wicks.
Blair can't remember where she parked. Was it on the first floor? The third? Was it past that column, or before it? Unfortunately for her, this is all just the start of an unusual journey.
Comedy, USA, 9 min

The Peasant and the Root
WWriter/Director/Producer: Brock GallagherX.
After reading in a book of spells about the wonderful powers a mandrake root can grant its owner, a peasant tries to obtain one. This proves to be quite difficult; when the root is pulled it lets out a terrible scream that kills anyone who hears it. The spellbook reveals that special precautions can be taken to avoid this fate, but it involves the sacrifice of a dog. Will the peasant get the amazing powers he seeks?
Animated Fantasy, USA, 4 min

The Price to Pay "Le Prix à Payer "
Writer/Director: Paul Gayard; Producer: Julien Gittinger.
A black & white crime movie with jazz music, a beautiful car and a beautiful girl - in the trunk of a car...
Thriller, France, 24 min

Quiet
Writers: Steve Barr, Marshall McAuley; Director: Marshall McAuley; Producers: Rod Ramsey, Steve Barr, Marshall McAuley.
A newly-deaf girl's struggle to cope with her disability turns deadly when she is attacked by a stalker.

Horror movies usually create tension by limiting the audience's perceptions, to give them a sense of unease because they don't know where the danger is going to come from. In Quiet, the protagonist goes deaf, and the audience goes deaf at the same time.
Thriller, USA, 15 min

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