I love the variety of Twin Cities Film Fest lineup, year after year. One of the film formats I don’t get to see often is Film Shorts, but thankfully, TCFF offers five set of Shorts broken down by themes. I missed the first set but last Monday I got to see the second set, you can see a sneak peaks of them all in this video below:

Evil, Enemies, and Aliens (Shorts Block)

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Disturbing and deadly conflicts aren’t unique to large scale wars or terrorism. They can be found around us in our everyday lives. This shorts block takes a look at retaliation, murder, fishing, sacrifice, and bare knuckle fighting to illuminate the beautiful, but uncertain world around us.

Films in the Evil, Enemies & Aliens Short Blocks:

• Gone Fishing
• Windage
• Trapped
• Alone Together
• Knuckle
• One Armed Man

I’m only going to do a mini review of the two that I like most – both happen to be under 8 minutes each. I think the rule of thumb for a good short film is that it shouldn’t overstay its welcome. I guess that should be a rule for any kind of film, but most especially for shorts because to me, that’s part of the appeal. Having a shorter time frame forces filmmakers to be more innovative and creative storytellers and I think these two films illustrate that.

Windage – by Dan Delano

A city is torn apart by war. On the outskirts of town, two lone snipers cross paths and pin each other down.

War is such a universal theme, but so is the concept of kindness and altruism. Windage mixes those themes well and the gritty Winter setting adds to the sense of isolation and abandonment. Both leads, Kari Ann Craighead and Danny August Mason, gave a believable and affecting performance as well, they did a nice job acting with just their eyes and facial expression. The film as a whole is very minimalistic, with barely any word is spoken, yet the ending provokes such a big emotional impact.

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Alone Together – by Blake West

A man struggles with his past, only to find out it is his present and inescapable future…

Similar to Windage, this film is economical and minimalistic in its approach, with just two leads telling the story. There’s a deep sense of mystery here that is played out nicely right up until the end. Louis Mandylor is the main lead who’s present throughout. I recognize him for some of his supporting work on films and TV, and he has such a melancholic face yet somehow keeps you guessing. I like films that play with our expectation and keep you guessing just who the main character is and the woman who follows him to the ocean. I really didn’t see the twist coming which is always nice when that happens. The film is well-shot and has an eerie feeling that works well for the story.

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Now, since we’re still on the subject of Shorts, I want to give a shout out to filmmaker Conor Holt, who happens to be TCFF’s Social Media Coordinator this year, as his short film A Better Life that premiered here last year. His award-winning film is now out on Vimeo!

One year ago today, my film #ABetterLife had it’s MN Premiere at the @TCFilmFest! Thank you so much #TCFF! https://t.co/AjyUPCMWrv

— Conor Holt (@conor_holt) October 20, 2014

It’s one of my fave short films, it’s a well-crafted sci-fi that’s really thought-provoking. Check out my chat with him on the making of the film this post.

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And here’s the review from Day 6 …

Solitude

You know how when someone tells you not to do something it just makes you want to do it more? Solitude, the horror flick making its world premiere at the Twin Cities Film Fest, is like that. Spanning 75 years, it takes place in a mysterious town where evil recurs in six segments. Directors Taylor Scott Olson and Livingston Oden are obviously inspired by old movies such as “The Exorcist” and “The Nightmare on Elm Street.” We first meet James Erikson (Armin Habibovich) going through an old storage locker filled with family artifacts after the death of his mother. Five more vignettes follow, shot to appear as they take place in 1939, 1961, 1977, 1986 and 1999, and include odes to “Frankenstein” and “The Blair Witch Project.”

The random clues in a single box found in the locker lead to an old Native American tale of a monster that has been killing those who dare to trespass on this land. A native woman tries to warn each set of intrepid adventurers but of course, none of them listen to reason. That’s about as serious as this movie gets- it’s really just campy fun. (Early scenes reminded me of recent spoofs of the 1936 film “Reefer Madness,” including a musical where a flamboyant Jesus dances around with life size pot brownies to warn teenagers of the dangers of the “evil weed.”) If the cast’s aim in the movie was to spoof terrible acting in old horror films, they succeeded.

One of the fun things about a film fest is getting to see movies before anyone else. The theatre was packed on Tuesday night and it was clear from the cheering in the audience when people’s names came up in the opening credits that there were a lot of cast and crew present. Afterward, a Q&A with directors Taylor Scott Olson and Livingston Oden revealed that the movie was shot in Minnesota- the “Solitude River” in the movie is actually the Rum River. When asked why they chose the title, Olson said that he originally thought of “Solace” but didn’t want confusion with the upcoming Anthony Hopkins movie. He settled on “Solitude” because when you hear that word you think of a peaceful, serene place- the opposite from what the movie actually is. An entertaining show that doesn’t take itself too seriously mixed with behind-the-scenes insight…I can’t think of a better way to spend a night at the theatre.

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Individual tickets are on sale now at twincitiesfilmfest.org

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Have you seen any of these films? What did you think?

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