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| Intensity TV: Episode #107 |
Intense Comedy: A Return to the Silents (Almost)
The Last Real Cowboys
Jeff Lester, a graduate of UC Berkeley, directed and produced this comical western that shoots holes in the mythical cowboy persona. Become privy to cowpokes Slope and Tar's innermost thoughts as they sit around their campfire. In The Last Real Cowboys, the Old West comes face-to-face with the New Age -- and guess who will win this shootout! This film was included in Mill Valley Film Festival, 1 Reel Film Festival (Seattle) and Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
Break and Enter
This film won the Best Australian Short Award in 1999 and has a unique history of origins: It was shot at the now-demolished house of actress Marion Heathfield, where the crew cut holes into the ceilings and walls to make it easier to film. Later, the original title ("Nightmoves") had to be changed, after it was discovered to be the same as a soft-porn program on a pay television channel. In Break and Enter, a routine burglary goes hilariously awry when the intended victim knocks out the intruder, takes his clothes and zooms off with his car. Trapped and unsure what to do, the cat burglar sits tight and undergoes a remarkable, and totally unpredictable, transformation. This film was screened at Australian Film Institute Film Festival, Edinburgh Film Festival and Melbourne Comedy Film Festival.
Alarm Clock (Le Reveil)
What makes this Belgian and French piece all the more remarkable is that writer and director Marc-Henri Wajnberg did it in one continuous tracking shot. Everybody who has problems waking up in the morning should meet Robert -- a heavy sleeper (to put it mildly). Luckily he is an inventive man. He has created one of the most complicated contraptions known to man. This is a highly entertaining short in the tradition of the great silent film comedians. The award-winning Alarm Clock appeared at Cannes Film Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival and Mediawave (Hungary).
Cookie Thief
Born in Switzerland, director and writer Korinna Sehringer now lives in Los Angeles and attends the American Film Institute. Cookie Thief is a film about the audacity of people's behavior in airports. It opens showing a brazen young man who openly begins stealing snacks from a young woman waiting for her plane to take off. Incredulous to this shocking behavior, she discovers the worst is yet to come. This film was shown at Worldfest (Houston) and Zurich Film Festival.
Mozzie
In his graduation project at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, animator Dylan Yeo blends animation with live-action in a very entertaining way. A man on the run from the law decides to lay low in a hotel. The problem is that there are two mosquitoes in his room that have other things in mind. This is a David and Goliath tale that actually has humans rooting for the annoying little pests! Mozzie appeared at British Short Film Festival, Mill Valley Film Festival, International Festival of Animation (Germany) and 1 Reel Film Festival (Seattle).
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