Oscar Short Movies

http://www.nitehawkcinema.com/

http://www.ifccenter.com/films/academy-award-nominated-documentary-shorts-2014-prog-a/

What a fun night. Melanie and I went to the amazing Nitehawk Cinema in Williamsburg Brooklyn for a double feature, two programs of Oscar nominated shorts. First we saw the live action shorts, then we saw the animated shorts.

The Nitehawk is great. It’s a three-level building with (I think) three movie screens, two bars, and food. You can order drinks and food both before and during the movies. The seats are comfortable and every two seats has a small table where the food and drinks are served. The rooms aren’t huge, they’re kind of like black box theater rooms seating maybe 100 in the rooms we saw - no more than 200 - and the staff bends low as they serve things during the screenings; it's hard not to feel a little sorry for them. I can imagine the interview: "If you dig the hunchback vibe, this job is for you." This might be the future of public cinema. Theaters don’t make much money from ticket sales, they make their profits from snacks and popcorn. The Nitehawk adds a bar and a decent dinner menu, plus service during the movies. It’s kind of like an old fashioned supper club, but instead of a band, you get a movie. Very cool.

We both loved the live action shorts. Here’s the lineup:

AQUEL NO ERA YO (THAT WASN’T ME)
Director: Esteban Crespo
Paula, a Spanish aid worker, has an encounter with an African child soldier named Kaney.

AVANT QUE DE TOUT PERDRE (JUST BEFORE LOSING EVERYTHING)
Directors: Xavier Legrand and Alexandre Gavras
Miriam has left her abusive husband and taken refuge with her children in the local supermarket where she works.

HELIUM
Directors Anders Walter and Kim Magnusson
A dying boy finds comfort in the tales of a magical land called HELIUM, told to him by the hospital janitor.

PITAAKO MUN KAIKKI HOITAA? (DO I HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF EVERYTHING?) Directors: Selma Vilhunen and Kirsikka Saari
Sini tries frantically to get her family ready to leave for a wedding, but her husband and two children are interfering with her efforts.

THE VOORMAN PROBLEM
Directors: Mark Gill and Baldwin Li
A psychiatrist is called to a prison to examine an inmate named Voorman, who is convinced he is a god.

Our favorites were AVANT QUE DE TOUT PERDRE (JUST BEFORE LOSING EVERYTHING) and, maybe equally as good, HELIUM. Very enjoyable lineup of films.

The animated shorts were a little disappointing. We’re not the right audience for animation, but I like animated shorts because they can be a little weird, a little more creative. But this batch was only OK. the lineup was:

FERAL (Directors Daniel Sousa and Dan Golden)
A wild boy who has grown up in the woods is found by a hunter and returned to civilization.

GET A HORSE! (Directors: Lauren MacMullan and Dorothy McKim)
Mickey Mouse and his friends are enjoying a wagon ride until Peg-Leg Pete shows up with plans to ruin their day.

MR HUBLOT (Directors: Laurent Witz and Alexandre Espigares)
The eccentric, isolated Mr. Hublot finds his carefully ordered world disrupted by the arrival of Robot Pet.

POSSESSIONS (Director: Shuhei Morita)
A man seeking shelter from a storm in a dilapidated shrine encounters a series of household objects inhabited by goblin spirits.

ROOM ON THE BROOM (Directors: Max Lang and Jan Lachauer)
A genial witch and her cat are joined on their broom by several friends as they set off on an adventure.

Melanie and I were in agreement again on these. We both liked MR HUBLOT best and, almost as much, ROOM ON THE BROOM.

The IFC Center movie theater in the Village is also showing the Oscar nominated shorts, and tomorrow we might try to catch one of the short documentary programs there. They split the five documentary shorts up into two programs with program A showing three movies and Program B showing the other two.

This is the first year we’ve seen the shorts before the Oscars because where can you see them? It’s a lot of fun because, even if a movie sucks, you only have to wait maybe 20 minutes for the next one.

Consider checking out these short movies if you can, there are some good ones here.