La Shorts Fest

On Friday August 15th I had the privilege of attending the opening night of the LA Shorts Fest. I was invited by our friend Marty Keegan that was hosting the event and also showcasing his very own short film VERBOTEN.

Before the event you could see celebrities mixing about with the crowd and the atmosphere was very casual and interactive. It felt more like a deck party than an actual event, which suits me just fine.

The event began with Shane Black (Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, Lethal Weapon) discussing his approach to life and screenwriting for about an hour. After a quality education from Mr. Black – we were off to the races. I saw shorts from Josh Brolin (X), Kirsten Dunst (Welcome), Rita Wilson (The Trap) and Marty Keegan (VERBOTEN). I enjoyed all the shorts with the exception of The Trap. It seemed long even for 22 minutes – and that isn’t good for business.

The winners for the fest have been announced, and are as follows:

2008 LA SHORTS FEST AWARD WINNERS

BEST MUSIC VIDEO
Window in the Skies – U2 – Director Gary Koepke
Agency Modernista!

BEST CREATIVE COMMERCIAL
Dylan Detour – Featuring Bob Dylan – Directors Gary Koepke & Lance Jensen
Agency Modernista!
Client Cadillac

BEST FEMALE DIRECTOR Sponsored by LUNA
The Pond – Director Sonja Phillips

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Travis Pastrana – Driven – Director Leandro HBL

BEST EXPERIMENTAL
Rojo Red – Director Juan Manuel Betancourt Calero

BEST ANIMATION
The House of Small Cubes – Director Kunio Kato

BEST COMEDY
Ripple – Director Paul Gowers

BEST DRAMA
Chief – Director Brett Wagner

BEST FOREIGN FILM
Positive Prognosis (Germany) – Director Peter Ladkani

BEST OF FEST
Haber – Director Daniel Ragussis

I was sent a copy of Haber and am not surprised that it took top honors. It’s a tight story about the father of both modern agriculture and chemical warfare. Fritz Haber certainly has an interesting story and this short did a very good job of boiling down his transformation from agent of life to death in 30 odd minutes. It’ s this sort of tight storytelling that I long to see from feature films, and I commend those involved for working so masterfully with the time they were given.

I must also mention the outstanding costuming in the film bought to us by Jodi Cottongim. The period garb was among the best I have seen and has convinced me that the broad necktie is in great need of a resurgence.

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4 thoughts on “La Shorts Fest

  1. Dear Doug,

    I was the Costume Designer for the film and I thank you for your kind remarks about what was worn by the actors, (no big budget I assure you) The work on this film is nothing short of amazing and I am not saying that just because I worked on it, we were (and are) a talented group of professionals and each of us dug very deep to breath life into “Haber”. Dan Ragusis the Director has never let the light go out on his “dream project” months went into prep, shooting was several weeks, but the post took years to complete (that’s what happens when you do it without the hollywood budget) to finally get it this film out there. This is true indie film and its good, REAL good.

  2. doug your awnser about who you would bring back from the dead last night excatly the same as me. he is always who i would pick. freddie mercury is king!

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