True/False Film Fest

Shorts

Often treated as a cinematic stepchild, shorts must fight a Lilliputian's battle to be seen and respected. Four dedicated programs of shorts are presented at T/F. In addition, we found eight additional short films — and three audio shorts presented by our sister, the Third Coast International Audio Festival — that help to give shorts their due. They pack more ideas, imagination and brio than movies many times their size — and demand to be seen.

200,000 Phantoms: (dir. Jean-Gabriel Periot; 10 mins.) A history of 20th Century Hiroshima as told through 600 photographs of the iconic Gembaku Dome taken between 1914-2006. Plays with Secret Screening Green.
34x25x36: (dir. Jesse Epstein, 10 min.) A contemplation on the worship of idols in our society through the story of a mannequin manufacturer. Part of Working Title shorts program.
Actionwomen: (dir. Anna Norberg and Simon Norberg, 3 min.) Audio montage featuring the voices of women protesters and a serviceman remembering life in the 1980s at Greenham Common, England, a military base for American nuclear missiles. Presented by Third Coast International Audio Festival. Plays with The Mother.
Breadmakers: (dir. Yasmin Fedda, 11 min.) Inside a utopian Scottish bakery where those of varying mental capabilities find their place to shine. Part of Working Title shorts program.
Bullet Proof Vest: (Maylin Auyong, 5 min.) The moving story of a violent city, Richmond, California, as told by two young children and their mom. Part of To Have and To Hold shorts program.
City of Cranes: (dir. Eva Weber, 2007, 15 min.) The private thoughts of crane operators as they help erect the towers of London, with movements that sometimes feels like a choreographed ballet. Plays with The Man Who Ate Badgers.
The Days and the Hours: (dir. John Haptas and Kristine Samuelson; 8 mins.) The homeless come in many colors — including those recovering from mental breakdowns and lost jobs — but they all find a place to sleep in the pews of one church in San Francisco's Tenderloin. Plays with How I Am.
The First Day: (dir. Marcin Sauter; 20 mins.) School-age kids from a native tribe are whisked off their peninsula to get acculturated in ways of Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin. Plays with Paradise — 3 Journeys in This World.
Flora and the Thieves: (dir. Xanthe Hamilton, 2007, 3 min.) Flora tends her plants and remembers an attempted burglary. Plays with The Man Who Ate Badgers.
Freeheld: (dir. Cynthia Wade, 40 min.) While police lieutenant Laurel Hester's battled cancer, she didn't bargain for another titanic struggle: to leave her pension to her domestic partner.
I Met the Walrus: (dir. Josh Raskin; 8 mins.) 14-year-old Jerry Levitan snuck into John Lennon's hotel room during the "Give Peace a Chance" era and emerged with an audio interview, which has now been animated. Plays with Secret Screening Green.
Kredens (A Cupboard): (dir. Jacob Dammas; 27 mins.) Jacob goes back to Poland to reclaim a piece of his family's history — a wood cupboard confiscated in the late '60s — only to find it's not going to be easy. A light, subtle touch, good pacing and Astor Piazzolla-esque violin leavens this tale of pathos. A historical injustice, little-known in this case, is brought down to earth through a subtle detective-story plot. Plays with Summer Sun, Winter Moon.
La Corona: (dir. Amanda Micheli & Isabel Vega, 40 min.) A beauty pageant in a Bogota, Colombia prison features a "queen" from each cellblock. Part of Oscar Shorts program.
Loss: (dir. Kristen Nutile, 18 min.) The director tries to resurrect memories of her father through old family movies. Part of To Have and To Hold shorts program.
My Olympic Summer: (dir. Daniel Robin, 12 min.) What really happened to the filmmakers' parents during the Munich Olympic Games of 1972 is still open to debate. Part of To Have and To Hold shorts program.
The New Pleasant Revolution: (dir. Tony Mendoza and Michael Slaboch, 3 min.) A bike messenger provides alternatives to horrible traffic horns. Presented by Third Coast International Audio Festival. Plays with Please Vote for Me.
One Day: (dir. Ditte Haarloev Johnsen, 31 min.) An African prostitute living in Copenhagen balances her business with being a mom. Part of To Have and To Hold shorts program.
Peter and Ben: (dir. Pinny Grylls; 10 mins.) In a remote land, a man and a sheep leave their flocks behind. Plays with How I Am.
Salim Baba: (dir. Timothy Sternberg, 14 min.) On the streets of North Kolkata, India, a man handcranks discarded scraps of motion picture film through his homemade projector for the neighborhood children. Part of Oscar Shorts program.
Sari's Mother: (dir. James Longley, 21 min.) During wartime, one courageous mother struggles to get help for a sick child in the shattered healthcare system. Part of Oscar Shorts program.
Shika Shika: (dir. Stephen Hyde, 10 min.) Three generations scale the Peruvian Andes to "harvest" ice for a colorful shaved ice treat. Part of Working Title shorts program.
The Tailor: (dir. Oscar Perez, 29 min.) In a Barcelona neighborhood works a Pakistani tailor and his Indian assistant, who don't believe the customer is always right. Part of Working Title shorts program.
Through Fire and Water: (dir. Michael T. Miller and Maura Ugarte, 13 min.) An injured Marine Mike Jernigan wants a new life but not anyone's pity. Part of To Have and To Hold shorts program.
Time Piece: (dir. Kat Mansoor; 10 mins.) Another era lives on in this timeless portrait of some Swiss craftsmen who still make fine watches. Plays with Please Vote For Me.
The Trap: (dir. David Maxon, 3 min.) A rumination on the ethics of pest killing and attempts at avoidance of the graphic nature thereof. Presented by the Third Coast International Audio Festival. Plays with Paradise — 3 Journeys in this World.
The Truth about Tooth: (dir. Hazel Baillie, 2007, 9 min.) The inside scoop about the tooth fairy and the denture factory. Plays with The Man Who Ate Badgers.
Under Construction: (dir. Zhenchen Liu; 10 min.) Through an arresting technique of animating photographs, we see that Shanghai's old buildings are being demolished wholesale. Plays with Joy Division.
Wood: (dir. David Fenster, 21 min.) An elegy to a rapidly disappearing way of life at a Northwest logging company. Part of Working Title shorts program.