Gen Art festival: The shorts, or at least some of them...

The Genart festival has been going on for a while now, and we're now going to get to see some films I haven't seen yet, last night we saw a documenter called Fuck, about, well, the history, entemology and glory of the word in question. But they demanded no reviews as the thing's coming out into theaters in the fall.

Pity, it's a really good film.

The films are all preceded by shorts, here are the two I've seen aleady. Tomarrow I go see "encore" screenings of two films which haven't been shown yet. That way I can see the west wing and the Supranos. Now the reviews:

the Wet

Written and Directed
by Hannah Beth King

For her MFA at Columbia University, Hannah Beth King made this film about a little girl named Jane (Alexandra Lowcher) who’s being pulled in two directions, towards God on the one hand, and to adolescent sexuality on the other. She likes to swim in her grandma’s pool and her best friend Sandy (Nastassja Schmiedt)
introduces her to the wonderful world of masturbation while her grandmother Betty (Nancy Tait) prepares her for a fundimentalist baptism.

Now aside from the really good cinematography, there’s a real suspense about how the film will end, and it’s actually a surprise in a nice bit of misdirection by the director. It’s a nice calling card for all involved, and one can see why it was nominated for a student academy award.

This Morning

Directed by
Lucy Mulloy

When is a home movie not a home movie? When it’s a student Oscar-nominated short! Then it’s a documentery. Lucy Mulloy was visiting a friend, just filming the friend’s kids, when Jay's toy is broken. Jay isn’t there yet, so Mulloy lets the girls who broke the little Wolverine action figure hide it, knowing that Jay has ADD or some such thing needing pills, and is going to throw one heck of a temper tantrum. His sister Dafeney gets the blame, but Dafeney blames it on her friend, who’s now gone. The promised tantrum lasts for much of the fifteen minute film.

Now instead of sending this film to “America’s Funniest Home Videos” [mainly because it’s not the least bit funny], Mulloy gets kudos and money on the festival circuit. I at least hope she got the kid a new action figure.