Family Short Slot

Harry Grows Up

Kid Tested… Mother Approved!

While that is just an old slogan from a Kix cereal ad, it isn’t far from the truth when it comes to this year’s family short film collection. The selection committee takes great care in preparing a line-up of wholesome and entertaining movies that moms, dads and kids can share. And they’re probably a whole lot better for you than a bowl of extruded and expanded puffed grain products made with whole grain corn!

Sat Feb 15, 2014 –  12:00 pm — Bushel & Peck’s Tickets
Sat Feb 22, 2014 – 12:00 pm — LaCasa Grande Tickets
Sun Feb 23, 2014 –  12:00 pm — Domenico’s Tickets

Community Partner:  YMCA of Beloit

Under Cold Bright Stars

Under Cold Bright Stars
Category:  Surreal, Music
Country:  U.S.
Language:  English
Rating:  G
Runtime:  4 min.
Director:  Jeremy Rourke
Producer:  Jeremy Rourke
Website

Synopsis:

“Under Cold Bright Stars” is an animated video made for a song of the same title. The film uses archival imagery, paint, light, photographs and time to create a world for the song.

French Dip: A tale from Los Angeles

French Dip: A Tale from Los Angeles
Category:  Culture, Biography
Country: U.S.
Language:  English
Rating:  G
Runtime: 5 min.
Director:  Joris Debeij
Producer:
Website 

Synopsis:

Two restaurants in Los Angeles claim to have originated one of the most famous deli sandwiches in the United States. Both of the restaurants opened their doors in 1908 and both have their own story on how this sandwich was originated. Even today, in Los Angeles a city with not a lot of history, it keeps people busy: who has the best sandwich, which sandwich tastes more original. This short film explores how it all got started and why one sandwich is better then the other. Up until this day both restaurants hold on to the title originator of the French Dip. This short doc explores who is the originator of the French Dip. A short doc. (live action/animation) film on the French Dip, a Los Angeles original.

Rabbit and Deer

Rabbit and Deer
Category:  Family, Fantasy
Country:  Hungary
Language:  English
Rating:  G
Runtime:  17 min.
Director:  Péter Vácz
Producer: József Fülöp
Website 

Synopsis:

Deer and Rabbit are good friends who share every happy moment while living together in their 2D world. One day the TV gets broken and Deer sees a strange thing in it – a 3D cube. From that moment he gets obsessed to find the formula to the unknown 3rd dimension while he totally ignores Rabbit. After Rabbit’s many desperate trials to get the selfish Deer’s attention an unexpected accident happens and Deer transforms into the 3rd dimension standing face to face with their flat 2D world. It turns out that there is a whole 3D world with a beautiful landscape behind their 2D world where they go out together after Deer cuts out Rabbit from the 2D paper plain. As they admire this new sunny and colorful world a sudden storm comes and Rabbit’s life gets in danger. Deer realizes that he was irresponsible to take her out since she’s just paper and ink and with great difficulty he manages to save her life and insert her back into their 2D paper world.

When Deer perceives that they cannot continue their friendship in different dimensions he tries to merge his 3D body back into the 2D but he fails.

When we all think that there’s no hope left for them the film comes to an unexpected conclusion where Rabbit and Deer – transgressing the boundaries of the dimensions – are having fun and living their life together in their own special way.

Love in The Time of Advertising

Love in the Time of Advertising
Category:  Comedy, Romance,
Country:  U.S.
Language: English
Rating:  G
Runtime:  9 min.
Director:  David Bokser, Matt Berenty
Producer: Kevin Shapiro, David Bokser, Matt Berenty
Website

Synopsis:

Love in the Time of Advertising is an animated short film about a young man living inside of a billboard, charged with updating the advertisements. When a tear in the sign reveals a beautiful young lady living across the highway, he falls instantly in love. Unable to leave his billboard home to tell her how he feels, he decides to use the only method he knows in order to get his message across – advertising.

Miss Todd

miss-todd
Category:  Family, Educational
Country:  United Kingdom
Language:  English
Rating:  G
Runtime:  13 min.
Director:  Kristina Yee
Producer:  Suzanne Mayger
Website 

Synopsis:

In 1910 New York, a woman had a dream: to fly. Miss Todd, our heroine, works to understand the principles of flight, as people all over the world were doing. But she has more than gravity holding her down. In this animated, stop-motion musical, Miss Todd’s plight and adventure soar beyond her forgotten presence in aviation history.

Nefertiti’s Hand
La Mano de Nefertiti”

Nefertiti's Hand
Category:  Comedy, Animation
Country:  Spain
Language:
Rating:  G
Runtime:  3 min.
Director:  Guillermo García Carsí
Producer:
Website 

Synopsis:

A parrot and a puppy make a mess of a museum, angering the Hand of Nefertiti.

Cucaranchula

cucarachula
Category:  Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Country:  U.S.
Language:  English
Rating:  PG
Runtime:  13 min.
Director:  Katherine Balsley
Producer:  Katherine Balsley
Facebook 

Filmmaker AttendingSynopsis:

A combination of live action and animation that will be shot by a small group of talented students and alumni from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Paige Turner has dreams of being a writer. One day she invites a pompous author by the name of Clive Bradley to read her new book. He does, and rudely dismisses her as the worst writer he’s ever seen.

However, Paige shares her apartment with some sort of…creature. It’s like a junior high school science class created a mix between a jumping spider and a tarantula, but with more personality. Although she doesn’t even know that this thing exists, it manages to get Paige to believe in herself. (It also teaches Clive a well deserved lesson in humility.)

Harry Grows Up

Harry Grows Up
Category:  Comedy, Romance
Country:  U.S.
Language:  English
Rating:  G
Runtime: 12 min.
Director:  Mark Nickelsburg
Producer:
IMDb

Synopsis:

New York is a tough place to find love. Especially for an eighteen-month-old who lives on his own.

NOTE:  Synopsis are typically provided directly by the filmmaker themselves. Often English is not their first language. We ask reader’s understanding for less-than-perfect language and grammar