The Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah kicked off this weekend and Eric is blogging live as he covers the best in the Short Film Program. Check back throughout the holiday weekend for reviews, links, and some of the actual shorts themselves posted right here! This blog is also a part of the live coverage over at DigitalContentProducer.com, where Eric works as an associate editor. Head on over there for a podcast interview with Choke (based on the book by Chuck Palahniuk) director Clark Gregg.
This year, 45 of the 83 short films in the 2008 Sundance Film Festival are available at for viewing and/or download at iTunes, Netflix, and Xbox.com.
The word “cherries” may be an American Army slang term referring unused or untried military equipment and weaponry, but it is also the title of a digitally-shot short film from our neighbors across the pond. Funded by Film London and the U.K. Film Council, Cherries tackles a controversial statistic in Great Britain.
The country has the lowest deployment and recruitment age for soldiers in Europe and has been condemned by Amnesty International as the only European country to routinely send under-18s into armed conflict. And, according to the film’s press release, for the first time in its history, the Territorial Army has seen members that were compulsorily drafted into regular army units in combat zones.
Director Tom Harper and first-time Screenwriter Fiona Kissane set Cherries, shot in HDCAM SR, in the near future. A group of teenaged schoolboys mess around in the schoolyard, checking egos and measuring each other up. Their teacher has an unexpected announcement waiting for them inside, however, that will change their lives forever. The story takes aim not just at the government for allowing this kind of thing to happen, but also at the youngsters, who carry on with their lives oblivious to the fact that the world they ignore may directly affect them someday.
The shaky, hand-held camera movement in the schoolyard mirrors the boys’ rambunctious nature, but once their teacher, Mr. O’Brien, gets them to settle down, the camera becomes more static. Reluctantly, he relays the news to a varied set of responses by the boys. Veteran British actor Neil Dudgeon is quietly effective as O’Brien, and the poignant last shot of the film lingers with him for quite while. For the viewer, the movie itself has the power to do the same.
Cherries is available with all the other Sundance 2008 shorts at the websites listed in the introduction, and Tom Harper’s previous short film, Cubs, is available to view at the BBC Film Network.
