Category Archives: Short Films

Ghosts Before Breakfast – Surrealist Short by Hans Richter

by Cimaxion

Richard Metzger at Dangerous Minds posted about this 1927 film by Hans Richter. Considered one of the first examples of surrealist film, it’s a daydream that uses stop-motion animation to make people and objects do totally irrational and impossible things. Richter was a part of the Dada movement in art which rebelled against ordinary life and assumptions, attempting to expose the meaninglessness behind modern life. Out of Dada came the Surrealist movement.  The music for this version is from a new score by Nikolai von Sallwitz.

Thank you Mr. Metzger and Dangerous Minds!

The Thomas Beale Cipher

by Cimaxion | 1 Comment

This excellent short film was made by Andrew S. Allen, utilizing a form of rotoscoping that creates a flat paper cutout look. The story follows the strange and suspenseful activities of a Professor White who sets out to decode one of the famous Thomas Beale ciphers which supposedly reveals the location of an enormous stash of gold that has remained a secret since 1820.

The director is also a founding member of the Short of the Week web site which has more information about the film.

There’s screening and press information at ThomasBealeCipher.com.

Know No Truth – A Film About a Painter by Joe Martino

by Cimaxion

This beautiful film by Joe Martino features painter Landon Richmond working and talking about his perspective on the pursuit of one’s art and expression. It’s a very direct and moving film. I agree with every word that comes out of the painter’s mouth. And I like the way he says it without a trace of pretension or irony. He’s interested in facing the darkness in his art and he recommends this fearless approach as a general principal. You have to be able to look directly at anything.  Richmond also acknowledges the place that chaos occupies in his work – the willingness to not necessarily understand where it is that you are going but to go nonetheless.  I really enjoyed hearing this painter’s words today and will keep them in mind for quite some time.

You can see lots of Landon Richmond’s paintings and a web comic at KnowNoTruth.com.


Maybe One Day Everything Will be Beautiful – by Landon Richmond

Not Every Time – DSLR Film from Yemen

by Cimaxion

This is a preview for a television show from Yemen. It’s all shot on a Canon 7D digital SLR camera by Aimen Kasem who functioned as the show’s cinematographer.  The show is directed by Sameer Al-Afeef. People are making very beautiful things with these DSLR cameras. I’ve been using one recently for my own films and appreciate the flexibility and quality that they offer. The post production work can be very challenging but the end results are often gorgeous. I like the looks of this dramatic show from Yemen. The preview stands on its own as a short film. With such high-quality equipment and editing tools available for a modest investment, it is becoming increasingly possible to see how people in different cultures approach and think about color. The fine manipulation of color in digital film is now available to any filmmaker and has become just as much a personal expression as it has long been for the painter.

See Aimen Kasem’s work on Vimeo.

The Fantastic Adventures of Cloudman

by Cimaxion | 1 Comment

Look at this! Will you just trust me and watch this thing all the way through? It’s absolutely brilliant! It mixes techniques like they are child’s play! Stop-motion, hand-drawn, live action super 8, claymation, psychedelic explosions, fireworks exploding from the heads of alien attackers when they die, forest battles, miniature model sets! It’s incredible. It deals with mythical forces at battle. The director, Phoebe Parsons, has enormous talent and filmmaking know-how and is going be making very excellent films well into the future. Look out for this young filmmaker.

So this Cloudman is created when a pilot gets shots down and his blood mixes with a cloud.  That’s the gorgeous opening animation that sets our crazy story rolling.

This film is… well… I love to use a cliché, but it’s mind-bending! Super cool and totally far out!

This is one of my favorite films online I think. Spectacular.

There’s a PhoebeParsons.com.