Slamdance Film Festival 2009

Emo kids Isreal and Louie walk around their East Los Angeles neighborhood dishing about their high school classmates. After listening to Louie boast about his sexual escapades, Isreal decides he has some catching up to do. Entertaining, chatty, and teeming with personality. A pleasurable peek into some of the more or less sordid aspects of youth and gay culture. - Sam Roberts, Director of Film Competitions

4 crisp, blunt, black, and white, avant-garde films on sexual detouring, with a hell of a tongue-licking blow dryer scene. Joyful and naughty – a cinematic pleasure of erotic and kinky art. - Sam Roberts, Director of Film Competitions

A short film that remixes the frenzied sights and sounds of the L.A. landscape to uncover the rhythm and melody of the city, by using turntablism – the record manipulation techniques of a DJ – and translating it to film.

In a fever dream where hands are people, one hand fights the pleasure of the bottle by telling his story through song.

Anora Fleece has got it rotten. Her husband’s a bastard. Her kids treat her bad. And she lives in the middle of nowhere feeling like a nobody. That is until a new neighbor, Imogene Cochran, moves in. Imogene sells Kathy K. Kosmetics, make-up for the cocoa skinned woman. Thing is, they don’t like cocoa skinned anything in these parts, but that doesn’t stop Imogene and Anora from becoming friends. It also doesn’t stop them from becoming more than friends. And when Anora’s husband, Cheb, finds them, all hell breaks loose, but the tables are turned when Anora accidentally shoots Cheb dead. Anora and Imogene then pile the kids in the Kathy K. car, throw the corpse in the trunk and ride off on a “family” road trip to go bury daddy.

In an action packed adventure of epic proportions, we follow the final adventure of E.L.A. Young Warrior Princess, forced to finally face her darkest nemesis and save Earth from total destruction. Jovial mixtures of heroicomics! Smart praise for the vintage pixel art covering range from Space invader to Tron! This film is successful both in fusing entertaining cultures and in compositing layers technically. Pepper Melon made minutely-refined Kitsch. - Shon Kim, Film Programmer

Two sisters, LuAnn and Tatum, bury their recently deceased dog and discuss the death of their mother. A twisted reveal turns this innocent ritual into an odd, humorous and horrific event.

On a cold Saturday afternoon, as day gives way to night, industrial carpet salesman Emery Long prepares for his first date with the sales department’s receptionist, Della. Della used to date Emery’s closest co-worker and friend, Ted, who has never gotten over her. Emery has planned the perfect evening, but soon realizes things might not turn out as he imagined. At the end of the day it comes down to who really appreciates the love and care you put into your meatloaf. Flawless writing, outstanding performances, and inspired period production design come together in a sweet and very human story about the romantic hopes and dreams of a painfully regular guy. Favorite line: "I hope those eggs have salmon-in-em!" - Paul Sbrizzi, Gallery Host, Co-Chair Shorts Programming