Extremely Shorts 16
Juror Emily Doe in Attendance
Friday, May 31, 7PM & 9PM, Saturday, June 1, 7:30PM
Location: Aurora Picture Show, 2442 Bartlett
Screening only on Friday: $10 Members, $15 Non-Members (Door Sales Only)
Screening and Award Reception on Saturday: $20 Members, $25 Non-Members

It is an Extremely Shorts Film Festival Sweet 16 celebration weekend! The films selected for the 16th Annual Extremely Shorts Film Festival represent diverse themes and voices, all under three minutes long! Juror Emily Doe from the Sundance Film Festival has finalized the selection of 20 films from over 150 submissions. These short films will be screened on May 31 and June 1 at Aurora Picture Show, 2442 Bartlett Street, at three separate screenings: Friday, May 31 at 7PM and 9PM; and a Screening with the Awards Reception on Saturday, June 1 at 7:30PM.
 
The annual competition brings to the forefront the latest in artist-made experimental, narrative, and avant-garde film. At each screening, audience members will be invited to cast votes for their top three films to determine the winners for the 2013 Extremely Shorts Film Festival. The screening includes several world premieres and selections from around the world, as well as some films that have already been recognized internationally including "Sinsis" which received the Rising Award at the Canada International Film Festival and "Passio" received the Grand Prize Award at the Aarhus Short Film Challenge in Denmark.  Repeat Extremely Short filmmakers include Ted Kennedy and Jenny Stark both from the United States.

Doe will be in attendance for all screenings. The final night of the festival will feature a Reception with the Awards Ceremony to announce the top three cash prizes selected by the audience.  Food and drinks will also be included in the Saturday event. Special thanks to Phoenicia Specialty Foods, Whole Foods Market, Saint Arnold Brewery, Crave Cupcakes and Yelp Houston for their support of this program.  Please note that some films contain mature content.
 
The following films are included in the program:
 
Torsdag by Fredrik Thelander, Sweden    
The unpleasant truth is revealed to a man who suspects his wife of infidelity.

F.I.T. by Marcin Gizycki, Poland   
An improvised film painted with water on vanishing image paper. A ballet of physical exercises evolves into a play of abstract forms.

Badbloom, FL by Ryan  Gillis, USA   
A new strand of mind-controlling fungus makes it's way from South America to the Florida Everglades.

Stunning by Vincent Anton Obriskie and Dominic Traverzo, USA  
A woman meets a man at her mother's funeral and goes to extreme measures to see him again.

In Memoriam by Tiffany Upshaw, USA   
A girl's anxiety has built up to a boiling point. While at a party she notices a red balloon and is reminded of her childhood and desperation to be normal. As her insecurities and anxiety begin to surface, it's only a matter of time before her emotions reach critical mass.

Passio by Andreas Feldfos Bargmann and Mette Mikkelsen, Denmark   
Passio (lat. suffering; passion) An old man wakes up to a morning with sunshine and hope, which slowly disappears.

part 16: 2002 by Whitney Johnson, USA   
"I work with what I know-with whatever literalness memory will allow, embracing the damaged or doomed parts of the psyche. This is my story."

Pittsburgh 8/5/68 by Ted Kennedy, USA   
Pittsburgh 8/5/68 is part of a series of films based on the original 16mm camera rolls from a Pittsbugh TV news station during 1968/69.

Bimbo by Vincent Gargiulo, USA   
A short experimental documentary about a pilot whale's mental descent performing at the Marineland of the Pacific park in the 60's, using music, archival footage, and newspaper clippings to tell his story.

I Am Sorry About What Happened by Jonathan Kiefer, USA   
Mistakes were made, apologies issued. A wistful look back on gone-wrong relationships.

A Thought for Robert by Kevin Landry, Canada    
While on vacation in Morocco, Mara tries to send a video message to her husband, but the simple task becomes an ordeal thanks to some outside interference.

Jazzy Birds by Jeremy Rourke, USA    
'Jazzy Birds' is an animated music video for a song of the same title.  The animator is also the musician.  This work was pieced together with old photographs, shadows, paint, flowers, leaves, and photographs taken around the artist's home in the city of San Francisco. 

Look Box by Josiah Patrow, USA   
A melancholy architect alters his mood after a magazine inspires him to take a vacation inside a box.

Sinsis by Carmen Lloret, Spain   
They strive to take the place of another.

Nothing Left to Take Away by Alex Branch, USA   
A figure kneels on a gleaming snow-bank throwing crumbs in the air to attract seagulls hovering above her. We see the figure, under a sky of seagulls protected only by a helmet of bread.

How To Talk To Kids by Scott Fitzpatrick, Canada   
"8mm is a tool of defense in this society of mechanized corruption because through 8mm and its puny size we come closer to the dimensions of the atom" - George Kuchar. Shot for the 2011 WNDX One Take Super 8 Event, How to Talk to Kids is a ghostly, melancholic adaptation of "The Life Cycle Series" of educational books for children and parents.

Sandbox by Daniel Carberry, USA    
Sandbox is an action short film about a squad of five soldiers lost in the desert.

I Love You, Baby by Phil Matarese, USA   
'I love you, baby.' is an animated biographical short about Phil Matarese as a young man. Very young. In-the-womb-young. Baby Phil muses on his life to come, while reminiscing about the one he's already lived.

At the Sound of Your Voice You Are Here by Jenny Stark, USA    
Adapted from the novel "Between Appear and Disappear" by Doug Rice, the film's narrator pieces together stories once told by an absent loved one.   Two incomplete reflections: one of war and the other of a California Delta flood can't be reconciled with the present. 

Sleddin' by John Pettingill, USA   
Sleddin' tells the story of Gus, a daring boy, who sleds down a towering mountain. After crashing at the bottom, he discovers that reality was not quite what it seemed to be. This story is a metaphor for experiences that are larger-than-life. Phenomenal moments are often created in our childhood, but are ultimately dependent on our own perspective and willingness to believe.
 
ABOUT THE JUROR   
Emily Doe is a short film programmer for the Sundance Film Festival. She also works in youth education at the San Francisco International Film Festival, bringing films and filmmakers into classrooms around the Bay Area. Previously, she was an editor at Wholphin DVD.
 
ABOUT EXTREMELY SHORTS FILM FESTIVAL
Started in 1998, the Extremely Shorts Festival is a juried competition of adventurous three-minute or shorter films and videos from around the world. Each year a different juror (esteemed filmmaker, film programmer or arts curator) selects 20-25 mini-masterpieces to be shown at a two-day screening event in June. Audience Choice cash awards are given for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. The short format of the festival encourages innovative approaches to filmmaking in a range of genres including narra