Shameless!
Besharam!
Unclassified 18+
Dir. Raghav Rampal / 2024 / 9 mins / Australia / English, Hindi / Drama, Comedy, Horror / Victorian Premiere
A young man is caught masturbating by his traditional mother leading to a spiral of shame.
The director introduced this one at the screening and welcomed anyone wanting to come talk to him after. I’d rather not! This was a funny short to start off proceedings. I particularly liked the bit when the character ran off down the street in shame.
The moral of the story is to close and lock the door and then put a chair up against it or something.
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Shé (Snake)
Unclassified 18+
Dir. Renee Zhan / 2023 / 15 mins / UK / English, Mandarin / Fantasy, Drama, Horror, Animation / Australian Premiere
A violin student goes over the top in competitiveness to the point they start hallucinating, their supposed rival admits they have the same problem.
This was a rather high level of production for something in the WTF shorts program. A lot of the time this program has more experimental or out there shorts from people who have not really made that many or have a concept they can’t really place somewhere else.
While I would not say this was totally WTF, it was still a good short and more of a drama with some more esoteric elements.
Trailer
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Calf
Dir. Jamie O’Rourke / 2023 / 15 mins / Ireland / English / Drama, Horror / Australian Premiere
A dark and broody horror short set on an Irish farm where the daughter of a farmer in a workplace accident makes a seemingly inconceivable choice for reasons that are revealed in time.
Like the previous film this one really is more of a dramatic short with the more out there elements. I do remember the short PIGGY that was also horror a few years back. I am sure there are enough horror shorts they could put together these days to make a programme but maybe that is something better for Monsterfest to do.
Trailer
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Canard
Unclassified 18+
Dir. Elie Chapuis / 2023 / 9 mins / Switzerland / No Dialogue / Comedy, Horror, Animation / Australian Premiere
A couple trying to get pregnant get mixed up in ducks and it all goes downhill from there.
One of the best actually “weird” shorts of the program, the stop motion makes it all the more strange as there is no way you could get actual actors do to this at least not more than once like Howard the Duck proved.
The animation worked well as did the character design as it was good that it was not too realistic or it would be too hard to watch. There were various bizarre designs of the ducks and humans and duck/human hybrids with giant penises.
Just talking about it does not really explain just how weird this one was to watch. Was mostly people laughing during it.
Trailer
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Cookies
Kakor
Unclassified 18+
Dir. Alessandro Stigliano / 2023 / 10 mins / Sweden / Swedish / Drama, Comedy / Australian Premiere
A new father gets back at his co-workers in the most gross way possible.
This was a real “I cannot look at the screen” type movie even when he got the spoon out and started scooping out the nappy into the cookie batter I could not look at all.
Given how transmissible the strains of gastro going through childcare straight after the pandemic have been I am surprised no-one twigged in the movie or maybe they just got sick after.
As with previous years even just telling someone about this can lead them to start yelling at you, always a sign that the director has pushed it too far and why it is in this program.
Trailer
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Matta and Matto
Unclassified 18+
Dir. Bianca Caderas, Kerstin Zemp / 2023 / 10 mins / Switzerland / No Dialogue / Horror, Animation / Australian Premiere
In a society where people live inside bubbles and touch is forbidden, the Hotel Vaip is highly in demand but it comes with a terrible cost. People are willing to pay that cost just to get the pleasure that comes with it.
Yes, this is the “finger-sex movie” or the finger-banging movie, share it with the one friend who is obsessed with sex or the group where they only post RULE 34 memes.
Trailer
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Hito
Unclassified 18+
Dir. Stephen Lopez / 2023 / 22 mins / Philippines / English, Tagalog, Cebuano, Kapampangan / Fantasy, Comedy, Experimental, Sci-Fi / Victorian Premiere
In an irradiated, military-ruled dystopian Philippines, a bullied 14-year-old brings home a catfish … which, it turns out, is a bioweapon with the power to crack open her simulated reality, not to mention talk and think like a human.
In every WTF shorts program there is always one short that hits it out of the park in terms of being actually suitable for the screening and also one that outstays its welcome. This managed to do both at the same time.
I did like some of the funnier bits like the floating telepathic dog and the lo-fi effects. The trailer shows stuff that was not actually in the movie so they obviously had more than one version of this before they went with this one.
Not sure how far this is going to travel outside the festival circuit, those audiences are really quite a tolerant lot. I would not have had the patience to watch this otherwise and I hardly get to see shorts at any other time of year as there is just not a venue for them.
Trailer
