AMERICAN INDEPENDENT COMPETITION
TOTAL RUNNING TIME 82 MIN

Wednesday, April 13, 2005 at 7:00pm at Enzian Theater
Friday, April 15, 2005 at 9:30pm at Enzian Theater
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WHEN IT RAINS
USA, 2004, 3 MIN
DIRECTED BY ALINA BLIUMIS
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Minsk-born Alina Bliumis, a graduate of the School of Visual Arts, gets this year’s collection off to a delightful and rockin’ start with an animated video set to the music of Boris Grebenshikov.

FROG
USA, 2004, 4 MIN
DIRECTED BY CHRISTOPHER CONFORTI
A frog’s search for water quickly turns into a struggle for survival in this hilarious work from School of Visual Arts undergraduate, and Floridian, Chris Conforti.

PEE-NUT
USA, 2004, 1 MIN
DIRECTED BY PES
WORLD PREMIERE
Short and sweet! A peanut relieves himself in this latest bit of inventive stop motion from the creator of Roof Sex (FFF 2003, Special Jury Award for Economy of Expression).

SPECIDEMONS
USA, 2004, 6 MIN
DIRECTED BY JEFFREY SCHEETZ
WORLD PREMIERE
Produced locally at The DAVE (Digital Animation & Visual Effects) School at Universal Studios Orlando, SPECIDEMONS features genetically engineered creatures that return home to their lab to find their creator murdered by one of their own.



KLEEMAN AND MIKE
USA, 2004, 3 MIN
DIRECTED BY RANDALL CHRISTOPHER
SOUTHEAST PREMIERE
Based on a popular online comic and set to the pop/punk sounds of the band Mineral, this short introduces The Endless Summer to Spongebob Squarepants as two buds and their pet cat hit the beach.

LEARN SELF DEFENSE
USA, 2004, 5 MIN
DIRECTED BY CHRIS HARDING
EAST COAST PREMIERE, 2nd US SHOWING
A cocksure narrator walks a recently mugged, mild-mannered religious guy through five lessons of self-defense that strangely mirror recent approaches to American defense policy. An ingeniously retro-style political satire that hits a bull’s eye!



RETURN I WILL TO OLD BRAZIL
USA, 2004, 4 MIN
DIRECTED BY ALEX BUDOVSKY
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
The director of Bathtime in Clerkenwell (FFF 2003, Grand Jury Award for Best Animated Short) returns with this tropical music video based on the song “Brazil,” performed by Geoff Muldaur.



A BUCK’S WORTH
USA, 2005, 6 MIN
DIRECTED BY TATIA ROSENTHAL
EAST COAST PREMIERE, 2nd US SHOWING
A gun complicates things when a homeless man (Philip Baker Hall) asks a businessman (Tom Noonan) for a handout. Written by Israeli author Etgar Keret, this stop-motion film breaks ground with a Canon 10D digital still camera and green-screened puppets.



JOE BLOW
USA, 2004, 4 MIN
DIRECTED BY MARK GUSTAFSON
SOUTHEAST PREMIERE
From Will Vinton Studios comes the story of one man’s quest for companionship. Trailer-dwelling bachelor Joe finds that love can be a breathtaking experience in this cautionary tale about passion, loss, and pneumatics.



9
USA, 2004, 11 MIN
DIRECTED BY SHANE ACKER
EAST COAST PREMIERE
Loosely based on Beowulf and inspired by the masterful stop-motion work of Jan Svankmeyer and The Brothers Quay, 9 is the beautifully rendered story of a rag doll that must face the monster hunting its brethren and stealing their souls.



THE BACKBRACE
USA, 2004, 6 MIN
DIRECTED BY CAROLYN AND ANDY LONDON
WORLD PREMIERE
The creators of Subway Salvation (FFF 2004, Audience Award for Best Short Film) return with this innovative, autobiographical chronicle of adolescence, humiliation, and the perils of overparenting. Puberty is never a good time --particularly for a teenaged boy diagnosed with scoliosis!



THE DENTIST
USA, 2004, 10 MIN
DIRECTED BY SIGNE BAUMANE
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Set to the lovely accordion music of Kamala Sankaram, this latest work from FFF veteran Signe Baumane (Woman, Natasha, Five F***ing Fables) focuses on a fearful dental patient whose paranoia is heightened by the pictures on the wall.



GUARD DOG
USA, 2004, 5 MIN
DIRECTED BY BILL PLYMPTON
FLORIDA PREMIERE
During an afternoon stroll, an overprotective dog regards the world as a series of potential perils for his master. A 2005 Academy Award nominee, this insightful work features more twisted hilarity from FFF favorite Bill Plympton (Hair High, Mutant Aliens).



THE MEANING OF LIFE
USA, 2005, 12 MIN
DIRECTED BY DON HERTZFELDT
EAST COAST PREMIERE
The one-and-only Don Hertzfeldt (Academy Award nominee for Rejected, Enzian/FFF faves Billy’s Balloon, Ah, L’Amour) returns with an animated opus that majestically explores time, space, life, death, interplanetary evolution, and Tchaikovsky.