Cucalorus

I attended the final shorts screening of the Cucalorus festival, The Strange Beauty Challenge.  Going into the screening I was unaware that all of the shorts were shot and edited over the course of the weekend.  After seeing the shorts and then learning that they were all shot and edited that weekend, I was much more impressed with what each of the groups had accomplished.

The intro to the screening was a bit humorous, although at this time many of the people were drunk and restless, just waiting for the screening to start.  Each of the shorts I enjoyed although there were definitly a couple that stood out to me.  Probably the most popular short was about a larger Native American, (Im assuming this) who was digging holes in his yard and talking to the camera.  The whole digging part of the video was slowed down and shot beautifully.  Shots from on the shovel or in the ground were great but the best were of the large man waving his long hair as if he was some sort of super model.  The whole voice over interview of the video was hilarious to begin with but the randomness of this man digging a hole in his yard set me over the edge.  I was laughing for basically the entirety of the video.

The other short I liked was about a kid who wakes up in the morning, takes a tab of acid and then journeys into the woods.  The simplicity of the video is what drew me to it.  The visual of the electronic after effects in the middle of a forest looked amazing and very surreal.  It was funny and beautiful, but at the same time strangely frightening.   

Another one that stood out was the one about a kids dream he had.  He narrated his dream to his friends while images and sounds of what he dreamed appeared on screen.  Im not sure if I only liked the piece becuase of the catchy tune that played underneath the narration or because of the playfulness  of the video.  After hearing the directors talk about their films I learned that the eleven year old kid explaining the dream actually played a big part in filming the video.  It was pretty interesting to see a collaboration of a father and son who's motives and philophies are probably completely different.

Heres the song that has been stuck in my head ever since I saw the video.

This video always makes me happy