The beauty of viewing a block of short films is if you aren’t enjoying the one you’re watching, wait a few minutes and you’ll be treated to a brand new movie. So went the competitive short portion of the Backlot Film Festival at the Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills on January 30, where the audience was shown a wide range of genres providing a little something for everyone.
The shorts got underway with two musical pieces. The first one, Mr. Postman, showcased the talents of Andre Champagne who gave us an 80’s style music video shot as an updated version of the title song. The second musical treat entitled The Irish Cowboy, written and directed by Drewin B. Young, centered around a group of outlaw cowboys who perform as a musical group at a local pub while scantily clad women dance around them. By the end of the stronger of the two musical selections, the group’s dancers turn the tables on the band of criminals and capture them for the bounty on their heads.
Moving on to the documentary genre, the festival encompassed topics such as AIDS, salesmen, stuntmen and a defunct railroad.
Thai Women Challenging AIDS was directed by Women in Film’s Most Promising Newcomer, Narumoi Sriyanond Barton. The film detailed how women in this part of the world struggle to live with the life altering disease. 
$ale$man gave a detailed account of one college student’s door-to-door sales job for the summer. Produced and directed by Hank Bedford, this short followed the extremely energetic (and possibly Ritalin deficient) road warrior gearing up for another summer of peddling educational books. Next up in the realm of real life was Culver City Cowboys, which profiled western stunt performers, The Pitti Family and was produced and directed by Ross Hawkins and co-produced by Andre Champagne. Rounding off this category was The Last Ride of the Pacific Electric. The title of this movie (no production information listed) pretty much says it all as it highlighted the last days of the California railway.
The remaining films consisted of fictional shorts, three of which were created by the same person. Carlos Dorsey showcased his artistic, dramatic and comedic talents in three very different offerings. His first film, The Package, wasn’t actually a moving picture at all, but a series of still photographs. The black and white scenes told the story of a man receiving a mysterious briefcase resulting in him being pursued by and eventually battling a thug following him. Dorsey’s next submission was Final Blues, the story of a college student stressing over his calculus class and upcoming final exam. With his girlfriend
by his side, the young man grapples with the decision of whether or not to cheat. The filmmaker’s third creation was Happenstance. This romantic comedy tells the story of a college student who tries to track down a woman he briefly encounters on a school shuttle bus.
The final film of the evening entitled Someone For Everyone, was written and produced by Candice Martin and directed by Andre Champagne. This last installment of the short screenings followed a hypochondriac woman as she derailed every date she went on by giving out way too much information regarding her medical history.
While each submission had it’s own strengths, the two standout films were Thai Women Challenging AIDS and Happenstance.
Compared to the rest of the shorts, TWCA stood out as the best in terms of production value, as well as being the most engaging of the documentaries. While the other commentaries may have suffered from tedium in certain areas or just lacked punch in general, Barton’s piece proved to easily flow while getting it’s message across. From the editing to the narration to the film quality, this film was definitely the most effective.
As for Happenstance, it was the best of Dorsey’s trio and the most charming of the fictional pieces. While the other films may have been more ambitious or far reaching, Happenstance was the strongest showing in terms of story, execution and acting. The main character’s attempts to figure out who his mystery girl was kept viewers interested while rooting for him to find the co-ed of his dreams.
While not each of the 9 to 22 minute films may have captured everyone’s imagination, the competitive shorts encompassed a wide scope, telling a variety of stories. Taking into consideration the difficult task these filmmakers had of telling a complete story in mere minutes, all these films can be considered a success.
www.backlotfilmfestival.com
Fine Arts Theatre
8556 Wilshire Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA
