Short
Attention Span Film and Video Festival 2000
If you've ever
wondered what film school might be like, but couldn't afford the extortion that
is modern college tuition, there's now an easy way to experience the typical
film class. Buy a ticket to this selection of mostly student films, which, as
student films are wont to do, run the gamut of quality, from an elaborate
computer-animated Grinch swordfighting
with an elf to overexposed footage of someone's cat. Be sure to bring your most
pretentious friends along, dressed in flannel shirts and backward caps, and
tell them to discuss symbolism loudly throughout. Presto! Now you know how film
school classes are, and you've spent less than 10 bucks. Witness a young
director's affinity for parody, especially of easy targets like vintage
training films (Training: The Basic Question)
and talk radio (Politi-Clay Speaking).
Witness the easy appropriation of pop-cultural symbols, from a Starship
Troopers bug at an ice-skating rink to the animated Cubans who tear through
a mock-IKEA catalog in Buena Vista Fight Club. There's also plenty of
outright narcissism on display, most blatantly in a film entitled My Penis
and My Social Security Number, which is nothing more than one shot each of
the titular objects. The films are solicited from around the world, but most,
unsurprisingly, are from