Fantastic Fest: Short Compilations

Getting lively and animated in short bursts

By Richard Whittaker, 1:23AM, Sat. Sep. 25, 2010

What's the old saying about how from tiny acorns, mighty oaks do grow? Some of our favorite Fantastic Fest veterans cut their teeth on short films (like Hatchet creator Adam Green's The TIVO), and this year there's a conjoined pair of programs stuffed with bite-size oddities.

First up in the "small-but-perfectly-formed" category, there's Drawn and Quartered: Animated Shorts. That features, amongst others, the latest from the one and only Don Hertzfeldt, the haunting stop-motion of The Astronomer's Sun, plus Stephen Irwin's Atomic Hubbub, which he created using materials he found through Creative Commons.

Thinks get a little livelier (well, live-actionier) with Short Fuse! Severe Fantastic Fest Shorts. This bundle of nerve-rattlers includes some retro-horror from practical effects guru Greg Nicotero in United Monster Talent Agency, the BAFTA-nominated Off Season, and campside comedy-musical-gorefest The Legend of Beaver Dam.

Drawn and Quartered: Animated Shorts screens on Saturday, Sept. 25 at 12.50pm and Monday, Sept. 27 at 1.05pm. Short Fuse! Severe Fantastic Fest Shorts screens on Sunday, Sept. 26 at 11.15am and Monday, Sept. 27 at 3.30pm. All screenings at the Alamo South Lamar.

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