MOVIE REVIEW : A Rare Look at the Best of Short Films

Relegated to art festivals or for use as time killers on cabletelevision, the short film is an almost-forgotten form of cinematic artistry. Even the best shorts are rarely seen by more than a handful of film enthusiasts.

The “Festival of Short Films” will screen a collection of short films Friday and Saturday at the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art. Presented by Jeffrey Hamblin and Brian Moehl, it will give San Diegans a chance to appreciate the specific artistry of the form on the big screen. The package of nine films, screening at 7 and 9:30 p.m. both days, with a 4:30 p.m. matinee Saturday, spotlights films that use the short format as a means of expression, not as a restraint.

“If used properly, the short film can address a situation concisely,” Hamblin said. “It can deal with a subject, get to the punch line, and then it’s over. It can deal with strangeness, a situation, without extraneous things to confuse the audience.”

According to a press release, Hamblin’s goal was to find films that were “exceptional rather than typical.” Hamblin and Moehl have managed to put together an entertaining and diverse--although uneven--package of films that reveals some of the best the medium has to offer.

The films display a wide range of styles and subject matter, including the lyrical “The Lounge Bar” from New Zealand, an intertwining tale about characters in a dive bar. A man sits at the bar with a brace on his head, which, he says, prevents his head from splitting open, while a singer on stage warbles a song about the events happening in front of him.

At the other end of the spectrum is “Happy Birthday Bobby Dietz,” a glimpse at a pre-pubescent’s idea of a birthday party from hell.

Although there are no specific plans yet, Hamblin hopes to take the package of films on the road. He has rights to the films for a year, paying the filmmakers a percentage of the gross proceeds from each screening.

Hamblin, 32, has been working on the concept for more than a year. A former San Diego State University film student, he earns a living repairing copy machines. His goal was to produce a festival that would spotlight the under-appreciated short in the same manner the local Festival of Animation has successfully spotlighted animation.

He learned from the Festival of Animation’s success, particularly its use of flyers and promotions at record and video stores.

“They really worked on how to get people to go to this type of thing,” said Hamblin. “You really have to push it.”

In March, Moehl, also 32 and a graduate of San Diego State, joined Hamblin on the project. The two met during the production in San Diego of a low-budget film called “Desperate” a few months earlier. Moehl, who makes his living working on productions, was the film’s production manager, and Hamblin worked on the lighting.

At first, Moehl’s main task for the short-film festival was to help Hamblin screen films. More than 150 films were submitted. Most were solicited from film schools and from contacts at film festivals around the country.

“It was all pretty time consuming,” Hamblin said. “The main difficulty was just tracking down who had the North American rights to the films.”

The festival includes a fair share of award winners, including “Metamorphosis,” a 10-minute film by Canadian Barry Greenwald, which won the Golden Palm Award for Best Short at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival, and “The Childeater,” the 1990 Academy Award nominee for “Live Action Short” from Britain’s Jonathan Tammuz and Deborah Carter.

However, most films that won big awards, such as the Academy Award for best short, didn’t make the cut. Often they were too long to fit into a festival. In some cases, the rights for films made presenting them difficult to arrange.

But, in many cases, Hamblin just wasn’t impressed with award winners.

“There were good films that showed promise that simply didn’t stand out,” he said.

Hamblin says in general he wanted to avoid well-known films. Because a collection of early short films by modern big-name directors like Steven Spielberg and David Lynch screened at the La Jolla museum a year ago, Hamblin felt free to avoid the lure of using celebrity films.

He also avoided films that were clearly designed to be auditions, blatant displays of technical wizardry that had more to do with getting the producer a job than creating a film.

Most of the films manage to accomplish quite a bit in a short time, often introducing the audience to offbeat characters in bizarre worlds. “Metamorphosis” presents a bland accountant who spices up his day by undressing in the elevator every morning on his way to work, then hurriedly redressing before the elevator reaches the ground floor.

“Tom Goes to the Bar,” a 1985 film directed by Dean Parisot, is a wacky delight, a visit to Pete’s Bar and Grill narrated by Tom (Tom Noonan), who nonchalantly hangs upside down while he talks about the problems of his life. He’s a pollster for a cleaning products company who asks questions like: “Would you buy a washcloth in the shape of a human head?” He admits that “sometimes the significance (of the questions) is unclear.”

Around the bar, a man maniacly throws darts while other customers partake in intense conversations. “In a fair fistfight, I could take Fritz Mondale,” one man says.

Not all the films are as wacky. “The Childeater” is a touching tale of a young girl, alienated from her mother by a new stepfather, who is sent to live in the country. There she imagines the worst about a strange man, only to eventually find out his secret.

The beauty of “The Childeater” is that all this is accomplished in less than 12 minutes. Like the other films, the time restraints, far from being a hinderance, serve as an editor to keep the filmmaker firmly focused on the film’s goals.