2016 Soo Film Festival Logo
  • SOO FILM FESTIVAL
  • Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
  • Sept 16-18, 2016

Shorts 3 - For the Family

Shorts program, 80 minutes, Not rated

The K.D. Documentary
The Boxers
Guitar Man
Audience Choice Award - Best Animation
EmBarked
The First Monday of Summer
September Sketch Book
Vitamin C
Chick+Chick
Audience Choice Award - Best Narrative Short Under 15 Minutes
The Red Thunder
Switch Man
Wallets
R.P.M. 2
Touché Toupee
Rosso Papavero
Wild Encounter
Volcano!
Hutong Meow
L'ENVOL
Sirens Call
Alien Antics!

About This Shorts Program

This program of family-friendly short films will be fun for kids of all ages. It is mostly animations of different styles with a few narrative shorts mixed in. It starts off with a few films made by kids: 4th and 5th graders from Houston!

Please note: although these films have been selected with the whole family in mind, they don't have official ratings, so please read the full descriptions and choose responsibly.

The K.D. Documentary

Directors: Aurora Picture Show, Reynolds Elementary
United States, 2015, Animation, 3 min, English, Student Project (4th Graders at Reynolds Elementary School, Houston, Texas)

Reynolds Elementary 4th and 5th graders Corey, Hezekiah, Jaevin and Jonathan discuss the life and basketball career of their hero, Oklahoma City Thunder star, Kevin Durant, and reveal why he inspires them. With original music by their classmates, Jaulavia, Daesha, and Diamond.

Project: Website

The Boxers

Directors: Aurora Picture Show, Reynolds Elementary
United States, 2015, Animation, 1 min, English, Student Project (4th Graders at Reynolds Elementary School, Houston, Texas)

A song-film about a boxer, written, performed, animated and scored by Reynolds Elementary 4th graders Daesha, Diamond, Jaevin, and David. Project: Website

Guitar Man

Directors: Aurora Picture Show, Reynolds Elementary
United States, 2015, Animation, 2 min, English, Student Project (A 3rd Grader at Reynolds Elementary School, Houston, Texas)

Jaulavia, a girl in the 3rd grade, discusses the things that are most important to her: drawing, music, and her family. With original score by the narrator herself.

Project: Website

EmBarked

Audience Choice Award - Best Animation

Directors: Adele Hawkins, Mikel Mujika, Soo Kyung Kang
United States, 2015, Animation, 4 min, English, Student Project (Ringling College of Art and Design, Sarasota, Florida)

When Jimmy moves away from his old house, the tree house he left behind magically comes to life. With nothing else keeping him in the country, the tree house decides to follow to Jimmy to the city. (One of the directors is from Dearborn, Michigan.)

Project: Facebook

The First Monday of Summer

Director: John Chigas
United States, 2013, Animation, 4 min, English, Student Project (Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen, Michigan)

A teenage boy wakes up one Monday morning thinking he is late for school. Foolishly unaware that it is the first day of summer vacation, he gets out of bed, hops on his bike, and starts the long trek to his abandoned high school, only to realize he has forgotten one thing... (This was filmed on location in Interlochen, Michigan.)

September Sketch Book

Director: Ronnie Cramer
United States, 2014, Animation, 8 min, English

September Sketch Book is an experimental film created using old school animation; over 5,400 drawings made with pen and paper. The film is abstract in nature, with sequences based on flags from around the world.

Vitamin C

Director: Serena Acosta
Mexico, 2014, Animation, 4 min, English, Student Project (Vancouver Film School, Vancouver, British Columbia)

A curious tale about two sisters who, while playing in the forest near their house, fell into the magic that hides deep at night.

Chick+Chick

Ricardo Culebro d'Argence
Mexico, 2014, Animation, 5 min, English, Student Project (Vancouver Film School, Vancouver, British Columbia)

Young and lonely Pollyanna has lived for as long as she can remember in a desolate island in the Primordial Sea feeding on a coconut tree. But one day, her daily coconut came with a little surprise that would change her fate and the universe itself forever.

The Red Thunder

Audience Choice Award - Best Narrative Short Under 15 minutes

Director: Alvaro Ron
United States, 2015, Narrative, 6min, English

Sarah (Allie Grant, "Weeds"), a nerdy teenager, needs her mom's brand new car to go on a date with Danny (Miles Heizer, "Parenthood"), the boy she is in love with. Her mom, Dr. Thun (Karen Strassman, "Silicon Valley"), an absent minded Podiatrist is concerned about Sarah driving by the dangerous streets of downtown Los Angeles. She tells her daughter she may need her car if one of her patients has an emergency, but Sarah doesn't buy it. After all Dr. Thun is just a Podiatrist... Sarah receives a message from Danny asking if she is going to pick him up and she decides to disobey her mom and steal the car. Little does she know the vehicle is actually part of a secret Dr. Thun keeps and this discovery will change Sarah's life forever... (Produced with the support of a Michigan company.)

Project: Trailer

Switch Man

Directors: Hsun-Chun Chuang, Shao-Kuei Tong
Taiwan, 2015, Animation, 4 min, English, Student Project (Taiwan Tech, Taipei, Taiwan)

On a normal quiet Sunday, Dr. Evil Mantis attacked K-City unexpectedly with his gigantic claw, sending the entire city into a panic. At a critical moment, one young man stood out to fight the evil Dr. Mantis. This is the moment for the hidden superhero to reveal himself and his secret power is about to turn this chaos upside down. The Legend is about to begin... (This film has won many animation awards, for example, Best Animation at 7th New York Los Angeles International Film Festival 2015.)

Project: Trailer

Please continue reading at the top of the next column.

Buy Tickets

The 2015 festival is closed. See you next year!

Screenings

Saturday, September 12, noon
Soo Theatre

Shorts 3 - For the Family

80 minutes
Not rated

Continued from the previous column.

Wallets

Director: Thomas Butcher
United States, 2015, Narrative, 5 min, English

Wallets is a silent short film about a man who steals wallets and then returns them so he can profit from the reward. (This was filmed in Michigan. The director is from Troy, Michigan.)

Project: Trailer

R.P.M. 2

Director: Ryan Fox
United States, 2014, Animation, 3 min, English, Student Project (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)

A kaleidoscopic video experiment using the revolutions of a car tire. (The film was shot within a mile of Lake Michigan. The director is from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.)

Touché Toupee

Director: Chaz Bottoms
United States, 2015, Animation, 2 min, English, Student Project (DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois)

A man desperately tries to get his wig back from a stubborn armadillo. (The director is from Cleveland, Ohio and lives and goes to school in Chicago, Illinois, both on Great Lakes.)

Rosso Papavero

Director: Martin Smatana
Slovakia, 2015, Animation, 5 min, 0:05:15, Student Project (Academy of Performing Arts, Bratislava, Slovakia)

Once upon a starry night, a small boy with the head full of fantasies witnesses dreamlike circus performances. Dazed by an endless chain of glittering attractions he realizes that the price of a ticket to the fantastic circus tent is too high and the gate between reality and dream is closing.

Project: Trailer

Wild Encounter

Directors: Phillip Brunson, Yadnee Kohok, Carlos Soler
United States, 2015, Animation, 3 min, English, Student Project (Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, Georgia)

Wild Encounter is a short 2-D animation about a family’s trip to a drive-through safari. While the kids want to feed the wild animals, the father only wants to keep his car safe from harm. It is all up to the father to put a stop to the oncoming slobber fest. Project: Facebook

Volcano!

Director: Marie Cheng
United States, 2015, Animation, 5 min, English, Student Project (Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, Chapman University, Orange, California)

A little girl can't seem to figure out why her volcano science project won't explode. Little does she know that her experiment has taken on a life of its own.

Hutong Meow

Director: Kaide Wang
China, 2015, Animation, 3 min, Chinese, Student Project (Communication University of China, Beijing, China)

Stop-motion animation of a day in the life of a cat in a Northern Chinese alley.

L'ENVOL

Director: Hajime Kimura
France, 2015, Animation, 4 min, English

The caged bird dreams of clouds. This unique film made by the Japanese director Hajime Kimura is composed of 2400 images created one by one with Photoshop only using the pen brush tool that gives a blurry hand-painted aesthetic.

Project: Trailer

Sirens Call

Director: Paul Murphy
United Kingdom, 2015, Animation, 3 min, English, Student Project (Staffordshire University, Staffordshire, England)

A surreal 2D animated journey from earth, into space and back down to earth again. Sirens Call music is written and performed by Marc Kenny.

Alien Antics!

Director: Terry L. Ernsberger
United States, 2015, Animation, 6 min, English

An alien and his little buddy get more than they bargained for when they try to steal a freezer full of ice cream treats from a backwater gas station near Roswell, New Mexico.

Project: Trailer

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