Friday, May 7, 2010

Fantastic Short Film Friday - The Gift
















And we are back with another weekly installment in our Fantastic Short Film Friday series, as we look to showcase films released in the "lesser" known form of cinema- the short film.

This week we have the much buzzed about sci-fi action thriller, The Gift. Not to be confused with the equally brilliant 2000 film with a topless Katie Holmes, this is the short from Ridley Scott protege, Carl Erik Rinsch. As I mentioned last week, Mr. Rinsch's short has been causing quite a bidding war as Hollywood studios look to be the one's to turn The Gift into a feature length film. The story is simple: a futuristic Russia, a mechanical box, and a humanoid android trying to protect(?) it. There's really not much more to say about the plot of the 5-minute short except that it is a wonderful blend of cgi magic, minimal dialogue, and simple wonder.

The Gift iss part of project between Philips and five filmmakers from Ridley Scott Associates, called Parallel Lines. Here's some of the information about the collabaration:

Five short films. Five genres. Five of RSA's hottest directors. One unifying piece of dialogue.
Were pushing the boundaries of cinematic viewing, giving you the chance to experience the spectacular Ambilight, picture and sound capabilities of Philips TVs for yourself.

Each filmmaker was asked to create a short in the genre of their choice around the same unifying dialogue and theme. 45 shorts were entered, with Philips selecting the five (from directors
Jake Scott, Greg Fay, Johnny Hardstaff, Carl Erik Rinsch, and Hi-Sim) they believed were the most groundbreaking. You can find out more about the project by going: here

Mr. Rinsch has been very busy as he is currently developing a remake of the Creature From The Black Lagoon and is in pre-production on the remake of the samurai film 47 Ronin which is to star Keanu Reeves. I'm a huge fan of the 47 Ronin story and the idea of Keanu Reeves as one of the Ronin has me both gagging and smiling at the possibilities.

So here is Carl Erik Rinsch's, The Gift. Sit back, enjoy and imagine the possibilities.


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