“Haxan” was originally a Swedish-Danish silent film written and directed by Benjamin Christensen in 1922 but was later re-released in an abbreviated form in 1968 as “Witchcraft Through the Ages” with a soundtrack including Jean-Luc Ponty and Daniel Humair and narration by William S. Burroughs. Though the film was a documentary about how superstition and misunderstanding of mental illness led to the hysteria of the witch-hunts, recreations of occult rituals and torture made it banned in the US upon initial release.
“A Letter to Momo” (2011) is an animated supernatural comedy/drama written and directed by Hiroyuki Okiura (Jin-Roh). The story focuses on adolescent Momo and her mother Ikuko who, after a death in the family, move to a rural island to be closer to relatives. Momo, who preferred her previous life in the big city, has difficulty adjusting but learns to overcome her grief and repair her relationship with her mother with the help of three goblins (known as Yokai) and her new community.
With properly tuned ImmerSyst eyes™ & ears™ the futuristic city of Vanille can look and sound like a paradise. But the life of a father and his son threatens to disintegrate when the father’s Immersyst begins to fail. Desperate to avoid facing his own traumatic reality, the man must venture into a city where violence and danger brew beneath a veneer of beautiful illusion.
THE PROJECT
The Nostalgist is a science fiction short film project based on Daniel H Wilson‘s short story of the same name. The Year’s Best Science Fiction: 2009 Finalist, the story was first published on Tor.com in July 2009 and is also available for download from major e-book retailers.
The short film version was developed by Wonder Room Productions, a London-based film production company formed by writer/director/producer Giacomo Cimini (City in the Sky) and producers Tommaso Colognese and Pietro Greppi. The team assembled a crew of highly skilled professionals and a cast led by Lambert Wilson (Of Gods and Men, The Matrix Reloaded) and Samuel Joslin (Paddington, The Impossible), and shot a short film version in early 2013, adapted and directed by Cimini.
The short was completed in May 2014 after an extensive period of VFX and post-production, headed by Milan and London-based post-production and VFX house Inky Mind, with key expertise in CG character creation provided by Barcelona-based MinimoVFX, and extensive compositing work provided by London based NOSEAMS VFX.
VFX artist GiacomoBargellesi additionally joined Wonder Room as a partner and co-producer and provided further overall VFX supervision for the company, heading up the 2D compositing work.
The substantial post-production costs were covered thanks to the participation of Wonder Room’s VFX partners as well as the completion of a successful Kickstarter campaign, which raised a total of £32,800 from 460 backers.
The Nostalgist received its festival premiere at the Palm Springs Short Fest in June 2014, where it was awarded the runner-up prize for live-action short above 15 minutes, and it has since screened at a number of festivals, including the Giffoni Film Festival in Italy, where it was awarded the first prize as Best Short Film in the Generator 18+ (fiction) section.
“Immortal” (2004) is a French-produced live-action/animated feature directed by Enki Bilal and based on his graphic novel The Carnival of Immortals. It was one of the first major films (along with Casshern and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow) to be shot entirely with a digital backdrop, blending live actors with computer generated surroundings.
The film takes place in New York City circa 2095 where genetically altered humans mingle with unaltered men and women and Central Park has been mysteriously encased in an energy field which kills people who attempt to enter. A strange pyramid has appeared over the city in which Egyptian gods decide Horus must end his immortality. Before dying, Horus, while searching for a host body with which to procreate and continue his bloodline, also finds potential demi-god Jill.
“La Jetée” (1962) is a short sci-fi feature directed by filmmaker, poet, novelist, photographer, editor, videographer and digital multimedia artist Chris Marker. Comprised entirely of narration over still photos (except for one crucial scene), La Jetée tells the story of a post-nuclear war time travel experiment and is considered one of the most influential and radical science-fiction films ever made (directly inspiring Terry Gilliam’s “12 Monkeys”).
“The Man from Earth” (2007) is an indie drama (with sci-fi elements) written by Jerome Bixby and directed by Richard Schenkman. The screenplay was written by Bixby in the early 1960s and completed on his deathbed in April 1998. The film gained recognition in part for being widely distributed through peer-to-peer networks and was later adapted by Schenkman into a stage play of the same name.
A farewell party for departing university professor John Oldman (David Lee Smith) takes an unusual turn when he reveals his true identity. The group is split on their appraisal of John’s motives and mental stability. The plot advances through intellectual arguments between the professor and colleagues on the veracity of his claims regarding his history and reason for leaving.
“Seances” is an experimental film project from Guy Maddin which began as an art installation piece shot in public over 18 days at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and over another 13 days at the Phi Centre in Montreal. It’s intention is tomystically conjure long-forgotten stories of lost films from periods such as Hollywood’s silent era. Maddin invited the sad spirits of lost films to possess his assembled actors (including Mathieu Amalric, Charlotte Rampling, Udo Kier, and Geraldine Chaplin among others) and compel them to act out the old stories, while the spirit-photographer/director captured the precious narratives. The project’s website, which is currently the only way to view the project, randomly combines clips of the material in different combinations for every viewer creating a unique experimental short film that will never be seen again.
“True Legend” (2010) was directed by legendary director/fight choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping (best known for Drunken Master, Iron Monkey, Wing Chun, and his work on films such as The Matrix, Kung Fu Hustle, and Fist of Legend among other classics of the genre). The film’s plot is not unlike countless old school martial arts films, following the journey of former general Su Can (Vincent Zhao of The Blade) whose life is shattered by a jealous adopted brother (Andy On). With support from his wife (Xun Zhou), his doctor (Michelle Yeoh), the God of Wushu (Jay Chou) and an old sage (Gordon Liu), Su Can strives to overcome great odds to reunite his family. If you ever hoped to see a Shaw Brothers film with a larger budget and made using modern film techniques, True Legend won’t disappoint. The cast of martial arts veterans are great across the board as are David Carradine (in one of his last roles) and assorted lesser-known western actors as minions.
“Immortal” (2004) is a French-produced live-action/animated feature directed by Enki Bilal and based on his graphic novel The Carnival of Immortals. It was one of the first major films (along with Casshern and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow) to be shot entirely with a digital backdrop, blending live actors with computer generated surroundings.
After the Crash 