SHORTS COLUMN | Outfest 2008 Scouting Report: Ten Short Filmmakers You Should Know

Amanda Micheli & Isabel Vega - Nominated for an Oscar for “La Corona” (The Crown),
Micheli & Vega took their camera inside a Bogota women’s prison to document a highly competitive beauty pageant. By allowing their subjects to speak for themselves, the co-directors craft a story that holds viewers captivated for all of its 40-minutes running time. 

Nick Oceano - The Spanish language “El Primo” (The Cousin) is Oceano’s 16-minute story of a sensitive teenage boy visiting his macho older cousin in Texas. Oceano’s film has already been embraced by festival programmers at NewFest, Frameline, Palm Springs Shortfest, and the New York and Los Angeles International Latino Film Festivals.

Benjamin M. Piety - Piety’s film “The Lonely Lights. The Color of Lemons” is part of a trilogy called “The Way I Read Myself.” The 16-minute film, shot on 35 MM, is a collection of remembrances and critical moments in a young man’s life. Heavily influenced by filmmaker Su Friedrich‘s film “Sink or Swim,” Piety admits his film is intensely personal. 

Carrie Schrader - Schrader has two comedic shorts at Outfest: the eight-minute “The Thorny Rose” which takes place in an S&M den, and the six-minute “Don’t Mess with Texas,” set in a Texas roadside diner. An MFA candidate in Directing at Columbia University, Schrader’s screenplays have received acclaim from Outfest in years past. However, for “Don’t Mess with Texas,” she works from a script by Tricia Cooke and Ethan Coen.

Greg Ivan Smith - Smith’s little gem of short, “The Back Room,” appeals to both book and art lovers. In the 16-minute film, Smith himself plays a long suffering bookstore clerk who helps a last-minute customer (Dan Sturges) find a tome on particular Italian Renaissance artist’s work. Setting his story in a cramped section of the store and relying entirely on the interaction between the two men to carry the plot, Smith gives himself a lot of obstacles to overcome and yet perseveres in creating a memorable story. 

Guinevere Turner - Turner is another two-timer at Outfest 2008, helming both the stylish twelve-minute librarian sex comedy “Quiet Please” and the seven-minute “Late.” A high profile writer/actress with credits including “Go Fish,” “The L Word,” and “The Notorious Bettie Page,” Turner seems to take particular delight stepping behind the camera. In “Late,” the camera work is particularly noteworthy in that the entire film consists of answering machine messages playing as the camera roams around a woman’s apartment. 

Remember these names: Campbell, Cheng, Hung, Joseph, Micheli & Vega, Oceano, Piety, Schrader, Smith, and Turner. We’ll be hearing a lot more from these shining stars of Outfest 2008.