For a first-time, online film festival we had many successes and a few growing pains. But tech hassles aside (how about that HDTV ad?), nearly 70 films managed to make it through the hoops and onto computer screens far and wide. Each was a 29-second, homemade achievement, and all had a certain added value as momentary entertainments.
Clearly all were winners -- if only in the filmmakers’ minds.But choices must be made in life, and now we make ours. Readers, voting online, have also made theirs. One of our favorites also made the Readers Choice top-five list. A second one would’ve made it if not for some wild weekend balloting reminiscent of a fast-closing eBay auction.At press time our awards department was still rounding up swag bags commensurate with the spirit of the contest. Winners, don’t call us, we’ll be in touch with you.Garage Band drumroll, please.OUR PICKS
Best drama: "Canine Clarity""Joe Gleason’s existential portrait of man and dog might not have been the best film of the bunch, but it had a Zenlike vision, an edgy style and genuine emotional content. Gleason, too, has video creds as a second-generation operator of his family’s video production business in Gladstone." ‘Canine Clarity’ started as a dream I had," Gleason said. "In the dream a dog was talking to me, and it seemed completely normal." Gleason credits his crew, including Steve Bush and D.L. Gleason along with co-star Gabbi, a friend’s dog and "a fantastic animal."Watch "Canine Clairy"Best comedy: "The Bible ... in 29 Seconds"David Morgan and Sean Callahan are students at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville and members of the Independent Film Club there. Over lunch one day they churned out 10 ideas, picked four, then gathered crews to turn them out. Each of the films they entered in the competition possessed manic energy and enough satiric spin to satisfy. Their "Truman 29" and "Uncle Sam’s Cash Advance" are also worthy of second looks. These productions took four or five hours each of serious animation and editing, Morgan said. "The Bible" clearly was an online favorite, though it became an also-ran as weekend voting galloped in different directions.Watch "The Bible ... in 29 Seconds"
Technical achievement: "Crazy"Close watchers of the 29-Second Film Festival might have noticed that this late entry didn’t even make the list of competition finalists. But since we’re making up the rules here, it seemed appropriate and wholly within reason to give a shout-out to this film. It kept creeping back into our consciousness. Production values were high. There was a clear narrative line. It was the kind of film that gets under your skin. And filmmaker Brandon Bamesberger of Lee’s Summit managed, in a mere sliver of time, something that no other entrant was able to do. He landed (and paid for) rights to use Patsy Cline on his soundtrack.Watch "Crazy
Honorable mention: "Impressions of Hitchcock"Clearly, most readers did not share the deep connection we made with this dark and goofy homage to one of Hollywood’s greatest icons. (It managed only a small handful of nearly 3,800 votes cast online.) Yet this nod to film history, by the Accardi family of Liberty, provided maximum chuckles, so kudos to its star, 9-year-old Roman Accardi. For possessing that inexplicable, ineffable and perhaps inane spirit, even in black-and-white, the film has earned our special Cinematic Legacy Award. The family reports that Roman is, indeed, an aspiring writer and filmmaker and a big fan of silent movie comedies. Last Halloween he even dressed as silent-era comic star Harold Lloyd.Watch "Impressions of Hitchcock"
VIEWERS CHOICE AWARDS
Based on online voting -- nearly 3,800 ballots cast -- here are the top five favorites (in order) of either our readers or the filmmakers’ families and guest lists:"Down the Drain"Chris Johnson is a homemaker in Sycamore, Ill., who produces videos on the side. Her parents live in Blue Springs, which may help explain the intense local interest. Yet, she was surprised her mom-to-the rescue story did so well. "I didn’t think it was any cheesier than some of the others," she told The Star in her entry e-mail. "Down the Drain" marks the film debut of young Gella Rose Johnson. Chris Johnson said she knew that she wanted to make a movie with her daughter and that, even in only 29 seconds, she wanted to have a beginning, middle and end."Canine Clairy"
"High Class Hijinks"Director Shannon Kelley, another Kansas City film and video professional, cast nephews James and Joe Hugill in this comedy of manners. Kelley reports that he has written a screenplay based on the famous British poem "The Highwayman" and is working on a documentary about Kansas City film history.
"Cinnamon Rolls!"We suspect that 7-year-old Desmond Norris was standing on a chair to get the overhead view of his father, Andy’s, kitchen construction project. Something about the simplicity of this domestic documentary must have touched viewers’ hearts. Or maybe Desmond, a second-grader in Baldwin City, Kan., voted hundreds of times for his own film. Whatever. His family reports that Desmond has been making videos ever since receiving a camera for Christmas and is determined to have his own movie show on the Web.
"Action Weather With Christopher Talkin"This absurd product of a video class at Blue Valley High School managed to earn a few laughs for its impression of, we think, Christopher Walken. Not all viewers agreed with the vote count: "Why," one contributor asked, "is one star the lowest you can rate it?"
