A Gentlemen’s Duel

USA, 2006, 8 Minutes

In a lovely garden on a peaceful afternoon, two frogs vie for the same butterfly, a harbinger of what’s to come.

At a grand manor, a woman in elegant dress with ample décolletage is courted by a two gentlemen, the Marquis de Malstrumpet and Sir Dingleberry. They spar verbally, argue over the food and drink, knock her about without noticing, and then escalate to a full-fledged dual between two gigantic robots that each pilots from inside the helmet.

Destruction reigns supreme across manor and garden. Will there be a last man standing? And what about the lady?

Spider

USA, 2008, 10 Minutes

“It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye.”

    — Mum

Enough said about this one.

Éramos Pocos (One Too Many)

Spain, 1005, 17 Minutes, Subtitled

Fernando awakens to the sound of his wife shutting the door when she leaves him. He wakes their son, Joaquin, a young man. It’s quickly clear why she left: they live like pigs and do nothing around the flat except eat and watch TV.

In desperation, they go to the rest home where the wife’s mother, Lourdes, lives; they stand in the doorway looking in at the residents celebrating Mass. Lourdes sees them, waves, and they invite her home. Once she sees that they just want her to cook and clean, what will she do?

A Relationship in Four Days

USA, 2008, 26 Minutes

Coming from a wealthy family, Paul recently turned 30 and has never had, or needed a real job. Lost in his own imagination, he often preaches his grand ideas, but in reality never does much... until he meets Sabine.

Intermission

I Think I Thought

USA, 2008, 7 Minutes

Joe’s life threatens to come apart when he begins thinking too much: at home, at work, on the train, in the bookstore. Luckily, he discovers Thinkers Anonymous where he learns that thinking is best left to professionals like politicians, religious leaders and the news media. After all, they’re the ones who know what’s best for everyone, right?

Même les pigeons vont au paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)

France, 2007, 9 Minutes, Subtitled

On a moonlit fall night, a priest races to the home of Mr. Mouton running a motorcycle off the road and arriving just in time to catch the old man as he falls from a chair on which he stacked books in order to reach a bottle of cognac.

Mr. Mouton is a miser with a sock full of money that the priest would like to appropriate by selling the old man a space capsule that will take him to paradise. After a test drive and some negotiation, the deal may be struck, but then, there’s a knock at the door.

Consent

Canada 2004, 6 Minutes

Jason Reitman co-wrote this one with his wife Michele Lee long before he directed Thank You for Smoking and Juno. The film reminds us that, before having sex, always make sure you have protection. Legal protection. Sign here for the lawyer-laden world of modern intimacy and give your consent. Reitman’s dad, Ivan, directed such memorable films as “Ghostbusters” and “Stripes.”

Mozart of the Pickpockets

France, 2006, 30 Minutes, Subtitled

Richard and Philippe live hand to mouth, backing up a gang of Spanish pickpockets on the streets of Paris, posing as policemen who arrest a gang member while the others rifle the pockets and purses of gawkers.

When all of the gang except Richard and Philippe are pinched, things look grim. Plus, Richard insists that they take in a wide-eyed immigrant lad, a deaf-mute left behind in the arrests. Philippe suggests a three-person pickpocket trick, using the boy, but when that goes spectacularly badly, they hit rock bottom. Then, at the cinema, the lad finds a solution. It’s time to celebrate.

The Fan and the Flower

USA, 2005, 7 Minutes

A narrator tells us the story of a ceiling fan, ensconced in the spare room of a house occupied by an old woman. The fan is lonely, and its life takes a turn for the better when the old woman puts a flowering plant in the spare room.

A romance develops between fan and flower, until the old woman’s decrepitude puts one of the lovers’ life at risk. The fan must act.