[2007061] The COMEDY CHANNEL Short Film Festival

The COMEDY CHANNEL Short Film Festival (FringeTIX)

14 Short Films @ Palace Cinema

3:00pm, Sat 24 Mar 2007

Ooooh, a collection of short films! And we get to vote for them! Hurrah!

The opener, Lights! Camera! Action! is a bawdy bit of fun, and set the bar high. The second film, Drought, presented its hook far too early, and dragged on far too long to be a contender. There was some simple stop-motion plasticine animation in Beyond the Fridge, some giggles in the cartoony Rude Words 4 Kids and The Lecture, and retro-cheese in The Time That Time Forgot.

But let’s move on to the contenders: Bad Timing was short, sweet, and the uncomfortable moment lasts well into the following short; Pig Latin was a great bit of child/police transposition, and it was good to see this Fringe had at least a little piece of Lawrence Leung with his film Howard Flu. Another bunch of familiar faces appeared in Ridiculusmus‘ Carl & Mark, and Charmed Robbery brought the “festival” to a close with a beautifully sweet bit of romance, set amidst a bank robbery.

For me, though, Chequered Paint – one man’s cunning ploy to escape a speeding fine – brought home the silver, pipped only at the post by S.G.U., one of the shortest films and the closest to my heart. Special Grammar Unit, correcting posters and graffiti and spreading their message through subliminals – brilliant.

Once again, though, the event is tarred slightly by a fuckknuckle audience. I don’t know whether it’s because admission was free (and hence perceived to be “value-less”) or because of changing opinions about the sanctity of the cinema or because kids these days just don’t give a rat’s arse about anyone else, but for fuck’s sake – there’s no reason to be talking throughout the entire screening. Grrrrrrrrrr.