This film was recently featured on You Tube’s homepage and was the winner of the 2007 Oscar for best short subjects animation. It was created by Torill Kove, narrated by Liv Ullmann and distributed by the National Film Board of Canada. For more click here.

Can we trace the chain of events that leads to our own birth? Is our existence just coincidence? Do little things matter? The narrator of The Danish Poet considers these questions as we follow Kasper, a poet whose creative well has run dry, on a holiday to Norway to meet the famous writer, Sigrid Undset. As Kasper’s quest for inspiration unfolds, it appears that a spell of bad weather, an angry dog, slippery barn planks, a careless postman, hungry goats and other seemingly unrelated factors might play important roles in the big scheme of things after all.

And if you haven’t read Sigrid Undset’s epic novel Kristin Lavransdatter, you MUST.

The title, “Green Porno” is shocking but the reality is probably no less bizarre than what you first imagined. A series of eight short films depicting the strange and amazing sexual practices of insects, Green Porno was written, co-directed and stars Isabella Rossellini. It was created for the Sundance Institute and premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival but was made to be viewed primarily on mobile phones.

Since the films have been pulled from YouTube “due to a copyright claim by the Sundance Channel”, I’m posting the AP story featuring clips and an interview with Rossellini below. However you can see all eight films on the Sundance website.

Two years ago, a documentary filmmaker named Jehane Noujaim won $100,000 in seed money and support at the TED conference to create a one-day, global, cross-cultural film festival. This May 10th, Pangea Day will present 24 short films selected from around the world for their ability to foster cross-cultural understanding and tolerance. Live broadcasts of the event will take place simultaneously in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro with content streamed online, featured on network television and broadcast on cable channels like Current TV.

Judging by other global online extravaganzas like Live Earth, this event will be more of a symbolic gesture of solidarity than the real deal. But art has the power to transform and as long as product placement is minimal and celebrity hosts reign in their desire to self-congratulate, Pangea Day will be a good start towards better global dialogue.

These days book authors are turning more and more to web video and social-networking to promote their work. The result is often a hit-or-miss encounter between “old” and “new” media but sometimes this collaboration creates wonderful new art. Take for example this little gem of a video inspired by the new book I Was Told There’d Be Cake, a collection of essays written by Sloane Crosley. While brainstorming for engaging ways to promote her book, Crosley decided to create dioramas centered around three of her essays and teamed up with Milk Products Media to make it come alive.

I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley from Book Videos on Vimeo.

Here’s the first in a series of three companion videos that make up “Diary of a Diorama”, a behind-the-scenes look at the process of creating the film (with narration by Crosley):

Diary of a Diorama: Smell This from Book Videos on Vimeo.

I’m a big fan of the MediaRights e-newsletter created by New York-based Arts Engine and these days I’m particularly excited about their Media That Matters Film Festival which will be coming out with a new batch of short films this June. Until then, you can view last year’s winners on their YouTube site which is ranked the #8 all-time most viewed non-profit channel.

To get you started, check out the winner of the 2007 media literacy award, “POPaganda: The Art and Subversion of Ron English” about an artist who challenges capitalist messages by posting alternative billboards:

Making it in the film business is hard when you’re a “nobody” but the digital revolution has given aspiring directors a better chance to find an audience. Still, it’s difficult to bridge the gap from online fame to global distribution deals. That’s where FROM HERE TO AWESOME steps in with a discovery and distribution festival that helps unknown filmmakers get noticed.

The festival was founded by indie filmmakers who know a thing or two about getting their work noticed online, namely, Arin Crumley (Four Eyed Monsters), Lance Weiler (Head Trauma), and M dot Strange (We Are The Strange). Vote for your favorites during the month of April to have your say in which ten films will be screened globally! To get started, check out this selection from the festival titled “The Tragic Story of Nling” which was created entirely from paper print-outs:

Now, please give a warm welcome to documentary film lover extraordinaire, Ben Huffman, who reviewed Incident at Oglala in his first contribution to Fresh Cut.

Incident at Oglala (1992) is an account of the tragedy that occurred at the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota in 1975. [The entire film can be viewed on Google Video: part 1 and part 2.]

Two FBI agents and one Native American associated with the American Indian Movement (which was then considered a radical and subversive organization) were killed during an unexplained firefight. The film addresses the arrest and double life sentence of Leonard Peltier, a decision that has been widely disputed and protested because of the conflicting evidence that was presented during his trial (The band Rage Against The Machine was a strong supporter of the Peltier cause, devoting the song “Freedom” to the tragedy).

If nothing else, the film offers insight into Native American culture of the 1970’s, and Peltier’s story serves as a metaphor for the wider injustice suffered by Indian people during that time.

As a side note, pay attention to the way the news of the tragedy is delivered over the airwaves and through television broadcasts. I find it to be unsettling how the news was not only delivered, but how the majority of the United States most likely sided with our government almost immediately.–Ben Huffman

Just when you thought Reel Geezers was the Web’s only hope for an amusing movie review show, film buffs Richard Knight and David Kodeski have come to the rescue with Movie Queens. A gimmicky web show in the best sense, Movie Queens is “all about film from the queer perspective” and it certainly lives up to its motto, “cinema veri-gay”. The show is jam-packed with great movie clips, funny montages and witty banter. David and Ricky cover topics “near and dear to movie queerists”, namely, plastic surgery, chick flicks, homoerotic superhunks, camp classics and classic classics. When you visit the site, be sure to click on “videos” and watch the mini-episode to see their interview with Bruce Villanch of “Get Bruce” fame. May the Movie Queens reign on!

Special thanks to B.Ingram for the tip!

Snack and Drink is an animated documentary short by Bob Sabiston and Tommy Pallotta of Flat Black Films (and Waking Life fame). The filmmakers follow Ryan Power, an autistic teenager in Austin, Texas as he walks to a local 7-11 to get a snack and drink. The live footage was rotoscoped with a wild variety of animation styles by different artists. The result is a surreal and beautiful glimpse into a world that resembles our own but is perhaps even more real.

While exploring videoart.net, I came across this short film, ‘Charlie Rose’ by Samuel Beckett by experimental filmmaker Andrew Filippone Jr. The re-mix of the popular PBS series “Charlie Rose” shows the host engaging in an absurd conversation with himself about the state of technology today. His repetition of the words “google”, “Microsoft” and “yahoo” place these entities in a farcical context while at the same time implying their disturbingly large importance in our lives. Say “google” three times and it begins to sound like gibberish. Say it yet a few more times and you recognize the power contained in that word. The filmmaker explains,

“Something has happened to PBS favorite “Charlie Rose.” The erudite conversations and sober intellectualism have been replaced by an absurd world where illogic, inane dialogues, and open hostility rule. The one-on-one interview between Charlie and his guest begins as usual but quickly goes awry, so much so that Charlie is warned that, somewhere, a man named “Steve” is “not happy.” Though this seemingly random statement might confuse us, Charlie understands it for what it is — a threat. But who is “Steve” and why is he angry? And why does the mere mention of his name stop Charlie cold?”