Independent Short Film: 9

May 20th, 2009

I’ve been toying with the idea of posting this Independent Short Film for a while. With the possible exception of Validation, I don’t think I’ve seen any short film getting passed around as vivaciously as this one. Furthermore, 9 has gotten a lot of buzz among fans and enthusiasts of Tim Burton, who expanded this 2005 short film into a feature that is due in theaters later this year. It’s release date is 09/09/09. How’s THAT for clever marketing? Okay, maybe it’s not all that clever, but it IS convenient.

Anyway, I didn’t want its popularity to be the sole purpose for posting, but due to the fact that it fits so perfectly with the theme of my last post, at the request of numerous subscribers and guests to this blog, I humbly present the strangely intriguing Independent Short Film, 9.

A bit about the future-in-progress ignited by this piece, which was nominated for an Acadamy Award in 2006, 9 the feature has an ensemble cast which collectively has an enormous number of awards and nominations as well as decades of experience. This star-studded cast includes Martin Landau, known for his role on the TV show “Mission: Impossible” and the Hitchcock film North By Northwest, and the Role of Caiaphas in The Greatest Story Ever Told; Christopher Plummer, whose credits include Inside Man (can’t wait for the sequel!), 12 Monkeys, and perhaps most famously the role of Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music; Elijah Wood, who you may remember from The Witness, or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, or of course, the Lord of the Rings trilogy; Crispin Glover, who is probably best known for playing George McFly in Back to The Future; John C. Reilly, who, with Crispin Glover, acted opposite Johnny Depp in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape also worked previously with Christopher Plummer in Dolores Claiborne; and Jennifer Connelly, who was in Blood Diamond, A Beautiful Mind, Requiem for a Dream, Dark City, and Labyrinth. Tim Burton has put his name on the film as a producer, but both the Independent Short Film and the feature were directed by Shane Acker. Focus Features is the production company and is distributing the film in the USA.
Meanwhile, my friends over at iReel.com have just posted a blog entry that describes the plot and some technical details of the feature a bit more, and truth be told, that blog post was the tipping point that caused me to decide to write this one. Don’t thank me, thank iReel.

I don’t want to make any predictions about the feature, but it does have great inherent potential. The teaser for the feature, which can be found in the blog post at iReel, was just as compelling as the Independent Short Film. The music for the trailer is the song “Welcome Home” by Coheed and Cambria, which certainly adds to the intensity of the teaser. Come September 9th, we’ll find out if the film delivers.

Here’s some further reading to tickle your fancy for animated short films:

2010 Oscar-Nominated Animated Short Films | L’histoire de sa vie – Every year I try to see the Oscar-Nominated Animated Short Films. It has been my experience that they tend to be amazing pieces with phenomenal animation, a.
Absolutely Incredible Short Animations That Would Make You Say … – Pingback by here are some really good animated short films « i animated short films [...] Comment by elementc on January 24, 2010 @ 3:13 pm …