Why Watch?

Fortunately, this short film that played the fest a few years back is a nice, bizarre palette cleanser. In it, a man is driven to madness by some strange beings following him. Not dark specters or demons – living concrete and wooden giants who silently stay close.

What does it cost? Just 8 minutes of your time.

Check out Teclopolis for yourself:

TERMINUS (2008)

Trust us. You have time for more short films.

District 9 writer Terri Tatchell just received an Oscar nomination for co-writer 2009′s best sci-fi film with director Neill Blomkamp. What is she going to do next? No, not go to Disneyland. They would have to win first. Fingers crossed, everyone.

Instead, Tatchell is already deep into the second draft of her next project, Terminus. Like District 9, it is based on a short and being adapted to feature length for its original director Trevor Cawood. The short debuted in 2007 at the Toronto Film Festival and according to Tatchell, was well received. At least, that’s what she told io9 in an interview this week:

“The film I’m working on now is an adaptation of a short film called Terminus. It’s a bit more science fiction, fantasy. It’s about a stone creature that follows this stressed-out guy around, just stressing him more and more. It was incredibly well received, and the director that created it, [Trevor Cawood] hasn’t done a feature yet, and he’s really talented. I approached him about writing a feature script of that. It’s been a little more challenging than I expected it to be. I’m probably on my second draft now. I’m not ready to send it off yet, but we’ll see.”

The folks at Short of the Week described Cawood’s short as a “dark comedy about the self-destructive nature of the human mind and the dangers of urban isolation.” As you can see below, that’s about what it is. It is about a stressed out guy who is driven mad by a stone creature who inexplicably begins following around. See for yourself:

Unlike Alive in Joburg, which felt ready for adaptation right off the bat, Terminus is a peculiar little film. It works extremely well as an 8-minute short, but it is hard to see where a narrative can be built. Perhaps these stone creatures are here for a reason? Maybe they are spirits from another world who come to inhabit the world’s inanimate objects.

For the purposes of the io9 interview, Tatchell wasn’t saying anything more about the adaptation. She did, however, say that she’s yearning to get into the world of children’s books. Maybe we’ll see a version of ‘Every Prawn Poops’ someday. Who knows.

If there’s one thing I know about film festivals, it’s that being content with having your film play for an enthusiastic audience is for losers. Chugging a beer on stage in front of a cheering crowd after winning is for winners. You can tell that I’m right because the word “winning” is a close cousin of “winners.” Celebrating the art of the film is one thing, but damn it, it’s about taking home the coveted cup.

Two or three nights ago (the details are hazy), Fantastic Fest Co-founder Tim League emceed an awards ceremony that featured some Festival fans, filmmakers and the people who wandered in already inebriated and looking for the karaoke party. You can guess which group I was in, and, yes, I stayed at the ceremony despite a shocking lack of amateurs singing “Baby Got Back.”

Also, I had to present all of the awards for the Fantastic Features Category.

There were a ton of great films this year at the festival, but there can only be 1 to 5 winners, so here they are for your viewing pleasure.

Jury Results – SHORTS Awards

ANIMATED SHORTS:

Best Animated Short – “I Am So Proud of You” (Don Hertzfeldt)

Special Mention – “Alma” (Rodrigo Blaas)

FANTASTIC SHORTS:

Best Fantastic Short – “Terminus” (Trevor Cawood)

Special Jury Award – “Next Floor” (Denis Villeneuve)

HORROR SHORTS:

Best Horror Short – “Full Employment” (Thomas Oberlies, Matthias Vogel)

Special Mention – “Excision” (Richard Bates, Jr.)

Jury Results – FEATURES Awards

HORROR FEATURES

Best Horror Feature – Human Centipede (Tom Six)

Best Horror Director – Kerry Prior for The Revenant

Best Horror Actor – Dieter Laser for Human Centipede

Best Horror Actress – Neve McIntosh for Salvage

FANTASTIC FEATURES

Best Fantastic Feature – Mandrill (Ernesto Diaz-Espinoza)

Best Fantastic Director – Kim Nguyrn for Truffe

Best Fantastic Screenplay – Tamio Hayashi for Fish Story (from the novel by Kotaro Isaka)

Best Fantastic Actor – Marko Zaror for Mandrill

Best Fantastic Actress – Chiaki Kuriyama for Kamogawa Horumo: Battle League in Kyoto

NEXT WAVE FEATURES

Best Feature – Down Terrace (Ben Wheately)

Best Director – Yang Ik-Joon for Breathless

Best Screenplay – Robin Hill, Ben Wheately for Down Terrace

Best Actor – Jeong-min Hwang for Private Eye

Best Actress – Shera Bechard for Sweet Karma

AUDIENCE AWARD

Audience Award, Best Feature – A Town Called Panic (Stephane Aubier, Vincent Patar)

Audience Award, Honorable Mention Films – Fish Story, Breathless, The Revenant, Merantau

BEER CHUGGING

Every winner has to roll down onto the stage to chug a beer from their award mug, but some people weren’t there, and the beer must be drunk. Or it’s bad luck or the beer gets warm or something. So luckily, there were a few audience members that took up the mantel for those who couldn’t make it including first rate journalist, friend of the site, and all-around handsome guy Kevin Kelly as well as renegade filmmaker Nacho “Chaos Reigns” Vigalondo.

And, of course, I answered the call a few times myself. So I leave you with me racing Tim, Nacho drinking triumphantly, and Best Actor winner Marko Zaror doing a celebratory spin kick:

For more photos, check out the official Fantastic Fest Flickr Page.