BONELLO SHORT

The following is a short film Bonello did with Asia Argento, a star and director associated with the New Extreme, titled CINDY: THE DOLL IS MINE, which played at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.  The film is clearly referencing the work of Cindy Sherman, an artist associated with abject art, and the self-portraits that she is known for.  Bonello and Argento, who worked together in ON WAR (2008), problematize gender by casting Argento in a stereotypically feminine role of performer and a stereotypically masculine role of artist.  Like male and female are challenged in TIRESIA, CINDY: THE DOLL IS MINE questions femininity and masculinity in relation to the roles of performance and artistic creation and the relationship between performer and director.

OZON SHORTS

Francois Ozon began his career making short films.  First he used a Super8 video and shot silent films using friends and family.  He continued making shorts during film school and after graduation until REGARDE LA MER.  Even with his impressive output, he makes a feature or two each year, he has returned to the short format.  Looking over his short films, it is easy to see that he is working through his technique and thematic interests.  From watching his feature films, one can see that these shorts are often the genesis of his ideas that he revisits again and again.

The first is LES DOIGTS DANS LE VENTRE (translated to 'Fingers in the Throat or Belly') made in 1988.  A young woman wanders through Paris spending most of her time eating all the junk she can: in a fast-food, out of a tin can and so on. She steals some more food in a supermarket, meets a friend who gently caresses her belly in the street, then goes back home where she makes herself vomit in the toilet. She is then ready for the family dinner.  The film touches on the abject, especially Kristeva's comment on food and bodily fluids, as well as showcases Ozon's perverse sense of humor.

Ozon - Les Doigts Dans Le Ventre
Uploaded by Morpheus51100. - Watch feature films and entire TV shows.

The second, X2000, made ten years later, is more abstract and surreal.  A man groggily awakes from an apparently wild New Year's Eve party to find both slumbering party guests and unexpected activity. 

Ozon - X2000
Uploaded by Morpheus51100. - Classic TV and last night's shows, online.

ASSAYAS SHORT -- PARIS JE T'AIME

This short film from PARIS, JE T'AIME (2006) shows Olivier Assayas' softer side.  It tells the story of an American actress and her French drug dealer.  Despite a palpable desire between the two, they are hesitant to act on their impulses, perhaps they do not want to mix work and pleasure.  A drastic shift in tone from DEMONLOVER, Assayas' short demonstrates his love for fluid camera movements, cinema, and incomplete or open narrative structure.  Even this film manages to incorporate an suspenseful ending that leaves the audience hanging, wondering what will happen next.

HANEKE SHORT -- LUMIERE AND COMPANY

Here is a selection from the omnibus film LUMIERE AND COMPANY (Multiple Directors, 1995) from Michael Haneke.  The film celebrates the centennial anniversary of the Lumiere Brothers' first film by asking 40 internationally renowned directors, such as David Lynch (BLUE VELVET, MULHOLLAND DR.), Spike Lee (CLOCKERS, INSIDE MAN), Zhang Yimou (HERO, RAISE THE RED LANTERN), and Michael Haneke (FUNNY GAMES, CACHE), to make a short film using the Lumieres' first camera.  Each film could not exceed 52 seconds, use synchronized sound, utilize more than three takes.  The process and result yields some interesting comments on the nature of cinema and the parallels between the Lumiere Brothers and contemporary filmmakers.  Haneke manages to touch on many of his own interests involving media, violence, and spectatorship in a much more condensed version.

UN CHIEN ANDALOU