Worldwide Short Film Festival -- SciFi Out There

The finale of the WWSFF was on Sunday night, and I caught the not-so-late-night show. Again, like with the other shorts I saw, this compilation was mixed. There were a couple of standouts, a few with potential and then some duds. What follows includes some spoilers. You've been warned.

Skylab -- In 1979, NASA's Skylab came plummeting down. I was in Guyana at the time, and I remembered being scared that something really big and heavy was going to fall from the sky and kill us all. Apparently the film makers of this short had the same childhood experience. Skylab is falling, and for Benj Handle, the world was ending. His mom was also remarrying and he didn't really like his stepdad to be. The short had potential, but it got wasted. It was a personal story -- but that was it -- just a story -- no SciFi -- just what Skylab meant to the filmmaker as a child.

The Eiffel Tower (Eiffeltornet) -- A guy wakes up from a dream, where he's running around Paris in search of the Eiffel Tower. The world has changed slightly -- shifted -- and it's a significant shift. So what. It was a Twilight Zone episode -- only in the Twilight Zone, the guy wakes up and language was changed. Same story. Blah.

9 -- It's a strange world in this animated short. "9" faces off against a monster that's been killing off his brethren and stealing their souls. The animation was excellent, even if it was for a simple story. The design, stylized characters and animation style was unique and beautiful. If there was dialogue to the story, it would have been more effective.

Cost of Living -- The Cigarette-man (aka Cancer-man) from the X-Files was the surprise in this film. He's out looking to buy a replacement body, but can't even afford the cheapest model available. He has cancer and less than a year to live. He can get a new body, but only if he accepts payment terms that puts him into slavery for the next 100 years. Is it worth life? He chooses ... a very thought provoking film. Simple, yet a highly effective story.

Echo -- This was a silly animated piece. It's a music video. The premise was a good one -- the execution, just dumb.

Blake's Junction 7 -- I suppose you had to have seen Blake's 7 to get this short. It had potential, was kinda funny in places -- but I had no context.

Buck's Big Bang -- An OK animated short -- fanciful, with a bit of humour. Animation was nothing special -- story OK.

The Fifth Moon (La Cinquieme Lune) -- This short told the story of Vassili, a Soviet cosmonaut, who walked on the Moon. Well, the footage was never released you see, as Soviets buggered up the staging of the fake movie that was going to get them to the Moon before the Americans. I don't think this was a true story. Interesting idea -- well executed.