I've got a short little span of attention

The Asia Society in New York on Park Avenue offers so many events throughout the year that I could probably devote this entire blog to them.  They are committed to promoting cross-cultural awareness through the arts, business, education, and policy, so there is always going to be something on their busy Events Calendar that will appeal to you.

In my case, it was tonight's special event; namely, the annual celebration to showcase the latest and most exciting short films from Australia.

Now I've been in New York for three years already, but I've been away from Australia for nearly ten, and I have to say it still delights me to see and hear Americans respond so positively to my country.  Indeed, the audience reaction to tonight's short films suggested that there was a great degree of fondness for Australia in the room.

The guard in "Still Life"

The first film we watched is called "Still Life", produced and directed by Martin Sharpe from Victoria.  You can view the film by clicking here.  A finalist at the Tropfest film festival in 2013, this 6-minute animated film tells a beautiful and very simple story about taking risks to find a happy ending.

The second film we saw is called "Joey", a live-action short film in black and white. It tells the rather unsettling story of a man who shoplifts goods which he then sells to a stream of baddies for cash.  You learn that Joey has a son and you get the sense that he's stealing these things and then selling them because he's trying to give his son a better life.  The sad part about this short film, however, is that it didn't seem to go anywhere - nobody was quite sure what to make of it tonight. So even though it won three awards at the St Kilda Festival in 2013 (Best Short Film, Best Director, and Best Actor), and even screened at other Festivals around Australia, tonight's audience didn't really respond to it.  No applause afterwards.  Awkward.

A charming scene from
"A Cautionary Tail"

There was no danger of a repeat when it came to the third film on tonight's program; a lovely 15-minute animation called "A Cautionary Tail".  Featuring the voice talents of veteran Australian actors Cate Blanchett, David Wenham and Barry Otto, this was a truly adorable film about accepting yourself the way you are.  Featuring 3D animated characters, hand-made miniature sets, and a smart, funny script this is an award-winning and lovely little film that went over well in the room tonight, and did very well in Australia too.

One of the best things about tonight's film screening at the Asia Society is the order in which the films played.  You went from being comfortable, to feeling awkward, to being charmed, and then film number four comes along and you go back to being weirded out again.

Matilda Brown as the iMom

Film number four is entitled "The iMom" and is a 14-minute, live-action social commentary about our reliance on modern electronics (and having the best model of electronics) in the marketplace to help make our lives easier.  You can view the trailer here.  It is only a short film, but it is very dark - and you're aware right from the start that there is something sinister going on; that one family's reliance on technology is going to cost them dearly.  The applause after this film was only light, but I think that's just because we were all still reeling from the ending.

To say the fifth film was a palate cleanser is a total understatement.  "Gus" by director and producer Andrew Martin is an adorable 8-minute animation about a little caveman (caveboy?) and his dad.  They're cast out of their tribe because of Gus's gastrointestinal "issues", but through a series of comical adventures they turn the negative into a positive for an ultimate happy ending.  This film won Best Comedy (animation) at the 2013 St Kilda Festival and it's not hard to see why.  You can view a brief trailer here.

From a film about being accepted for who you are, we moved to a film about finding out who you are (whether that proves to be a good idea or not).  The second-to-last film in the line-up tonight was "Sleight of Hand" and you can view a trailer here.  The story was actually quite charming - a movie within a movie, really.  And I quite like stop-motion animation films like this one - so clever, because you know how time-consuming they are.  "Sleight of Hand" won Best Short Animation Film at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in 2013, and has screened at a bunch of other festivals in Australia and abroad.

Luke Ryan in "Dave's Dead"

In her introduction tonight, film festival curator Susan Talbot warned us that the final film in the line-up would be confronting - bad language and characters behaving in a very naughty way.  She was not sugar-coating it.

"Dave's Dead" is a highly irreverent (and therefore typically Australian) production, directed by Alethea Jones.  The 15-minute live-action film stars a number of unfamiliar actors, alongside the wonderfully devilish Paul Robinson from "Neighbours" (whose IMDB profile photo you MUST see, for it will cheer you up immensely).  The whole film is actually available here and it's worth a look for sure.  A number of laugh-out-loud moments that you immediately regret because they're so inappropriate, which just makes you laugh even harder.  This film won the Audience Choice Award at the St Kilda Festival in 2013, and tonight's New York audience probably would have awarded it the same.

I'd never been to the Asia Society in New York before and up until about a week ago I had never heard about their annual Australian short film festival.  I need to find a way to get on the mailing list so I don't miss next year's event though.  This was a great chance to reconnect with the Australian sense of humour and also to celebrate a couple of short, sharp and shiny treasures that have come out of my country in recent times.  I was really pleased to see the (predominantly) American audience respond so well to them too.