The End of Walnut Grove

Friends of mine have released their sixth Ölfilm a few weeks ago. A dark, apocalyptic dystopian road movie that takes you too a world without light. Because instead of light there is darkness and the sound of a generator that gives just enough electricity that Joe Maguro can see his shopping trolley in which he carries around the last remaining belongings of his life over an endless, cold as hell ice desert. This low buget sience fiction movie has achieved what many new movies are trying to create. Something new, something fresh and exciting. If you can find the movie anywhere go and watch it. You will not regret it.

From their homepage:

The End of Walnut Grove
Das sechste Meisterwerk.
Inhalt:

Es ist Nacht, für immer. Und niemand weiß warum. Menschen verstecken sich in Höhlen und Gruben, Schmutz und Dunkelheit sind ihre Begleiter, und sie hören nur den Wind, der durch die einsame Eiswüste heult.

Joe Maguro hört den Wind nicht. Er hört nur das ohrenbetäubende Knattern seines Generators, den er im Einkaufswagerl über den gefrorenen Sand schiebt, und der ihm Licht und Leben spendet. Joe braucht keine Angst zu haben, vor den Monstern der Nacht.

Also hat er Zeit nach der Lösung zu suchen, vom Rätsel um die ewige Finsternis. INTEC hat etwas damit zu tun, soviel weiß er schon. Und auch den Rest wird er noch herausfinden, unterstützt vom Lippenleser im Pinguinkostüm und einer blonde Falle aus Heldenmut und Pappmachee. Viel Zeit bleibt ihnen nicht. Denn ein bevorstehender Sonnenaufgang löst nicht Rätsel und Probleme, sondern spendet Tod, und Untergang.

There is no trailer but I just made this for the contest they are currently having. I hope this will win me the bottle of Vodka.

Raum Zeit Hund

 A friend of mine made a wonderful short film that  has been shown on several experimental film festivals across Europe. There is no music but I love the overall asthetics.

RaumZeitHund
AT / 2010
6 min.

Nikolaus Eckhard's ironic study RaumZeitHund (SpaceTimeDog) is situated in the field of tension between chronophotography and cinematography.

As legend goes, Eadweard Muybridge discovered chronophotography ca. 1870 as the result of a wager. He wanted to prove that a horse had all four legs in the air for a brief moment when in a gallop. In RaumZeitHund Nikolaus Eckhard refers directly to Muybridge's famous photo series 'Animal Locomotions.' A dog, specially trained for this purpose, is filmed on a treadmill in extreme slow motion (150 individual images per second). But in contrast to his role model, Eckhard does not use a slender, athletic greyhound, but rather, a less representative, long-eared brown Alpine Dachsbracke. The hunting dog, which is tethered to a black leather leash, is additionally furnished with black and white circular marks like a crash test dummy. The impression of 'scientific-ness' is further heightened in that the color film is consistently screened entirely without sound.

The dog's movements, which are initially smooth, become increasingly distorted; the animal jerks and flounders ever more acutely. Muybridge was also mentor for the film's complex montage. When presenting his movement studies, the photo pioneer grouped the individual images serially and in a grid pattern. Eckhard likewise arranges all shots in his film in a grid pattern (55 x 277 frames) and scans this matrix with the help of diverse mathematical functions. The dog's appearance hence fluctuates 'between violently controlled marionette and seemingly blithe ballerina' (Eckhard). In the end, likewise the film's climax, the animal floats, in motion, with all four paws in the air. The evidence is there, the wonder is possible.