ESCAPE ATTEMPT
A desperate man tries to make his way to an uninhabited planet with the help of a young and idealistic couple. In their Fantasia 2024 short ESCAPE ATTEMPT, directors Daniel Shapiro and Alex Topaller take audiences on a journey across time, space, and humanity. Based on a novella of the same name by the Strugatsky Brothers, this dazzling twenty-nine minutes of storytelling hits harder than you might expect. Performances are outstanding across the board. Without spoiling the impact of this explosive narrative, I can easily say that it is a visually exciting and thoroughly engaging dive into the metaphor for the cyclical nature of history—the cliche warning about what happens when we don’t learn from our past. I highly recommend seeking out this short. I imagine it is only the beginning for Shapiro and Topaller.
Daniel Shapiro and Alex Topaller, founders of the Aggressive design studio, deliver the US/Polish co-production ESCAPE ATTEMPT based on the Strugatsky Brothers’s novella of the same name.
OFFICIAL SELECTION
Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia 2023
FilmQuest 2023
Landshut Short Film Festival 2024
Haapsalu Horror and Fantasy Film Festival 2024
HONORS
Grand Prize – FilmQuest 2023
Best Sci-Fi Short – FilmQuest 2023
Navigator Award for Best Sci-Fi Film – Haapsalu Horror and Fantasy Film Festival 2024
DIRECTOR
Daniel Shapiro, Alex Topaller
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Jacek Kulczycki, Daniel Shapiro, Alex Topaller
PRODUCER
Lukasz Tomasz Koltunowicz
WRITER
Christina Lazaridi, Daniel Shapiro, Alex Topaller
CAST
Anna Burnett, Andrzej Chyra, Ieuan Coombs, Piotr Witkowski
CINEMATOGRAPHER
Pils Kajetan
For all things Fantasia 2024, 
ONE FOR THE ROAD
Based on a Stephen King story, Daniel Carsenty‘s short film ONE FOR THE ROAD is here to terrify LA Shorts International Film Festival audiences with its world premiere. 
A road trip through Canadian oil fields conjured up fantasies of secrets deep in the dirt for the Adams family, and inspired them to create HELL HOLE, an indie rock-n-roll monster movie set at a far-away fracking site. Known for their DIY ethos, John and Lulu Adams and Toby Poser, partnering with Shudder, have joined the team behind The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs and FX legend Todd Masters to shoot their latest in Serbia with a local cast and crew. Absurd, mutinous, and transgressively comical, Hell Hole is old-school sci-fi horror, yet in typical family fashion, they subvert the genre with textures of biological and environmental horror in tandem with questions of gender and bodily autonomy. This will be the fourth time Fantasia World Premieres work from the gifted filmmaking family, following launches of 
After the success of 
Peter Vack (ASSHOLES) and Dasha Nekrasova (THE SCARY OF SIXTY-FIRST) star as couple on the rocks during the early part of the Covid-19 pandemic in American filmmaker Eugene Kotlyarenko (
It’s been 21 long years since Scooter McCrae (SHATTER DEAD) released a new feature, and he’s lost none of his smart, transgressive bite. Desperate for work, Derek (Damian Maffei, THE STRANGERS: PREY AT NIGHT) accepts a job at a shady tech start-up, working intimately with Susan (Yvonne Emilie Thälker in a powerful debut role), a bleeding-edge BDSM sex doll meant to receive and appreciate sexual punishment as an integral part of her evolving AI. Shot on Super 16, BLACK EYED SUSAN counterbalances its dark, vulgar core with a surprisingly tender vulnerability, creating a lo-fi science-fiction landscape infused with surprising fragility, as legendary Italian composer Fabio Frizzi (THE BEYOND, ZOMBIE) lends the picture a lush, atmospheric backdrop. Not for the faint of heart, BLACK EYED SUSAN delves into themes and questions that will only become more pertinent with the continued evolution of artificial intelligence. World Premiere.
A true DIY passion project from Estonian filmmaker Sander Maran, CHAINSAWS WERE SINGING is a zany, blood-soaked musical about lovers split up by a chainsaw-wielding killer. Over a decade in the making, Saran not only directed but wrote, scored, shot, and edited this colorful murder-fest that’s part gory horror movie and part ridiculous musical. The camerawork is inventive, the editing slapstick, and the tone truly absurdist. Most importantly, though, the songs are incredibly catchy, with Sander clearly deeply indebted to Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s CANNIBAL! THE MUSICAL and Frank Oz’s LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. Underground Section. International Premiere.
The stunning sophomore feature from award-winning director Carlota Pereda (
My favorite shorts collection of the year, this wildly eclectic and insanely talented group of female filmmakers aims to please, shock, and gag audiences. You never know what you’ll get with each passing year and I get giddy in anticipation. Fantasia 2024’s Born Of Woman lineup includes the following films:
THE BLEACHER
WILDFLOWER
DEAD TOOTH
Tribeca 2024 Shorts
Short | United States, France | 18 MINUTES | English, French | English subtitles
This haunting stop-motion animation speaks to the often barbaric side of medicine. Fear, misogyny, and the medical staff’s good complex are all in full view. While the story occurred in the 60s, its relevance does not wane. Writer-director Tiffany Kimmel does an excellent job capturing the terror of a child that undoubtedly attached itself to adulthood. The narration from Lucia Hadley Wheeler hits you square in the heart. The short was surprisingly personal for me. When I was 20, doctors at Saint Luke’s Roosevelt subjected me to a battery of invasive tests, unconvinced that I was a virgin. What I knew was appendicitis was treated as an STD. After 12 hrs and an emergency surgery later, my medical gaslighting experience still haunts me. Fantastic 2022 audiences will watch in awe of the artistry and storytelling style. Everybody Goes To The Hospital will make your blood run cold.
SWEATY LARRY
Our introduction to Sweaty Larry is as ridiculous as it should be, and the original song saying over the credits (written and performed by ATL’s 
BURN OUT
The hilarious and terrifying overall premise might seem unrealistic to some, but I can tell you it is entirely plausible. When my husband was a first-year associate coming out of grad school at Yale, he passed out on the way to work three days in a row from lack of sleep. After being revived by police officers and refusing medical attention, he arrived five minutes late only to be told, “That’s a YP, a You Problem.” Empathy be damned when there is a dollar or deal to be made.
The film looks spectacular. Sharp cinematography from Ali Armino ups the production ante. Lead performances are fantastic. Everett Osborne and Tommie Earl Jenkins command your attention with dazzling charm and ferocity, making us beg for an expanded world. Without needing to, BURN OUT takes a hard left turn into total WTF near the end of its 12-minute runtime, but the metaphor completely stands. It was unhinged before that choice. Executive Producer Jamie Lee Curtis knows talent when she sees it. Goldman’s voice is fresh, intense, and welcomed.
One of the most harrowing stories I’ve seen featured in a short film comes from BriGuel‘s HOW I ROLL. This 13-minute emotional rollercoaster is an eye-opening tale of resilience. Robin Cohen lives with MS, navigating Miami, Manhattan, and a family history of shocking violence, loss, and great love. 
BriGuel beautifully edits Cohen’s innermost thoughts, one on top of the other in the most organic way, mimicking the chaos of our mind’s intrusive thoughts. With an abundance of home videos and footage of Robin’s daily life and love story, HOW I ROLL introduces the world to a woman who inspires us to love, laugh, and live life to its fullest despite what might feel like insurmountable odds. Eternal positivity and perseverance are the beauty of life.
World Premiere – Spotlight Narrative
Based on the 1999 novel Too Many Men by Lily Brett
**WORLD PREMIERE**
Something is happening within the family. Every member has a secret, leaving Sally with no one but her beloved housekeeper to care for her needs. Once Magdelaina, the heart of the household, gets dragged into the chaos, Sally intrusively discovers the extent of the mess.
Kynlee Heiman 
The camera work from Mike Lobello and Paul W. Sauline is brilliant. The audience experiences the goings-on from a child’s eye level. Beautifully lit close-ups of Sally convey the emotional rollercoaster. 
Filmmaker Kailee McGee shares snapshots of her innermost thoughts on her journey with breast cancer. Tongue in cheek, manic, clever, stream of consciousness, unfiltered, and hilariously meta, CAN feels revelatory. It is celebratory irreverence. McGee makes her situation relatable and palpable. She is raw and funny as hell. I would 1000% watch a feature-length version. It has that “it” factor, and McGee owns every bit of its magic.
Dr. Franklin Caul has created a simulated consciousness with the dead. The DOJ wants it, but Caul has ulterior motives. The tech uses data from the deceased to have conversations or seek answers. In the mix is a swirl of overlapping thoughts and confusion that get under your skin. You cannot help but listen to them, and they are chilling. Caul observes that when suicide is the cause of death, the deterioration of self slows.
What might sound crazy is that this tech already exists. Customers can pay several different companies worldwide to build an AI version of their past loved ones. A recent Sundance documentary, 
You must be logged in to post a comment.