Short 8 - Vision (2000)

This is the eighth in a series of DVDs designed to highlight short films and interactive content. Each issue is loosely curated according to a theme: Dreams, Utopia, Seduction, or, in this case, Vision. It's also divided into four sections: narrative, documentary, music, and spoken word. As with most short-film collections, there is a tendency here to try to appeal to everybody, which leads to an uneven mix that inevitably includes some clunkers. Though few of the pieces have anything to do with the theme of "Vision" (the needlessly interactive "Why Liberace?" is nothing more than a simplistic fan documentary, for example), a few of the shorts actually do (Amy Talkington's "Number One Fan" is about a photographer who likes to fake death scenes; "The Cinema Ticket" is about a boy trying to save money to go to a movie).

The reason you want to rent this collection is to see Charles Stone III's "True." It's the short film that landed him the oft-parodied "Whassup?!" Budweiser commercial. (In this one he's watching the game but not having a Bud!) Then again, the reason you really ought to buy this collection is for the little-seen "Tag der Freiheit (Day of Freedom)," Leni Riefenstahl's follow-up to her Nazi propaganda masterpiece Triumph of the Will. Because her filmmaking is so good and so universal, and because the Nazis lost, her films actually work as a critique of the whole concept of propaganda. The short includes a commentary track by Robert von Dassanowksy, Ph.D., who defends Riefenstahl with a feminist reading of her films and her career. --Andy Spletzer Amazon.com

Serpent and The Sandman

Wow! The first Short fim DVD on Spoken Word Poetry of it's kind
Groundbreaking indeed. Beautiful Nevada Landscape paint a great background for this epic poem. I think in five Minutes Ben Porter Lewis give a vivid and insightful impression of images and metaphor recreating in oral tradition over two thousand years of History, Amazing. Furthermore the Interview is A concise Five minute diatribe on the history and current state and future of modern poetry. this is the Kind of Poem You must listen to over and over again. Jeff Wood's Three Tricksters Poem On Short 11 is A similar and Like styled Spoken word Masterpeice riddled with Metaphysical Questions and Mysticism. Both are undeniable and replete with wisdom and truth... January 31, 2002

Serpent and The Sandman

Wow! The first Short fim DVD on Spoken Word Poetry of it's kind
Groundbreaking indeed. Beautiful Nevada Landscape paint a great background for this epic poem. I think in five Minutes Ben Porter Lewis give a vivid and insightful impression of images and metaphor recreating in oral tradition over two thousand years of History, Amazing. Furthermore the Interview is A concise Five minute diatribe on the history and current state and future of modern poetry. this is the Kind of Poem You must listen to over and over again. Jeff Wood's Three Tricksters Poem On Short 11 is A similar and Like styled Spoken word Masterpeice riddled with Metaphysical Questions and Mysticism. Both are undeniable and replete with wisdom and truth... January 31, 2002

From Nazis to Liberace and best of all the "whazzup" short

What a strange yet compelling collection. The cover promises a rarely seen Leni Riefenstahl short, which turns out to be 20 odd minutes of Nazis marching. Amazing imagry and historically interesting, but it's certainly not her best work. There's an oral essay by a Riefenstahl expert that you can play and listen to as you watch the film, and it helps explain who she was and why her work is important.

There's a piece on Liberace which is fun for the kitch value.

But best of all is the short film that inspired those omnipresent Budweiser "whazzup! " ads. The short is very similar to the first ad, but somehow seems much better, much funnier than the ads. It's a real film! And how great to see it before it was corrupted by "having a bud." August 29, 2000

Great short films from worldwide.

If you are looking for quality short films from worldwide, 'Short' dvd series definitely is the one to go for. 'Short 8: Vision', the 8th dvd from the 'Short' dvd series, has optimized the usage of dvd format as previous issues, providing commentaries, behind-the-sense, production notes of the films which will let viewers have further understanding on the flim makers' concept behind their works. Compare with previous issues, 'Vision' also has better menu navigation. June 14, 2000

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