For his fifteenth program of short films, DJ XL5 has selected a cornucopia of intriguing items and slipped them in amid a mix of old TV ads, film snippets and bursts of static, to simulate a productive evening of channel surfing with the gang at home. In total, there are 17 shorts, including two World Premieres and many Montreal premieres.
This crystal anniversary celebrates the return of many regular participants in DJ XL5’s parties. Simon Tofield’s SIMON'S CAT is obviously back, with three new shorts, one of which highlights the 10 years of the Fantasia crowd’s favourite cat. On the menu, POLISHED PAWS, PURRTHDAY CAKE (A 10TH BIRTHDAY SPECIAL), and KITTEN CRAZY TIME. The eccentric Lee Hardcastle is back with two decidedly gory stop-motions animation – Hardcastle's THE SIMPSONS COUCH GAG (RESERVOIR DOGS) and RICK AND MORTY GO TO THE MOVIES (THE NON-CANONICAL ADVENTURES). From the U.S., Chris McInroy (DEATH METAL and BAD GUY # 2) presents the gleefully gooey WE SUMMONED A DEMON this year. After working last year on the feature film FEUILLES MORTES, Carnior (aka Steve Landry) goes back to his roots with an ingenious, intimate science-fiction short. Quebec animator François Mercier rolls out two short films, one an array of cult-film pastiches of and the other, a crazy allegory on America the heavily armed. Daphne Leduc-Laprise returns for the third consecutive year with a colourful dose of potassium called 135 BANANAS.
If you’re the type who gets anxious about flying, you'll love GREGORY by American filmmaker John William Ross. Discover the burning world of New Zealand’s Phil Brough animated short FIRE IN CARDBOARD CITY. TTA, from Travis ONeill (U.S.), confirms that alcoholics should not have access to time machines. If you are among those suspicious of the elderly, you will shudder before the massacres in GRANNY, made with humour by Australia’s David Burrowes. Rémi Fréchette smake a remarkable debut among the DJ XL5 family with A NIGHT OF SWEAT, a crazy parody entirely taken from PERFECT and sports dramas of the ’80s. And to top it off, Quebec’s Mat Rich imagines Jesus havings his own perfume, blessed with a not-so-divine ad campaign. DJ XL5 is the only Fantasia programmer who gets thing started 20 minutes ahead of showtime. Wild trailers and musical oddities await those wise enough to arrive early! –Translation: Rupert Bottenberg
