(38) Short Film Sunday #23: The Hearts of Age (1934)

Orson Welles, co-filmmaker of The Hearts of Age (1934).

I finally got my hands on Peter Biskind's edited book "My Lunches with Orson" and I love it. It is a fantastic read, not easy, but certainly entertaining. I was nicely surprised, when I found out that Orson Welles has met William Butler Yeats and Lady Gregory, while he was in Ireland at the age of 16, Welles certainly was a great magician not only on the stage or behind the camera but also in life. You can look out for my book review some time in January.

While reading the book I was looking into biography and filmography of Welles and I came across a weird and surrealist short film The Hearts of Age (1934), which Welles shot together with his friend William Vance in 1934, Welles was only 19 years old. Hence, technically speaking Citizen Kane (1941) wasn't Welles first film, as it is often regarded.

The Hearts of Age is an 8 minute long short, shot in two hours on a Sunday afternoon, its cast consisted of four people: Welles, Vance, Virginia Nicholson and Paul Edgerton. The short has no real plot or meaning, it was made out of fun, as Welles noted in his interview with Peter Bogdanovich, The Hearts of Age was a parody of Jean Cocteau's film The Blood of a Poet (1932).*

Enjoy this surreal piece of work, no making notes or doing any kind of analysis, just enjoy!

Here is to a New Year and all the bizarre things that expect us!

*Information about the interview taken form OpenCulture homepage, you can view it here.

(37) Short Film Sunday #22: Tom Waits: A Day in Vienna (1978)

Tom Waits: A Day in Vienna (1978).

It has come to that, this year is over, last few hours of 2013, when a door closes, a window opens, so get ready for 2014! Don't look back, only look ahead, get ready for your next year's adventures, remarkable achievements and exciting short and longer films! It will be fabulous.

I have decided to finish off Short Film Sunday this year with some great and captivating stories and an excellent soundtrack, tuck in, grab your glass of champagne/wine/fizzy something and enjoy Tom Waits: A Day in Vienna (1978).

Filmed in April, 1978/1979, there are still some discussions about the timeline of the film, however at the end of the film, in the titles it is written that it was 1978. The films starts with Tom Waits leaning against a pump in a gas station, while smoking a cigarette, and opens up with his story, how he once worked in a place like this... When in 1978/1979 Tom Waits was touring in Europe two Austrian filmmakers, Rudi Dolezal and Hannes Rossacher, approached him in Vienna, asking whether Waits would agree to do an interview. As Rossacher said, Waits "didn't want to do a proper interview, but instead he wanted to tell stories". Hope you enjoy!

So, my dear reader, live next year in a way that you have a handful of stories to tell while sitting down by a glass of champagne at the end of 2014.

(36) Short Film Sunday #21: The Snowman (1982)

The Snowman (1982).

Who is there up in the air? Close your eyes and imagine. Never ever limit your imagination, let it fly free.

Only two nights left till Christmas Eve, and three till Christmas day, we should all remember that this is a magical time not only for kids, but for all of us. This should be time when to read folk tales, fairy tales, your own tales, it is a time to add a bit of magic to everyday life. Raymond Briggs' animated picture book without words "The Snowman", published in 1978, brings to its readers or shall I say viewers, a bit of magic, that there is something more than our eyes can see. In 1982 the book was brought to the screen in a 26 minute short film The Snowman, and for the first time it was screened on December 26, 1982, on Channel 4. Immediately it was nominated for an Academy Award. The short film, same as the book, is wordless, with an exception of the song "Walking in the Air", performed by St Paul's Cathedral's choirboy Peter Auty, who was not credited in the original version, so many think that the song was performed by Aled Jones.

The Snowman is an exceptional work of art, it was made using traditional animation techniques, pastels, pencils and other colouring tools, which were used on pieces of celluloid  and then traced over hand drawn frames. The film tells a story of a young boy James, who discovers Christmas and its magic, during Christmas night James learns about fragility of life, importance of imagination and above all he learns about the importance of friendship.

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of The Snowman, last year a sequel was made The Snowman and The Snowdog (2012).

The Snowman will bring to your home a white, happy and magical Christmas. Enjoy, my dear readers, and have a miraculous Christmas!