The 5th Short Film Hall of Fame

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I have seen Night and Fog and even shared my dvd with ppl who enjoy WW2 stuff like that. I have seen several documentaries about the war camps but that one, for only being 32 minutes, hits the hardest.
Yeah, it's an incredibly powerful documentary.
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Yeah, it's an incredibly powerful documentary.
What's even worse is the Propaganda films.

I have several. Der Ewige Jude is atrocious on how it describes the race.



Also, quick poll for everybody who is participating:

If the film The Act of Seeing With One's Own Eyes was nominated, would you still participate in this hall of fame? If you don't know what it is, I'd say google it before answering. This is a hypothetical, but if the only choices were to participate or not based on this one film being required viewing.
I have to say that I'm honestly not sure, and I probably wouldn't know until I started watching it.

My hard line tends to be around real animal cruelty (and obviously real cruelty perpetrated against anyone). If what happened in the film was strictly medical, I might be okay with it.

That said, in this moment I'm thinking about dead school children, some of whom share names with the children I teach, and I am not sure how I'd react to such content right now.



I've decided to join. My nomination:



Hopefully everyone's cool with a bit of erotica.
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It's not so much a matter of what I will watch or not watch. I'll probably subject myself to the Brakhage film one of these days.
I just don't feel like this challenge is the appropriate place for me to presume upon the rest of you to have your buttons pushed or thresholds crossed. I eliminated a couple of potential nominations for reasons WAAAY tamer than actual autopsy footage, just because I don't know any of you IRL. There's people who won't watch a fake dog die a fictional death. I might think that's silly but I also have no desire to force that person to watch something that makes them uncomfortable.

And to clarify, I think it's a good thing to occasionally make ourselves uncomfortable. I just don't think it's my job to tell you when/how to do it. Especially in the context of an ostensibly fun movie challenge.

Now who's the jerk that's makin' me watch Night And Fog???
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The Heart of the World, 2000

Two brothers, Osip (Caelum Vatnsdal) and Nikolai (Shaun Balbar), are in love with the same woman, a scientist named Anna (Leslie Bais) who studies the literal heart at the center of the world.

Having just watched Keyhole, it was fun to go back into Maddin-land so soon. I am a fan of his sense of humor and his use of vintage-style framing.

This short moves at a frantic pace, squeezing a whole lot of plot into just a handful of minutes. The editing is breakneck, and the speed of the story helps the different jokes or visual moments land. But Maddin has a pretty deft hand, and despite the speed it's easy to follow the story with its many (many!) twists and turns.

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the ending, in which Anna
WARNING: spoilers below
becomes the new heart of the world and transforms into cinema
, though I will grant that it was totally unexpected.

A fun short, and not one I'd seen before.




I can't even imagine how mind meltingly shocking and upsetting Night and Fog would have been at the time of its release. It's obviously still a difficult watch to this day, but at least we sort of know what to expect from it in that these are all now very famous images. But in the 50s, I don't think a lot of the horrors in the film had been seen in any broad capacity, and I think a lot of people probably still really didn't know just how bad it all was.it must have ripped a hole through the unprepared



Nah, that was a joke.
I've put off watching it long enough anyway.
While you will be (and should be) emotionally devastated by it, the stark counterweight to that emotion is the realization of how essential the film is. It is a howl of despair that deserves to be heard.

All I can compare it to is sitting down and listening to a loved one or friend tell you about something horrible that has happened to them. Yes, you might be shocked or disgusted or sad. In some ways you might wish you could unhear or unsee certain things. But you'll also be keenly aware of how important it is that you are there to listen and to, at the very least, bear witness to their pain.



To everyone:

I chose Night and Fog as a blind nom, I have not seen it. I chose it by looking at a list of top short films and seen it was highly rated, plus I like historical documentaries....Then I looked at MoFo and seen it had made the Top 100 Documentaries list at #4. Then I looked to see how many members of this HoF had seen it and a fair amount had but not everyone (I didn't want a nom everyone had seen already). Then I looked for reviews here at MoFo and seen Takoma gave it a 5/5 which made me feel that if she didn't have a problem with it then it would probably be OK for everyone.

But now it seems some might not want to watch it? It's not my intention to make a fun HoF, unfun for some. So if anyone isn't comfortable with Night and Fog, I'll gladly change it. Just let me know



To everyone:

I chose Night and Fog as a blind nom, I have not seen it. I chose it by looking at a list of top short films and seen it was highly rated, plus I like historical documentaries....Then I looked at MoFo and seen it had made the Top 100 Documentaries list at #4. Then I looked to see how many members of this HoF had seen it and a fair amount had but not everyone (I didn't want a nom everyone had seen already). Then I looked for reviews here at MoFo and seen Takoma gave it a 5/5 which made me feel that if she didn't have a problem with it then it would probably be OK for everyone.

But now it seems some might not want to watch it? It's not my intention to make a fun HoF, unfun for some. So if anyone isn't comfortable with Night and Fog, I'll gladly change it. Just let me know
It's a great documentary and I fully support it as your choice.

It and an actual autopsy are two different things.

My daughter told me it's on HBOMAX, so that may be my next watch.



To everyone:

I chose Night and Fog as a blind nom, I have not seen it. I chose it by looking at a list of top short films and seen it was highly rated, plus I like historical documentaries....Then I looked at MoFo and seen it had made the Top 100 Documentaries list at #4. Then I looked to see how many members of this HoF had seen it and a fair amount had but not everyone (I didn't want a nom everyone had seen already). Then I looked for reviews here at MoFo and seen Takoma gave it a 5/5 which made me feel that if she didn't have a problem with it then it would probably be OK for everyone.

But now it seems some might not want to watch it? It's not my intention to make a fun HoF, unfun for some. So if anyone isn't comfortable with Night and Fog, I'll gladly change it. Just let me know
I haven't seen it yet, but I have heard a lot of really good things about it. I have no problem with you nominating it.



Let the night air cool you off
Night and Fog was nominated in like maybe the first or second shorts hall of fame. If you want to change it (before Monday) you can, but I don't think there is any need.





Nuit et Brouillard
Night And Fog
(1956)

Alain Resnais' Night and Fog takes us on a journey of Jewish citizens, no matter where they were located in Europe at the time of World War 2, to concentration camps. The journey from their own village, large or small, to a place that would be their last on this earth.

Their eyes were startled and they were uncomprehensible of what they were to experience during their time there, Each camp was set up like a small village. They had the Kapos, the prisoners who seek favoritism from the Nazi SS officers, who were treated a bit better than the regular prisoner. Work was demanded daily under the watchful eye. If you stepped out of line, then it could result in a beating or much worse, death. The community had what looked like normal work buildings but they were the gas chambers where Zylon was waiting for them.

When the camps were full to capacity, death was ensured. Incinerators burned day and night. Pyres were set aflame. Mass graves of people who were forgotten, with no name, no way to let any loved one know they were gone. Gone forever. However, thanks to filmmakers like Alain Resnais, their story lives forever.

This is a short documentary film with a big punch. It will imprint in your mind the horrific images of what war can do. I remember my first viewing of this film and how I would talk to others who had an interest in the topic of World War 2 of this. I would highly recommend it to anyone, whether this is a subject of interest or not.

This is a film of the destruction of humanity at the hands of someone who will always be remembered throughout history for what they have done.



@jiraffejustin

Did someone else join the Hall of Fame? if so, can the first post be updated with that?

That's how I base what I am watching from.

Thanks!




But now it seems some might not want to watch it? It's not my intention to make a fun HoF, unfun for some. So if anyone isn't comfortable with Night and Fog, I'll gladly change it. Just let me know
It's 100% a valid nomination and will no doubt win, in fact.


My comments about "fun" did not mean that I expect all of the films to be fun. Finding great films is always fun, even when they're emotionally devastating.


I take issue with the edgelord-ian attitude that compels people to deliberately subject their friends to horrific stuff for the lolz, which clearly does not apply to you.


Despite my earlier joke I'm looking forward to Night and Fog more than the rest, if "looking forward to" is the appropriate phrase, anyway.





Hedgehog In The Fog
(1975)

I found this to be a cute little story of a hedgehog on the way to meet his friend, Bear, to stargaze. While searching for Bear, he sees clouds that look to contain a horse and a bank of fog. He wonders if the horse was in the fog. During his time in the fog, he meets some unsavory and friendly animals. From the beginning, an owl had been following him. The bat and owl scare him but he comes across some lightning bugs to help him find a gift he brought for Bear and a fish that helps him back to shore, once he falls into a stream. Finally at last he has found his friend, Bear, who was worried about him.

I really like this Russian tale. I know a few other short films from Russia that I love. This could fall within the same category as them.