Trapdoor Fest (2020) Program

On Aug. 29th + 30th, 2020, Insomniac is teaming up with Trapdoor Fest to present a curated selection of shorts for their Online Trapdoor Fest 2020. Here’s a little bit about the 14 amazing films we’re screening:

Day 1 Block 1

Red Dress (dir. Noncedo Khumalo)

Through Noncedo’s inventive, wholly-unique animation and combative internal dialogue, Red Dress is a completely absorbing film that somehow creates an expansive hierarchal world despite it’s hyper-focused intimacy.

Little Black Flies (dir. Ava Marucci Campbell)

I’ll level with you here: I’m terrified of the little things crawling around in my room. But Little Black Flies takes comfort in these creatures. And honestly, it’s helped me to find comfort in these creatures as well. Because as the film asks: “how can you be alone with all of the spiders crawling in the corners of your room”?

Untitled (dir. Rory Mackinnon)

A film in multiple parts, each of which works to preserve moments of our past in distinctly different ways. Continuously inventive in every section, Rory’s film scans for a comfortable preservation amidst its neatly organized chaos. Spooky ghooooost! Come to meeeeee!

Towards Our Glorious Future (dir. Lucas Miller-Owen)

Director Lucas Miller-Owen takes cues from Terry Gilliam and Boots Riley in an entertaining and accomplished dystopia not too far removed from our own. Encountering bureaucratic pig-men and apocalyptic house parties, a teenager is caught between ill-advised nostalgia and the uncertain way forward. 

Day 1 Block 2

Air Tight (dir. Dexter Barker-Glenn)

Our generational instinct to capture the present is taken to suffocating new heights in Dexter Barker-Glenn’s tender experimental film. Any attempt to preserve your memories can feel futile, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. 

THURSDAYISM (dir. Devin Machado)

An ode to that feeling of wanting to do something on a lazy Thursday and having no clue what in the heck to do. Packed to the brim with hilarious deadpan humour and infectiously fun DIY movie-making, THURSDAYISM is a fantastic film on any day of the week!

Polar Rising (dir. Ash Goh Hua)

The most beautiful, hypnotic disaster movie you’ll see all summer! Ash paints Polar Rising with an elegant brush, crafting 2 minutes chalked full of images you won’t soon forget.

Invasive Species (dir. Mike Robertson + Folk Lordz)

Mike Robertson and Folk Lordz turn the destruction of our environment on its head in this funny and visually inventive short film. Climate change is only getting worse, but whatever happens, don’t blame me. I voted for Octo-King. 

Day 2 Block 1

No Likes (dir. Ben Stager + Connor Ferrara)

As we all learned from the Joker movie, we live in a society. And in this society, getting no likes on your tweet is akin to getting the Scarlet Letter. I think. I never read the book. Regardless, Connor Ferrara and Ben Stager’s sobering cautionary tale reminds us to never tweet bad, to only tweet good. 

Rumi (dir. Raine Akiyama-Chen)

Raine Akiyama-Chen tells a complete and ambiguous story in the midst of an ambitious formal exercise, all in about one minute of screentime. Steven Soderbergh would be proud. 

This is a Teenage Love Letter (dir. Tessa Hill)

Melancholy, visually stunning, and full of barely restrained emotion, Tessa Hill’s short is the perfect mix of vulnerable and guarded. What more could you want from a teenage love letter?

Day 2 Block 2

Mug Shot (dir. Max von Schilling)

What if the #1 Dad Coffee Mug actually meant something? That idea is the core of Max von Schilling’s playful comedy, which is full of great lines and inventive world-building. 

CAMPUS:AM (dir. Lief Ramsaran + Franci Dimitrovska)

Lief and Franci are masters at creating intimate films about those living within the cracks of our standard movie narratives. In CAMPUS:AM, they bring their unique sensibilities to documentary. Watch as they uncover the human stories that permeate through Ryerson campus in the oft-unthought-of dredges of the night.

Orange Cola Cream Soda Slurpee (dir. Ramona Adorjany)

Just as the sky cradles Ramona’s protagonist, Orange Cola Cream Soda Slurpee feels like a comforting cradle from filmmaker to audience. A film that elegantly highlights a pocket of introspective joy and self-assurance amidst an unpredictable universe.