Wholphin

The Disposable Film Festival is back March 4th-7th, kicking off with the Opening Night Competitive Shorts Program at the Roxie Theatre and after party at Dalva. The festival will also be featuring new work from Red Bucket Films, Alex Itin and Ben
Slotover, in addition to a filmmaking workshop with Vimeo’s Blake Whitman.

Details and tickets here.

Wholphin Alum Derek Waters (see “The Pity Card” on Issue 2) has a show coming to HBO. It’s part of the new series, “Funny or Die presents”. It’s a show that will feature a bunch of different performers that have all made little shows, and Derek’s is called, “Derek Waters presents LOL. Presents for everyone!” And yes, he is as shocked as you are that they are actually letting him call the show that.

Here’s some more info about the show:

After a long week, a discerning entertainment consumer like yourself needs something different. Something irreverent, something fresh, something young and cutting-edge, like yourself. ”Funny or Die Presents” is a weekly program, hosted by HBO on Friday nights. We’ve worked hard to make something unexpected and top-notch, springing forth from creative minds like Tim and Eric, Zach Galifianakis, Will Ferrell , Andrea Savage, Derek Waters, Mike O’Connell, Rob Huebel, and dozens more.

See Funny or Die Presents every Friday at midnight on HBO, starting February 19th.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymfYYbsRIM0

And a preview of Drunk History:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSm9du4IbZQ

OK, first off, I’m no scuttlebutt. If you want the super chill on Spike’s
Absolut / CAA party last night, talk to Bill Murray. Suffice it to say I
wasn’t the guy passed out and drooling on himself in the corner. But before I get too sleep deprived and incoherent, I just want to say I feel really good about my romantic prospects here this year. I think this is the year I find true love. You might think, from the past 10 issues of Wholphin, that I am only capable of loving squid and other sea creatures, but that’s not true. I am capable of falling in love with humans and this year I am falling in love with six of them, namely the Sundance Shorts Programmers.

I’m on the jury so I can’t talk specifics, but 2010 is shaping up to be one of the better curated festivals I’ve been to. Perhaps some film school zombies out there still see shorts as a temporary way station on the glorious road to being offered “Alvin and The Chipmunk’s Bavarian Vacation, “Wir Suchen Eine Nutcrackers!” …But if you view short film as a calling card, you’d better understand that the criteria for what that means has changed drastically in the last few years. The emphasis has shifted from “short” to “film.” And we’re seeing films here. Serious and amazing and hilarious and freaking heartbreaking films directed by serious and amazing directors. Many of them aren’t cheap, and many of them aren’t even short, they’re just “differently lengthed.”

Shorts are being screened in larger theaters this year and the screenings have been justifiably packed. At the opening night premier of Shorts Program One, Bob himself introduced the program and made it clear this was truly an “opening night premier” in the festival sense, a sign that differently-lengthed films are on increasingly equal footing with their extended counterparts. Bob attributed the new heightened profile and interest to the advent of mobile technology and reduced attention spans, but the fact is people are just making better movies.

And the fact that people are obviously interested in watching great motion pictures at whatever length is proof that in this business, length, the right length, is everything.

And my god. The mango gazpacho hors d’oeuvres were slurpier than the girl ???????????? (redacted by the Wholphin legal staff) was drunkenly making out with last night! Play on players!