This Sunday In LA: You’re Invited To An ‘Ultraman: Rising’ FYC Screening, Q&A, And Reception

The Sundance Institute announced its short film line-up this morning for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. The festival, which runs from January 20-30 will include 4 animated shorts from the United States and 9 animated shorts from abroad.

U.S. ANIMATED SHORTS

Bike Race
Bike Race
(Director: Tom Schroeder; Screenwriters: Tom Schroeder and Hilde De Roover)
Two friends decide to stage a bicycle race to determine who is the best racer of all time, Eddy Merckx or Lance Armstrong. A love triangle develops during the race and the stakes of winning grow in importance.
Link to Filmmaker Website

Marcel the Shell
Marcel the Shell With Shoes On
(Director: Dean Fleischer-Camp; Screenwriters: Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer-Camp)
A short conversation with Marcel, a shell with shoes on.
Link to Filmmaker Website

Full list of selections after the jump.

Something Left, Something Taken
Something Left, Something Taken
(Directors and Screenwriters: Ru Kuwahata and Max Porter)
Everyone who enters a crime scene leaves something behind and takes something away, which proves true during a vacationing couples’ encounter with a man they believe to be the Zodiac killer.
Link to Filmmaker Website

Xemoland
Xemoland
(Director and Screenwriter: Daniel Cardenas)
This animated short film recounts the story of a seven-year-old boy who is led to believe there is a portal to an alternate reality where all his dreams come true. However, the boy quickly realizes that Xemoland is not the place of his dreams, but of his nightmares.
Link to Filmmaker Website

INTERNATIONAL ANIMATED SHORTS

When I Was Five Years Old
1989 (When I was five years old) / Denmark
(Director and Screenwriter: Thor Ochsner)
Poetic memories of a five-year-old boy who ends up in a dramatic car accident with his dad.

8-Bit
8 BITS / France
(Directors: Valere Amirault, Sarah Laufer, Jean Delaunay, and Benjamin Mattern)
A fight between an 8-bit superhero and a high-def boss, in a retro-gaming world.
Link to Filmmaker Website

Eagleman Stag
The Eagleman Stag / United Kingdom
(Director and Screenwriter: Mikey Please)
If you repeat the word “fly” for long enough it sounds like you are saying “life”. This is of no help to Peter. His answers lie in the brain of the beetle.
Link to Filmmaker Website

The External World
The External World / Germany
(Director and Screenwriter: David O’Reilly)
A little boy practices playing the piano.
Link to Filmmaker Website

Greatness
The Greatness / China
(Director and Screenwriter: Yi Zhou)
Inspired by the Divine Comedy. An imaginary journey through the circles of Hell, Purgatory and Paradise where music is a central character. The video begins with the notes of a mysterious waltz-like rhythm, and the soundtrack itself directs attention to the special collaboration between Yi Zhou and Ennio Morricone.
Link to Filmmaker Website

Love and Theft
Love & Theft / Germany
(Director: Andreas Hykade)
And I’m still carrying the gift you gave, it’s a part of me now, it’s been cherished and saved, it’ll be with me unto the grave, and then unto eternity.’ (Bob Dylan)
Link to Filmmaker Website

Storm
Storm / Brazil
(Director: Cesar Cabral; Screenwriters: Cesar Cabral and Leandro Maciel)
A lone sailor sails through stormy seas, seeking to reunite with his beloved. He follows a strict routine until unexpected changes in his path alter his destiny.

Tord and Tord
Tord and Tord / Sweden
(Director and Screenwriter: Niki Lindroth von Bahr)
One day Tord accidentally walks in to the apartment next to his own. Another person named Tord lives there, he has just moved in. Tord and Tord start to spend time with each other.
Link to Filmmaker Website

Tussilago by Jonas Odell
Tussilago / Sweden
(Director and Screenwriter: Jonas Odell)
In 1977 West German terrorist Norbert Kröcher was arrested for having planned to kidnap the Swedish politician Anna-Great Leijon. Among the people arrested during the following raids was Kröcher’s former girlfriend ‘A.’
Link to Filmmaker Website