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Review: Dancin' just thinkin' about it

Our fifth annual short-film festival really moves

By PORTLAND PHOENIX STAFF | November 24, 2010

FILM OF THE YEAR A still from Roger McCord's Everything In Between.

Whether it was hilariously gruesome female assassins or the soft-touch smiles of a family enjoying daily life, the fifth annual Portland Phoenix Maine Short Film Festival spanned genres well. We had roller-skating, pantomiming, art-creating, cannibalistic ladies, and, if you’ll pardon the cliché, Everything In Between.

Every year, we’re always proud to bring you the very best of Maine short-filmmaking, and we were really impressed by the range of entries this time around (a trip in a steampunk time-machine was one highlight, for sure). We definitely urge those involved in our budding film industry to mark their calendars for next October — the deadline for our sixth festival! And if you’re not a filmmaker yet, your cell phone probably can handle camera duties. (A Macbook did this year, for one winning crew.)

Thanks to all who entered, all who came to the award ceremony, and all who view these soon-to-be Maine classics online at Portland.thePhoenix.com.

JEFF INGLIS, MANAGING EDITOR

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Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone
Lev Anderson and Chris Metzler's documentary details Fishbone's quarter-century journey from musically-diverse South Central middle school classmates to becoming one of the most influential Los Angeles bands of the '80s.
Review: Joyful Noise
There's not much joy but there's plenty of noise of the rafter-rocking gospel singing variety in Tony Graff's musical dramedy.
Review: Neil Young Trunk Show
If a Neil Young neophyte can find himself rocking in a cinema seat to the spirited, soulful music performed in this second of a rumored triptych of Demme-directed, Young-starring concert documentaries, long-time fans are bound to break their armrests.
More

Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone
Lev Anderson and Chris Metzler's documentary details Fishbone's quarter-century journey from musically-diverse South Central middle school classmates to becoming one of the most influential Los Angeles bands of the '80s.
Review: Joyful Noise
There's not much joy but there's plenty of noise of the rafter-rocking gospel singing variety in Tony Graff's musical dramedy.
Review: Neil Young Trunk Show
If a Neil Young neophyte can find himself rocking in a cinema seat to the spirited, soulful music performed in this second of a rumored triptych of Demme-directed, Young-starring concert documentaries, long-time fans are bound to break their armrests.
Band of brothers
Acclaimed local director David Bettencourt immortalizes Providence-via-Attleboro punk pioneers Neutral Nation in his latest documentary, It’s a Bash! .
The aristocrats
As year-round busloads of tourists attest, people will always be fascinated by the stately mansions along Newport's Bellevue Avenue, more than a century after robber baron money and such financed their construction. Even more compelling, upon close examination, are the lives of the American aristocrats living in them, the town's social elite.
Your phone needs this list
You need phone numbers. Your cell phone needs programming. Spend a few minutes now, and reap the rewards all year long.
Review: Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno
This autopsy of an unfinished 1964 film by the great French director Henri-Georges Clouzot ( The Wages of Fear ) holds fascinations — and frustrations — for the avid franco-cinephile.
Review: The Virginity Hit
An awkward teen (Matt Bennett) struggles to achieve the hallowed devirginized status of his peers.
Review: You Again
In this wildly uneven comedy from Andy Flickman, sleek PR exec Marni (Kristen Bell) has finally buried her geeky high-school history.
Review: Waiting for Superman
If you were wondering about the state of our education system, Davis Guggenheim's documentary won't make you feel very optimistic.
Review: Freakonomics
Aided by journalist Stephen J. Dubner, economist Steven Levitt put his pop theories of surprise causality into book form in 2005's Freakonomics , an unexpected bestseller.
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