The 4th Annual “Cans” Film Festival
Written by Cameron Geiser
A few months ago I found a delightful group of cinema obsessed people in Grand Rapids Michigan within the walls of the Wealthy Theatre. They host various functions in collaboration with the Grand Rapids Film Society and other groups and organizations interested in connecting local film enthusiasts with indie filmmakers from around the area. One such event was the 4th annual “Cans” Film Festival that took place over two days, July 17th and 18th. The hook of the event was that the tickets for the various films were free, you just needed to bring in your empty cans as the price of admission. In Michigan you get ten cents for every can you recycle, thus all donated cans were then recycled with proceeds going towards keeping the theatre’s lights on and supplementing the filmmakers as well.
To be honest I did not go to the Cans film fest with the intention of writing about my experience, but it was so damn charming I couldn’t help but attempt to bring the small film fest some love and attention. My time at the festival included fourteen short films and one feature. I saw the shorts in two separate blocks with the feature closing out the festival Saturday night. I’ll give a quick synopsis and quick review of each short, score it, and then do the same for the feature film at the end. If you’re ever around the Grand Rapids area of West Michigan I recommend checking them out!
SHORT FILM BLOCK 1
Single Use
Director: Jonney Zomberg
Final Score: 3/5
This was a stop motion/claymation style short film. The handmade nature of it was appreciated in our AI infused age, and it was a simple, wordless, message about the nature of our modern anxieties depicted with a bit of futurism. The character we follow has breathing issues, and collects cans floating in the sea to earn enough cash to nab one of those fancy rebreathers in the city. Soon the pollution worsens and everyone needs one to breathe. The character is given one, but then starts seeing the rebreathers everywhere, floating amongst the waves. A short but captivating idea about the irony of creating new problems instead of solving the core issues at hand. Sounds familiar.
Move With Purpose: Maria’s Story
Director: Joseph Ramos
Final Score: 3/5
The second short of the film festival was a documentary style look into the life of Maria, a young student transitioning into adulthood and the trials that she strove through to earn the life she’s just begun. Maria then tells us about how sticking with a running team and regimen helped strengthen her resolve and confidence in ways that continued to stay with her as she graduates College and makes plans to join the local law enforcement team. The short was personal, practical, and inspirational in tone.
Magnet Brain
Director: Kurt St. Thomas
Final Score: 3.5/5
This short was the funniest of the film fest, that I saw at least. It’s built on a premise of the company, TMS, being able to reanimate the dead through the power of magnetism and how this process uses the able-bodied corpses in trite, affluent, and generally corrupt ways. TMS claims this innovation will address shortages in the workforce but the activists running PETZ (People for the Ethical Treatment of Zombies) aren’t convinced. Magnet Brain works in the style of a mockumentary in which several people are interviewed, the most entertaining of which is the aptly named George Romero (Michael Bertrando), whose flippant and aloof delivery powers the comedy driving this short.
Ana Sees Her Dad
Director: Mark Broe
Final Score: 3/5
Ana (Evaluna Zuniga-Walker) and her Mother (Jazmine Kuyayki Broe) overhear her father’s phone conversations in which he appears to be stressed out, overworked, and undervalued. The next day Ana sees her list of chores from her Dad and goes about her duties with all the vigor and passion of a twelve year old who couldn’t care less about the quality of her work. When Dad (Jonathan Leigh West) comes home, he inspects her work. This is where the clever note of the short is introduced in which he critiques her lackluster performance and relates it to his failures in life with a humorous deadpan delivery. He doesn’t want her to fail in life like he perceives his own failures as a man. The comedic hook of speaking to your child openly about your own failures in brutal fashion is paired with a sweet moment of Ana warmly embracing her father no matter what he thinks of his own life choices.
Songs From the Sky
Director: Patrice Scott Jr.
Final Score: 3/5
This short, set possibly in the 1700s-1800s, begins with Phyllis (Clara Mae Fields) and her daughter Cecilia (Porsche Kemp) during a bible study. As the Pastor (Dale Dobson) drones on about how slavery is God’s will, Cecilia is lost in thought, seemingly disturbed by the social imbalances of the time. She connects to an unknown source of music and soulfulness, a quiet rebellion to their situation. Later that night Phyllis discovers Cecilia reading the bible and questions the lives that have been living, but Phyllis can only think of the danger that can come from a young black woman that can read. The following morning she too is touched by that same music and the questioning of their current roles. She recognizes this in her daughter again but as a positive sign now, quietly defying the nature of the times they live in. A perfectly fine short with interesting color choices and a decent enough message for sure.
Tomato Soup
Director: Brendan Michael Conant
Final Score: 3.5/5
Ah, who doesn’t love a good, “Will they, won’t they?”. Tomato Soup is a charming little oddity about leaving your home and the people who were a part of it, and the existential dread or quirky comedic moments that can come from such a transition. George "Dodd" Modd (Matt Perl) is a professional baseball player that just got signed to the big leagues and is about to move out of town, but he’s still lingering on the thought of an old flame of his, and whether or not there’s something there between them. So Dodd heads out to the restaurant where Cornelia (Rileigh Belle Wine) works as a server now, previously they had a one night stand a few years back when Dodd looked entirely different and despite going all the way, he’s still got a fair amount of anxiety about speaking with her openly again. While at the restaurant, having tomato soup no less, Dodd witnesses Cornelia being fired and he invites her back to his place after an attempted meet-cute. What follows is cheesy, charming, quirky and fun as the characters reunite and actually get to know each other a bit. While the short was commendable the only real negative for me was the lack of resolve between the characters and Dodd’s inability to tell Cornelia that he’s leaving town the next day. C’mon man, don’t do her dirty like that a second time.
Sincerely, Sage Jo
Director: Jacob Wilkins
Final Score: 4/5
This was another documentary, and a heck of a tearjerker if I’m being honest. Sincerely, Sage Jo tells the story of Megan and Mitchell Shelton, their history as a couple and how they were instantly interested in each other as early as the fourth grade and how they came to be running their small business together as a married couple, Sincerely, Sage Jo. The legitimately sweet first half of the short detailing how they knew they were destined for each other and always wanted to be parents really set up the emotional dominoes just to knock them all down with the harsh passing of their first child during birth, Sage Jo. They eventually picked up the pieces of their broken hearts and out of the tragedy they made something that could help others in similar situations. They had so many flowers that they didn’t want to lose after Sage so they preserved the flowers they got after the tragedy by pressing them into beautiful arrangements under glass. Sincerely, Sage Jo also has the distinction of winning the jury award for Best Documentary at the Cans Film Festival this year and I have to say, it is well deserved!
SHORT FILM BLOCK 2
End of the Line
Director: Ian Gilbert
Final Score: 3/5
This documentary was a simple but competently made look into three generations of model toy train enthusiasts. Even if you find the subject matter bland or a bit droll, you can’t deny the inherent power of watching people speak about what they are passionate about in life, the subject matter doesn’t actually matter. Passion is always enticing when it rings true, and this short proved that.
Left on Read
Director: Chandler Rang
Final Score: 3.5/5
Left on Read is a relatable little comedy about being too glued to your phone in the modern era and the trials of being too obsessive when attempting to court a potential partner. The filmmakers clearly had fun with the idea of a man who can’t stop checking his phone for a reply. They punched up a few camera movements and even toyed with the tropes of not being able to see the forest for the trees. This short was a clever little thing that was a winner with our audience.
Odds
Director: Nathaniel Ford
Final Score: 2.5/5
Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with a one note short, but at two minutes long there’s not a lot of time to make your idea really stick with people either. Odds is a cute little idea of two people who continue to raise the stakes against each other with dares, betting the other won’t commit. The joke is that each of them go too far with the escalation until a robbery is committed. Not bad, but I wish they had expanded the idea further into more of a narrative, but hey, they got it into a film fest. Hopefully the next project expands the filmmakers’ horizons.
Hyperburn
Director: Travis DuBridge
Final Score: 3/5
Hyperburn feels like some well done test footage for the expansion of a scene into a wider world of sci-fi storytelling. The filmmakers really do a good job of establishing solid world-building through dialogue, punchy characterization, and serviceable special effects. Travis DuBridge wrote, directed, and starred as the lead sci-fi/comedy/adventure guy named James. We’re introduced to James as he’s spat out of a portal into a desert wasteland with a large alien spacecraft slowly descending to the ground in flames in the background. Armed with some futuristic tech, a rifle, and a snarky AI compatriot, James waltzes into the sand until he comes across an Alien combatant who dropped out of a similar portal without spotting him first. What follows is a fairly well composed shootout with an ending facing an even bigger threat as the credits hit. Simple, but full of personality! It’ll be interesting to see if Travis DuBridge ascends into larger genre pulp, it seems like he’s got potential.
Invaluable
Director: Faith Hutson
Final Score: 3/5
This short film follows Ms. Smith (Porsche Kemp), a therapist who’s wrapping things up at the end of her day in the office. After a sudden knock at the door, Ms. Smith is greeted by Jordan (a young actress whose name I could not easily find online, but was quite good in her performance), a teenage client she had not seen in weeks. They catch up with surface level notions initially until they begin to open up to each other and share a dialogue connecting them through the shared inability to openly communicate with their own mothers. Together they work through Jordan’s guilt and shame about her burgeoning sexuality which has strained her relationship with her mother. Invaluable is an emotional tale told from the heart, one that comes from a place of sadness and disconnect, but ultimately focuses on healing. My only issue with the film is on a technical level. Within the first half of the film there’s maybe two scenes where different shots have wildly conflicting lighting that didn’t seem to pair with creative intent. However, this doesn’t negate the quality of the story at hand, just a noticeable hiccup.
Shoot, Shovel & Shut Up
Director: Tran Hoang Calvin
Final Score: 4/5
Shoot, Shovel, and Shut up, which I did not know is an actual saying until now, was a touching little tale about how far a teenager will go to protect his family. Andy (Casey Simpson) helps his Dad (Ryan Kitley) prepare their house for inspectors and realtors (Chris Richards) who might be able to help them secure a sale. They need to sell the house and property to be able to afford the expensive healthcare for his mother (Becki Hayes). The realtor reveals that the only reason a potentially lucrative deal could be stopped would be if an endangered species was found to be living on the property. Which raises the stakes of the short immediately as that very day Andy had seen the bird on the cover of the paperwork that the realtor handed them. Nauseated by the implications of that bird staying on their land, Andy eventually centers himself and does what the title of the short says. The edit, cinematography, and performances were all really dialed in, with a methodology that represents a commendable level of professionalism.
The Rink
Director: Kenny Acker
Final Score: 4.5/5
The Rink was my favorite experience at the Cans Film Festival. Not only did I vibe the most with this short story, but it is also, I believe, the creative work that could most easily be scaled up to a feature length version of this world, idea, and characters and have substantial success. There were six specific films that this reminded me of in style, tone, and themes. They are Sorry to Bother You, I Love Boosters, Clerks, Friday, Blindspotting, and They Cloned Tyrone. The Rink is very much about a “night in the life of” style short with characters all congregating and reuniting at one location over the course of one evening. Which is obviously the local roller rink. Tristopher “Tris” (Ermias Stewart) and Esteban “Steebie” (Daveed Benoit) are our dynamic duo, playing the tried but true archetype of one eccentric smooth talker and one more even-keeled straight man. We follow the two as they navigate the highs and lows of free food from local basketball legend Archie “Bron” Bronson (Kuzari Olushola) or getting Steebie to finally ask out Franky (Alexis Norris) who’s back in town after graduating from college. I can’t say enough good things about this one, I’ll be keeping an eye out for more from Kenny Acker and you should too.
Feature Film: Runner
Director: Marian Mathias
Writer: Marian Mathias
Producer: Joy Jorgensen
Cast: Hannah Schiller, Darren Houle, Gene Jones, Jonathan Eisley
Cinematographer: Jomo Fray
Final Score: 2.5/5
Now, I’d like to get past the score first as some will always focus on that above all else. The last thing I want for a new voice in filmmaking is to feel discouraged because what I saw here does have promise and talent. Runner follows a young woman (Hannah Schiller) living in the middle of nowhere in Midwest America with her older father (Jonathan Erickson Eisley) who happens to die suddenly after having to break into his house after forgetting his keys. The man, a drunk obsessed with buying and flipping several houses, left his daughter with a house in debt and no real way to handle that. While waiting to bury her father in his hometown after a heavy rainstorm forced her to reschedule, she meets Will (Darren Houle). It’s the first time we see her smile in the film, her life hasn’t seemed the easiest to begin with. They share a quiet connection through bicycling around town and hanging out amongst the tall grass.
The strengths of the work are mostly with the cinematography and the performances. While the characters rarely had something to say the actors portraying these actors did fine work matching the stoic and stolid energy of the endless landscape surrounding them. The writing didn’t seem to be of a lesser quality, rather it was sparse and utilitarian in nature. There didn’t seem to be a clear resolution to several things that were set up, and maybe that’s the point but it felt less like an intentional statement and more like narrative indifference. That and ultimately I hate to be a stickler about pacing because I love Ozu films which are some of the slowest films ever made but here I have to admit that Runner’s molasses slow pacing was a massive hurdle to overcome for me personally.
That being said there were enough promising aspects to the film overall that I’m curious as to what filmmaker Marian Mathias does next. In fact the director was supposed to be at our screening of the film but they had been unexpectedly greenlit for their next film project and were already on set for the new production, which is a great sign! While this may not have been my favorite film, Runner was indicative of a competent new voice in Cinema and that alone is worth celebrating.
Cameron Geiser is an avid consumer of films and books about filmmakers. He'll watch any film at least once, and can usually be spotted at the annual Traverse City Film Festival in Northern Michigan. He also writes about film over at www.spacecortezwrites.com.