Dark Comedy Tag Archive

Live Action

When Friendship Becomes a Nightmare: Hugo De Sousa on His SXSW Short ‘Best Friends with the Devil’

Hugo De Sousa digs into the guilt of letting old friends go and takes that to the absolute extreme in the tonal tightrope of his SXSW comedy thriller short.

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Live Action

Theo Matza Zooms in on Digital Deception and Tourist Naivety in His Paris-Set Catfishing Comedy ‘Faux Amis’

Theo Matza flips the fantasy of Paris and rewrites the rules of catfishing through an unexpected story of digital deception and toxic friendship.

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Live Action

Nathan Xia Interrogates Hollywood Representation and Personal Ego in Satirical Short ‘Flavor of the Month’

What do you do when your values are at odds with your own ambitions? Nathan Xia turns that question into a squirming, darkly comic piece of self-scrutiny.

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Live Action, Premiere

The Guest of Honour Won’t See Out Her Own Birthday in Kalainithan Kalaichelvan’s Darkly Comic Tamil Short ‘Karupy’

Across shifting chapters, Kalainithan Kalaichelvan pieces together a grandmother whose family realise how little of her inner life they ever truly knew.

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Live Action

Grief Becomes an Addictive Vice in the Back Rooms of Julian Doan’s Surreal ‘Long’s Long Lost & Mini Mart’

Julian Doan turns a Little Saigon mini mart into a purgatory where the grieving buy one last conversation with the dead beside the booze and lotto.

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Live Action, Premiere

Tim Nathan Skewers Late-Stage Capitalist Britain in Absurdist Comedy ‘Thoughts & Prayers’

Combining precise cinematography with dry humour, Tim Nathan reveals how he grounded absurdity in truth in his comic take on contemporary Britain.

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Live Action

An Otherworldly Mollusk Magnifies a Flawed Relationship in Nathan Mark Ginter’s Practical FX Short ‘Steak Dinner’

Nathan Mark Ginter's 16mm NEON & Kodak supported practical FX anti-rom-com centres a wounded, otherworldly creature as it stress tests a couple's relationship.

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Live Action, Premiere

To Immortalize Their Love a Couple Turn to a Struggling Artist With Dark Intentions in Femke Huurdeman’s ‘Carve’

Inspired by a cute keepsake for couples, director Femke Huurdemen's writing debut is the twisted tale of an artist taking her work a little too seriously.

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Live Action, Premiere

Retro-Futuristic Consumerism Meets Modern Day Existential Dread in Oscar Garth’s Absurdist Sci-Fi Short ‘Benji’

Oscar Garth walks us through using dialogue-free performances, hand built robot bins and retro-futurist whimsy as a Trojan horse for something much darker.

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Awards, Live Action

Natalie Musteata & Alexandre Singh Weaponise Absurdism Against Authoritarianism in ‘Two People Exchanging Saliva’

Oscar-winning writer/directors Natalie Musteata & Alexandre Singh on building a Swiss-watch satire where a slap is currency and a kiss is a capital offence.

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Live Action, Premiere

A Struggling Couple’s Sexual Revival Takes a Titillating Turn in Kyle Jon Shephard’s Shifting Comedy ‘Role Play’

Discover how Kyle Jon Shephard used subtle performance slips & purposeful camera language to track changing power dynamics, hiding intentions in plain sight.

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Animation, Premiere

Thomas Laurance Exorcises Creative Paralysis Through DIY Rotoscoping in His Scatological Satire ‘Tortured Artist’

Thomas Laurance deconstructs the unequivocally independent process of his joyfully crude sub-£100 comedy short lampooning the toxic pressure to make good art.

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