Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas! Watch 100 Year Old Santa Claus Films

Well I hope all the boy and girls in film fanland tonight will brush their teeth, hang up their stockings and get some shut eye as our favourite overweight man with a big white beard and a iconic red and white suite will be delivering his presents as we sleep. Ole Santa Clause is the icon for this time of the year outside the religion importance of this time of the year and is subject to many Christmas based films every year. Lets step back in time to over 100 years ago and thanks to BFI (via Filmschoolrejects) we have 5 films all short films which show Old Saint Nick or the spirit of Christmas.

George Albert Smith‘s 1898 short Santa Claus (aka The Visit From Santa Claus), which is one of the first on screen adaptations of Santa showing the big man deliver gifts to a house but compare it to The Night Before Christmas not the Tim Burton  film but Edwin S Porter's version. produced by none other than Thomas Edison which expands on the delivering with going into Santa's workshop as well as a wonderful sleigh ride. A Little Girl Who Did Not Believe in Santa Claus based on Virginia O’Hanlon story Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus which expands more on the characters magic and a myth of a boy who lasso's Santa taking him back to Virginia and to homes of poor kids which apparently he doesn't do! In the 1914 docunmentary come fantasy Making Christmas Crackers, we see a set of women create the crackers we like to pull at our dinners with the final part we see Santa appear when some kids pull a giant cracker. Finally we have   Wladyslaw Starewicz's  The Insects’ Christmas a creepy but intriguing Polish short which sees a Santa ornament celebrate Christmas in the company of insects.

We all take Christmas for granted and expect certain things, traditions so it's always fascinating to go back to a period before high tech films, computers, technology in general dominated our lives, when life was more innocent and the true message of Christmas wasn't about commercialization.










The Insects' Christmas from David Cairns on Vimeo.

Not All Fairytale Ending In Short The Little Mermaid

When you mention The Little Mermaid you automatically think of  The Disney animated film but like many literature classics they get adapted over and over again. In Nicholas Humpries short film he takes the classic Hans Christian Anderson fairytale twisted the imagery into something captivating,unsettling as the mermaid struggles for freedom.

The Little Mermaid is part Vancouver Film School’s “Compendium” series, enjoy the full short visually brilliant.

Deep in a barren, fantastical wasteland lays a dilapidated circus tent. Inside, an ominous ringmaster forces his prized act, a real live mermaid to perform for a group of grimy, working class spectators. The mermaid, though frightening, is but a lovesick, caged animal praying for release from her endless torture. Unwilling to surrender his meal ticket, the ringmaster rejects her pleas for compassion and continues to confine the mermaid to her stagnant holding tank. With nowhere to escape to, the mermaid must make the choice between holding on to the hope of freedom and putting an end to her abuse.
Produced by Samantha Jewell, Lindsey Mann, Justin Simon and Aliya Tarmo through the VFS Compendium series and Directed by Nicholas Humphries (Riese: Kingdom Falling), The Little Mermaid is a twisted reimagining of the classic Hans Christian Anderson tale.

source:Quietearth 

Watch The Action Packed Sci-Fi Short Memorize

Whilst we may not always give the credit CGI deserves, Jimmy Eriksson and Eric Ramberg's action packed sci-fi short Memorize proves the technology has a few beneficial tricks up it's sleeve. If your opposed Identity cards with chips in them containing everything you need to know about yourself (good & bad) , in Memorize 15 years from now we'll all have chips embedded into our necks!

In 2027 The SSU - Special Surveillance Unit track all our moves to make sure no crime is committed, Earth is simply a Police state. When a SSU agent attempts  track down an suspected killer that perfect system to prevent crime show the agent it has 'problems'. As we slowly move towards becoming a 'Police State' I'm sure the Police force of today would love to get their hands on some of those gadgets and control those among us  who love to be on the wrong side of the law. Memorize is a very slick looking film with nice CGI touches and with a big doze of Minority Report thrown in, just remember don't think about things that could be construed as 'criminal' or you'll have The SSU breathing down your back!


Memorize - Short Film from Jimmy Eriksson on Vimeo.
source:Vimeo