The Schneider Disease – Already talked about on these pages this tribute to propaganda films of yesteryear is pitch perfect. Had this ever been done in those years it could have easily done for Central Europe was Orson Welles did for America. There is a cure for the infectious disease that falls from the stars on a cosmonaut monkey but I don’t think you’re going to like it.

Civilian – This is a beautifully conceived and shot short film based on actual hypnosis sessions on a patient from 1964! Coming in at 4 minutes it does make its point but it left me wanting just a few minutes more. Well done!

Marooned? – This send up of 50s scifi programming takes a tragic turn when reality of participants in a Live Action Role Playing game can no longer distinguish what is real and what is made up. Further proof that meeting friends on the internet is not a good idea.

Star Games – I saw this short and I immediately began to think about the video to ‘Pump up the volume’ by M.A.R.S. All this talk about the future made my think about my past. However, this is a very well put together film using stock film footage of synchronised swimmers and gymnasts as they prepare to board the mighty zeppelins to the stars!

Attack of the Robot from Nebula-5 – It just goes to show why your parents always told you to never stare into the sun. They didn’t want you to hear the messages of impending doom coming from the Robot from Nebula 5. Ignorance is bliss, unless you’re this fellow. Then it just means you’re going to have a lot more room to yourself when the robot invasion comes and you’re all that’s left!

The Survivor of the Hippocampus – Tapping into the Gondry universe is not a bad thing when you can do it as well as this. Had they wanted to go into how memories are erased in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind I would hazard a guess that it could have looked a lot like this. It is anchored by a great performance from Juliette Noureddine who also did the music.

A Documentary Science Fiction – Is it for real or is it just a send up of Iron Curtain propaganda? This piece of Bulgarian speculative science fiction envisions a world in which women can marry robots and have robot children. And fish bowls over your heads keep in the oxygen!

Cold and Dry – I can see the infomercials now. How would you like to run away from all of life’s problems? Are you waiting for a cure from an incurable disease? Don’t like your wife? Well in Norway they seem to have a form of Cryogenic freezing at the National Institute of Preservation that’s all the rage. Everybody’s doing it! This is the directorial debut of Norwegian actor Kristoffer Joner and he shows a keen eye for establishing good shots and expressing good humor. If you have a sudden hankering for some beef jerky after you’ve seen this I will not blame you.

Postman Returns – Amsterdam animation house PostPanic does some pretty freaking incredible animation and only a smidgen of it is on display with their latest in the Postman series, Postman Returns. It starts with military helicopters loaded to hell with missiles and ends with what I can only describe as thinning of the box cut-out herds. Makes you wonder what they’re smoking over there... oh wait-

Captain Coulier [Space Captain] – And why not end the night on a high note with this Canadian short that had me in stitches. On the deck of a starship, one which would rival the biggest of budgets on local cable access, Captain Coulier struggles to relate to his crew while they travel in the vastness of space. Where are they going? They’ll get when they get there. That’s the Canadian way.