“Hurrah for cinema!” shouted the exuberant audience, tightly huddled into Eugene’s Headquarters Wine Bar for a cozy evening of laughs, drinks and thrills.
Co-hosts Rince Turrell II Jr. and Michael Angier presented their second annual course of “Shortcuterie” — a thoughtfully curated smorgasbord of 15 eclectic short films. The slate, divided into five “bites” for viewers to sink their teeth into, was organized thematically and featured a healthy mix of locally sourced flicks and nationwide festival favorites.
Self-titled “dandy connoisseurs of the fine things in life,” Turrell II Jr. and Angier began their relationship with cinema straight out of the crib. “I’ve been making films forever … since I was a wee lad,” Angier said.
The “Shortcuterie” perusal process toured the film festival circuit, where Turell II Jr. and Angier activated their keen eyes for comedy. With the help of past Los Angeles connections, the energetic co-hosts assembled a stellar lineup of delectably weird films from emerging filmmakers.
“I’m the kind of person to fall down a content rabbit hole and find weird stuff,” Turrell II Jr. said. “There’s a level of weirdness here that a general audience can’t swallow … halfway between mainstream taste and the truly strange.”
Bite One, “It’s in the Contract,” introduced the night’s festivities with an in-house production titled “Charcuterie Delivery.” Shot from the POV of a charcuterie board strapped to a car roof, the short was split into five chunks, premiering prior to each chapter of the night.
Graham Mason’s black-and-white comedy “Traveling Man,” following a man who can predict the future, launched the eccentric comedic tone present throughout much of the showcase. Alex Kavutskiy and Jerzy Rose’s “The Bride’s Curse” dipped into the supernatural with a hilarious tale about a man suffering from his wife’s untold family curse.
Bite Two, “You’re Hiding Something,” featured an evening standout, “Partners,” garnering uproarious laughter from the increasingly bought-in audience. From director Curt Neill, the film stars two dudes sitting in the desert drinking beers. They craft a scheme to divorce their wives and marry each other after one suddenly suggests, “What if we kissed?”
Bite Three, “Your Own Little World,” featured multiple animated shorts, including Julia Tudisco’s “Children of the Bird” — a singular, vibrant gem about life, creation, evolution and development.
Bite Four, “Pretty Bleak” quickly shifted the vibe with “The Windless Days” — Kalainithan Kalaichelvan’s somber take on death, loneliness and poverty. Jason Gudasz’s contemplative farm life satire “Everitt Montaine” instantly shifted it right back, offering the night’s kookiest laughs yet. The line “gumption in the wrong direction just makes you an asshole” was particularly memorable.
Bite Five, “Body Horror,” bookended the night with Dave Paige’s eerie comedy “Deep Tish,” following a man subjected to a deeply troubling massage experience.
Attendees Todd and Celeste Edman discovered the event online and had a blast. “It was awkward and beautiful,” Todd Edman said.
“I thought there would be a charcuterie board, which was disappointing,” Celeste Edman said. “But it’s nice to see this many people out.”
Barring a collapse, Turrell II Jr. and Angier are excited to hold another “Shortcuterie” in the future and stressed the importance of student involvement.
“It’s exciting that students are starting to wake up to this as an event,” Turrell II Jr. said. “We would love more student submissions.”
