FLOURTOWN

9 min. - Minnesota

Director: William Slichter   Writers: William Slichter & Barbara Kingsly

Starring: Sally Wingert, Steve Yoakam & Kevin Kling

In an alternate reality, Flourtown is a city owned and run by a group of rich and powerful industrialists. In this one-factory town, tornadoes are manufactured and sold as weapons of war. Strewn on the outskirts of town are open ore mines where slave labor digs up the needed ore used to manufacture the tornadoes. Two boys suffocate in a landslide at one of the abandoned pit mines. The parents of the boys come to grips with their tragic loss.

This was truly a rich vibrant sci-fi world that exploded with imagination.  At times it felt like you were watching a Salvadore Dali painting come to life.  The world is the star of this short film.  The animation is fantastic and the idea is full of pointed references.  If you take away the sci-fi element, you can be scared that eventually our world could be similar to the fate of these characters.

What I loved the most was the throwback to films such as Metropolis.  The animation captured it beautifully and the live action actors brought a sense of heightened reality to the stark landscape.  A beautiful film that was perfect in its nine minutes.

Shane Morton