CLERMONT-FERRAND INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL DAY ONE

TERMINAL BAR Stefan Nadelman United-States 2002 22min

Barman Sheldon Nadelman worked at 1970s New York’s filthiest bar. He shares stories of debauchery, drugs, bad gin and describes the end-of-the-world atmosphere at the Terminal Bar in this captivating documentary and Clermont Day 1 favourite. The tales recounted by Nadelman, the only sober witness of the time, are those of a hellish, lonely “New York Shitty” as he calls it; the same New York Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle describes:
“All the animals come out at night - whores, skunk pussies, buggers, queens, fairies, dopers, junkies, sick, venal… Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets.”
Travis Bickle - Taxi Driver

TRAIN TOWN Keith Bearden 2007 15min

Train Town is the story of two colleagues: conservative Al and liberal Jerry, embracing polar opposite visions of America; Tea Party and right to bear arms for Al, free love and “Ass, Gas and Grass” for Jerry. Their respective world views are embodied by the model shops they run, through which they argue and fight over how to build the ideal town.
Train Town is a very funny, well-crafted film and an intelligent and witty account of two differing outlooks on the US.

ALL FLOWERS IN TIME Jonathan Caouette 2010 13min

A toothless old man, a demonic child, a French cowboy ... just a few of the bizarre characters in Jonathan Caouette’s All Flowers in Time. Ten years after Tarnation, Caouette’s latest offering is complex and sophisticated. Its deconstructed narrative and enigmatic storyline attest to the mystery and evocative power that short films can have.