Todd Mason's kicking off "Overlooked Films" as a weekly feature on his blog today. Or maybe it's "Neglected Films." At any rate, I'll be participating now and then. Including today, which gives me an opportunity to say something about films that a lot of people don't know much about -- short films that appear on the Internet. So let's talk about one of my favorite genres: Women in Prison. We all know the classics like Chained Heat and Caged Heat and Born Innocent, but here's one you might not have heard of. It's called Condemned, and it's brand new. It was inspired by the cover of a paperback novel, Female Convict, a Maguire cover in case you're wondering. And a cool paperback also plays a part in the film. It was written and directed by Oren Shai. Since it's only about 14 minutes long, you can easily watch the whole thing if you click on the link I provided. If enough of you watch, it won't be overlooked any longer, so give it a shot. I think you'll find there's a lot to like.
5 comments:
Excellent. Since cable, with the exception of IFC and Sundance, isn't giving short films much exposure at all (nor is PBS, but they were never too supportive), the web is often the place to go...if one can get through the signal to noise ratio.
Thanks, Bill!
Thanks for putting this up, Bill. This is a terrific example of the filmmaking talent that's out there, but has trouble finding short-film outlets.
The guard was certainly reminiscent of Hope Emerson in CAGED (1950).
It is promising, and skirts the edge of camp well...I'll have to take a look at what these folks have done since.
I must admit the one gambit to stay awake certainly had me wincing...
I love Janes in Jail movies, too. So where was the shower scene, the lesbian rape, the black vs white factions?
I'm really glad you enjoyed "Condemned", and that it is featured here by Bill and on Sweet Freedom by Todd!
Mike - "Caged" was absolutely an influence, and I drew a lot of inspiration from both Hope Emerson's and Eleanor Parker's performances. I love the WiP's of the 1950's, and that's by far my favorite.
Todd - "Condemned" is my latest work available online, but if you'd like to check out my previous short, "Heavy Soul", it's streaming here: http://www.rockingoren.com/films/heavy-soul/
Thank you all!
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