Dirty Realism
An ongoing list of short fictional films that incorporate the principle themes of Dirty Realism as described in the literary movement by journalist Bill Buford: "...The belly-side of contemporary life – a deserted husband, an unwed mother, a car thief, a pickpocket, a drug addict – but they write about it with a disturbing detachment, at times verging on comedy....Understated, ironic, sometimes savage, but insistently compassionate"
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18 titles
- DirectorDavid Gordon GreenStarsCandace EvanofskiEddie RouseRobyn PierceA character piece between a widower and his teenage daughter, as the father realizes his tomboy child is becoming a young woman.
- DirectorDebra GranikStarsCorinne StralkaRichard LieskeJerry DeanSnake Feed is a glimpse into the lives of Irene and Rick, two people struggling with life-long addiction and marginal employment. The film follows a day in their lives at a time when Rick is dealing in the small-time pill trade and Irene is intent on rebuilding her life. In the course of the story, Rick betrays Irene's trust, which causes her to take action on behalf of herself and her children. The setting, a small town in upstate New York, is woven into the film through the inclusion of details of daily life.
- DirectorAndrea ArnoldStarsNatalie PressDanny DyerJodie MitchellA struggling single mother is determined not to let her four young children be an obstacle in the pursuit of starting a relationship with an old acquaintance.
- DirectorCharles BurnettStarsGordon HoustonMaury WrightGary MorrinA young black boy tends to a horse while four white men wait for the kid's dad to euthanize the horse.
- DirectorMatthew GordonStarsTyler GoucherScout Taylor-ComptonEugenia CareThe Honeyfields is the story of two brothers, Robbie and Benji growing up in a poor, rural California town. Raised only by their bitter grandmother, the boys create their perfect world in the nearby wheat fields. Life as they know it changes forever when older brother Robbie meets his first love, Mary Beth.
- DirectorHarmony KorineStarsMichelrica HughesMiileah MorrisonElizabeth SmithA series of hazy 8mm vignettes, accompanied by a soft, lilting voice over, in which girls skulk around schoolyards, spray graffiti, drink, smoke, pose and embrace, evoking the loneliness, confusion and overwhelming wonder of growing up.
- DirectorNuotama BodomoStarsQuvenzhané WallisCaroline IdakulaPleasur'ne Rose ThomasAn African family, lost in America, travels to a Louisiana church to cure its problem child.
- DirectorBrent StewartStarsRaven DunnRachel KorineZamvel OyvetskyTwo girls, members of a Mennonite community in the USA Deep South, have a first encounter with the outside world, which the short movie lets you view through their innocent, alien eyes. "The dirty ones" may be their term for all outsiders.
- DirectorOusmane SembeneStarsLy AbdoulayAlbourahBoron Sarret is arguably the first film made by a black African. It illustrates poverty in Senegal, particularly for the working man.
- DirectorKelly ReichardtStarsHeather GottliebKevin PooleJon Wurster"Tallahatchie Bridge": With those two simple words, the powerful images of a lost innocence, a murky river and a mysterious suicide spring to mind. Scorning the demands of her overbearing family, Bobbie Lee Hartley and Billy Joe McAllister meet at their usual Choctaw Ridge trysting place and attempt to consumate their forbidden love. Using the storied love of Bobbie Lee and Billy Joe as its crucial metaphor, ODE attempts to reconcile modern moralites with a tradition-bound faith, and asks whether it's possible to commit a sin against a religion that won't even have you as a member.
- DirectorMarshall BurnetteStarsLaura AmondRiley AnglenJake ArthurA Southern Tale of Lies Well Lived.
- DirectorClay JeterStarsAlexandra HuffJeff MillerHaley ParkerKenny, 10, and his sister Lou Ann, 9, are paid five bucks to keep their mouths shut when their half-sister Erleen, 15, brings an older boy over to their trailer one afternoon, but when Kenny's Daddy shows up and almost catches Erleen in the act, Kenny and Lou Anne are put to the test.
- DirectorSophie LittmanStarsEloise Littman
- DirectorCharles BurnettStarsNathaniel Lee Sr.Sharial C. LeeDaniel Curtis LeeA teenager boy leaves a moment of boredom while his father works on his old car, and the mother wishes to go out for a stroll around the block. One more relocated family post Hurricane Katrina.
- DirectorCharles BurnettStarsAndy BurnettEugene CherryCharles BracyAn improvised late '60's short-subject student film, and debut movie of Director, Charles Burnett; done in the neo-realist, documentary film style. A day-in-the-life South Central L.A. tale about a rag-tag group of unemployed black male pals. The realistic dialogue and attitudes of the principal players will remind the viewer of latter day Spike Lee/ Ice Cube movies. The moving of the washing machine scene will remind one of the 'engine carrying' sequence' of Burnett's '77 "Killer of Sheep" Feature.watch: http://dai.ly/x3gftl7
- DirectorJames ClauerA glimpse of four brothers' daily obsessions with chickens, rap music, and aliens.
- DirectorBryce McGuireStarsUland CunninghamTony McCuistonTomas PaisA Southern short film about a would-be religious con-artist and his adopted brother who are pitted against aquatic folk-lore incarnate.
- DirectorKibwe TavaresStarsDaniel KaluuyaMalachi KirbyLouis MahoneyMbwana and his best friend Juma are two young men with big dreams. These dreams become reality when they photograph a gigantic fish leaping out of the sea and their small town blossoms into a tourist hotspot as a result. But for Mbwana the reality isn't what he dreamed and when he meets the fish again, both of them forgotten, ruined and old, he decides only one of them can survive.