I just got back from a pretty nutty short film festival hosted and sponsored by Scion, the groovy car company that Toyota pretends not to own. Ten films were shown to a rowdy crowd of NYC hipsters who seemed to be more into chatting up their own film projects and drinking free liquor than actually watching the films. Life In A Bungalo braved the hostile environment and caught four of the 15 minute flicks.

Artist David Cho (pictured above) was up first with “23 Short Films,” a collection of mini-flicks he created with Peter Glover. The movie featured a hodge podge of clips and shorts that could hardly be called films, but many were quite entertaining, including the episodes that featured artists engaging in their craft while the camera recorded invisibly in the background. These were intersected with seizure inducing shots of dogs being walked, segments on how to make sushi, and a five-second mini-bike ride. The films got much better as the movie went on, but Cho really shouldn’t quite is art job just yet.

“Correfoc” is a stunning documentary about a Spanish festival featuring some insane fire displays. Creator Dennis White runs through the history of the event and even shoots an initiation of a new fire frat member. These guys dress like devils and shoot off a fireworks display that makes the Chinese New Year celebration look like a dud sparkler. The film culminates in a massive orgy of lights, fire, drums, and madness that is a pleasure to see and hear.

Chris Cruse steps up the production values with a really slick film called “Norman” about a man who finds love while trapped in an endless cycle of traveling from city to city yet seeing nothing but airports and hotel lobbies. The movie is very well produced, and has some great animation, but the story is sluggish, the characters drab, and in the end I could care less if the guy gets the girl or not.

The last film I caught was definitely the oddest. “Endless Knot” by Blue Davis and Danny Brown is the story of a monk sent to discover spirituality…or something like that. Said monk/ninja then engages in choreographed ninja/yoga poses using backwards filming techniques. The shots are beautiful, but it can get kind of tiring watching the same pile of rocks fall back together over and over. The film is super pretty, making it easier to ignore the plodding parts. At the 10 minute mark it gets nuts. Crazy ninja skateboard guys show up and proceed to unload a can of whoop ass on our hero. From then on it’s all fighting and skateboarding done in a Crouching Tiger shot with DV camera style. I don’t know what to say. The film kicked ass and I’ve never seen anything like it.

Keep a look out for these films and the rest of the shorts at a festival near you.