Manborg
MARCH 31 » 7:00p
NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE
2011, Canada, 60 min.
Director: Steven Kostanski Screenwriter: Steven Kostanski
Cast: Adam Brooks, Matthew Kennedy, Conor Sweeney
DIRECTOR STEVEN KOSTANSKI IN ATTENDANCE!
Official Selection Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2011
Official Selection Fantastic Fest 2011
In the not-so-distant future, the Gates of Hell have unleashed Draculon and his demonic minions upon mankind. The planet’s Obi Wan Kenobi? A fallen soldier cybernetically resurrected with an origin story not unlike that of Robocop’s.
Manborg, part man, part cyborg, awakens to find a world ruled by his murderer, in a prison of rag tag freedom fighters: comically-dubbed, kungfu-fighting #1 Man; rabble-rousing, laser-toting Aussie, Justice; and knifewielding cosplay cutie Mina. Banding together through gladiatorial trials and tribulations, with a nod towards the postapocalyptic Mecca, Thunderdome, our heroes are fighting for the Earth and their own lives while raising (or lowering?) the lo-fi bar of anarcho-cyberpunk dystopian production design.
Kostanski’s first feature delivers everything your laser-craving heart could hope for, drawing direct inspiration from 1986’s Eliminators, but with the unique post-millennial stamp of a mind brined for some time in liquid VHS and Pixy Stix. Allow the opening moments to wash over you, sucking you into a world so fully-realized that you see past the most creatively utilized microbudget into the eyes of the godhead itself.
Astron-6 is like a collective of culture-jamming shamans, distilling and administering shots of camp-pop that rivals much of the cray-cray fare coming out of Japan these days, except with less speed and more weed. Do you like The Terminator? Mortal Kombat? Anime? Stop motion? Do you remember when we had to go to this place called stores to get a movie to watch at home? Then you’re going to love the hell out of this pastiche of an homage to the lazy-day, suburban video store spelunking of yesteryear. If we could go back in time, BUFF’s 12 Monkeys-like mission would be to distribute copies of Manborg in our hometown’s Blockbuster, if only to crack our young minds open all the sooner.
– Nicole McControversy
PLAYING WITH
The Transmission
Brian Lonano
6 min.
An old man receives a TV transmission from his dead wife. Is it the absinthe or a sinister force at work? This is the World Premiere of Robot Hand’s latest short.
Puzzleface
Spookey Ruben
18 min.
A rock opera Friday the 13th set on Xanadu inside Frank Zappa’s house where Ken Russell is literally God. Marking the US Premiere of this latest installment in Spookey Ruben’s Dizzy Playground, Puzzleface is part of an ongoing series of acclaimed short films featuring cameos by some of North America’s most influential musical celebrities including, Feist, Tortoise, Broken Social Scene, and Melissa Auf der Maur.
