What happens when Justin Bieber and David Cronenberg collide? The grotesque result is a brand new uproarious and unsettling short film from Canada. These days there is an explosion of short films. With numerous festivals and online sites like Vimeo, YouTube, and many others, filmmakers are able to get their projects out to audiences to experience and hopefully lead to future projects. Most studios may no longer bankroll short films (outside of, say, Disney and Pixar), but they are still a great art form that takes a special amount of talent to pull off a quick glimpse into another world.
The Winnipeg film collective known as Markus.Milos.Ian.Fabian (Markus Henkel, Milos Mitrovic, Ian Bawa, and Fabian Velasco) are a talented group that has previously made UNDER THE NEON LIGHTS and THE CHAMP, both of which have played many film festivals. Their latest, IMITATIONS, played Fantastic Fest and Monster Fest last year, and they even picked up three Windy Awards (Winnipeg’s award show) for Best Screenplay, Best Editing, and Best Short Film.
The movie’s synopsis is as follows:
Austin Kelsey is the most popular singer in the world. His new hit single, ‘21 Year Old Baby,’ has the world in a frenzy as the diaper wearing, baby loving, teen pop star rides his wave of success up the music charts.
After getting plastic surgery to look more like the famous pop star, an introverted super fan named Arnold decides to go on a night on the town to celebrate his new Austin Kelsey-like face. Very quickly, things become strange for Arnold as he notices his plastic surgery has gone awry. Arnold’s face slowly begins to fall apart in front of his eyes as he struggles to enjoy his celebratory karaoke night and his dream imitation becomes a nightmare with consequences that prove to be dire.
Ian Bawa and Milos Mitrovic produced the short, which was directed by Fabian Velasco and Mitrovic, written by Mitrovic. Their director of photography was Markus Henkel. It stars Mitrovic as Arnold, Conor Sweeney (FATHER’S DAY) as Austin Kelsey, and features a cameo by Divorce Dad (Matt Kennedy, of MANBORG and THE EDITOR). We here at Daily Grindhouse are thrilled to premiere it online, and suggest you all watch it below, and share with your most twisted friends:
Imitations from Markus Milos Ian Fabian on Vimeo.
Inspired by fanatics devoted to becoming like the popstars they idolize, the film is a great exploration of toxic celebrity culture with gross touches of the absurd. As with most of their work, Markus.Milos.Ian.Fabian do a great job of blending Guy Maddin’s sentimental surrealism, Kids In The Hall’s zany humor, and Cronenberg’s ability to examine upsetting nature of humanity.
And for those that can’t get enough of their pitch perfect (and insanely catchy) song within the film, there’s a great music video for that too:
Austin Kelsey – “21 Year Old Baby” from Markus Milos Ian Fabian on Vimeo.
Tags: Canada, Conor Sweeney, Fabian Velasco, Ian Bawa, Markus Henkel, Matt Kennedy, Milos Mitrovic, Premiere!, short films
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