This article is a re-edit and republication from December 22 following the film’s continued festival circulation going into the new year, now presented with a new upload via the BarilliantAction channel.
For the past ten years much of my focus has been on helping to advance the efforts of aspiring independent filmmakers in other countries, and in the course of my pursuits I’ve managed to network myself with numerous fight choreographers around the world. Today, you can thank Gutemberg Lins who I’ve managed to spotlight a few times in that same period, including most recently appearing in the upcoming hit kung fu stoner comedy, The Smoke Master.
It feels like it’s been forever and a day since I wrote about Bryan Sloyer, which now brings us to The Book Of Perseus, the latest entry to his body of work as a stuntman and by all accounts, a filmmaker with a strong storytelling caliber and ethic. The short pays a great nod to The Hughes Brothers’ The Book Of Eli which starred Denzel Washington as a drifter backpacking through an apocalyptic wasteland, carrying a mysterious book that supposedly holds the answers to saving mankind.
I’m hella late on this particular campaign but fans who follow comics and YouTube creators regularly all know who King Vader is and can expect something only spectacular as we approach the March 23 launch of upcoming shortfilm miniseries, Strange Blades: Blade VS. Ghost Rider. I couldn’t find out much about this project except I managed to get in touch with one of the crew behind the action to provide me something to share along with the trailer. There could be a new one but, we’ll see if that arises. In the meantime, the trailer below from December is worth taking a gander at to see what to expect.
France-based indie wheelhouse Masebrothers is proudly flying their Hong Kong action fandom flag with a teaser trailer for new shortfilm, Dragon Cop. Masebrothers are the directing team with action sequences by Cascade 31, and a cast led strikingly by Julien Phuong Le and Line Phé for its March 10 launch.
If you’re a fan of independent filmmaker Brian Karl Rosenthal and you’re looking forward to more of his stuff since his latest derivative gorefest in Marvel Zombies vs. Army Of Darkness, you’re more than welcome to check out what he’s been up to as of late with the new slasher short, POV. Here’s a quick logline:
It’s usually the case that when the right people come together to create something cool, cool things happen. David Lavallee Jr. and stunt players Tricia Guarin and Justin Carney have combined their efforts from a concept by both performers now host to new action comedy bit, Dishing It Out which is now online for your viewing pleasure. Of course, do your chores first, THEN relax and watch!
An amnesiac black ops agent/black bag courier is in for the fight of his life as he struggles to survive waves of assassins bent on stopping him from removing an apocalypse-level chemical compound from his own blood. With time running out, can he make it across the border before it’s too late? If so can he retrace his steps and truly reclaim his own identity?
Director Aikiko Izumitani’s latest short film project eventually made its way online close to a month ago in the form of Yae: Blind Samurai Woman. The new short features actress Yuwi Kim who, along with actors Nobuaki Shimamoto and Masa Kanome, trained three months under stunt coordinator Tsuyoshi Abe for what Izumitani’s been developing as a hopeful TV series, one that’s apparently already ready to go with the right support.
Film duo Maria Tran and Adrian Castro have been filmmaking for longer than I’ve been writing, and that includes paying homage to 80s Hong Kong action fanfare with a series of shorts dubbed Tiger Cop. With a feature treatment still somewhere down the pipeline, one can only hope they’ll reach their destination seeing as the two clearly have what it takes to recreate the desired aesthetic. Until then, here’s another humble offering with Tran and actress Lara Balog in Tiger Cop: Yes, Madam!, rendered in 4K for your enjoyment if you have but a couple of minutes to spare!
It was eight years ago when Alex Chung began a peculiar little indie action odyssey with a series of shorts titled Hit Me. He made three of these before closing the book in 2016, and then sort of re-opening it a few years ago with Hit Me: Isolation to whet the mid-pandemic creative appetite, and while the book is still mostly closed (or not), Chung is otherwise expanding the concept just a smidget more. This time, it’s stunt professional Dylan Rampulla hitting himself, and he’s got a stick…
Leave it to Finnish filmmaker Mikko Löppönen to put some fire under my fingertips and get a post going for his latest creative offering, Star Snatchers. Löppönen directed the project at a location that was still available to him when another project before that was cancelled, and with the casting of actress Jessica Wolff to lead the charge comes another promising feat from the same duo that brought Eliza to life seven years ago in short film form…
Who would’ve thought that a mash-up between “Last Christmas” by Wham! and “Your Song” by Elton John would inspire yet another experiment in bizzarely entertaining hard-hitting martial arts action shortfilm thrills by Vlad Rimburg?… The answer: Vlad Rimburg.
Actor, martial artist and filmmaker Ramin Sohrab has been busy setting up shop for a while now in Los Angeles following the production and completion of his feature directing debut, Layers Of Lies. That film currently stands to see some circulation in 2023 with updates pending, with Sohrab biding his time with filming gigs and hosting training, action seminars and, as of late, an Action Short Film Premiere which kicks off on the evening of January 30.
I’m inclined to continue spotlighting some of the best palate cleansing indie action cinema I can find online as the genre continues to be my bread and butter on this platform. For this, we have none other than French stuntie Bryan Vigier to thank for this latest blurb about Identity, and “what is Identity?” you may ask…
Two years after crowdfunding, shooting, and completing post-production on Haste, director Aeddan Sussex’s new action short is now online for the masses to take a gander at. That’s five minutes of snackable action and drama featuring UK stunt cats Jon Alagoa and Danny Darwin, with choreography by Alagoa, and a score by Justin Bell (The Matrix Resurrections, Cloud Atlas).
If you’re looking for some action to headline your weekend, you needn’t look further. Speed Dating, the new rom-com action thriller short from director Jean-Paul Ly who now takes his turn at the megaphone after turning in notable screen performances of his own in Jailbreak, Nightshooters and 400 Bullets to name a few. Eloise Lovell Anderson stars in the short piece which hails from Ly’s Bad Guys Films and bodes as a proof of concept for a hopeful feature film for Ly to one day make his debut at the helm.
Speed Dating will premiere this Saturday, December 10 on YouTube, so follow Jean-Paul Ly on Instagram below ahead of its release.
The long awaited first look trailer for a fan made Judge Dredd Short Film has finally arrived. Titled “JUDGEMENT CALL” directed by award-winning Stunt Coordinator Peter Pedrero. The short film is based on the eponymous 2000 A.D. anti hero Judge Dredd. The character hasn’t materialised onto the big or small screen since the 2012 lukewarm received feature film directed by Pete Travis, the thought of Dredd returning in any form gets us excited and after seeing this trailer we are most certainly pumped.
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