It’s a feast for the eyes — and the nose!
A mind-blowing conglomeration of short films will screen at Nitehawk Cinema during the theater’s six-day Nitehawk Shorts Festival — and one event on Nov. 8 will feature scents along with its scenes. “The Eyeslicer” mashes many different films together into a single project, and will enhance its live screening with “Smell-O-Vision.” One of the show’s creators said that they concocted dozens of smells to accompany the onscreen action.
“Essentially we made our own perfumes custom to an episode we’re showing — filling the room with scents,” said Dan Schoenbrun, who created the series with Vanessa McDonnell. “So if there’s a scene where someone is eating Mexican food, you’ll smell Mexican food, and if there’s a scene taking place by an ocean, you’ll smell salt water.”
“The Eyeslicer” is a unique project that will leave first-time viewers thrilled and aghast, he said.
“It’s a television series of all of your favorite short films over the years, combined inside an insane variety show puree,” said Schoenbrun. “It feels less like you’re watching a short film block, and more like you’re listening to a mixtape.”
He and McDonnell created the spliced-together series to showcase unrecognized works from dozens of different filmmakers, said Schoenbrun.
“It’s hard to make weird things in isolation — things that are radical, weird, and counterculture-based, but when you put them together you make more people pay attention. We adapted a lot of filmmakers’ dreams into a feature film and they get so much more attention,” he said.
The hour-long episode on view at the festival will feature work from about 50 Brooklyn and New York filmmakers, said Schoenbrun, all of them introduced by an animated robot who acts as a master of ceremony.
The bizarre event fits right in with the mission of the Nitehawk Shorts Festival, said the program’s director.
“The Eyeslicer’ is an innovative project that’s attempting to ignite a new avenue for short films. It’s weird, it’s fun and it includes some of the most exciting artists and filmmakers making work right now,” said Caryn Coleman. “The Nitehawk Shorts Festival is about supporting new ideas surrounding short films, so it’s a no brainer to include ‘The Eyeslicer’ in our schedule.”
“The Eyeslicer” at Nitehawk Shorts Festival at Nitehawk Cinemas [136 Metropolitan Ave. between Berry Street and Wythe Avenue in Williamsburg, (718) 782–8370, www.niteh
