Paperwork: Sharif Matar's Excellent Short Film for the Collaboration Challenge

Reason TV's own Sharif Matar took part in the 2012 Collaboration Filmmakers Challenge, which you may recall we were thumping the tub for earlier this year. His movie Paperwork, clocking in at a brisk five and a half minutes, is now playing at a computer, phone or tablet near you. 

The Challenge asked filmmakers to make a short in two weeks based on a quote from P.J. O'Rourke: "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences."

Paperwork features a tight story with a minimum of chatter, inventive visuals and a strong lead performance by Andy Forrest. It got runner-up honors from the judges and honorable mention from the audience. I would argue that, in terms of technique, storytelling and indirectly engaging the theme, it's better and more entertaining than the movie that won the contest. But I will not debate the profound wisdom of a celebrity jury that included Reason.com movie critic Kurt Loder at these proceedings. Also the winning movie had a clown and a gorilla. In any event, Paperwork is pretty great. 

Check it out. Send it to your friends: 

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

But I will not debate the profound wisdom of a celebrity jury that included Reason.com movie critic Kurt Loder at these proceedings.

That's the key. Perhaps if Matar had peppered his short with more Melville quotes...

I also noted a few plot holes. I am familiar with that model of Lexmark copier and you can't use it to copy humans or dollar bills without the express consent of the federal government.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Oh, and SPOILER ALERT!

[John]

http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/152126/

California shuts down fifty years old burger joint for having counters that are too tall. Never forget, liberals hate people.

[VG Zaytsev]

Follow the link.

It's not CA shutting down a burger joint.

It's a frivolous ADA lawsuit, filed by a lawyer-scamster that specializing in that type of shake down, that is forcing the closure.

But remember, it's a myth that regulations cost jobs and lawyers are looking out for the little guy.

[VG Zaytsev]

In Southern California, a Los Angeles lawyer named Morse Mehrban who specializes in ADA lawsuits reportedly sued two businesses in March 2012 after employees there refused to allow a disabled man named Jos? Estrada to bring his miniature pony (named "Princess") inside. I was not able to find a copy of the actual lawsuit on the web (to confirm this bizarre only-in-California story is not an urban legend), but it is true that federal regulations authorize dogs and miniature horses to be service animals for the disabled: see here. Business owners: please make a note of the following federal regulation, from the September 15, 2010 Federal Register:

http://laborissuessolutions.co...../#comments

[Tim Cavanaugh]

Thank you, George H.W. Bush!

[VG Zaytsev]

That asshole also ramped up the EPA and other regulatory actions.

[John]

The Democrats in the Senate ran circles around him. Got the ADA, a horrible renewal of the Civil Rights Act, and a horrible renewal of the CWA.

[VG Zaytsev]

Bush did all that crap because he wanted to. He was from the government activist (Nixonian) wing of the Republican party.
Also one of his campaign memes was building a kindler gentler nation which come to think of it isn't very different that his idiot son's compassionate conservatism.

[John]

Yes Tim. That is the first Bush's biggest sin. He did a lot of decent things. But signing that monstrosity was just horrific.

[VG Zaytsev]

IMO a lot of the problems with our economy trace back to Poppa Bush's regulatory actions. They've pushed investments offshore by raising the cost of investing here. They were also a factor in the early nineties recession, that really only ended when the credit bubble began inflating in the mid 90s.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I don't get it. The film is obviously set during the Clone Wars, so why did the guy feel the need to hide his clones from Senator Palpatine?

[Robert]

He was told to keep it confidential. And then once they'd seen the paperwork, the only way to keep it a secret was to make them disappear too.

[Troy muy grande boner]

I miss Bob Dole.

[The Late P Brooks]

Wow

The whole liberal conceit that Obama is a good, enlightened man, while his opponent is a malign, hard-hearted cretin, depends on constructing a reality where the lives of non-Americans -- along with the lives of some American Muslims and whistleblowers -- just aren't valued. Alternatively, the less savory parts of Obama's tenure can just be repeatedly disappeared from the narrative of his first term, as so many left-leaning journalists, uncomfortable confronting the depths of the man's transgressions, have done over and over again.

Keen on Obama's civil-libertarian message and reassertion of basic American values, I supported him in 2008. Today I would feel ashamed to associate myself with his first term or the likely course of his second. I refuse to vote for Barack Obama. Have you any deal-breakers?

[John]

The comments are priceless

rossdenney: Try starting a business without healthcare coverage for you or your family. Oh wait, it's impossible.

The only way that mid-sized businesses grow to be more successful is if they can offer benefits at an affordable price to their employees, because that's the only way you retain and attract talent. There are specific provisions in ACA to help mid-sized businesses leap this hurdle.

As someone who has been a founding member of several non-profit orgs (which have insane amounts of regulations attached to them) and a small design firm, I found the requirements to be onerous but doable. The difference between you and I is that I understand the underlying importance of those regulations, IN GENERAL, even if I feel like they don't apply to me.

[VG Zaytsev]

The whole liberal conceit that Obama is a good, enlightened man, while his opponent is a malign, hard-hearted cretin, depends on constructing a reality where the lives of non-Americans -- along with the lives of some American Muslims and whistleblowers -- just aren't valued.

It also requires a complete and willful disregard for the history of both people.

Obama is a toxic narcissist that uses and discards people, has never helped anyone and has no record of accomplishment beyond getting elected.

Romney has a genuine history of accomplishment and personally helping others, both directly and through charitable donations.

[Ice Nine]

I would argue that, in terms of technique, storytelling and indirectly engaging the theme,

Extremely indirectly. I think I would go so far as to say imperceptibly indirectly.

[Tim Cavanaugh]

I still thought it was more artful than just having somebody say the quote out loud, as they do in the winning entry. Then again, I think American movies have way too much dialogue, and most critics obviously believe otherwise.

[The Late P Brooks]

Bush did all that crap because he wanted to.

No kidding. And he did it gladly.

[The Late P Brooks]

TRUST DEMOCRACY!

Battling mental illness and personal financial troubles, Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) is a heavy favorite for reelection Nov. 6 despite a surreal campaign from which he has been absent for almost four months.

[juris imprudent]

Of course if he were a white conservative Republican, we would all be expected to extend him all the same courtesy, right? Right? bwhahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[The Late P Brooks]

Today I would feel ashamed to associate myself with his first term or the likely course of his second.

Meanwhile, Andrew Sullivan, in Newsqueek, is proclaiming 0's inevitable (and Reaganesque) re-election will mark the beginning of a golden age of American rebirth.

[VG Zaytsev]

Soup kitchens and bread lines are just around the corner.

[Generic Stranger]

I think Newspeek is a better epithet for that rag.