This collection of strange and magical shorts are the final block that I’ve had the pleasure of watching at the Chattanooga Film Festival.

Content: The Lo-Fi Man (2023): Brian Lonano, who co-directed this short with Blake Myers and wrote it, just wants to tell you about Tetsuo: The Iron Man. Yet he’s been replaced by the new and improved Brian Lonano (Clarke Williams) who is now a streaming content aggregator and influencer, asking you to smash that like button and ring the bell so you get the updates. Breaking free from the mouse-eared androids that have him locked up, he battles the Content Seeker by, well, kind of becoming Tetsuo and joining up with film revolutionaries Kino, B-Roll and Wild Track.

We live in a strange place now, a reality where you can get almost every movie you want but may not have the time to watch it. Or maybe you do and when you want to break it down and discuss it, you get lost in the machine of likes and shares. I try to keep my mind open to both sides, as sure, it’s nice to have the most perfect quality home media ever, as well as streaming materials and everyone deserves the opportunity to find and appreciate pop culture in their own way. But man, if I see another listicle or YouTube video that posits theories like “maybe all the shot in the Eastern Bloc SyFy sequels in the 90s were high art” or ten slashers you never saw before and #3 is The Burning, well…

It’s a fine line between discourse and gatekeeping, I guess.

Everyone really seems like they were having fun with this and it made me think about how I present what I love about movies with more thought. So…mission accomplished.

Seatbelts (2022): In Michael Dunker’s short, a couple heads out on their second date and drives right into the middle of conflict when the guy refuses to put on his seatbelt. Everybody in this story did their own research and has notes for what they want each other to know, but they’re just like every conversation you’ve had outside your own bubble since 2016. Nobody is changing their mind and opinions are much like the football jersey that you live and die to be part of. Some shorts are mini-movies; some are sly jokes quickly told. This does the latter well.

Don’t Let Kyle Sit Down (2023): Directed by Joel Jay Blacker and written by Nick Logsdon, this starts when some friends gather around the campfire. Then, someone makes the mistake of saying, “Let’s throw on one more log,” which brings the beardless and burnt-up Kyle to the party.

When everyone is trying to have a moment of relaxation, count on Kyle to cry over the bus he lost or to pick up that acoustic guitar sure to ruin everyone’s moment of simple nothingness. Leave those logs in the pile, because Kyle is always watching. Always waiting.

This one is absurd fun with a concept that just plain works.

We Forgot About the Zombies (2022): Chris McInroy made GUTS, one of the few movies of the last few years to make me physically sick, which is some kind of standing ovation. This one isn’t as intestine churning, but it does have multiple neon-colored liquids inside syringes, formulas that transform people into cake, a zombie ripping off chunks of its arm to appear more pleasing to look at, a clone and, man, I forgot the zombies too. Four minutes, dude. This movie did more in four minutes than some films and their sequel do in four hours.

Variations On a Theme (2022): In Peter Collins Campbell’s short, there are quite literally Variations On a Theme, as a couple who has been physically splitting into many different versions of themselves soon discovers that a mutation has been created and that could threaten everything. The budget for this probably got spent in the first thirty seconds but with little more thought — and more cash — this could easily become an actual idea for a full-length.

Foot Trouble (2023): Directed by Vanessa Meyer, who co-wrote this short with Joshua Strauch, Foot Trouble is about Jade, who has a foot issue that no one wants to discuss. I mean, my biology teacher and his daughter both had webbed feet and I remember once he made her take her shoes and socks off and show all of us, so the world even outside of this movie is strange. So are parents.

Jade decides that instead of just getting past those feet. she covers them up with socks for swim class. I mean, you want that goth boy to notice you, I guess. When you’re young, you blow romance out of proportion, but I never had to come home to cold hot dogs and my mom’s next strange boyfriend. Just warm soda — my parents did not believe in ice, for some strange reason — and my dad sleeping through Married With Children.

This has a lot of style, even if it doesn’t hit many of its lofty targets. That said, it looks great and the talent shines through.

Gold and Mud (2023): Conor Dooley has taken on a real challenge here. Tell the life story of a female doctor in six minutes and still have us care for her, in spite of how absurd some of the moments can be. Ana Fabrega, as Dr. Ana Fabrega, is our one constant.

I’d say it’s episodic in nature, but some of those episodes last scant nanoseconds while others play out. Falling in love at a horse farm, a patient who spits all over the place, a balloon animal in bed and a remembrance at the end where it’s difficult to tell what was real and what was a dream. I wonder, in the last three years of dementia life that my dad had, how much did he remember and how much did he think was television? Was I any more real to him than Fred Sanford, Jessica Fletcher or Johnny Rose?

This is the kind of short that you can watch so many times and come away with something new each time. Incredibly made and just perfect.

Earthling (2023): Keith Lane and Molly Graham have made something pretty amazing here. It concerns the summer of 1976 and Jack and Jim Weiner, twin brothers who were abducted by aliens from Maine, along with two of their friends, Chuck Rak and Charlie Foltz.

It took a decade to remember what happened and even in 2023, Jack considers himself a representative of those space brothers and wants us to know that we’re killing our planet.

The animation in this is inspired by Jack’s artwork, which is bizarre and yet has the influence of no one else. After all, who has been to other realities and planets? Illustrator and animator Ameesha Lee translates that art for our human eyes and makes this story even more astounding.

Instead of the alien stories you’re used to seeing on basic cable, this film makes what happened to these four men feel authentic and possible.

The Promotion (2023): Directed by A.K. Espada and Phil Cheney, The Promotion starts with two office drones in a 1980s office that slowly reveals just where it really is and just who they truly are. With each insult, they reveal that they just want that promotion, not because they want to destroy one another, but when you’re trapped in the pushing the rock up the hill office life, you need anything you can find to get you through the eternity of ennui. Surprising effects and a song out of nowhere only improve this excellent mini-film.

Vertical Valor (2022): Directed and written by Alex Kavutskiy, Vertical Valor celebrates the lost heroes of World War 3: the skaters who stayed home and keep working on their ollie while delivering bad news to, well, the same dad over and over and over yet again. Man, I never knew I could have served in this unit, because I could rail grind and get some limited air even as a fat teenager. Perhaps my knowledge of sponsored riders and Misfits lyrics could have been put to service for my country. I could have read old issues of Thrasher to blind vets. Man, while I’m glad that we haven’t had a major world war — I mean, give 2022 time — I do know that I could have been part of the effort.

Foul (2022): John (Luigi Riscaldino) has a problem that so many men do. He just can’t stand a foul. Sports are tense, you know? And no matter how hard you play or your team is playing, that feeling that an authority can take it all from you is real. Just like an authority taking away your freedom, which John later finds out.

There are also those moments when in the heat of a match or inning or round you feel that you’re in a life-or-death situation. And all that adrenaline can make you feel so much bigger, stronger and tougher than you are. Consider this film a life lesson that you don’t have to experience yourself, but can walk away with the benefit. The next time you get fouled, just brush yourself off and get over it.

FIN. (2023): After witnessing their husbands blow up real good in a freak fishing accident, Edna and Bertha (Addie Doyle and Lee Hurst, who also directed and wrote this) are forced to carry on the family business. The problem? The Man (Blaine Miller) controls the water and claims that it’s for men only. Well, when you have a fake mustache, the world and everything in it can be yours, chica.

I loved every moment of this. A strange world that exists only in this film lives here, a place where despite all the traumas that they’ve dealt with, Edna and Bertha can still just sit in a boat and drink whiskey when they’re not robbing men for their bear coats.

The Chattanooga Film Festival is happening now through June 29. To get your in-person or virtual badge to see any of these movies, click here. For more information, visit chattfilmfest.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.