Flotsam/Jetsam

In late 2015, "Bright Ideas" magazine and its publisher, the innovative crowdfunding and distribution platform Seed & Spark, commissioned directing duo the Zellner Bros. (KUMIKO, THE TREASURE HUNTER) to make a short piece in response to a Criterion Collection release that they considered inspiring. The brothers chose Louis Malle's wild, hallucinogenic BLACK MOON (1975), itself a tripped-out reimagining of "Alice in Wonderland." Shot in the woods near their Austin homes, BLACK SOMETHING captures Malle's blending of idyllic pastoral imagery with nightmarish fantasy, distilling it into a skin-crawlingly unsettling three-minute short.

Centers around aliens sent on a mission to conquer Earth. Armed and dangerous, they show no mercy - that is, of course, until they catch the human disease of emotion. Their plan for world domination is in danger of derailing once they start to feel joy, fear, empathy and love.

Oregon, a small town near the sea, around 1870. Henry, a grieving man who aspires to preach as a way to overcome his unfortunate past, reunites with eccentric pioneer Samuel Alabaster, who has hired him to officiate at his marriage to the precious Penelope. What Henry ignores is that both must embark on a dangerous journey through the inhospitable wilderness to meet her.

Sam (David Zellner) runs into Lacey (Stephanie Wilson) walking her dog in the park. She doesn’t seem too thrilled to see him. But he is really, really thrilled to see Choo-Choo. The dog used to be his and he is less-than-thrilled to learn that Lacey has since re-named the dog Rummy. This fateful first encounter (after a break-up three years ago) triggers a rapid escalation of tensions in this typically funny and bizarre early Zellner tale.

A take on the classic Abbott and Costello baseball routine.

The tragic 1978 story of the The Jibcutters, the last great American alt-bluegrass band.

A closeted homosexual phones a crisis line from inside his closet.

Strangers in a strange land, Bulbovia’s dimmest explorers attempt to dutifully colonize a new world but soon find their buttoned-up shirts and rational thoughts melting away into beetle-eating, tree-molesting, wife-swapping chaos.

A black comedy about an altruistic yet deranged preacher who heads deep into the Australian Outback in hopes of saving the soul of a man who has abandoned his faith.

A despicable young man, at the end of his life, espouses his comically bleak and bitter world view to his only friend, his dog Foxy.

In late 2015, "Bright Ideas" magazine and its publisher, the innovative crowdfunding and distribution platform Seed & Spark, commissioned directing duo the Zellner Bros. (KUMIKO, THE TREASURE HUNTER) to make a short piece in response to a Criterion Collection release that they considered inspiring. The brothers chose Louis Malle's wild, hallucinogenic BLACK MOON (1975), itself a tripped-out reimagining of "Alice in Wonderland." Shot in the woods near their Austin homes, BLACK SOMETHING captures Malle's blending of idyllic pastoral imagery with nightmarish fantasy, distilling it into a skin-crawlingly unsettling three-minute short.

In a world where moral corruption and prosperity go hand-in-hand, James is out of his element. He's unpopular, whiny and cranky, not to mention a second-rate street mime fond of belittling his audience. James longs for a life or reckless abandon, much like that of his unscrupulous roommate Frank Feldspar - a thief, murderer, and a professional poet who is loved by all. James enthusiastically embraces the lifestyle of a hardened criminal, and he teams up with Frank for a daring armed robbery. *Notes from IMDB*

While on their way to a mariachi recital, a devastating car crash forces a mother and her two sons to confront the truth about their past.

On the outskirts of Austin, 10-year-old Annie tears around on her BMX bike, hurls dough at cars, and smashes things up with her baseball bat. Her father, a goat-farmer-cum-demolition-derby driver, does little parenting. Annie has no friends her age, so her daily routine is filled with solitary mischief. Playing in the woods one day, she hears a woman’s plaintive call for help from an abandoned well. Though Annie feels driven to visit the well daily, she is unsure about how to deal with the woman’s plight.