Product Details

• Directors: Bruno Forzani
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Synapse Films
• DVD Release Date: July 25, 2006
• Run Time: 180 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000FOQ01Y
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #148,935 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Small Gauge Trauma - Fantasia Film Festival" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Montreal’s legendary Fantasia International Film Festival is North America’s largest fantasy / horror film event and one of the most influential fantastic film festivals in the world. It is where Hideo Nakata’s RINGU was introduced to the West, where Jaume (DARKNESS) Balaguero first screened THE NAMELESS to an English speaking audience, where Nacho (AFTERMATH) Cerda attained worldwide fandom infamy and was the first festival in North America to show a film by Takashi (AUDITION, ICHI THE KILLER) Miike. Since its inception in 1996, Fantasia has been hugely supportive of short films, with their most recent installment showcasing over 100 selections.

Hand-picked by Fantasia’s Mitch Davis, SMALL GAUGE TRAUMA is an extraordinary collection of 13 award-winning shorts from 8 countries. It represents some of the strongest and most eccentric highlights from the festival’s trailblazing history with the form and is a veritable must-have for lovers of the unusual, aficionados of the fantastic and anyone with an interest in world cinema.

SPECIAL FEATURES INCLUDE: Audio Commentaries on Most Shorts Moonspell Music Video for I'LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS Deleted Scene from THE SEPARATION Special Video Introduction from COFFIN JOE!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Small Gauge - Big Impression, February 22, 2007

By 

Kurtis Spieler "extreme cinema fan" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Small Gauge Trauma - Fantasia Film Festival (DVD)

I have always been a fan of short films. I feel that short films can be a truly powerful cinematic experience, one that can't always be matched in a feature length film. Unfortunately, it is so hard to find a decent collection of short films on DVD - Small Gauge Trauma is definitely an exception.

The DVD features 13 award winning short films from the Fantasia film festival over the past ten years or so. Every short film on this collection has it's own voice and is unique in some way. My personal favorite was a film entitled "Infini" - I found this one to be very moving. Some other highlights are "Gorgonas" - an animated short, "I'll See You in my Dreams" - a must see for zombie fans, and another personal favorite of mine "Tea Break" - a gorehounds dream, while also being a satire on desenitization (ironic). The last film I will mention is a particularly disturbing short called "Love From Mother Only" which despite what the title may imply, is actually about black magic - a word of caution, I found this short to be extremely unsettling and I have seen a lot of disturbing films. Something about this one has a real creepy feel that gets under your skin if you let it (this may be a good thing for some people, but I'll let you make up your own mind). Nonetheless, it is affective, much like the other films in this collection. I would have spent the money for just these films alone.

If you are a horror fan, a fan of extreme cinema, or a fan of short films in general, then check out this DVD - you won't be disappointed. It is great that Synapse took the time put this collection of short films on DVD, I hope they will continue to show an interest in releasing other collections of short films as it is very difficult to see these types of films outside of the festival circuit.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun stuff., November 1, 2007

By 

Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Small Gauge Trauma - Fantasia Film Festival (DVD)

Small Gauge Trauma (Various Directors, 2005)

To celebrate ten years of the Fantasia Film Festival, Mitch Davis picked thirteen of the short films that have run there over the years and worked with Synapse Films to release this little gem of a disc. Small Gauge Trauma presents these thirteen films, with a surprising number of extras.

Perhaps the best of these is The Separation, Robert Morgan's twisted little puppet show (Synapse's description is "Cronenbergian", though I'd liken it more to a weird combination of David Lynch and Jan Svankmajer) about Siamese twins who are separated, but find themselves nervous and insecure when on their own. Japan, of course, turns in a strong showing with L'Ilya, a relatively long (at thirty-nine minutes, the second-longest piece here) movie about a woman whose career consists of chronicling the moments of death of a rash of Japanese suicides, and how that affects both her and her loved ones. I'm only hitting the highlights; many others here are almost as strong.

There are some weak spots, most of which have to do with translation rather than the films themselves (the subtitles on Gorgonas are unintentionally hilarious, and one of these films doesn't seem as if it belongs at all, but those are minor considerations. For the most part, you're getting three hours of great short cinema. You want it. ****

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Some real gems here, November 24, 2008

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Regent T. St Claire "Sacrosanction" (Culver City, CA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Small Gauge Trauma - Fantasia Film Festival (DVD)

An awesome collection of Horror shorts. From the humorous "Sister Lulu," to the grisly "Coffee Break" I think, to the reason I got it in the first place - "The Separation," this collection is well worth the money. My fave at this point is the haunting "The Grandfathers."