FOUR MINUTES TIL MIDNIGHT
Long-Form Narrative Shorts
(Various Countries, 92 min)
THE BEAST
(France, 24 min, 2023)
On vacation on his family in the countryside, a young city boy is forced to participate in wild boar hunts in the cornfields. Naive and fearful, he lives in constant fear of a mysterious beast that adults say would live in the countryside.
In French with English subtitles
CUT ME IF YOU CAN
(US, 21 min, 2023)
Stuck in the loop of a horror B-movie and knowing they're always the first ones to die as per the cliché horror movie formula, two black characters decide to reject their fate and rebel against the script. They must outwit the serial killer and escape the theatre in order to survive...but the film has other plans.
DRAGON FRUIT
(Canada, 27 min, 2023)
In a violent, dystopian future, a single mother attempts to grow a dragon fruit sprout so she can one day sell it for cash.
I COULD JUST DIE, AND THAT WOULD BE ALL RIGHT
(US, 20 min, 2023)
Trying to end her life, a woman offers herself as a meal to the monster in the woods near her house. But her plan backfires when she wakes up with a thirst for blood and realizes she has joined the ranks of the immortal undead.
CUT ME IF YOU CAN
(US, 21 min, 2023)
Stuck in the loop of a horror B-movie, a hyper-sexualized black female character decides to reject her fate and rebel against the script. Along with her boyfriend, a token black guy who always dies first, they throw the entire movie off course. They try to outwit the serial killer and escape in order to break free... but the film has other plans.
Director Biography - Nicolas Polixene, Sylvain Loubet Dit Gajol
NICOLAS POLIXENE
Born in Paris, of West Indian descent, Nicolas initially studied science but soon swapped majors to devote himself to cinema. He enrolled in Paris's prestigious EICAR (International School of Audiovisual Creation and Direction), where he studied film language, directing and screenwriting. His second student short film Dreamed won the Grand Prix Emotion at the Fontainebleau Festival. Nicolas started gaining more experience working on film shoots, and, in 2015, he won the Cannes Film Festival Océans Prize for Best Short Film with Papé, selected by more than 70 festivals. In 2019, his short film American Dream, co-directed with Sylvain Loubet, was a huge success and won numerous awards. Nicolas is now developing his first feature film Dissidence, a drama set in Martinique during World War II.
SYLVAIN LOUBET DIT GAJOL
Sylvain Loubet-dit-Gajol cut his teeth at Paris's famous EICAR (International School of Audiovisual Creation and Directing), developing his own projects while learning filmmaking fundamentals. Gaining experience working on various shoots, he joined Walt Disney France as a creative producer. Inspired by his work, imagining and directing advertising campaigns for the brand and its subsidiaries, he began to collaborate with his old film school friend, Nicolas Polixene. Together, they wrote and directed American Dream, winning awards at many festivals. Sylvain currently works as a director at Ubisoft. His motto: "Logic will take you from point A to point B. Imagination will take you everywhere."
- Year2023
- Runtime21 minutes
- LanguageEnglish
- CountryUnited States
- PremiereNorth Carolina Premiere
- DirectorNicolas Polixène, Sylvain Loubet Dit Gajol
- ScreenwriterNicolas Polixène, Sylvain Loubet Dit Gajol, Jean-Jérome Loubet Dit Gajol
- CastDjaka Souaré, Anthony Lalor, Marshall Fox, Diane Foster,
- CinematographerBoubkar Benzabat
- Production DesignChristelle Matou
FOUR MINUTES TIL MIDNIGHT
Long-Form Narrative Shorts
(Various Countries, 92 min)
THE BEAST
(France, 24 min, 2023)
On vacation on his family in the countryside, a young city boy is forced to participate in wild boar hunts in the cornfields. Naive and fearful, he lives in constant fear of a mysterious beast that adults say would live in the countryside.
In French with English subtitles
CUT ME IF YOU CAN
(US, 21 min, 2023)
Stuck in the loop of a horror B-movie and knowing they're always the first ones to die as per the cliché horror movie formula, two black characters decide to reject their fate and rebel against the script. They must outwit the serial killer and escape the theatre in order to survive...but the film has other plans.
DRAGON FRUIT
(Canada, 27 min, 2023)
In a violent, dystopian future, a single mother attempts to grow a dragon fruit sprout so she can one day sell it for cash.
I COULD JUST DIE, AND THAT WOULD BE ALL RIGHT
(US, 20 min, 2023)
Trying to end her life, a woman offers herself as a meal to the monster in the woods near her house. But her plan backfires when she wakes up with a thirst for blood and realizes she has joined the ranks of the immortal undead.
CUT ME IF YOU CAN
(US, 21 min, 2023)
Stuck in the loop of a horror B-movie, a hyper-sexualized black female character decides to reject her fate and rebel against the script. Along with her boyfriend, a token black guy who always dies first, they throw the entire movie off course. They try to outwit the serial killer and escape in order to break free... but the film has other plans.
Director Biography - Nicolas Polixene, Sylvain Loubet Dit Gajol
NICOLAS POLIXENE
Born in Paris, of West Indian descent, Nicolas initially studied science but soon swapped majors to devote himself to cinema. He enrolled in Paris's prestigious EICAR (International School of Audiovisual Creation and Direction), where he studied film language, directing and screenwriting. His second student short film Dreamed won the Grand Prix Emotion at the Fontainebleau Festival. Nicolas started gaining more experience working on film shoots, and, in 2015, he won the Cannes Film Festival Océans Prize for Best Short Film with Papé, selected by more than 70 festivals. In 2019, his short film American Dream, co-directed with Sylvain Loubet, was a huge success and won numerous awards. Nicolas is now developing his first feature film Dissidence, a drama set in Martinique during World War II.
SYLVAIN LOUBET DIT GAJOL
Sylvain Loubet-dit-Gajol cut his teeth at Paris's famous EICAR (International School of Audiovisual Creation and Directing), developing his own projects while learning filmmaking fundamentals. Gaining experience working on various shoots, he joined Walt Disney France as a creative producer. Inspired by his work, imagining and directing advertising campaigns for the brand and its subsidiaries, he began to collaborate with his old film school friend, Nicolas Polixene. Together, they wrote and directed American Dream, winning awards at many festivals. Sylvain currently works as a director at Ubisoft. His motto: "Logic will take you from point A to point B. Imagination will take you everywhere."
- Year2023
- Runtime21 minutes
- LanguageEnglish
- CountryUnited States
- PremiereNorth Carolina Premiere
- DirectorNicolas Polixène, Sylvain Loubet Dit Gajol
- ScreenwriterNicolas Polixène, Sylvain Loubet Dit Gajol, Jean-Jérome Loubet Dit Gajol
- CastDjaka Souaré, Anthony Lalor, Marshall Fox, Diane Foster,
- CinematographerBoubkar Benzabat
- Production DesignChristelle Matou