The last film I saw at the festival was The Real Old Testament, which screened with Antiquities Roadshow (another short by Aaron Yonda).

Antiquities... was an amusing little spoof of Antiques Roadshow, though overall, it wasn't as funny as Yonda's Questions had been. The joke started out very funny, but proceeded to grow less so as the short wore on. Never-the-less, anyone who is familiar with the format and style of the original Roadshow would have to at least crack a smile at its spoof.

RTO, by Curtis Hannum and Paul Hannum, similarly riffed on MTV's The Real World and the Biblical Old Testament. "Find out what happens when Biblical patriarchs stop being hallowed religious figures, and start getting real!"

Extremely low budget, and entirely improvised by its cast, RTO did have quite a few moments of hilarity, but I also found it a little long, at almost two hours. The film spanned the Old Testament from Creation to Jacob and his wives. They did stick fairly close to the source material as far as the "what happened", veering off into comedy for the why and how.

The filmmakers were present at the screening, and spoke to the audience while the staff sorted out a numer of problems concerning the projection equipment. They spoke of the sheer amount of material they had to work with going into editing (I think they said something in the neighborhood of 59 hours?). Yet, I think the movie would be improved with a little more trimming. The story skipped from Ambraham's sacrafice to Jacob meeting Laban's daughters. Rebekah and Esau were left out, which was probably for the best, yet the sequences with Abraham streched on for-----ev-----er. They also included a rather extensive scene of Lot and his family fleeing Sodom and Gomorrah including the "sin of Lot's daughters". Granted, it is a story in the Bible, but the whole effect was pretty much one big Faralley brothers' style gross out. It kind of lost me at that point.

I have to say, the best sequence was at the very end when they staged the "Reunion Show". That was a Real World parody in fine form. I especially loved it when "God" became upset at the rest of the cast and stormed off the set. Classic.

That's it. That's all I saw at the festival this year. By the by, it seems to have been a good year for the festival, and a record number of tickets were sold, and most shows sold out early. Festival organizers are talking of further expansion next year. I'm sure it will be great.