It’s difficult to live in any urban hub in 2012 and not hear the word “hipster” uttered countless times each week. Whether it’s in the context of people complaining about the apparent recent influx of them, yearning to be identified as one or denying they are one, never before has a word with such vague and hazy definitions caused such contentious debate. In any case, filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton has chosen this label to run with in his debut feature film, I Am Not a Hipster, that last week premiered to great acclaim in the Official Selection of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

“Going there this year with a feature film was pretty different than going with a short,” Cretton told us after he returned home from the festival, referring to Short Term 12, the short film he took to Sundance in 2009. “It was seriously one of the best experiences of my life. I met some incredible filmmakers there whose friendships have lasted long after the festival.”

His experience at this year’s festival was unparalleled, though, if only for the fact that the audiences for and hype surrounding feature film screenings are much greater than they are for shorts. “It’s pretty crazy watching all these people line up to come and see your movie,” Cretton, who saw each screening sell out, said. “During our premiere screening I thought my chest was going to explode”

The storyline of the film centers around San Diego-based musician Brook Hyde (played by Dominic Bogart), who is dealing with the double-barreled heartache that resulted from a break-up with his girlfriend and the death of his mother. The music Brook produces in the film’s narrative may have been performed by him, but it was written by Joel P West, whose alias Canines is a band he created specifically for the movie.

“He wrote the entire album from the perspective of the film’s main character,” Cretton told us, “He and Dominic worked together to create the voice and sound of the character’s music.” The collaborative relationship between Bogart and West is surely music to Cretton’s ears (sorry), considering they were a large part of his reasons for embarking on this film in the first place.

“This movie started out as an excuse to work with Dominic Bogart (one of my favorite actors) and Joel P West (one of my favorite musicians). I was excited about the idea of creating a character-driven story that took place inside the indie-music scene in San Diego, which was a world I grew to love while living there for 10 years. When we shot the film, we called on the talents of all our friends from that community…so it was a film that was made by the community that it’s portraying.”

That’s what I Am Not a Hipster really boils down to, after all: the celebration and acknowledgement of a creative community, rather than one about pretentiousness or self-awareness. The connotations of the word in the title, Cretton told us, are sure to leave viewer’s (and doubter’s) minds not long after the opening titles.

“I think once people watch the film, they’ll see that this isn’t just some silly spoof on hipsterdom. What starts out as something seemingly shallow, turns into an intimate story about family, friendship, and the difficulty in dealing with loss. I’ve never been too fond of labels in general, and hope this movie helps to tear down some of the stereotypes associated with this subculture.”

Become a fan of I Am Not A Hipster here, and download the Canines record here.

Think of Afghanistan and you’ll be confronted with images of war, violence and danger. Google Afghanistan and you’ll get a toppling news feed of civilian casualties, a war that has left a country distraught for more than ten years, political promises to pull out, grandiose claims that This Will End Soon. Go to Afghanistan and you can witness a country and a people that go deeper and are stronger than their daily hardships; a landscape of arrestingly spectacular mountain ranges and soaring landscapes that are largely untouched; close knit village communities studded with the unblinking eyes of locals.

Lukas Augustin spent two years living in Kabul, undertaking civil service for a humanitarian aid organization between 2006-2008. Last March he had the opportunity to visit again, this time with his camera in tow and an idea to portrait a place whose international perception has been clouded by misfortune. How fundamentally terrible is the typical Western idea of Afghanistan, in which a country is identified more by its tragedies than its triumphs? Augustin strips back this concept by capturing the natural beauty of Afghanistan as well as the kind faces that populate its terrain, sprinkled with vignettes of children cheerfully playing amongst the dust and the dirt; families sitting down for a loud, happy meal eaten with their hands.

As humbling and stunningly shot (on a Canon 5d mark ii and 7d) as the film is, Augustin is careful not to disregard the unfortunate reality of a land pillaged by war. There’s a heart wrenching, intimate moment where a tear slides down a gun-wielding soldier’s cheek; there’s visible hurt in the eyes of men, there’s the film’s dedication to Augustin‘s friend who was shot in the streets of Kabul.

Watch this film and maybe next time you think of Afghanistan you’ll remember the strength of its people and their grinning faces, rather than its sorrow and torment, and instead of its devastating headlines.

If there were ever a film with insane amounts of bad-ass girl power (Spice World aside), it’s definitely Juan Rayos‘ four-part long-boarding documentary Endless Roads.  Chronicling a Volkswagen van road-tripping journey taken by the Longboard Girls Crew through the hills of Spain, the third chapter, titled The Land of Castles, sees the team pass through the cities of Calpe, Denia, and Toledo, all with enough unique physical characteristics to make it a must-skate destination.

The scenery is gorgeous and the energy is a combination of camaraderie and a blatant disregard for any inhibitions. These girls glide down hills and carve into their surroundings with the greatest of ease, making it seem like an absolute cinch. They all get along amazingly, despite a slight language barrier (they mostly speak Spanish) and the friendships are something Rayos has highlighted really well. He captures their keen sense of adventure and fun perfectly as well as turning a sometimes rough activity into a simply enthralling viewer experience. Not to mention, it really makes us want to visit Spain.

The Longboard Girls Crew is an international team that was “created by a group of girls who were tired of always being a minority among male dominated crews.” Far from being a “no-boys” club, the LGC’s five co-founders (one of whom is a man) have embraced their male counterparts in their journey to ensure the gendered stereotypes that exist in the world of extreme sports don’t hang around for future lady skaters.

A random email sent out of the blue to mariah_carey2007@hotmail.com came across as a bit suss to animator/filmmaker Aaron Chan, yet it resulted in a multifaceted collaboration that is now currently being featured on Channel 4′s new art initiative in the UK.

‘Random Acts’ is a short-form daily arts platform new to the UK’s Channel 4 which, over the course of a year, will showcase bold and original three-minute films that have a unique sense of creativity.  Aiming to break television convention, Channel 4 will feature the short films throughout the normal schedule and leave them totally unmediated—focusing on television as art, “rather than about art”.

Swiss artist and founding member of Sang Bleu Jeanne-Salomé Rochat first approached Chan after seeing (and liking) his Tumblr blog.  She liked it so much, that without seeing any of his video work or even knowing his real name, she invited him (through a strange, but legit email address) to join the collaboration between Sang Bleu and various other parties that are featured within the video.

The short features fashion by designer Damir Doma, music by Berlin-based duo AIDS-3D, and the Theatre of Hunters exhibition by Pedro Barateiro.  In his quirky and in-your-face style, Chan—alter-ego SCOTTY 2 HOTTY 69—works with the elements to change perception of space that connects the exhibition space with the body and garments.  The multiplication of bodies appear almost like omens, filling the space with an unmissable potency.

Those lovely entrepreneurial people at Kickstarter are super generous. They want to give new director Adam Newport-Berra his very own Thanksgiving for just a dollar. Rather, they want to make it possible for YOU to give him Thanksgiving for a dollar. A small price indeed for a feature film whose teaser trailer promises great things.

Thanksgiving is the title of Newport-Berra’s new project over at Kickstarter. Born and raised in Oregon, he moved to NYC for film school and has since been working as a cinematographer in the city for six years. The narrative of his proposed feature film centers around a young couple, Amy and Alex, who are all set to spend their lives together. Then comes Will; he is introduced as Amy’s brother but there is something not quite true about that introduction.

The work so far is handheld and contains great contrast between a snowy ridge over the Hudson River Valley and the warmth and certainty of the Thanksgiving dinner back in Brooklyn. The classic love triangle plot aims to present Generation-Y New Yorkers in all their complex urban glory; the quest for success and independence is played out against more traditional values of life-long devotion and an emotional connected-ness beyond the merely material.

Newport-Berra plans to shoot the film in March this year. You can have yourself a very economical Thanksgiving by pledging support here.

Written, directed and produced by Abbie Stephens—whose previous animation we featured here—Misery Guts tells the story of a young girl with curly brown hair and a turned up nose who finds herself so engulfed in misery that the ground literally begins to swallow her whole.

The rhyming narration of this adorable short film is reminiscent of a modern-day children’s book. Despite the ongoing efforts of her doting enthusiastic parents, the disgruntled moody child remains resilient for “when she was distressed out of control, she would sink through the ground as if down a hole”.

Subscribing to traditional children story conventions however, the film ends happily for Miss Misery Guts. Reaching depths of despair over her daughter’s perpetual gloom, the child’s mother eventually loses hope. It is then in her time of solitude, that a “deflated balloon that mirrors her own frown” gives Miss Misery Guts a sense of cheer. Through the connection that ensues between the two, the feelings of misery are alleviated in a charming fable of friendship.

Abbie Stephens is a director and animator based in East London. As well as producing clever short films, Stephens has worked with the likes of MTV, Nike, Playstation, Tiger and Levis.

We here at Portable are big fans of artistic collaborations. However with every handful of collaborations that seem heaven-sent, there is one that boggles the mind; Nelly and Tim McGraw for example, or Bob Dylan and Starbucks. This short film will introduce you to another strange and unusual collaborative partnership; Reggie Watts and Noah Kalina.

Best known for his epic timelapse video of 2006 that went viral, Kalina used a humble webcam to document six years of his life. The six-minute clip featured a heart wrenching piano and multiple hair styles and costume changes; the look on his face remained the same. Reggie Watts, on the other hand, is a a renowned comedian and musician, often adopting a stream of consciousness style in his work and playing to gleeful audiences the world over.

Transport is the collaborative baby of unusual coupling Kalina and Watts. This short film features Watts walking down streets, past industrial areas, worksites, run down buildings and underneath bridges. We hear Watts’ narration and a build up of quite captivating music. The film is shot entirely in black and white, and the lines that emerge from the landscape are stunning to take in. As to the narration; perhaps it is better to derive your own meaning.

Reggie Watts is playing shows on the West Coast of USA in early February; go here for the dates.

Whatever James Franco touches turns to gold…or, at the very least, something worth speculating about. This time, he’s trying his hand at short documentary filmmaker (or reality show DP, depending on your cynicism) with Undergrads, a Rabbit Bandini-produced web series solely dedicated to exploring the lives of undergraduate students at the University of Southern California. If there’s anyone who knows the life of a college student, it’s Franco, who went to a few classes in a few years and earned countless degrees!

Because it wouldn’t be a Franco production without some kind of original flair, he used a flip cam to record everything. The trailer introduces us to a few “characters:” Paley, Claire, Colin, and Keelin. We’re shown a lot of partying, some drama, and overall chaos. Anything goes on a Southern California college campus, right? Undergrads airs Thursdays at 8pm on James Franco TV. We’re hoping it proves itself to be a little more Judd Apatow‘s Undeclared, than Laguna Beach: The College Edition.

The genre of hotel commercials is a relatively new one with few conventions and boundaries, and yet director Luca Guadagnino and producer Waris Ahluwalia (actor, jewelry designer, tea shop owner, Wes Anderson’s BFF) have gone and broken them passionately, full throttle and arms ablaze. Made for The Luxury Collection Hotel and Resorts, HERE is a quiet, short film centering around a romantic game of hide and seek of sorts, whisking a glamorous blonde around the world and through elegant hotel rooms on a quest to reunite with her lover. The art direction is outstandingly gorgeous, its playfulness delicate and warming. Any other hotel concept film would be all limousines, spas, bell boys and cheesy receptionist service that it’s so impressive and exhilarating to see a promotional concept not only nail its commercial purpose but also stand individually as a phenomenal piece of film.

HERE really is a daring concept for a luxury hotel chain to go after—for us, though, the film quickly snowballed into a game of “Spot The Wes Anderson Reference”. It’s so linked to Anderson’s films because of Ahluwalia, friend and collaborator with Anderson (not to mention regular wonderboy Jason Schwartzman sneakily getting in on the project by writing the score) who conceived and produced the film. Fittingly, it’s a Wes-Fest from the start; the aesthetic alone is a dead giveaway: crisp textured paper, close ups on written text, that signature Anderson yellow, clean lines, blocked colour, full bodied and wide landscapes with a lone figure, backs of heads and bare sounds to complement an intricate Foley.

There’s direct Anderson references littered everyplace—a bathed yellow scene at 3:23, Richie Tenenbaum’s Mordecai at 4:10, the spitting image of Hotel Chevalier at 8:52, intense Margot Tenenbaum vibes at 6:54 (cropped blonde hair on model and star Agyness Deyn; a tennis dress), Darjeeling Limited at 9:01 (don’t try and tell me those strung together canopies just happen to look like train carriages against a dry mountain range), Life Acquatic with Steve Zissou at 12:59. More often than once we were expecting Bill Murray to pop up and interject with dry wit and a blank expression, but alas, Ahluwalia managed to hold that one back.

We’re sure there’s plenty more nods to Wes lurking in those fifteen minutes, go ahead and play your own game of hide and seek.

Taking this year’s Sundance short film category by storm is Jill Soloway’s (Six Feet Under, United States of Tara) latest venture, Una Hora Por Favora. The flim’s tag line has it that “A Woman hires a day labourer for an hour and gets more than she bargained for”. And so, an awkward romance—appropriately studded by the blemishes of reality—ensues. There’s fights in broken Spanish and an overbearing mother; dates wandering the market and a swiftly dug relationship rut. It’s an endearing film with an otherwise-simplistic story, complemented by Wilmer Valderrama‘s (That 70’s Show) facial expressions and the flawless Michaela Watkins.

Which really begs the question, why isn’t Michaela Watkins in everything, ever? Because clearly all she touches turns to gold, paling everything in comparison. As Alyssa in Una Hora Por Favora, she’s not quite channeling Angie Tempura, but a lot more Liz Lemon: in which The Bachelor is her ultimate night cheese.

Shot tightly and with a sharply executed script, Una Hora really embodies that classic Tropfest short film ‘genre’ that seems to have cropped up in the past decade: it’s funny, it’s simple.

You can watch all of Una Hora Por Favora here.