Alive in Joburg
2005 Directed by Neill Blomkamp
Synopsis
A documentary-style short film about the arrival of an alien spaceship over Johannesburg, South Africa.
Genre
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I absolutely love District 9 and I am really not sure why it took me 3 years to check out the short film on which D9 is based. Neill Blomkamp is either very talented or one of the best One-Trick-Ponies ever but it is clear that he was very passionate about this project.
Alive in Joburg is a very interesting little flick that features some impressive visuals considering the budget and very neat use of prosthetics, rather than CGI prawns.There is not an awful lot to say about it as it's only 6 minutes long but I would definitely recommend checking it out.
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A really fantastic example of low budget film making, this time the short that formed the basis for District 9. Neill Blomkamp uses new film containing practical effects for the aliens alongside CGI and stock news footage from South African television to create an amazing vision of how the world would cope should alien refugees end up landing on Earth.
The thing that really struck me about this, is that it really hit home to me that this is exactly how the world would react should aliens crash land in South Africa. Once it had been established that there was little to learn from them, and that the aliens were just needing somewhere to live following broken down space craft,…
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I'm not sure why only the white folk weren't subtitled, I couldn't understand what the fuck they were saying either. Or was that the point?
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A short film that works nicely as an introduction to the plot of District 9, but really does nothing to establish itself as a standalone film. Might be best if watched before District 9
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An interesting sci-fi short by Neill Blomkamp -- who would later develop this original concept into the fantastic District 9. What I really love about this film is that - for once - the aliens choose somewhere else than the USA to land, the low-budget visuals, the convincing prosthetic aliens (rather than your usual CGI aliens), the documentary-style of filming (which makes it feel realistic) and the social commentary (Wikipedia: ''All of the interview statements which do not explicitly mention extraterrestrials were taken from authentic interviews with many South Africans who had been asked their opinions of Zimbabwean refugees''). Everything is just nicely put together during the 6 minute run time.
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RACISTS!!!!
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Jadni mali ugnjetovani ZOIDBERZI. :'-(
I dan danas izgleda dosta AUTENTIČNO, barem ukoliko zanemarimo onu uvodnu CGI scenu. Inače nema nikakve priče ni ničega, ali je kul prezentirana ideja i sve to.
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A short film that works nicely as an introduction to the plot of District 9, but really does nothing to establish itself as a standalone film. Might be best if watched before District 9
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In of itself not a master piece but you can really see the start of what became District 9. I think it would have been better to see it before the greatness that is District 9 as that detracted from me a little bit.
Still worth seeing
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An interesting sci-fi short by Neill Blomkamp -- who would later develop this original concept into the fantastic District 9. What I really love about this film is that - for once - the aliens choose somewhere else than the USA to land, the low-budget visuals, the convincing prosthetic aliens (rather than your usual CGI aliens), the documentary-style of filming (which makes it feel realistic) and the social commentary (Wikipedia: ''All of the interview statements which do not explicitly mention extraterrestrials were taken from authentic interviews with many South Africans who had been asked their opinions of Zimbabwean refugees''). Everything is just nicely put together during the 6 minute run time.
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Watching some shorts inspired by this list: letterboxd.com/lordcookie/list/short-films-that-became-features/
Really liked this one and it made me want to watch district 9 again.
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A great stepping stone toward District 9 for Neill Blomkamp.
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Brutal!!!
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An excellent trailer for the film I would've liked District 9 to be.
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This explains why District 9 was so good.