Helicopter

"The Year's Best Short Film" - FilmThreat

I'm giving away my movie here for the motherless, to counteract Mother's Day ads. You're not alone.  Please pass it on, & join my email list over there to the right if you like it (so I can tell you when I have another movie). Thanks!  love, A

»Read director's statement on the film.

Music by Ethan Gold (new album out shortly).

Helicopter Reviews

"Hypnotic, beautiful, totally brave. The year's best short film."

- FilmThreat

"Writer-director Ari Gold's 21-minute short film, HELICOPTER, recounts in impressionistic detail the aftermath of his mother Melissa's death in the helicopter crash that also killed her boyfriend, promoter Bill Graham. The film has been making an uncommon stir at festivals everywhere, and with good reason--it's an effulgent burst of heartbreak. Employing a narrative pastiche that includes acted vignettes, a black-and-white animated re-creation of the crash itself, poignant answering-machine voice-over and personal photos, Gold deftly conveys the fractured nature of loss: how memory, despair, indignation and even elation surge and recede in the mourning mind."

- L.A. Weekly (Pick)

Helicopter Awards

GOLD MEDAL WINNER — Student Academy Awards
GRAND PRIX — Aix-en-Provence Short Film Festival
BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT — Belo Horizonte
BEST SHORT FILM — South-by-Southwest Film Fest
BEST SHORT (EXPERIMENTAL) — USA Film Festival

BEST FILM, BEST DIRECTOR & NEW YORK MAGAZINE AUDIENCE AWARD — First Run Film Festival

2nd PRIZE — "Best Of" Festival (a competition between 65 worldwide Grand Prize winners)
BEST SHORT (Student) — Woodstock Film Festival
JURY AWARD — Reykjavik Short Film Festival
SPECIAL JURY AWARD — New Orleans Film Festival
SPECIAL JURY AWARD — Moab Film Festival
BEST SHORT — Valley Film Festival

& other prizes

Helicopter Screenings

Aix-En-Provence Cinema Tous Courts, American Cinematheque (L.A.), Arizona, Athens (Greece), Austin, Belgrade Student, Belo Horizonte Short, Best of Film Festivals, La Ciotat, France, Birmingham AL Sidewalk, Boston Jewish, Bumbershoot (Seattle), Chatham N.Y. Columbia, Cinema du Nouveau Monde Quebec, CMJ Music, Deep Ellum Dallas, Dreamcatcher (Kiev, Ukraine), East Lansing, Fayetteville, Flickerfest Australia Nationwidem, Florida, GenArt, Geneva Cinema Tout Ecran, Halifax Atlantic, Hamburg (Germany), Hamptons, Hawaii, Kansas Jubilee, Kentucky, Kudzu (Athens Georgia), Leeds (UK), Los Angeles, Makor Film Series (NYC), Marco Island, Mikrokino Belgrade Short, Milano, Mill Valley, Moab Canyonlands, Naptown Indianapolis Underground, Nashville, New Orleans, NYU First Run, NYU International, Oklahoma, One-Reel Seattle, Oslo International, Palm Springs Short, Pancevo, Providence R.I. Convergence, RagTagFilms, Columbia MO, Reykjavik Iceland Short, ResFest (San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, Seoul, Bristol, London, Cape Town, Tokyo, Osaka, Rio, Sao Paulo, New York), Rio de Janeiro Short, Rotterdam International, San Francisco, Santa Fe, Sao Paulo (Brazil) Short, South-by-Southwest, St. Louis, St. Petersburg (Russia), Student Oscars, Sundance, Texas, Tiburon, Torino, USA, Valley, Waterfront, Woodstock, Viewfinders Halifax, Yugoslav Cheapo Film Festival