He Almost Directed The ALIEN Prequel, Now Check Out Carl Erik Rinsch's THE GIFT

We've said it before and here it is again: Corporate-sponsored film making is playing an increasingly important role in the world of short film and that role is only likely to increase with time. The trend really took off in the west with the Clive Owen starring series of films sponsored by BMW a few years back but more recently Absolut footed the bill for Spike Jonze's I'm Here and now Phillips has backed a five film series titled Parallel Lines, with all five directors culled from the stable of Ridley Scott's RSA commercial production outfit.

The concept behind these are a little bit different. Rather than just telling the directors to show off their new TV - the ultimate point of it all - Phillips gave RSA a complete dialogue list and had all of the directors - more than 40 - submit their pitches based on that dialogue. Phillips chose their five favorites and they were off to the races.

All five are now available online at the official site and the end results are wildly diverse, from kid friendly CG animation, to gritty poverty drama, to epic scifi.  Johnny Hardstaff's Darkroom is a clever - albeit somewhat boss-fellating - tribute to Bladerunner but the big winner is very clearly Carl Erik Rinsch's scifi epic The Gift.

Rinsch was the original choice to direct the upcoming Alien prequel before Scott took that over himself and, based on this, it's very easy to see why he was the chosen one. The man has serious skills.  But, just as was the case with Neil Blomkamp losing the Halo movie, I have a hunch this may turn out for the best because having seen Rinsch's work I'd much rather see him free to pursue his own instincts than have to play in someone else's sandbox.  Check out The Gift below.