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Today’s film is the 2013 short The Smile Man. The film is written and directed by Anton Lanshakov. The film stars David St. James, Camille Guaty, and Willem Dafoe. Dafoe has been in the acting industry for over 30 years, appearing in movies such as Platoon, The Last Temptation of Christ, Mississippi Burning, The English Patient, American Psycho, and Spider-Man, among many notable roles. His newest feature, titled Out of the Furnace, opens in wide release in American theatres this weekend.

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The post Saturday Shorts: ‘The Smile Man’, starring Willem Dafoe appeared first on Sound On Sight.

The three winning films from the 2013 Jameson First Shot competition, each starring Willem Dafoe, have been released on Jameson’s YouTube channel.

The shorts see two-time Oscar nominee Dafoe take on three very different roles – a hypochondriac ex-ping pong player, a nerve-damaged car accident victim and an android with a heart – in the films written and directed by talented up-and-coming filmmakers.

The three winning short films; Saving Norman from South Africa, The Smile Man from Russia and Love’s Routine from the Us are available to view now at YouTube.com/JamesonWhiskey.

Dafoe said of the competition: “I didn’t know who the winners were going to be so it was a risk, but it was gamble I enjoyed. My main focus on set was to support each of the director’s in the best way that I could so that they could realise their film and take advantage of this unique opportunity.”

Kevin Spacey, creative...

The Jameson First Shot competition is an annual competition that allows for emerging filmmakers to get their work made and get a break into the industry. With numerous submissions, Shirlyn Wong was the United States finalist, along with Russian finalist Anton Lanshakov for his short The Smile Man, and South African finalist Hanneke Schutte for her short of Saving Norman. The three were in attendance, along with Kevin Spacey, Dana Brunetti and Willem Dafoe at the Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn to celebrate the Us final…

What led you to make this competition?

Kevin Spacey: Well this time I didn’t act in the films but I was very grateful and gratified that Willem was willing to jump off a building with me because normally when you go to an actor like Willem, you have a script and you have a director. And in this case, I said, ‘Well there’s three movies,...

On June 19th, Kevin Spacey, Dana Brunetti and Willem Dafoe were in attendance at the Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn to celebrate the United States winner of the Jameson First Shot competition. USA winner Shirlyn Wong was in attendance for the world premiere of her short film, Love’s Routine.

The Jameson First Shot competition is an annual competition that allows for emerging filmmakers to get their work made and get a break into the industry. With numerous submissions, Shirlyn Wong was the United States finalist, along with Russian finalist Anton Lanshakov for his short The Smile Man, and South African finalist Hanneke Schutte for her short of Saving Norman.

Willem Dafoe joined the cast for the second year of the competition as aspiring filmmakers were urged to share their stories to get het chance to direct him. Triggerstreet Productions, a production company started by Kevin Spacey and Dana Brunetti, would...