Big Directors Small Films: Jason Reitman's Gulp

In this week's edition of Big Directors Small Films we take a look at Jason Reitman's 2001 short film Gulp.

Reitman made a huge splash with last year's Oscar-nominated dramedy Juno, and made his feature filmmaking debut with a big screen adaptation of Thank You For Smoking a few years earlier. Son of director Ivan Reitman, Jason got his start with a series of six short films which won acclaim at various film festivals around the world.

Gulp tells the story of one man's quest to save his fish. The film stars Jason Carpenter, Mary Jo Smith, Jeff Witzke and Heather Brown. If you look closely, you might even catch Jason's short cameo as one of the animal clinic pet owners. The film was one of three comedic short films to be co-produced by Atom Films and funded by Ford Motor Company (the, art the time, new Ford Focus is featured prominently on screen).

Gulp was shown at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, Los Angeles Film festival, US Comedy Arts Festival, Aspen Shorts Fest, Santa Barbara Film Festival, Palm Springs Festival of Shorts, USA Film Festival, Seattle Film Festival, Nashville Film Festival, Cleveland Film Festival, Taos Talking Pictures, Atlanta Film and Video Festival, Nantucket Film Festival, Rehoboth Beach Film Festival, Kansas City Film Festival, Marcos Island Film Festival and a few dozen more festivals worldwide.