Twisted short film 'Tapeworm' slithers around touchy topic of body image at this week's Vail Film Festival

Would you ingest a tapeworm to achieve the perfect body type? That's the provocative question posed by the darkly comedic short film "Tapeworm" at this week's Vail Film Festival.

East 3rd Productions' short film "Tapeworm" will be screened at the Colorado Film Institute's Vail Film Festival on Friday, April 1, at 3 p.m. at the Sebastian Theater 1 at 16 Vail Road. "Tapeworm" is a quirky dark comedy, in the vein of "Welcome to the Doll House" and "Election" that brings a much-needed fresh perspective to the universal issue of body image.

"Tapeworm" recently won the Gotham Screen International Film Festival's (GSIFF) Best Short Film award and the Special Jury Prize for Acting in a Short Film. It has also screened at the 33rd Annual Mill Valley Film Festival and the 21st Annual Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, Calif. Upcoming screenings include the SOHO International Film Festival April 15-21 and the Santa Cruz Film Festival May 5-14.

Written and directed by Margaret Laney and starring Madeleine Lodge (Theresa) and Tracy Podell (Janie), "Tapeworm" enters the warped psyche of two elite private school students obsessed with bodily perfection. Their desperate need to be “tiny” drives them to the creative yet extreme solution of eating a tapeworm.

“To want to eat a parasite is emblematic of the warped, black and white perspective teenagers have on life,” said Laney.

“East 3rd Productions is thrilled to have 'Tapeworm' screened at the SOHO International Film Festival and is honored to have received GSIFF's highest awards for short films,” said Ricardo Riethmuller, founder and CEO. “We knew as soon as we read Margaret's script that 'Tapeworm' had to be made.”

East 3rd Productions is one of New York's premier production companies, founded to empower artists so they can create multidisciplinary works that span social, cultural, and political lines. Whether it's film or live theater, East 3rd is on the cutting edge of provocative artistic projects.

The 2011 Vail Film Festival recently announced the complete line-up of films selected to be screened at this year's festival, which is set for Thursday, March 31, through Sunday, April 3. This year's festival features 67 films, including 11 feature films and 56 documentaries, shorts, adventure, student, and animated films. The films will be screened at the new Sebastian Hotel in Vail Village and Cinebistro in the Solaris complex.

The 2011 Festival will donate 5 percent of the overall ticket sales to the American Red Cross for earthquake and tsunami recovery efforts in Japan, and an additional 5 percent to Angelight Films, a non-profit production company that gives chronically ill children the opportunity to express themselves in their own short film.

Go to the Vail Film Festival website for ticket information and complete list of films.

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