Carl Erik Rinsch missed out on a chance to direct upcoming Alien prequel, but he’s making the most of his time anyway. Heat Vision has it his short film The Gift is causing a Hollywood bidding war with major studios clamoring over the chance to turn the five minute piece into a full length feature. After the success of District 9, which also started out as a short film, it's easy to understand why.

The Gift was part of a short film experiment sponsored by electronic giant Phillips. Five filmmakers were tasked with making a five minute short, using the same piece of dialogue. Rinsch’s creation involves a Russian dystopia, robots, gas mask-clad military, a mysterious box, a unicorn, a car chase, violence, and an ending that allows tons and tons of room for expansion. In short, it looks awesome. The robot looks a little too Sonny-ish for me, but really, how many ways are there to make realistic looking pieces of artificial intelligence?

Check out the short film for yourself.


Rinsch was originally slated to direct the next addition to the Alien series until Ridley Scott was permanently attached to the project. He'll be just fine. With studios in a bidding war over the movie rights, it’s only a matter of time until this premise is turned into a big budget, full length feature.