Laconic Mojo is a small team of people that make short films for the 48-Hour Film Project in Austin, TX. We are mostly amateurs when it comes to filmmaking, but we love the fun and thrill of making a short film with all the constraints involved.
2026 was the year of Film Noir. We had to include a banana, so we put it front and center in the story. The whole cast and crew committed 100% to the fun and silliness, which made for a blast of a shoot. (Video will appear after 6/27/26, the date of the premiere screening.)
In 2025, our genre turned out to be Superhero. We stretched the definition of the genre to its absolute breaking point, such that people who watched it without knowing the genre would never classify it as Superhero. However, we did have a serial killer, a super whose power was attracting serial killers, one who could tap into mystical realms with playing cards, and one who could not be stymied by any lock. This film did not make the Top Ten, but it was so much fun to film.
In 2024, we drew the genres Horror and Food. The result was weird, creepy, and surreal in equal measures. It was a big creative swing for us, and garnered mixed reviews, but everyone did great work. There's so much going on that it does require multiple viewings to fully understand—the film's biggest strength and also biggest weakness.
In 2023, we drew Horror for our genre. It was something of a family affair, as a father and daughter (Curt and Amelia Hendley) were in the cast and a father and son (Dav and Parker Wallace) did sound together. It was fun to explore the beginnings of conflict between humans and AI mingled with the parental fears of how all actions have unforeseeable consequences.
In 2022, our genre was Superhero. A majority of our team had to drop out the week of the project. On Friday morning, we managed to recruit Chris Bengtson as cinematographer and sound recorder Alex Zavaleta, and the two of them figuratively saved our bacon. The idea behind this one was to look at how secrets can come between people but love conquers all.
This is our 2021 entry in the genre of Romance. The song in the credits won the award for Best Song. We also earned a nomination for sound design based on the beautifully atmospheric soundtrack by John Thomas.
Buckle Up (2019) was this team's first foray into the 48-Hour Film Project, under the name Dapper Jackal. We won the award for Best Use of Prop, and a special producer's award for being a Rising Star. This one was fun and just plain silliness.
This one was not a Laconic Mojo production, but it was written by Curt Hendley (LM's team lead) for Gateway Productions' 2008 48-Hour Film. He still thinks it's one of the best things he's written.
You may contact Curt Hendley via laconicmojo @ gmail.com.