Pawky.Com: A Chicago-based Short Film Distrubutor Starting to Make Waves

It's confession time. Ready? Here goes: I write about Chicago, I am not a Chicagoan. 

I was neither born in Chicago nor bred in Chicago. In fact, even referring to me as an American may be a stretch. Don't get me wrong, I carry a blue passport, I'm as legal as the next guy. But, owing to my parents surreal occupations [Father = U.S Dept of State Intelligence Officer / Mother = UN Post Conflict Chemical-Biological Contamination Surveyor] I've never really spent all that much time stateside - which goes double for the Midwestern heartland I'm calling home these days.

Now, you're probably wondering what any of that has to do with this latest shorts circuit profile of mine. Well, it goes like this... First, I tend to think of Chicago as a kind of outer Mongolian wilderness damned off from the river of cosmopolitanism that flowed through my former home-New York, and to be honest I feel trapped here. But, I'm determined to make the best of it by endeavoring to make it better for my fellow filmmakers

Second, because today I get to bask in the pleasure of introducing you to Chicago-Land's first, for profit, web-based short film Distribution Company …And, they aren't exactly standard issue Americans either. Evanston newcomer Pawky dot com boasts a staff that would do a United Colors of Benetton ad proud. A President purportedly from Zhezqazghan, Kazakhstan (literally outer Mongolia), a Vice President who reportedly hails from Nsoc, Equatorial Guniea, a content manager who claims to be from Gammel Sukkertoppen in Greenland, a head of business development who lists her birthplace as Ana Kakenga, Easter Island, Chile and a mysterious tech-guy from Chicago.

In other words: If you're a short-filmmaker and you get the joke, you're in luck. Founder Biographies aside, Pawky is as real as short film markets come and looks to be in a position to stay for around a while. Founded less than a year ago, Pawky is the brainchild of Alexander Oleynikov and Paul Birman.