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 April 17, 2008 SHORTS COLUMN | Jury, Audience, and Industry Buzz Agree: Docs Rocked Aspen Shortsfest 2008
The jurors at this year's Aspen Shortsfest, which took place April 2 - 6 in Aspen, Colorado, were so enamored with the shorts in the documentary competition category that they couldn't pick just one. Instead, they split the prize between two British films, "Elegy for the Elswick Envoy" and "Peter and Ben." The ticket-buying public was also doubly impressed and voted two American docs, "Come Back to Sudan" and "One Bridge to the Next," co-winners of the Audience Favorite Award. Even the industry insiders were abuzz. "This was the strongest doc lineup the festival has ever had," declared Scott Dwyer, a PBS programmer who has attended Aspen Shortsfest for the past seven years. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 1 comments ] [ filed under Festival Dispatches, Lead Story, Shorts ] June 21, 2007 SHORTS COLUMN | Scouting at UCLA's Industry Showcase of Student Films
On June 12, 2007, Hollywood Industryites packed the Directors Guild of America Theater, eager to view the seven winners of UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television's Directors Spotlight competition. With a roster of past student winners including Alexander Payne ("Sideways"), Todd Holland ("Malcolm in the Middle"), Shane Acker ("9"), and Gil Kenan ("Monster House"), the annual screening has a reputation for being a do-not-miss event for those interested in identifying student filmmakers with big league potential. While there wasn't a clear standout among this year's crop of Spotlight winners, all seven of '07 directors showed enough potential to make tracking them worthwhile. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Shorts, Trends ] May 16, 2007 SHORTS COLUMN | A Photo a Day and Then Some: An Appreciation of the Self-Portrait Short
Who would have thought an experimental short film could have a fan base of 5,926,124 and counting? Nearly six million clicks have propelled Noah Kalina's "Everyday" a.k.a. "Noah Takes a Photo of Himself Every Day for 6 Years" to become a genuine YouTube phenomenon. Countless self-obsessed photographers and irreverent parodists have surfaced in the wake of Kalina's six-minute short and Ahree Lee's equally well-known "Me," which consists of three years of self-snaps flying by in less than three minutes. But with film festival favorites such as David Birdsell's "Hairlady" pushing the envelope of what a self-portrait short can achieve, the question remains whether the format is merely a time-lapse novelty or a genre with unlimited artistic potential. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Shorts, Trends ] April 18, 2007 SHORTS COLUMN | "Tanghi Argentini" Dances Away With Four Prizes at Aspen Shortsfest
Winning a festival's audience award is getting to be old hat for Guido Thys' "Tanghi Argentini," which followed up its amazing success at this year's Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival with a similar triumph at the 16th Aspen Shortsfest, which took place April 3 - 8 in Aspen, Colorado. Another highly buzzed about Clermont-Ferrand short, Michael Dreher's "Fair Trade," also won big at Aspen, generating predictions from industry insiders that "Fair Trade" and "Tanghi Argentini" should be considered front-runners for next year's Academy Awards. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 1 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Shorts, Trends ] August 30, 2006 "Bawke," "One Rat Short" Among Top Jury Winners at 12th ShortFest in Palm Springs
The 2006 Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films & Short Film Market, also known as ShortFest, concluded its 12th annual event Tuesday night with its winners ceremony at the Camelot Theatre in the California desert resort community. Award winners receiving a first place prize are automatically eligible to submit their films to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for Oscar consideration. Norwegian director Hisham Zaman's "Bawke" won the festival's best of the festival award in the jury prizes, which includes $2,000 and a package of software. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 2 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Shorts, Winners ] August 16, 2006 Palm Springs Shorts Fest Line up Showcases High Profile Roster
Award-winning live-action and animated films from the Cannes, Berlin, Clermont-Ferrand, Annecy, Aspen, and Toronto Festivals and the European Film Award winner are among the opening night highlights for the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films and Short Film Market (ShortsFest), taking place in the famous California desert community August 24 - 30. Opening highlights include "The Danish Poet," "Mother," "Never Like the First Time," "Sniffer," "Tragic Story with Happy Ending," "Transaction" and "Undressing My Mother." This year's 12th edition will include 73 world premieres, 56 North American premieres and 16 U.S. premieres among the event's line up of 333 films. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 2 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Lineups, Shorts ] August 7, 2006 10 Shorts to Launch Statewide Rhode Island International Film Festival
Ten short films are slated to launch the tenth annual Rhode Island Film Festival, taking place this year August 8 - 13 in Providence and other cities throughout the New England state. This year's line up includes 283 features from 40 countries with 27 world premieres and 19 U.S. premieres. Rhode Island director, writer and actor, Michael Corrente ("Brooklyn Rules") will be receiving RIIFF's annual Creative Vision Award during the opening night festivities, while actors David Strathairn and Edward James Olmos are expected to attend. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Lineups, Shorts ] July 19, 2006 Ten Outstanding Shorts from Outfest 2006
Outfest 2006: the 24th Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival unspooled 14 short film programs during its July 6-17 run this year. And while the 77 features playing Outfest garnered the lion's share of critical attention, it is in the short-form live action, documentary, and experimental arenas where the truly maverick filmmaking can be found. Here (in alphabetical order) is a sampling of ten outstanding shorts, which, in addition to playing Outfest, continue to make their mark on the festival circuit. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Shorts, Wrap Ups ] June 20, 2006 Confessions of a Festival Juror: Raves and Faves from Toronto's Premier Short Fest
The jury had no trouble deciding that director Greg Spottiswood's Genie-nominated short "Noise" should take home the award for Best Canadian Short Film at the 2006 Canadian Film Centre's Worldwide Short Film Festival, which took place June 13th -18th in Toronto, Ontario. It was the Jackson-Triggs Award for Best Emerging Canadian Filmmaker that proved to be the more difficult pick, resulting in a first in the festival's twelve-year history: a tie, with directors Maxime Giroux ("Le Rouge au Sol") and Chris Nash ("Day of John") splitting the prize. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Shorts, Wrap Ups ] April 12, 2006 Spanish Shorts, Fathers and Sons, and a "Danish Poet" Highlight 15th Aspen Shortsfest
While father/son stories were omnipresent at the 15th edition of Aspen Shortsfest, the short that dominated the closing night award ceremony of the highly prestigious short film festival held April 5 - 9 in Aspen, Colorado was animator Torill Kove's quirky love story, "The Danish Poet." The 15-minute Canada/Norway production, which made its North American debut at the festival, garnered the International Competition Jury's Animated Eye Award, The Ellen Award for Most Original Film, and the Audience Favorite Award, which it shared in a three-way tie with Jennifer Kent's live action domestic horror flick "Monster" and Nancy Kelly's art world documentary, "Smitten." [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Shorts, Wrap Ups ] January 19, 2006 PARK CITY '06: With Challenge of Keeping It Brief, A Preview of Standout Shorts at Sundance
Park City coverage sponsored by BE KIND REWIND. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Festival Dispatches, Lead Story, Park City, Shorts ] December 5, 2005 Sundance Unveils Short Film Lineup for '06 Fest
Park City coverage sponsored by BE KIND REWIND. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Lineups, Park City, Shorts ] October 2, 2005 RESFEST 2005, Keeping It Curious
For some, it's hard to imagine a festival which can program and fill a theater with festivalgoers watching 90 minutes of commercials, music videos, or a documentary about sneakers. Long ago, the folks at RESFEST recognized the appeal, evolution and dramatic advances in media and commercial art and the market that wants to see what's new in those fields. Kicking off its 9th year, as a touring festival, RESFEST offered an ambitious line-up of screenings, panels, product demos and guided tours in the TriBeCa district of New York City. Having dropped its "Digital Film Festival" tagline, RES organizers asserted that their name now can stand alone, offering associative terms "innovative" "creative" and "out of the ordinary." Though of much RESFEST's programming is shot or manipulated with state of the art digital technology, festival programs include creations like hand made animation or documents of hands-on activities like illegal street art. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Festival Dispatches, Lead Story, Shorts ] September 29, 2005 Dispatch From Brazil: Short Films In Abundance at Sao Paulo's Festival Internacional de Curtas-Metragens
"A long life for Brazilian cinema!" was the ironic cheer of the night at the opening of the 16th Festival Internacional de Curtas-Metragens de Sao Paulo, the largest short film festival in Latin America. Despite being an invitation-only event, the theater was so full on opening night that guests filled the aisles and huddled into corners to watch the evening's selection of films. The scene repeated itself throughout the course of the festival: theaters filled to capacity with their fair share of organizational and technical snags, which were forgiven by the diversity and sheer volume of films on offer to the public. The ten-day festival, which took place between August 25 and September 3, generated a high level of excitement from an eager audience (and it was hard to complain when the projector broke for the third time when all the sessions were free). [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Festival Dispatches, Lead Story, Shorts, World Cinema ] September 27, 2005 "Bluma", "Mantis", "China" Take Top Prizes at Palm Springs Shorts Fest
The Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films and Short Film Market concluded on September 26, with the "Best of Festival Award" - accompanied by a cash prize of $2,000 - going to American filmmaker Benjamin Ross' "Torte Bluma," about the relationship between a German commandant and the Jewish prisoner who cooks his meals in a concentration camp during World War II. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Awards Watch, Shorts, Winners ] August 4, 2005 Stony Brook Awards Short "West Bank Story" its Grand Prize and Announces a Festival Buy
The Stony Brook Film Festival concluded its 10th edition last weekend, awarding a prize to its closing night film, "The Five of Us," and presenting its biggest award to a short film. The ten-day festival had over 15,000 attendees. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Awards Watch, Lead Story, Shorts, Winners ] Older Entries from Shorts | |
