The D.C. Shorts Film Festival, which MovieMaker Magazine recently called "one of the nation's leading short film festivals," has become a premier venue for local and national filmmakers alike.
The festival, which is into its fifth year, showcases a broad scope of genres, from animation and experimental work to documentaries and musical trailers. This year, the festival will show more than 100 films from eight different countries between Sept. 11 and 18, with screenings held at the Landmark E Street Cinema.
Jeffrey Middents, a College of Arts and Sciences professor who's currently teaching a film topic course on short films this semester, said he regards the genre as a relatively new phenomenon.
"The short seems to have a complex, hidden role today. For one thing, it is often seen as a 'calling card' for aspiring filmmakers to prove that they have the chops to make a feature film. That said, the rise of YouTube, FunnyOrDie.com and other Web sites have finally demonstrated that the Internet has become a viable venue to watch shorts," he said. "I've often found that shorts can afford to take risks that features can't, which makes them the vehicle at the forefront for innovative, vibrant filmmaking and storytelling."
Middents' class will run a blog over the course of the semester, shortfilmsblog.blogspot.com and will be covering the entire week of the D.C. Shorts Film Festival.
One of this year's featured shorts is "The Confession," the story of a young man who goes to church to confess his sins. Unfortunately the priest seems to prefer gossiping over bestowing forgiveness. Other films include "The Inquisitive Snail," an animated piece about a snail sent to spy on a remote town; "The List," a gritty drama chronicling a young woman's experience being interrogated by the CIA for espionage; and "Nasuh," an experimental, animated short about a bathhouse employee who encounters a spiritual revelation.
This year, in the festival's second annual screenplay competition, festival patrons will be able to watch actors and screenwriters perform six chosen scripts live. At the end of the program, viewers are asked to vote for their favorite script, which will receive a $1,000 grant to be produced and another $1,000 upon the film's completion.
The competition winner will see their film screened at the 2009 D.C. Shorts Film Festival. You can attend the competition for free, but seating comes on a first-come, first-served basis. The competition, held at the U.S. Navy Memorial/Burke Theater, begins at 7 p.m. Saturday. Festival staff encourages patrons to arrive half an hour early.
D.C. Shorts Film Festival Director Jon Gann said there is a cheaper alternative to purchasing full-price tickets.
"If you come to a screening that is sold out - and most will - you can buy up to two tickets for a mid-week screening (Sunday - Wednesday) for half price," he said in an e-mail.
The D.C. Shorts Film Festival is different from its festival contemporaries, as it's the area's only festival dedicated solely to short films. Gann said there was another difference as well.
"D.C. Shorts is really about filmmakers. Most festivals are about money and buzz. We are about making connections," Gann said. "We are able to bring amazing films from across the globe to D.C. audiences."
You can reach this staff writer at dsheldon@theeagleonline.com.
