With any film festival, there’s the long and the short of it. More specifically, there are narrative and documentary features, which comprise the bulk of most major festivals, and then there are the short films, officially defined by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as “an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits.” Often overlooked for bigger stars, larger budgets, and longer running times, short films nevertheless embody the philosophy of any good film festival, which is to revel in the thrill of discovery and, more importantly, the opportunity to take risks with the medium.
What is the process by which the short films are selected and then curated into programs?
What might festivalgoers be able to expect from this year’s shorts programs that they haven’t seen in years past?
Well, I think they’re all good and worth taking a look at! I’ll try to choose some standouts though. I think the experimental program is really strong and would recommend everyone see that. In the short documentary program (“Shorts Program 4: In Real Life”) there’s a film called Tourneur by Yalda Afsah that has been in my head since the moment I saw it—it’s an observational doc about this strange bullfight in the south of France where they pump tons of foam into the rings with the bull and then kind of dance around it in an attempt to agitate it. It ends up being this meditation on spectacle and absurdity as the bull and these young men wander in and out of the foam. It’s incredible and is a standout among a program of really strong docs.
How do you recommend interested festival goers keep up with short films outside the festival?
